Fall 2009
Families, Fundamentalism, & the First Amendment
Friday, November 6, 2009
9:00 am – 3:15 pm ( See schedule below)
This Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of Bill of Rights Law of the William & Mary School of Law, will bring together scholars with expertise in the First Amendment; family and juvenile law; and law, religion, and culture. Discussions will address the concept of fundamentalism itself; the varied nature of fundamentalist beliefs in the U.S.; and ways in which fundamentalist communities and families in the U.S. interact with modern American law and society.
Fundamentalist families compel the state to confront a classic political challenge in which it must balance its commitment to noninterference in private lives against its commitment to securing individuals’ entitlements to certain basic liberties, even when threats to those liberties come from within the family itself. The symposium will thus explore ways in which fundamentalism forces an examination of some of the American polity’s core values: commitments to pluralism, religious liberty, and individual self-determination; repudiation of gender-based oppression; and ensuring the well-being of children and future citizens.
Registration is free and open to the public. To register email IBRL@wm.edu
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Schedule
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| 8:00-9:00 |
Continental Breakfast
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| 9:00-10:30 |
Fundamentalism & the First Amendment
Frederick Mark Gedicks, J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University - The Death and Lives of God
Andrew Koppelman, Northwestern Law School - Fundamentalism and Misplaced Anti-Clericism
Randall Balmer, Barnard College, Columbia University - Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, and the First Amendment
William Van Alstyne, William & Mary Law School (moderator)
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| 10:45-Noon |
Family/Marriage/Gender
Marci A. Hamilton, Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University - Secrecy, Opacity, and Abuse: The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ ofr Latter-Day Saints
Naomi Cahn, George Washington University Law School
June Carbone, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law - Embryo Fundamentalism
Robin Fretwell Wilson, Washington & Lee Law School - Privatizing Family Law in the Name of Religion
Vivian E. Hamilton, William & Mary Law School (moderator)
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| 12:15-1:30 |
Lunch on your own |
| 1:45-3:15 |
Parenting and Educating the Fundamentalist's Child
Emily Buss, University of Chicago Law School - How to Think About “Abuse” and “Neglect” at the Yearning for Zion Ranch
James G. Dwyer, William & Mary Law School - Zones of Ideological Influence
Catherine J. Ross, George Washington University Law School - Public Schools: Conflicts over Values and the Exit from Schools of Fundamentalists’ Children
John E. Taylor, University of North Carolina School of Law - Assessing the Constitutionality of Abstinence-Only Sex Education
Vivian E. Hamilton, William & Mary Law School (moderator)
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| 3:15 pm |
Conference Concludes
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