Australian Experts Discuss Peacemaking at International Law and Religion Symposium 

Justice Susan Purdon-Sully, Justice David Ashton-Lewis, and Professor Nicholas Aroney joined close to 100 delegates at the 31st International Law and Religion Symposium this week at Brigham Young University in Utah, United States.

The theme for this year's International Law and Religion Symposium was "Religious Freedom as a Tool for Peacemaking."

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Susan Purdon-Sully, a justice of the Supreme and National Court of Papua New Guinea, moderated a session of the symposium titled, "Judicial Leaders." 

In introducing the panellists for the session, Justice Purdon-Sully referred to the Rev Dr Martin Luther King’s speech, Birth of a New Nation, where he spoke of the creation of the “beloved community,” a core concept in his philosophy of peacemaking. The beloved community was an ideal society, based on justice, equality and love and the inherent worth of the individual. It was one where all people lived in harmony and brotherhood, religious freedom a key component in its creation. 

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David Ashton-Lewis, a visiting justice of the Supreme Court of Fiji, spoke during this session. He said that "religion is a private matter, and it should remain that way."

Justice Ashton-Lewis said that he had read many religious books including the Koran, the Holy Bible, and the Book of Mormon. He suggested that understanding and respecting others, including their faith, will lead to greater peace in our communities.

Nicholas Aroney, a law professor at University of Queensland, was the opening speaker on Monday 7 October. He suggested that religious freedom should be viewed on three levels: the individual, the religious group, and society. 

Religious freedom, he argued, is essential for individual human flourishing. He said that humans are agents with curiosity, who pursue truth about the world and their place and purpose in it. 

 "Human beings can only pursue such truths with religious freedom," he said.

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Professor Aroney said that religious freedom is exercised in community with others and is a collective right. He said that efforts to relegate religious belief and expression to the private realm is missing a significant opportunity for societies. 

Aroney argued that societies flourish when they are shaped by individuals and groups as they pursue truths about the world and their place and purpose in it.

Biographical Information

Susan Purdon-Sully is a justice of the Supreme and National Court of Papua New Guinea. At the time of her appointment to the court in September 2023 she was a judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia having served on the court since 2007. In line with her interest in family law and the advancement of women in the profession she has served on the Australian Family Law Council, the chief advisory body to the Australian Federal Attorney General on family law matters, as President of her state’s Women Lawyers Association and as a member of the committee of Australian Association of Women Judges.

David Edward Ashton-Lewis is a visiting justice of the Supreme Court of Fiji. For the past 40 years, he has served the people of Papua New Guinea and Fiji in the Justice Department and the judiciary. He was previously a high court justice in the Republic of Fiji and senior counsel in the Public Prosecutors Office of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea. Justice Ashton-Lewis is also an adjunct professor of law at Southern Cross University Law School on the Gold Coast in Southern Queensland, Australia.

Nicholas Aroney is a professor of constitutional law at the University of Queensland, a senior fellow of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, and a fellow of both the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Law. He has led several international research projects in comparative federalism, bicameralism, legal pluralism, and religious freedom. In 2017 he was appointed by the Australian prime minister to an expert panel to advise on whether Australian law adequately protects the human right to freedom of religion.

Images courtesy of Brent J. Belnap