News and Events
2011 RUSSLR Oration Rights, Resistance and Revolution: Protestant Contributions to Western Rights Talk
Professor John Witte, Jr
On Wednesday, 20 July, Professor John Witte, Jr, delivered the 2011 RUSSLR Oration entitled 'Rights, Resistance and Revolution: Protestant Contributions to Western Rights Talk.' Professor Witte, the Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L McDonald Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, USA, is a member of the International Advisory Board of The University of Adelaide Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and Religion (RUSSLR).
The 2011 Oration, delivered before a large gathering of RUSSLR members and friends of the Adelaide Law School addressed the topical issue of rights, resistance and revolution. Arguing that rights talk is deeply rooted in Jewish, Classical and Christian sources, Professor Witte explored the vital contribution of early modern Protestants who wove these earlier teachings into a theory of fundamental inalienable rights whose breach by a tyrant was cause for revolution. Professor Witte also considered the implications of this history for a new theory and history of rights.
The 2011 RUSSLR Oration was co-hosted by RUSSLR, the Adelaide Law School, ATF Press, and St Peter's Anglican Cathedral. For further information contact Dr Paul Babie, Director of RUSSLR <paul.babie@adelaide.edu.au>
Coming Events
Law and Religion in Traditional and Contemporary China
RUSSLR and The Asian Studies Association of Australia will host a presentation on the nature of law and religion in traditional and contemporary China and explore how far the interactions between law and religion are different in the traditional and contemporary ages in China. It will look into the factors that may explain the similarities or contribute to the dissimilarities.
Speaker: Associate Professor Benny Tai Yiu Ting, University of Hong Kong.
Benny Y. T. Tai, Associate Professor, specializes in constitutional law, administrative law, law & governance, law & politics and law & religion. He has been an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law between 2000 and 2008.
His major publications include: “The advent of substantive legitimate expectations in Hong Kong: two competing visions” (2002) Public Law 688-702; “Chapter One of Hong Kong’s New Constitution: Constitutional Positioning and Repositioning,” in Ming Chan and Alvin Y. So (ed.) Crisis and Transformation of China's Hong Kong (M.E. Sharpe, 2002); “One Principle...Two Principles...3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Factors for Constitutional Reform,” in Johannes Chan and Lison Harris (eds.), Hong Kong's Constitutional Debate, 2005, (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Law Journal Limited, 2005), pp15-28; “Developing an Index of the Rule of Law: Sharing the Experience of Hong Kong” (2007) 2 Asian Journal of Comparative Law89-109; “Basic Law, Basic Politics: The Constitutional Game of Hong Kong” (2007) 37 HKLJ 503-578; “An Unexpected Chapter Two of Hong Kong’s Constitution: New Players and New Strategies” in Ming Sing (ed.) Politics and Government in Hong Kong: Crisis under Chinese Sovereignty (Routledge, 2008); “Religious Faith, Language Games and Public Discourse” in Kang, Yeung and Leung (eds.), Religious Values and the Public Forum: Public Religion, an East-West Dialogue, (Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2008).His current research projects include “The Rule of Law and Legal Culture,” “Political Legitimacy and the Development of Constitutionalism,” “Law in Governance Processes,” “Law and Deliberation,” and “Law and Religion: A Comparative Study”.
In 1997, he was awarded University Teaching Fellow by the University of Hong Kong. In 2002, he was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the IT in Education Awards Contest conducted by the Academic Council for IT in Education, University of Hong Kong. Benny is very active in promoting civic education in the community. He has been the member of the Committee on the Promotion of Civil Education, Hong Kong Government for eight years (1995-2003). He has also served on many government/public bodies including the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1988-90), the Bilingual Laws Advisory Committee (1995-2003) and part-time member of the Central Policy Unit, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (2007).
Chair: Dr Paul Babie, Director, Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law
and Religion.
