Shaun De Freitas

B. Proc.; LL. B; LL. M; LL. D. (UFS)
Adjunct Professor

Email: shaun.defreitas@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Teaches Human Rights Law. Area of research focus: the right to freedom of religion as well as the intersection of religion, law and the state. Editor-in-Chief: Journal for Juridical Science [JJS] (2013-2018); member of the editorial board of the African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law [AYIHL] (2006-) as well as the International Journal for Religious Freedom [IJRF] (2011-); member of the Academic Board of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) and Academic Head of the Department of Public Law, University of the Free State (2019 -).

  • Teaching areas

    • Human Rights Theory

  • Research Expertise and Supervision

    • Freedom of Religion
    • The relationship between law, religion and the state

  • Book Chapters

    • “From Heinrich Bullinger to Samuel Rutherford: The Impact of Reformation Zurich on Seventeenth-Century Scottish Political Theory”, 853-879, in Heinrich Bullinger. Life – Thought – Influence, Zürich, Aug. 25-29, 2004, International Congress, Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575), Vol. II, Emidio Campie & Peter Opitz (Hrsg.), Theologischer Verlag Zürich, (2007). (co-authored)
    • Chapter in Book: “The Reformational Legacy of Theologico-political Federalism”, 49-68, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Federalism, Ann Ward & Lee Ward (eds.), (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing Co., July 2009). (co-authored)

  • Journal Articles and Proceedings

    • “Church Tribunals, Doctrinal Sanction and the South African Constitution”, Dutch-Reformed Theological Journal (NGTT), Part 43, Numbers 1 & 2, March and June (2002), 276-284. (co-authored)
    • “The Constitutional Dynamic of Civil Society and the Role of the Churches in South Africa”, Acta Academica, Vol. 37, Issue 2, (2005), 21-51.
    • “A critical retrospection regarding the legality of abortion in South Africa”, Journal for Juridical Science (JJS), Vol. 30, Issue 1, (2005), 118-145.
    • “Resistance, Rebellion and a Swiss Brutus?”, The Historical Journal, Vol. 48, 1(2005), 1-26, Cambridge University Press, UK. (co-authored)
    • “Mercenarism and Customary International Law?”, African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law (AYIHL), JUTA & Co. Ltd, (2006), 17-41. (co-authored)
    • “Humanity, the Unborn and the Intersection of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law”, African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law (AYIHL), JUTA & Co. Ltd, (2007), 39-59.
    • “Religion, legal scholarship and higher education: perspectives for the South African context”, Acta Academica, Vol. 39, Issue 3, (2007), 45-66.
    • “Civic Engagement, Belief and the Scholarly Aspect in Higher Education”, Journal for Christian Scholarship, Vol. 44, Issues 3&4, (2008), 1-25.
    • “The Relevance of Science for the protection of the Unborn”, Journal for Christian Scholarship, Vol. 45, Issues 1&2, (2009), 61-85.
    • “The Unborn and A, B, & C v. Ireland”, Case Note, Journal for Juridical Science (JJS), Vol. 35, Issue 1, (2010), 93-112. (co-authored)
    • “The Public University, Religion, and a Pluralist Platform for Communication”, Acta Theologica, (Supplementum 14 on Faith, Religion and the Public University), (2011), 31-48.
    • “Seeking Deliberation on the Unborn in International Law”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 14, 5(2011), 8-37. (co-authored)
    • “Freedom of conscience, medical practitioners and abortion in South Africa”, International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF), Vol. 4, Issue 1 – Advocacy and the Law, (2011), 75-85.
    • “Mottos, Prayer and the Public University”, South African Journal on Human Rights (SAJHR) 2(2012), 175-195.
