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The inter-play and relationship between religions and politics is a topic of immense contemporary significance. In many parts of the world, religion has a profound influence on the conduct of governments, on political dialogue, and on a range of issues which are the subject of often heated and violent controversy. It is necessary only to mention Northern Ireland, religious regimes in the Middle East, so-called fundamentalist movements of several kinds, the survival of the Christian Churches within Communist states, the role of Catholicism in Latin America, bitter debates about abortion and sexuality, and the so-called religious right in the United States. There have been states which have defined themselves as theocracies and others which have deliberately denied a place to religious belief and religious activity. Others allow religions but do not accord them any position in the political system.

The inter-action of religion and politics is a well-nigh constant feature of human history. It is a central strand in both religious and political thought – the two cannot indeed often be easily separated. Law and religion are also often intimately associated; in some societies indeed they have been and are more or less the same thing. The central objective of the Conference is to tackle these problems on a broad comparative scale, dealing with the subject from the perspective of all major religions and from different types of society.