Challenges and Opportunities: Religious Freedom Development in the Sphere of Law
Yerevan, Armenia
14-16 May, 2015
May 14, 2015
Opening plenary, American University of Armenia (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and Elizabeth Clark, moderators
Welcomes
Representative of American University of Armenia
Representative of Coordinating Counsel for CIS and Baltic Countries on Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Religious Studies
Vice-Minister of Justice of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan
- Cole Durham, Susa Young Gates University Professor of Law and Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies
Evolution of Freedom of Religion or Belief: Perspectives on 25 Years of Change
- Professor Nikolay Shaburov
From Hobbes to Locke and Back to Hobbes
11:45-12:00 Break
12 – 1p.m. Continuation of Opening plenary (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
- Vicotor Yelensky, Member of Ukrainian Parliament and Chair of the Subcomittee on Religion
Religious freedom and De-Secularization in Ukraine
- Dr. Hranush Kharatyan, Institute of Ethnography and Archeology
Religious developments in post-Soviet Armenia
1 p.m. Lunch
2:45-4:00 p.m. Breakout sessions at Erebuni Business Center
Erebuni Room (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
ARMENIA AND THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA
Vladmir Vardanyan and Armine Davtyan, moderators
- Dr. Davit Mikayelyan, Chief Specialist at the Department for Ethnic and Religious Minorities under the Government of Armenia
Information Society and Religious Institutions
- Dr. Dorota Zietek, Assistant Professor, Institute for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Philosophy Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Impact of changes in the law on the Armenians in Poland: Opportunities and the development of their religious freedom
- Chairman Stepan Danielyan, Collaboration for Democracy
The convergence processes between Armenian Apostolic Church and the State
- Secretary Armen Lusyan, World Life Church
Classification of Religious Association of the Republic of Armenia
Urartu Room (session in Russian only)
RELIGION, POLITICS, AND LAW IN UKRAINE
Victor Yelensky and Oleksandr Sagan, Moderators
- Director Andriy Yurash, Department for Religious Issues and Nationalities
Religious Politics of Contemporary Ukraine
- Dr. Nikolay Mitrokhin, Research Centre for East European Studies, Bremen University
Ukrainian Orthodoxy in the time of Russian: Ukrainian conflict and perspective of development of United Manorial Church
- Maksym Vasin, Institute of Religious Freedom
Ensuring the freedom of conscience under the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
Arame Room (session in English only)
CONCEPTUALIZING AND IMPLEMENTING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Vanja Savic and Roman Lunkin, Moderators
- Ferrer Sanchez
Dialogue and Mediation for the Right to Religious Freedom
- Dr. Elena Maksimovna, Deputy Head of Department of Culture Studies, the Chair of Cultural Studies, Novgorod State University
Freedom of worship in modern Christian cultures
- Dean Martin Farek, Religious Studies, University of Pardubice
Religious Freedom as Value and Norm: Law, Politics and Media in the Czech Republic
- Marieta Bazinyan, Yerevan State University
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Nai'im, - Freedom of expression in Islamic context
4-4:15 p.m. Break
4:15-5:30 p.m. Breakout sessions
Erebuni Room (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
SECULARISM AND IDENTITY IN EASTERN EUROPE
Jose Ferrer Sanchez and Henryk Hoffman, Moderators
- Dr. Carmen Garcimartin, Associate Professor, University of A Coruña
Religious freedom and secularity in Eastern European Constitutions
- Dr. Galina Shirokalova, Head of Department of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Sciences of the Nizhny Novgorod State Academy of Agriculture
Russia: Between Secularity and Clericalism
- Assistant Professor Vanja Savic, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Law and Traditional Identity in Central and Eastern Europe
- Dr. Elena Miroshnikova, Tula State Tolstoy Pedagogical University
Challenges and Opportunities: Religion and Law in Russia
Urartu Room (session in Russian only)
FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND TOLERANCE IN RUSSIA
Olga Kazmina and Mikhail Zherebyatyev, Moderators
- Dr. Vladimir Storchak, Professor at National Economy Russian Academy and State Service under the President of Russia
Ethno-confessional situation and problems of freedom of conscience in modern Russian
- Daria Krasnikova, Department of Ethnic and Religious Relations, Russian Ministry of Culture
Impact of inner political factors on religious organizations
- Professor Ekaterina Elbakian, Professor of Sociology and Management of Social Processes, Moscow Academy of Labor and Social Relations
Violation of the principles of freedom of conscience in relation to Russian religious minorities: an overview of a scholar in religious studies
- Mikhail Sitnikov
Religious Tolerance in contemporary Russia: Theory and Practice
Arame Room (session in Russian only)
MINORITY RELIGIONS
Anita Soboleva and Professor Nikolai Shaburov, Moderators
- Dr. Alla Aristova, National Transport University
Discrimination of Christian Minorities and Problems of Advocacy
- Roman Lunkin, Institute of Europe
Evangelical churches in Russia
- Dr. Lev Simkin, Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property
Foreign missionaries in Russia
May 15, 2015
Erebuni Business Center (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
9:30a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Plenary Session, Erebuni Room
Professor Cole Durham and Dr. Nikolai Mitrokhin, Moderators
- Professor Eileen Barker, Professor Emeritus of Sociology of Religion
New Religious Movements: The Changing Scene
- Vladimir Vardanyan
The Paradigm of the Freedom of Speech in the Age of Globalization: From Classic Views to Surrealistic Approaches
