Eighty Years of Religious Liberty in Japan

日本語で

The Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center (University of Texas School of Law), The Institute for Transnational Law (University of Texas School of Law), The Mattone Center for Law & Religion (St. John’s University School of Law), and Doshisha University Law School (Kyoto, Japan) are jointly hosting an academic conference comparing the history (since 1945) and current state of religious liberty law in Japan and the United States. This symposium comes at what is approximately the eightieth anniversary of religious freedom in Japan in the modern era.

Panels:

• The first will explore the formation of modern religious liberty law in each country during the middle of the twentieth century. The United States did not start applying its federal constitutional religion clauses fully until the mid-1940’s. And after World War II, the United States played a major role in instilling the same principles in Japan. Thus, both countries set forth on their current legal regimes at roughly the same time.
• The second will explore the current state of religious freedom law in each country.
• The third will provide an opportunity for religious leaders to explain their own religious tradition’s journey in each country given its religious freedom laws.

Interpreters will be provided for English speakers.

Participants

From the United States:

1. Mark Movsesian, the Frederick A. Whitney Professor of Contract Law and Director of the Mattone Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University School of Law.
2. Lauren Fielder, Assistant Dean for Graduate & International Programs and Senior Lecturer at the University of Texas School of Law, and the director of The Institute for Transnational Law.
3. Frank Ravitch, the Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion at Michigan State University College of Law and the Director of MSU’s Kyoto Japan Program.
4. Jolyon Thomas, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan (University of Chicago Press, 2019).
5. Steven T. Collis, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law and the faculty director of the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center and its Law & Religion Clinic. Immediate Past Chair of the Association of American Law Schools Law & Religion Section.

From Japan:

1. Hajime Tajika, Professor of Constitutional Law at Kindai University, and the executive director and secretary general of the Japan Religious Law Association.
2. Kenta Tanaka, Assistant Professor of Graduate School of Law at Doshisha University. Expert of internal dispute of religious organizations.
3. Eiichiro Takahata (Nihon University)
4. Fuga Kimura, Project Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Arts and Science at the University of Tokyo. He is an expert in Islamic Studies and Sunni Islamic Jurisprudence, among other topics.
5. Makoto Oishi, Professor emeritus at Kyoto University, and former Chair of the Religious Corporations Council in Japan.