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The 2020 edition of Fides et Libertas draws on papers presented at the 20th annual Meeting of Experts, held in Fez, Morocco, September 3 to 5, 2019. The gathering brought together 25 scholars representing 16 countries.

Journal Release Marks 20-year Anniversary of the IRLA Meeting of Experts

The release of the 2020 edition of Fides marks an important milestone for the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA)—20 years of promoting and defending a culture of religious freedom around the world through the contributions of the IRLA Meeting of Experts.

The 2020 volume of Fides begins with a contribution from IRLA Vice President Prof. Rosa Maria Martinez de Codes, Professor of American History at Complutense University, Madrid, who provides a historical survey of the many contributions through the years of this distinguished panel of scholars. She also profiles some of the significant religious freedom challenges that have arisen during these past two decades.

The second part of the 2020 volume centers around the theme of “Non-compulsion in matters of religion” and provides a multi-faceted perspective on this topic that encompasses the religious and philosophical foundations of “non-compulsion” within both Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, as well as contemporary politico-legal case studies. Among the contributors for the 2020 Fides are Prof. Blandine Chelini-Pont, Professor in History, Law and Religion at Aix-Marseille Université; Prof. Nicholas P. Miller, Professor of Church History and Director of the International Religious Liberty Institute at Andrews University; Rev. Dr. James T. Christie, Professor of Whole World Ecumenism and Dialogue Theology at the University of Winnipeg, Canada; Prof. Asher Maoz, Dean of Shimon Peres School of Law, Israel, and founding Editor-in-Chief of Law, Society and Culture; and, Dr. Alexis Artaud de La Ferrière, Lecturer in International Relations and Migration Department of Politics and International Studies School of Oriental and African Studies University of London.

The 2018-19 volume of Fides, which has also been made available for download, delves into one of the most perplexing issues of our time: Religious freedom and the quest for peaceful coexistence. Articles in this edition were adapted from papers presented at the IRLA’s 8th World Congress on Religious Freedom held August 22 to 24, 2017, in Hollywood, Florida, United States. This event brought together more than 550 scholars, public officials, religious leaders, and advocates from 65 countries to take a multidisciplinary look at the relationship between religious freedom and the challenge of nurturing peaceful coexistence in today’s religiously and politically fractured global landscape.

This special edition of Fides brings together a series of short articles—some taken from transcripts of proceedings—that together create a vibrant mosaic of perspectives from some of the 30 speakers at the Congress. These contributors represent a range of academic disciplines and religious traditions and include: Prof. W. Cole Durham, Jr., Susa Young Gates University Professor of Law at Brigham Young University and Founding Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies; Dr. David Little, T. J. Dermot Dunphy Retired Professor of the Practice in Religion, Ethnicity, and International Conflict, Harvard Divinity School; Dr. Cesar Garcia, General Secretary of the Mennonite World Conference; Rev. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, chairman of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance; Dr. Elizabeta Kitanović, Executive Secretary for Human Rights and Communication of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches in Brussels; Asma T. Uddin, Esq., Senior Scholar and Faculty at the Religious Freedom Center, Freedom Forum Institute; and, Dr. Jaimie Rossell, Deputy Director General of Relations with Confessions for Spain’s Ministry of Justice, and Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at the University of Extremadura.

Both journals can be found at: https://www.irla.org/fides-et-libertas.