Law School Hosts Debate Over Religious Liberties

Carlisle, PA (October 28, 2005) — The Penn State Dickinson School of Law’s Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is sponsoring a debate titled “Religious Liberties: The Rise of the State Religion, the Fall of Christian Civilization and How It All Began” on Wednesday, November 2 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in room 136 of Penn State Dickinson’s Trickett Hall, 150 South College Street, Carlisle. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Kevin Seamus Hasson, Esq., founder and chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and author of The Right to be Wrong, and Penn State Dickinson Professor Larry Catá Backer, a constitutional law scholar, will face off on the issues of religious liberties and the separation of church and state. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a question and answer session following the debate.

In The Right to be Wrong, Hasson examines the dispute over religious diversity and whether or not there is a place for religion in the public sector. Hasson suggests that we have the right to follow what we believe but that we must also recognize others’ freedom to pursue their own beliefs, regardless of whether we think they are right or wrong. Hasson will be available to sign copies of his book, which is now available in the law school bookstore.

Hasson has fifteen years of experience with religious freedom cases and advised the Reagan Administration on church and state issues while serving as attorney-advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. He left a large Washington, D.C. law firm to found the Becket Fund, a public interest, interfaith, legal and educational organization dedicated to “protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.” Hasson holds a law degree and master’s degree in theology from Notre Dame.

Backer focuses his research and teaching on government and private institutions and the relationship between institutions and the individuals they serve. He has taught and written about United States constitutional law, corporate law and the institutions of the European Union, often from a comparative law perspective. Backer joined the Penn State Dickinson Law faculty in 2000, after having served as professor of law and executive director of the Center for International and Comparative Law of the University of Tulsa College of Law. He has taught in Argentina, the United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, and Italy. Backer received a B.A. from Brandeis University, a M.P.P. from Harvard University, and a J.D. from Columbia University.