I am honored to be part of this conference, which has been bringing together scholars and public officials from around the globe for almost 20 years to discuss religious freedom. It is hard to imagine a more worthwhile enterprise. I express my gratitude to the organizers and especially to Cole Durham, an indefatigable advocate of religious liberty. I am also pleased to join in honoring Dr. Tahir Mahmood, whose example of erudition, grace, and kindness is an inspiration to all.
Religious freedom is a constant source of a dynamic tension in pluralistic societies as people of goodwill, and sometimes of not-somuch goodwill, struggle to identify the limits of majority rule and …