(Bonn, 13.03.2026) The International Institute for Religious Freedom Africa (IIRF: Africa), in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Rhodes University (RU), and the University of the Free State (UFS), co-hosted the 2nd Conference on Religious Freedom. The theme of the conference was “The Regulation of Religion and the Limits of Law”. The importance of the conference theme was encouraged by recent calls for the regulation of religion by civil authorities. The conference was held on 29–30 January 2026 at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein (South Africa) and constituted a multidisciplinary international conference on religious freedom. The conference successfully followed in the footsteps of the first conference of its sort which was held at the University of Johannesburg in 2024.
The conference was comprised of 22 speakers, representing 14 institutions. A significant number of the speakers were from South Africa, whilst from abroad there were speakers from Australia, Canada, Kenya, the Czech Republic and Italy. Papers covering a wide spectrum of topics were presented by legal academics, legal practitioners, theologians, a political scientist, a sociologist as well as a couple of doctoral students in law and theology. Paper presentations included topics related to state regulation of religion in Kenya and South Africa, the South African Human Rights Commission, the relationship between freedom of expression and freedom of religion, the autonomy of religious associations, natural law and positive law, African spirituality, culture and customary law, Muslim family law, and religious realism.
The Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UFS, Prof Serges Kamga, gave the opening remarks and was followed by the keynote address by Dr. Faith Kabata from Kenyatta University, Kenya, with a paper titled, “Measures of religious regulation in Kenya” which related to challenges regarding the regulation of religion in Kenya.
The conference was organized by a team of three South African professors with a strong scholarly interest in freedom or religion or belief: Dr. Shaun de Freitas, Professor of Public Law at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, Dr. Helana van Coller, Professor of Law at Rhodes University, Makhanda, and Dr. Werner Nel, Associate Professor in the Department of Procedural Law at the University of Johannesburg.
Plans for a special issue of the Journal of Juridical Science (JJS) for publications emanating from the conference are well underway and a significant number of manuscript submissions for possible publication are expected. The JJS is a scholarly journal based at the Faculty of Law of the University of the Free State and allows for interdisciplinary scholarship.
Coinciding with this conference is the publication of a special issue of the International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF) resulting from the first conference on religious freedom in South Africa held at the University of Johannesburg in 2024. It includes four scholarly articles under the encompassing theme of ‘freedom of religion and measures of tolerance’ (Vol. 18/2, 2025).
The co-organizers have provisionally agreed to convene the third conference in 2028. Preference will be given to hosting the meeting in either the Eastern Cape or the Western Cape.
Downloads and Links
- Photo 1: Conference participants gathered in front of the historic Main Building, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa © IIRF
- Photo 2: The conference organizers (right to left): Prof. Dr. Shaun de Freitas (primary organizer, University of the Free State); Prof. Dr. Helena van Coller (co-organizer, Rhodes University); Prof. Dr. Werner Nel (co-organiser, University of Johannesburg) © IIRF
- Photo 3: Conference keynote speaker Dr. Faith Kabata (Kenyatta University) (left) with conference co-organizer Prof Dr. Helena van Coller (Rhodes University) (right) © IIRF
- Announcement of the conference by the IIRF: https://iirf.global/?p=6184
- Report of the University of the Free State: https://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item/campus-news/2026/february/ufs-hosted-conference-explores-religious-freedom-and-limits-of-the-law-in-a-constitutional-democracy
- Facebook post of the University of the Free State: https://www.facebook.com/UFSweb/posts/UFS-hosted-conference-religous-freedom-and-limits-of-the-law-in-a-cons/1302021025289234/
- Facebook post of the University of Johannesburg: https://www.facebook.com/100039947324691/posts/another-successful-conference-on-religious-freedom-in-sa-the-uj-faculty-of-law-w/1812063593468534/
- Call for Papers for the 2nd Conference on Religious Freedom: https://www.ufs.ac.za/docs/librariesprovider21/conferences/conference-on-religious-freedom-in-south-africa-2026.pdf?sfvrsn=fcd4ea20_1
- International Journal for Religious Freedom, Vol. 18 No. 2 (2025): Religious freedom and measures of tolerance: https://ijrf.org/index.php/home/issue/view/vol18-2