    • “Freedom of Association as a Foundational Right: Religious Associations and Johan Daniel Strydom v Nederduitse Gereformeerde Gemeente Moreleta Park”, South African Journal on Human Rights (SAJHR) 2(2012), 258-272.
    • “A, B, & C v. Ireland: The Unborn and an Appreciation of the Margin of Appreciation”, Ave Maria International Law Journal  Vol. 2, 1(2012), 1-23.
    • “The South African Constitutional Court and the Unborn”, International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF), Vol. 5, 2(2012), 51-61.
    • “Religious Associational Rights and Sexual Conduct in South Africa: Towards the Furtherance of the Accommodation of a Diversity of Beliefs”, Brigham Young University Law Review, Vol. 2013, 3(2013), 421-456.
    • “Proselytism and the Right to Freedom from Improper Irreligious Influence: The Example of Public School Education”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol., 17, 3(2014), 868-887.
    • “Sexual Conduct, Appointments and the Slippery Slope of Harm and Economic Opportunity in the context of the Rights of Religious Associations”, Law and Religion in Africa – The quest for the common good in pluralistic societies; P. Coertzen, M. Christian Green and L. Hansen (eds.), African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, (Sun Media: Stellenbosch, 2015), 285-297.
    • “Doctrinal Sanction and the Protection of the Rights of Religious Associations: Ecclesia de Lange v The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of South Africa (726/13) [2014] ZASCA 151”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 19, (2016), 1-22.
    • “Transcending the Private-Public School Divide in the Context of the Right to Freedom of Religion in South Africa”, Chapter 19, in Religious Freedom and Religious Pluralism in Africa – Prospects and Limitations, P. Coertzen, M. Christian Green and L. D. Hansen (eds.), African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, (SUN PReSS: Stellenbosch, 2016), 325-341.
    • “Samuel Rutherford and the Protection of Religious Freedom in Early Seventeenth-Century Scotland”, Westminster Theological Journal (WTJ), Vol. 78, Fall(2016), 231-248, USA. (co-authored)
    • "The protection of public schools with a religious ethos in South Africa against the background of Zylberberg v. Sudbury Board of Education", Stellenbosch Law Review (SLR), Vol. 28, 2(2017), 424-443.
    • “Organisasie vir Godsdienste-Onderrig en Demokrasie v Laerskool Randhart et al: The Right to Freedom of Religion, Diversity and the Public School”, Journal for Juridical Science (JJS), Special Issue on Education Law, Vol. 43(2), 32-52. (co-authored)
    • “The Protection of Conscientious Objection against Euthanasia in Health Care”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 22, (2019), 1-32. (co-authored)
    • “A Critique of Ronald Dworkin’s Limitation of Passive Forms of Religious Expression in the Public Sphere”, Tijdschrift voor Recht en Religie (Journal for Law and Religion) (NTKR - Netherlands), 1(2019), 27-41.
    • “Law, Judges and the Exclusionary Nature of Inclusion” in Inclusion, Exclusion and Religious Freedom in Contemporary Australia, Michael Quinlan (ed.), (Shepherd Street Press, an imprint of Connor Court Publishing: Australia, 2021), 47-71.
    • “Religion, Culture and the Constitutionality of the ‘Avoidance of Doctrinal Entanglement’”, Stellenbosch Law Review (SLR), Vol. 32, 3(2021), 435-454.
    • “Freedom to agreed-upon religious upbringing of the child on dissolution of a marriage: A critique of Kotze v Kotze”, De Jure Law Journal, Vol. 54, (2021), 533-548.
    • “A Reply to Camilla Pickles’ Pregnancy Law in South Africa: Between Reproductive Autonomy and Foetal Interests”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 24, (2021), 1-28.
    • “Whose Equality? Freedom of Religious Associations and Gaum v Van Rensburg”, Journal of Law and Religion (JLR), Cambridge University Press, Vol. 38, 2(2023), 1-16.

