Christian lawyers from around the world are to meet in London this month for a two-day conference to discuss the alarming rise in religious litigation.

In the past five months in the UK alone, lawyers have filed papers with the High Court in relation to a 16-year-old Christian's right to wear a chastity ring in school, for the rights of Christian Union members to openly share their faith in orthodox biblical teaching on campuses, and have taken the Lord Chancellor's department to court over a Christian magistrate's right to decline presiding over cases in which he was required to act against his religious conscience.

With the Sexual Orientation Regulations now legally in force, Christian lawyers believe they will increasingly be called to defend the human rights of Christians against homosexual groups wanting to exploit the regulations to the full.

From 17 to 18 May, the UK Litigation Academy, to be held at Quadrant House in Fleet Street, will hear speakers including Jordan Lorence, Jeffrey J Ventrella and Benjamin W Bull of the Alliance Defense Fund in the USA and UK lawyers Peter Duckworth, Paul Diamond, Mark Mullins and Mark Jones.

Event organiser, Andrea Minichiello Williams of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, said: "The academy offers a unique opportunity for delegates to have their questions answered about this growing area of law.

"Christian litigation has been a misunderstood notion for many years, but the academy will address the theological, jurisprudential, pragmatic and principled issues which underpin it."