Asma T. Uddin

Asma T. Uddin is a professor, author, and lawyer specializing in religious liberty. Her recent major publications include When Islam Is Not a Religion (2019); The Politics of Vulnerability (2021); and “Religious Liberty Interest Convergence” in the William & Mary Law Review (2022).

Uddin is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America, where she teaches Family Law; International Human Rights; and Gender, Law, and Policy. After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Uddin served as Legal Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. While there, she helped litigate religious liberty cases in both international and domestic tribunals, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Uddin is also a Fellow with the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program in Washington, D.C., where she created a data-based approach to reducing Muslim-Christian polarization in the U.S. Her work on depolarization has been supported by the Fetzer Institute, Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Templeton Religion Trust.

Uddin served two terms as an expert advisor on religious liberty to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), was a term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has held fellowships at Harvard, Georgetown, and UCLA, and currently sits on the Board of Advisors for Notre Dame University’s Religious Liberty Initiative.

Uddin’s extensive public writing on religion, politics, and polarization have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, U.S News & World Report, Al Jazeera America, Flipboard, Refinery29, Teen Vogue, and numerous other outlets. Uddin has also advised media projects on American Muslims, including as Executive Producer for the Emmy and Peabody nominated docu-series, The Secret Life of Muslims.