  • Conference Papers

    • International Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief (ISFORB) Conference, 4-5 May 2023, Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, Belgium: “Prince v President, Cape Law Society and Others, the Right to Freedom of Religion and Aspirations towards Inclusion”.
    • The Southern African Law Teachers Conference, 11-15 July 2022, University of Fort Hare, East London: “An Appraisal of the Protection of the Right to Freedom of Religion in South Africa”.
    • African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) Conference on “Law, Religion, Health and Healing in Africa”, 17 May 2022, (Virtual Conference) “Associational Worship, Covid-19 and the Trivialisation of Religion”.
    • African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) Conference on “Law, Religion & the Family”, 17 May 2021, (Virtual Conference) “The Right to Freedom of Religion, Parenthood and the Best Interest of the Child: A critique of Kotze v Kotze”.
    • Third Annual Conference on Religious Liberty, 29 November 2019, School of Law, University of Notre Dame Australia: “Inclusivity as Exclusion and Related Implications for the Promotion of Diversity in the Judiciary’s Mystification of Religion”.
    • Freedom of Religion: Challenges and Opportunities Colloquium, 22 November 2019, School of Law, University of Southern Queensland: “Religion, Culture and the Constitutionality of the Doctrine of Entanglement for the South African Context”.
    • Inaugural Lecture, 21 August 2019, Faculty of Law, University of the Free State: “Law’s Mystification of Religion: Challenging the boundaries of the bizarre, the irrational and the supernatural”.
    • LARSN Conference on Law and Religion, 19 May 2017, Centrum voor Religie en Recht, Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam: “A critique of Ronald Dworkin’s relegation of religion against the background of the accommodation of ‘passive’ forms of religious expression in public spaces”.
    • Oxford Symposium on History, Human Rights & Law, 10-12 August 2015, Pembroke College, University of Oxford: “Diversity in the Maintenance of a Religious Ethos in a Public School against the Background of the Exclusion of Minority Beliefs”.
    • The Southern African Law Teachers Conference, 6-8 July 2015, Varsity College, Durban: “Doctrinal Sanction and the Protection of the Rights of Religious Associations: Ecclesia de Lange v The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (726/13) [2014] ZASCA 151”.
    • Third Annual African Law and Religion Conference, 17-19 May 2015, University of Namibia, Windhoek: “Transcending the Private-Public School Divide in the Context of the Right to Freedom of Religion in South Africa”.
    • Workshop on Religious Freedom in Schools: What Works and What Does Not Work, 26 November 2014, Birchwood Hotel & Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa (Presented by the Commission for the Promotion & Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, and the Council for the Protection and Promotion of Religious Rights and Freedoms): “Religious Education in Schools and South Africa’s National Policy on Religious Education in Schools”.
    • The Second Annual African Law and Religion Conference, 26-28 May 2014, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch: “The Common Good also in Religious Interpretations and the Furtherance of Diversity”.
    • The International Consultation on Religious Freedom Research, 16-18 March 2013, International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF – Bonn, Cape Town and Colombo), Istanbul, Turkey: “Cautioning against Improper Proselytism in Teaching in South African Public Schools”.
    • The Nineteenth Annual International Law and Religious Symposium on Religion, Democracy, and Civil Society, 7-9 October 2012, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA: “Religious associational rights and sexual conduct: the accommodation of diversity of persuasion”.
    • Colloquium on Recognising the Rights and Freedoms of Religions in a Pluralistic, Secular South African Society, 27 September 2012, Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein: “The Right to Freedom of Religion in South Africa and the Challenge of Associational Rights”.
    • Conference on Law and Religion in South Africa, 20-23 September 2011, Faculty of Theology, University of Stellenbosch: “Freedom of Association as a Constitutional Principle in Employment by Religious Associations: Johan Daniel Strydom v Nederduitse Gereformeerde Gemeente Moreleta Park”.
    • The Symposium on Religious Rights and Freedoms, 15-16 September 2011, Constitutional Court, South Africa: “Mottos, Prayer and the Public University”.  Also participated as a panel discussant on “Religious Rights and Equality” at the same Symposium.
    • The Southern African Law Teachers Conference, 17-20 January 2011, University of Stellenbosch: “Liberty of Conscience, Medical Practitioners and Abortion in South Africa”.
    • Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) Conference, 5-7 January 2011, New Orleans, USA: “Samuel Rutherford and the Magistrate’s Duty towards the Furtherance and Maintenance of Religion”. (paper delivered in absentia and co-authored with AWG Raath)
    • Conference on Faith, Religion and the Public University, 23-24 March 2010, University of the Free State: “The Public University, Religion and a Pluralist Platform for Communication”.
    • The Southern African Law Teachers Conference, 13-16 July 2009, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg: “Furthering the Interplay between International Humanitarian Law and Customary International Law”.
    • International Colloquium on the Teaching of Law in Africa, 26-27 March 2008, University of Namibia, Windhoek: “Belief as meta-legal discipline in legal education”.
    • The Southern African Law Teachers Conference, 21-24 January 2008, University of Pretoria: “Philosophy of Law as an imperative in the dissemination of the law at undergraduate level”.
    • Second International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Granada, Spain, 10-13 July 2007: “The Social Sciences in the context of Civic Engagement, Higher Education and Religion in South Africa”.
    • American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference, Philadelphia, USA, 1-3 September 2006:  “Benevolence, Covenant and the Ciceronian Spirit in Early Puritan Political Theory” (co-authored with AWG Raath).
    • The Southern African Law Teachers Conference, 3-6 July 2006, University of Cape Town: “Critical perspectives on the relationship between religion and legal scholarship in South Africa”.
    • Colloquium for Legal Ethics 2006:  The Churches and the Legality of Abortion in South Africa, 17-18 March 2006, University of the Free State: “Religion, Legal Scholarship and a Christian Response: Implications of the contemporary dissemination of abortion jurisprudence unveiled”.
    • The Southern African Law Teachers Conference, 17-20 January 2005, University of the Free State: “‘Christian Lawyers Association of South Africa v Minister of Health’: A critical retrospection regarding abortion and the judiciary in South Africa”.
    • Church and State Conference, 24-26 October 2001, University of Stellenbosch: “Church Tribunals, Doctrinal Sanctioning and the South African Constitution” (co-authored with AWG Raath).
    • Nuffield International Conference on the Legal Protection of Human Rights in Southern Africa, University of the Free State, April 2001: “The Right to Life”.