Program Overview

Program Overview

The Evangelical Institute for Canon Law at the University of Potsdam offers a comprehensive program in church law and religious constitutional law. The program is designed for students of law, social and political sciences, history, and theology.

Course Offerings

The program includes a range of courses, such as:

• Current issues and developments in religious constitutional law
• Church Constitutional Law - History and Current Developments
• State, society, religion. Faith and Law in German Religious Constitutional Law (State, Society, Religion: Faith and Law in German Religious Constitutional Law)
• Basics of the Constitutional Law of the Evangelical Church (Foundations of the Constitutional Law of the Evangelical Church)

Seminar details

The seminar "Current Questions and Developments in Religious Constitutional Law" is offered in the summer semester of 2025. The seminar is led by MR Prof. Dr. Norbert Janz and former President Ulrich Seelemann. The course is designed for students of law, social and political sciences, history, and theology.

###Topics The seminar covers a range of topics, including:

• Legal protection of holidays using the example of the Berlin regulation in the area of tension between individual religious freedom, state neutrality and collective relaxation (Legal Protection of Holidays: The Berlin Example in the Context of Individual Religious Freedom, State Neutrality, and Collective Relaxation)
• The right to the undisturbed exercise of charitable activity as an expression of religiously based charity: protecting the market access of religious communities in the social and health market? (The Right to Unimpeded Exercise of Charitable Activities as an Expression of Religiously Motivated Neighborly Love: Protection of Market Access for Religious Communities in the Social and Health Market?)
• Challengeability of elections of religious communities before secular courts (Challenging Elections of Religious Communities before Secular Courts)
• Pluralism of Committees and New Challenges - On the Representation of Religious-Worldview Diversity in the Organs of Broadcasting Supervision
• Copyright protection, property guarantee, monument protection and the right of self-determination of religious communities - reconstruction of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in the legal dispute (Copyright Protection, Property Guarantee, Monument Protection, and Self-Determination Rights of Religious Communities - The Reconstruction of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in the Legal Dispute)
• Religious education for all religions in Lower Saxony: a new perspective for schools or a violation of Article 7 Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law? (A Religious Education for All Religions in Lower Saxony: A New Perspective for Schools or a Violation of Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the German Constitution?)
• Term and meaning of the “confessional school” in Article 7 Paragraph 5 GG (Concept and Significance of the “Confessional School” in Article 7, Paragraph 5 of the German Constitution)
• "Life skills lessons" in the Bundeswehr by military chaplains: Consequence of state religious neutrality or a violation of it? (Life Skills Education in the Bundeswehr by Military Chaplains: Consequence of State Religious Neutrality or Violation Thereof?)
• Public Safety and Order as a Limitation of Religious Freedom
• Using the Example of Disrupting School Peace
• Using the Example of the Niqab Ban while Driving a Vehicle

##Assessment The assessment for the seminar includes the preparation of a written paper and its defense and discussion in the seminar group, as well as participation in the discussion of other participants' papers.

Target Audience

The program is designed for students of law, social and political sciences, history, and theology. It is also open to interested students from other universities, including the European University Viadrina, the Free University of Berlin, and the Humboldt University of Berlin.