Religion and Rule of Law Training Expanded

December 5, 2012

Vietnam-U.S. Friendship Society and IGE sign MOU.

Vietnam’s University of Social Sciences and Humanities-Hanoi, working in collaboration with the International Center for Law and Religion Studies of Brigham Young University and the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE), and with the support of the John Templeton Foundation, conducted a certificate training program on “Religion and the Rule of Law” in Hanoi from November 26 to December 5, 2012. The program trained 80 Vietnamese government officials working on religious affairs, doing research on religious studies and advising the government on religion-related policy making. Trainers were law professors, judges, and political science experts from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United States of America, and Vietnam. The program had observers from Laos PDR and Burma. The purpose of the certificate training program is to contribute in a meaningful and systematic way to the building of the intellectual infrastructure that will help guide the current and emerging generation of scholars, government officials, judges, and religious leaders as they reform and modernize the religious component of civil society. The method of training is both comparative and interdisciplinary. The focus is on recurrent issues and challenges respecting religion and law in countries around the world.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Vietnam-U.S. Friendship Society and IGE on November 27 will further extend the reach of the project and allow for increased training of government officials on religious freedom, rule of law and good governance.