SMCE3011 F26 Law & Religion

• Duration: Six weeks
• Day of the Week:
• Dates: September 16th to October 21st, 2026
• Location: Online Via Zoom
• Cost: $150 (includes HST) **15% discount available to alumni of the University of St. Michael’s College and seniors 65+
• Level of Interfaith Dialogue (for learners taking the Diploma in Interfaith Dialogue): Dialogue of Theological Exchange

Course Overview

How do religious traditions shape our understanding of law, justice, and public life?

This course invites you into a dynamic exploration of how faith and legal systems intersect across cultures and histories. Through case studies and comparative analysis, you will examine how religious worldviews inform ethical decision-making, governance, and social responsibility. Engaging contemporary debates around pluralism and coexistence, this course equips you to participate thoughtfully and confidently in interfaith conversations about law and justice.

Throughout this course you will be discussing a myriad of legal rites, traditions and laws context by the scenarios that they are employed. Specifically, we will be examining legal traditions from an interfaith perspective that will include but not be limited to: the ten commandments, the greatest commandment, the kayanerenkowa and contrasting state law and religious law.

This course is an elective within the Diploma in Interfaith Dialogue, and is open to all learners.

Method of Instruction

This course is delivered online via Zoom, and uses both didactic instruction and interactive learning modalities.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

Identify the difference between laws and norms in religious texts.

Discuss the validity and backing of laws past dogmatic foundations

Demonstrate and agonistic contention with laws and the tension they bring.

Compare and contrast legal traditions

Justify the use of religious laws applied to relevant scenarios for interfaith conflict and involvement.

About the Instructor

Kayne Rivers

Kayne Rivers is a Toronto born and raised PhD candidate at York university in the Social political thought program. His focuses are Democratic theory and Agonist thought. He earned a Bachelors of Arts in Political science at the University of Toronto and a Masters of Peace and Conflict at the University of Waterloo. He has had the pleasure of assisting teaching in various legal theory classes over the past four years.

Rivers’ work specializes in Scarborough-based politics, Agonist theory and the colombian civil war. His teaching
philosophy orbits around healthy discussion, agonistic deliberation and creative methods
when it comes to interrogating theory. He also strives to cultivate a fun environment that
stimulates and encourages thought.

Questions?

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