BYU law professor given '09 First Freedom Award

PROVO — Brigham Young University law professor Cole Durham knew he was risking his life to go to Baghdad in 2005 to help give the Iraqi people the right to religious freedom in their new constitution.

The bulletproof vest made the point, in case the pre-trip security training and all the moving around in the dark of night didn't.

Durham recalled that trip Thursday night — the eve of National Religious Freedom Day — as he received an honor previously awarded to such international luminaries as former Czech President Vaclav Havel and then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Durham went to Iraq because studies have shown that freedom of religion contributes to world peace. He also did it because he believes the tenet of his faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that all people should be able to worship — or not worship — however they wish.

His contributions to laws on religious freedoms from Albania to Ukraine over the past 20 years prompted the First Freedom Center to give him the prestigious 2009 International First Freedom Award at an awards banquet in Richmond, Va.

"Cole is really in a world-class category all his own," First Freedom Center Vice President Isabelle Kinnard told BYU's Daily Universe.

Durham has actively participated in consultations about religious-freedom laws in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. In 2007, he spent 185 days out of the country at conferences.

Durham estimates that a relatively small group of about 10,000 people sets the religious policies for all nations. Over the past 15 years, he has hosted 800 people in those positions at annual conferences sponsored by the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU's law school.

The LDS Church, which owns BYU, benefits from the spread of religious freedom, but that is not the chief purpose of Durham's work, said Robert Smith, managing director of the BYU center.

"This award validates the fact our church is not simply pursuing religious freedom as a policy of the LDS Church but that our interests really do expand to protect the rights of religious belief for all people," Smith said. "That recognition or validation is important."

In a 2001 devotional address at BYU, Durham recalled that LDS Church founder Joseph Smith said he would die to defend the rights of a member of any religion.