The annual ISFORB international conference at ETF Leuven brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines, as well as practitioners working in the field of Freedom of Religion or Belief, in a warm atmosphere. The 2026 ISFORB conference will center on the theme “FORB and the European Union.”
The EU’s commitment to FORB is firmly anchored in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and the EU Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of FORB. In recent years, however, FORB has become an increasingly salient and contested field in politics and academia, putting to the test the EU’s self-understanding as a human-rights actor in its internal and external policies. This is exemplified by the vacancy of the EU Special Envoy for FORB since late 2024. At the same time, some European countries are renewing their commitments to FORB, yet often with an emphasis on the protection of Christian symbols and institutions and embedded in populist or nationalist agendas. The conference seeks to examine these and related developments, and to critically assess the depth and durability of the commitment to FORB of the EU and its member states.
This multi-disciplinary Call for Papers warmly welcomes you to join our conversations. Contributions are welcome from sociology, law, history, theology, political science, or other relevant disciplines. Papers may address conceptual and theoretical issues as well as empirical case studies and practical implications. Subthemes include, but are not limited to:
- FORB in EU law and its relationship to Council of Europe and ECtHR standards;
- Church–state relations and their influence on EU and member state FORB policies;
- (Non)religious communities and advocacy organizations challenging the EU on FORB;
- Religious pluralization, public space, and symbolic conflicts in EU member states;
- FORB in relation to EU foreign, development, and neighbourhood policies;
- Discourses on “Christian Europe” and “traditional values” in EU and national politics.
Paper proposals on other FORB-related issues, which do not focus on the particular topic of FoRB and the European Union, can be accepted as well.
Please send your abstract (200–300 words) for a 20min paper to isforb@etf.edu before 15 February 2026. You will be notified of acceptance before 1 March 2026.
We offer several publication options to presenters and aim to publish a selection of papers of the conference together in an appropriate academic volume afterwards.