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Dr Paul Babie
The Law School
Ph: + 61 8303 5521
Fax: + 61 8303 4344
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Peter Burdon
Lecturer, Adelaide Law School
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Faculty of the Professions, Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and Religion

The Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and Religion (RUSSLR) is a significant strategic initiative for the University of Adelaide and the nation. RUSSLR is the first centre or institute in Australia to study the relationship between society, law and religion – putting it at the leading edge in Australia of what is already a major research area worldwide.

RUSSLR's principal objective is to create a space for dialogue on significant issues involving the relationship between society, law and religion in Australia. We seek to foster an environment where divergent views can be expressed with good will and respect. Based upon this objective, RUSSLR’s principal research aims include robust debate on:

  • the role of religion in both creating and solving current social, moral and ethical issues;
  • the protection of human rights, including freedom of religion and privacy;
  • religious fundamentalism;
  • the role of religion in education; and
  • citizenship and migration.

In exploring these issues, RUSSLR's focus includes secular and non secular perspectives. Within this framework, it aims to study the relationship between law and religion where:

  • law acts as an arbiter between religion and society/state
  • religion has some influence or potential influence upon law, such as in the case of moral goals and imperatives;
  • religions have their own legal systems, such as Judaism, Islam and Hinduism;
  • secular law applies to modern society.  
All of this is directed at understanding the place and role of religion and law in contemporary Australian society.

 
RUSSLR News Updates

RUSSLR 2011 Law and Religion Oration Presented by Professor John Witte, Jr. 

John Witte, Jr is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L. McDonald Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion Center at Emory University. His talk is entitled 'Rights, Resistance and Revolution Protestant Contributions to Western Rights Talk'

‘Much Ado About a Nose Stud: Some Reflections on the Power of Leitmotivs in Constitutional Interpretation’

Speaker Lourens M. du Plessis examines a recent judgment of the South African Constitutional Court dealing with the request of a Hindu schoolgirl to be given permission to wear a nose stud with her school uniform, claiming that wearing the stud was an expression of her religious and cultural beliefs.

'After Falwell: Shifts and Continuities in American Religion and Culture Wars in the Obama Era'

Speaker John Dombrink examines the competing themes of normalization of the core culture war issues (abortion, same-sex marriage, aid-in-dying, stem cell research) against the contemporary backlash, resistance and “tea parties.”

‘The Freedom of Religion in Emerging Democracies/Market Economies: The Case of Ukraine’

Presented by: The Flinders University School of Theology and the University of Adelaide Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and Religion