Keeping God in Schools in Mongolia

The following blog post is written by 1L student staff member Angela Kim.

One of the reasons I came to Regent Law School was because I wanted to truly find out my calling in the legal field. I knew that litigation was definitely off my list because of my introvert characteristics and also the fact that I am not comfortable speaking in front of people. However, I knew that the law was not just about litigation, and thus I knew that Regent Law would be the best place to find my calling. After hearing about the Center for Global Justice Student Staff, I knew I wanted to join, and I waited in anticipation for the application to come out. During the winter break, the one thing I was looking forward to was getting accepted into the Center for Global Justice Student Staff because on the Student Staff I would have the opportunity to learn from the upperclassmen and Ernie how to become a helping hand to the world, specifically dealing with the rule of law, human trafficking, and religious freedom.

By the grace of God, I was accepted as a student staff member and have been given the great opportunity to work on a project with one of our sister schools, Handong International Law School (HILS), located in Pohang, South Korea. This being our first time actually working on a project together, we hope that the two schools will be able to collaborate and truly make a difference all over the world. The way we plan to work together is that during HILS’s winter break, the students there will intern in nearby Asian countries to provide legal aid and any other assistance necessary. When their winter break ends, there will be times when their projects will be left unfinished. Therefore, the Center for Global Justice has decided to continue on those projects until the students at HILS are on their break and then continue on from where the Center has left off. This will be a great way to collaborate, not just with continuing the projects without any hiatus, but also bringing together the two law schools that believe that “law is not just a profession, but a calling.”

Currently, we are working on a project dealing with restrictions on speaking about God in schools in Mongolia. We are mainly focusing on the limitation/prohibition on “proselytizing”, which means, “to try to persuade people to join a religion, cause, or group” (Merriam-Webster, 1828).  The main issue seems to be that the government places limitations/restrictions on proselytizing, even in private Christian schools. Our project will focus on how this limitation/prohibition violates the right of religious freedom granted by the Mongolia Constitution, as well as international human rights law. Our research will thus focus on the laws of other countries as well as any international treaties that Mongolia is a party, examining whether Mongolia’s restriction on proselytizing violates their treaty commitments. This seems to be a gray area because the Mongolia Constitution does not specifically prohibit proselytizing, but the general practice seems to be that there is prohibition of proselytizing and this does seems to be in conflict with the religious freedom granted in the Constitution.

As we continue to work on the project, we hope to find examples from other countries, specifically those countries that Mongolia seems to have similarities with, and try to make legal arguments against this prohibition, especially in Christian schools.