Henrietta Harvey Distinguished Lecture

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Date: Mar 11
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Theatre

Each year, the Henrietta Harvey Distinguished Lecture Series welcomes a leading scholar to enrich discussions on urgent public questions.

This year, join Dr. Benjamin L. Berger for a lecture on “What Secularism Hides.”

We often describe our laws, institutions, and even our era as secular—as if the term neatly explains how religion fits (or doesn’t) in modern public life.

But what is secularism? Where did it come from, and what does it actually do? Drawing on global examples and contemporary Canadian debates, Dr. Berger argues that secularism often obscures more than it reveals—about history, power, democracy, and the relationship between religion and the state.

This is a free program but a ticket is required. Please reserve your free ticket online or by calling 709-757-8090.

Benjamin L. Berger is a Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. An award-winning teacher and researcher, and one of Canada’s foremost experts on the interaction of law and religion, he is a Member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada and held the York Research Chair in Pluralism and Public Law. Professor Berger has published over 80 academic articles and book chapters on law and religion, criminal and constitutional law and theory, the law of evidence, and legal history. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Law’s Religion: Religious Difference and the Claims of Constitutionalism and, most recently, Making Promises: Oaths, Treaties, and Covenants in Multi-jurisdictional and Multi-religious Societies.

In collaboration with Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador (Departments of Religion and Culture and Political Science)