From New Haven to Oslo: What States Do with Religions They'd Rather Not Have

This talk will trace what Jehovah’s Witness cases teach about the different approaches to religious freedom on either side of the Atlantic—with American doctrine having grown up around preaching and public speech and recent European cases centering around state recognition. Josh McDaniel is Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Faculty Director of its Religious Freedom Clinic. A former trial and appellate litigator specializing in First Amendment cases, he earned his BA at Brigham Young University and graduated first in his class from UCLA School of Law. Part of the Kennedy Center's fall 2026 lecture series, "Religion, Identity, and Public Life."