Kader papers featured at Melikian Center symposium

Two papers by David Kader, professor in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, recently were presented at a symposium, Post-Atheism: Religion, Society and Culture in Post-Communist Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

The symposium, held Feb. 7-9 on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus, was sponsored by ASU’s Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian & East European Studies.

Kader presented “Religion in the New Kosovo Constitution: Understanding the Contrasts with American Constitutional Law,” as part of the panel on Religion and the Constitutional/Law/Regulatory Authority after Atheism.

Kader’s paper was selected for inclusion in a volume of essays, currently titled, “Post Atheism: Religion and Society in Post-Socialist Eastern Europe and Eurasia,” which will highlight the finest presentations from the conference and include additional complementary contributions. Kader’s paper will appear in the section titled “Religion and the Law.” The publisher will be announced this summer.

At the symposium, Stephen Batalden, director of the Melikian Center, presented a paper he co-authored with Kader, titled “Religion and Public Education in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzogovnia,” as part of the panel, Religion and Theological Education in Post-Atheist Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

Kader, an affiliate faculty member at the Melikian Center, teaches in the areas of criminal procedure, torts, state constitutional law and religion and the Constitution. He has been discussing law and religion issues in the Balkans for many years, both at ASU and on several trips to the Balkans, mostly to Bosnia and Kosovo. Kader will return to Kosovo this month to attend the Kosovo Youth Assembly, the first statewide assembly of Serbian and Albanian youths in a policymaking body.

The Melikian Center is a comprehensive research and training center with both instructional and research missions. He is also an affiliate with ASU’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and Center for Jewish Studies, as well as the Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, all research units in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.