The "2024 Summer Training Program on Religion and the Rule of Law" was held in Beijing, as a continuous effort to fill the gap in the research on "the rule of law in religious work" in China.
The Pushi Institute for Social Sciences in Beijing rolled out the 12th session of the program from July 23-26, according to the institute, which is the first private think tank in China specializing in the study of religion and the rule of law, as well as the relationship between church and state.
The institute said, "For more than twenty years... the Pushi Institute for Social Sciences strives to collaborate with the academic community, religious circles, and government authorities to study and address issues in the legal construction of the religious domain in our country through a scientific approach and academic research. This effort aims to fill the gap in the research on 'the rule of law in religious work' in our country and promote the legal construction in the religious field."
More than forty participants from academia, religious circles, the legal community, and diverse sectors of society attended. They engaged in learning and discussions on topics such as religion and the rule of law in China, the rights of religious legal entities, the legal status of religious organizations, the connotations, ownership, and systems of religious property, religious freedom, and religious fraud, religion, and charity, comparative models of the relationship between church and state worldwide, historical church-state relations in China, and the judicial practice of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
