Comparative Law: Regulating Religion

This course examines how states regulate religious conversion through constitutional and statutory law, administrative bodies, and courts. It will consider a range of case studies from a variety of regional contexts and where different legal traditions prevail, including common law, civil law, and mixed legal systems. Among the case studies we will discuss are the Orthodox Jewish conversion program of the State of Israel, the adjudication of conversion in Egypt s administrative courts, anti-conversion laws promulgated in response to organized mass conversions out of Hinduism in India, and the admissions policies of religious schools in Britain. The main aim of the course is to consider how the legal structuring of conversion sheds light on competing visions of state and society. Discussions will also focus on how religion and religious practice are shaped through the encounter with modern law. There are no prerequisites for enrollment.