- Anita Soboleva, Member of the President's Human Rights Council
Freedom of arts and religious rights: the search for balance
10:45 – 11 a.m. Break
11:00 – 12:15 Breakout sessions
Erebuni Room (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
ART, SPEECH, AND RELIGION
Dr. Merlin Kiviorg and Chairman Stepan Danielyan, Moderators
- Ara Ghazaryan
Forms of Legal Means against Hate Speech in Armenia
- Dr. Ksenia Kolkunova, Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov University
Theatrical performances and law on blasphemy: Russian case
- Dr. Olga Sibireva, SOVA center for information and analysis
Russian legislation on religious feelings and their application
- Anna Ksiazek, Assistant Professor at the Institute for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University
Insult of Religious Feelings According to Polish Law
Urartu Room (session in Russian only)
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND LEGISLATION IN RUSSIA
Anatoly Pchelintsev and Dr. Lev Simkin, Moderators
- Dr. Olga Kazmina, Deputy Dean School of History, Moscow State University
Dynamics of Conceptual ideas within the framework of religious freedom in Russian through religious laws
- Mikhail Zherebyatyev, Modern Humanities Academy
Legislative gaps in the regulation of state-religion relations in post-Soviet Russia
- Vladimir Ryakhovsky, President's Human Rights Council, Russian Federation
The current problems of realizing freedom of conscience in contemporary Russia: the perfection of legislation strengthening state control of the activity of religious associaitons
Arame Room (session in Russian only)
CONTEMPORARY UKRAINE AND BELARUS
Maksim Vasin and Oleksandr Zaiets, Moderators
- Natalia Kutuzova, Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Religious Organizations in the Public Environment in Belarus: Opportunities and Legal Restrictions
- Dr. Anatoly Kolodny, Religious Studies Department, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Issues of Religious Freedom under the Revolution of Dignity
- Professor Lyudmilla Fylypovich, Religious Studies Department, National Academy of Sciences
Ukraine's legislative initiatives in the field of freedom of religion under the new socio-political conditions
12:15-1:45 Lunch
1:45-3:00 Breakout sessions
Erebuni Room (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
Dr. Carmen Garcimartin and Vladimir Ryakhovsky, Moderators
- Dr. Merlin Kiviorg, Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law, University of Tartu Faculty of Law
Conscientious Objection: Challenges in the European Anti-discrimination Framework
- Anatoliy Pchelintsev, Slavic Centre for Law and Justice
Military Oaths and Religious Beliefs: Legal Solutions
- Elizabeth A. Clark, Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School
Conscientious Objection and a Pluralistic Society
- Professor Henryk Hoffman, Jagellonian University Institute of Religious Studies
Actual Problems to Ensure the Right for Freedom of Conscience in Poland
Urartu Room (session in Russian only)
RUSSIAN CULTURE, MEDIA, AND TOLERANCE
Dr. Vladimir Storchak and Mikhail Sitnikov, Moderators
- Andrey Melnikov
Mass Media become the main target for the clergy in Russia
- Olga Ganina, Assistant Professorm the Chair of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Volga region State University of Service
The problem of tolerance from the standpoint of Russian Orthodoxy
- Professor William Schmidt, Department of Ethnic and Federative Relations, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Religious traditions and institutions
Arame Room (session in English only)
REGULATION OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Professor Eileen Barker and Dean Martin Farek, Moderators
- Nino Sukhishvili, EMC Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre
State Agency for Religious Affairs of Georgia as a Religious Policy Instrument
- Dr. Simon Yin, Legal Studies Department at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary
Religion and Law in Central and Eastern Europe: Focus on Religious Group Registration
- Nino Sulamanidze, Ombudsman Office of Georgia
Freedom of Religion in the Last Annual Report of the Ombudsman of Georgia
3-3:15 Break
3:15-5 Breakout sessions
Erebuni Room (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
YOUTH AND EDUCATION
Dr. Davit Mikayelyan and Dr. Alla Aristova, Moderators
- Armine Davtyan, Collaboration for Democracy NGO
Phenomenon of "Spiritual Person" as a Goal for Spiritual-Educational Process
- Dr. Saule Sarkenova, Professor, Eastern Kazakh State University, Department of Law
Attitudes of Young People to Kazakhstan's Legislation on Religion
- Isabella Sargsyan, Eurasia Partnership Foundation
Challenges Children and Youth from Religious and Ethnic Minority Groups Face in Armenia
Urartu Room (session in Russian only)
LEGAL REGULATION AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN UKRAINE
Professor Lyudmila Fylypovich and Professor Ekaterina Elbakian, moderators
- Dr. Oleksandr Sagan, Head of the History of Religion Department, H.Scovoroda Philosophy Institute of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences
Features of legislative regulation for issues of national security in the religious sphere and legal protection of equality for churches
- Dr. Dmytro Vovk, Assistant Professor of the Yaroslav the Wise National Law University
Balancing religious freedom against public order: Jurisprudence of Ukrainian Courts
- Oleksandr Zaiets, Public Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on Matters of Cooperation with Churches and Religious Organizations and the Public Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on Matters of Cooperation with Religious Organizations
Perspective of development of religious freedom in the legislation of Ukraine under the context of state-confessional dialogue
5-5:30 Final plenary, Erebuni Room (translation into Armenian, English, and Russian)
Moderators: Professors Cole Durham and Ekaterina Elbakian