Law Students Association’s panel discussion on religious freedom tomorrow
Tuesday, 4 March 2014 00:46
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A panel discussion on religious freedom and the law in Sri Lanka will be held on 5 March 2013 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS), Colombo 7.
The event is organised by the Law Students Association of Sri Lanka (LSASL) in partnership with the Centre for Poverty Analysis.
The panellists will be Prof. Savithri Gunasekara, Rev. Father Duleep De Chickera, MP Wijedasa Rajapakse and PC Prashantha Lal de Alwis.
A spokesperson said in a step towards accomplishing an advocacy project, The “Law Talk 2014” the LSASL was holding the panel discussion in collaboration with the Centre for Poverty Analysis. The event will look into diverse angles through scrutinising different arguments on religion and law that will carry out by veteran personalities. The debate may progress into the evaluation of the impact of the proposed Bill on the Rights and Freedoms of the citizens of Sri Lanka as guaranteed by the Constitution and numerous international conventions.
This event is part of CEPA’s reimagining development initiative that aims to push existing knowledge boundaries and create a space for germinating new ideas and new research that challenges the conventional paradigm of development. The nexus between secularism and development is an on-going discussion in the reimagining discourse.
Development is also no longer seen as being inevitably tied to, or premised on, the process of secularisation. It is now widely recognised that cultural tradition and religious belief do not simply disappear from public life. Religious identity or belief could be important constitutive elements of individual and collective values and the notion of well-being that people may have in a given context.
However, striking a fine balance between citizenship rights and religious freedom can be a challenging tightrope to tread for a state, particularly when the socio-political milieu carries the flavour of religious fundamentalism.
“Thus, public discussions such this are crucial to understand the impact of religious fundamentalism (and resultant policies) on social cohesion, which is an indicator of a society’s development and wellbeing,” the spokesperson said.
The Law Students Association of Sri Lanka (LSASL) plays a vital role in this procedure by providing venues for academic cooperation and coordination among law students in the island. The Association has also spread its wings in inspiring, a sense of awareness and public responsibility by providing and continuing program of legal research in substantive and adjective law.