Date: 6 July 2010
Time: 2.00PM-3.30PM
Venue: University of Adelaide, Ligertwood Building (Law School), Lecture Theatre 1
Past Events
RUSSLR Director Speaks at Conference in Malaysia
Dr Paul Babie, RUSSLR Director, delivered a paper at the recent "Religion, Law and Governance in South East Asia; Comparative Legal Perspectives" Conference, in Kuala Lumpur, 29-31 January 2010. The paper was entitled "Choice, Relationship and Community; Private Property and how the Monotheistic Religions and Foster Cooperation".
For further information please click here and here.
RUSSLR Delegates Speak at Council for a Parliament of World Religions
On 7-9 December, 2009, Dr Paul Babie and Peter Burdon attended the Council for a Parliament of World Religions. The Parliament was first held in Chicago in 1893, and brings together the world’s religious and spiritual communities, their leaders and their followers to a gathering where peace, diversity and sustainability are discussed and explored in the context of interreligious understanding and cooperation.
On the 7 of December they delivered a joint paper entitled 'Private Property, Religion and the Environment'. The abstract for their paper read:
Climate change is a private property problem. Specifically, the presently dominant model of private property, implemented and operating in legal systems worldwide, prioritises self-interest over obligation towards the community. This presentation argues that this underpins and makes possible those human activities which lead to ecological destruction. Yet climate change is more than a legal or a political issue. It is also a moral and spiritual challenge, which requires the application of spiritual or religious thought as part of the solution. The presenters will offer two unique solutions to this problem. Dr Babie will draw on both monotheistic and polytheistic traditions in arguing for a private property model which places community obligation in the hands of individuals who enjoy the protection of private property over goods and resources. Obligation thus becomes an individual matter of choice and decision. Mr Burdon will argue that private property is fundamentally anthropocentric, and drawing on the work of ‘geologian’ Fr Thomas Berry, will present ideas from an emerging field of law termed Earth JurisprudenceRUSSLR Delegates Speak at International Law and Religion Symposium
On 4-7 October 2009 Dr Paul Babie, RUSSLR Director, and Neville Rochow SC, RUSSLR Research Associate, attended the 16th Annual BYU, J Reuben Clark Law School, International Law and Religion Symposium in Provo, Utah. On 5 October they delivered a joint paper entitled 'Feels Like Déjà vu: Religious Freedom and a Proposed Australian Bill of Rights'. For further information click here.
For photo's please view our picture gallery:
Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3, Gallery 4
Earth Jurisprudence Conference
From the 16-18 October 2009, over 60 people from each state and territory in Australia attended Australia's first conference on Earth Jurisprudence. Earth Jurisprudence is an emerging theory of law that seeks to evolve law to recognize that human being exist as one equal part of a broader living system. The conference was jointly partnered by RUSSLR, organized by management team member Peter Burdon and included a presentation by RUSSLR director Dr Paul Babie.
Cultural and Religious Freedom Under a Bill of Rights Canberra: 13–15 August, 2009
On 13-15 August 2009, the BYU International Center of Law and Religion Studies and RUSSLR hosted a major conference on cultural and religious freedom under a bill of rights. The conference organizers are currently preparing a selection of the papers for possible publication in an edited volume. Please watch this site for further updates.
The first session of the conference was broadcast on ABC Radio National, The Spirit of Things, with Rachel Kohn on 23 August 2009. Further, Professor Robert Blitt of the University of Tennessee College of Law, who was a keynote panellist at the conference, recently gave the following interview on the The Spirit of Things.
Conference papers are available here.
Law School at Leading Edge of Research
The University of Adelaide Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and Religion (RUSSLR), was launched on November 13th. 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.
Dr Paul Babie, Associate Dean of Law (Research) in the School of Law, is the inaugural Director of this Research Unit. The RUSSLR was launched by Professor James McWha, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide and the key address was provided by Dr Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney.
View photos from this event online at Development and Alumni's Flickr Gallery.
To view the speech of RUSSLR Director, Dr Paul Babie, click here.
To view the speech of Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney, Dr Michael Spence, click here. For audio click here.
