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Full-Text Articles in Law

Religious Issues In Child Welfare Cases, Rebecca Stahl Jan 2019

Religious Issues In Child Welfare Cases, Rebecca Stahl

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No abstract provided.


The Reality Of Moral Imperatives In Liberal Religion, Howard Lesnick Jan 2013

The Reality Of Moral Imperatives In Liberal Religion, Howard Lesnick

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This paper uses a classic one-liner attributed to Dostoyoevski’s Ivan Karamozov, "Without God everything is permitted," to explore some differences between what I term traditional and liberal religion. The expansive connotations and implications of Ivan’s words are grounded in the historic association of wrongfulness and punishment, and in a reaction against the late modern challenge to the inexorability of that association, whether in liberal religion or in secular moral thought. The paper argues that, with its full import understood, Ivan’s claim begs critical questions of the meaning and source of compulsion and choice, and of knowledge and belief regarding the …


To Drink The Cup Of Fury: Funeral Picketing, Public Discourse And The First Amendment, Steven J. Heyman Nov 2012

To Drink The Cup Of Fury: Funeral Picketing, Public Discourse And The First Amendment, Steven J. Heyman

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In Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court held that the Westboro Baptist Church had a First Amendment right to picket the funeral of a young soldier killed in Iraq. This decision reinforces a position that has become increasingly prevalent in First Amendment jurisprudence – the view that the state may not regulate public discourse to protect individuals from emotional or dignitary injury. In this Article, I argue that this view is deeply problematic for two reasons: it unduly sacrifices the value of individual personality and it tends to undermine the sphere of public discourse itself by negating the practical and …


Veiled Women In The American Courtroom: Is The Niqab A Barrier To Justice?, Anita L. Allen Sep 2010

Veiled Women In The American Courtroom: Is The Niqab A Barrier To Justice?, Anita L. Allen

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U.S. courts and policy-makers have recently authorized laws and practices that interfere with the wearing of religious modesty attire that conceals the hair or face in contexts such as courtroom testimony or driver’s license issuance. For example, in response to a court’s dismissal of the case of a woman who refused to remove her niqab in the courtroom, the Michigan Supreme Court decided that judges can exercise “reasonable control” over the appearance of courtroom parties. But what degree of control over religious attire is reasonable? The Constitution will not allow a blanket niqab removal policy based on any of the …


Undressing Difference: The Hijab In The West, Anita L. Allen Jan 2008

Undressing Difference: The Hijab In The West, Anita L. Allen

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On March 15, 2006, French President Jacques Chirac signed into law an amendment to his country’s education statute, banning the wearing of "conspicuous" signs of religious affiliation in public schools. Prohibited items included "a large cross, a veil, or skullcap." The ban was expressly introduced by lawmakers as an application of the principle of government neutrality, "du principe de laïcité." Opponents of the law viewed it primarily as an intolerant assault against the hijab, a head and neck wrap worn by many Muslim women around the world. In Politics of the Veil, Professor Joan Wallach Scott …


The Possibility Of A Secular First Amendment, Chad Flanders Jan 2008

The Possibility Of A Secular First Amendment, Chad Flanders

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In a series of articles and now in their new book, Religious Freedom and the Constitution, Lawrence Sager and Christopher Eisgruber (E&S) defend an interpretation of the religion clauses of the First Amendment which, they write, "denies that religion is a constitutional anomaly, a category of human experience that demands special benefits and/or necessitates special restrictions." While not a book review in the traditional sense, my essay takes E&S's defense of a secular First Amendment as a starting point and asks, how did we get to the point where an interpretation of the First Amendment which denies that religion is …


'The Devil Is In The Details': A Continued Dissection Of The Constitutionality Of Faith-Based Prison Units, Lynn S. Branham Jan 2008

'The Devil Is In The Details': A Continued Dissection Of The Constitutionality Of Faith-Based Prison Units, Lynn S. Branham

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Faith-based prison units can afford prisoners who choose to be housed in them the concentrated and sustained spiritual nourishment that they believe they need to grow spiritually or in other ways. But critics claim that these units abridge the Establishment Clause. This Article debunks two of the arguments most frequently asserted against the constitutionality of faith-based units. The first is that prisoners cannot exercise a "true private choice" in the "inherently coercive" environment of a prison to live in such a unit. But court decisions confirm that confinement does not abnegate the voluntariness of other decisions made by prisoners, such …


"Free" Religion And "Captive" Schools: Protestants, Catholics, And Education, 1945-1965, Sarah Barringer Gordon Jan 2007

"Free" Religion And "Captive" Schools: Protestants, Catholics, And Education, 1945-1965, Sarah Barringer Gordon

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No abstract provided.


The Consciousness Of Religion And The Consciousness Of Law, With Some Implications For Dialogue, Howard Lesnick May 2006

The Consciousness Of Religion And The Consciousness Of Law, With Some Implications For Dialogue, Howard Lesnick

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No abstract provided.


Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others: The Rehnquist Court And "Majority Religion", Garrett Epps Jan 2006

Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others: The Rehnquist Court And "Majority Religion", Garrett Epps

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The Rehnquist court began a revolution in the law of church and state that the Roberts Court may continue. This article analyzes Justice Scalia's rhetoric in dissents in Lee v. Weisman and McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union to suggest that the aim of the revolution, having been first enunciated as "equality" for religions values and expression, has now shifted to transformation of the Establishment Clause dialogue to permit a favored place in public life for "majority religion."


The Protestant Revolutions And Western Law, William Ewald Jan 2005

The Protestant Revolutions And Western Law, William Ewald

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No abstract provided.


No Other Gods: Answering The Call Of Faith In The Practice Of Law, Howard Lesnick Jan 2003

No Other Gods: Answering The Call Of Faith In The Practice Of Law, Howard Lesnick

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No abstract provided.


"Charitable Choice" And The Accountability Challenge: Reconciling The Need For Regulation With The First Amendment Religion Clauses, Michele E. Gilman Apr 2002

"Charitable Choice" And The Accountability Challenge: Reconciling The Need For Regulation With The First Amendment Religion Clauses, Michele E. Gilman

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Since 1996, Congress has included charitable choice provisions in several social welfare statutes to encourage the participation of religious organizations in administering government-funded social service programs. In this Article, Professor Michele Gilman discusses the lack of accountability to beneficiaries that occurs when public funds are given to religious organizations for secular programs, and she proposes solutions to this problem. As Professor Gilman explains, doctrines that constrain abuses of governmental discretion, such as administrative procedure acts and constitutional restrictions, generally do not apply when public programs are privatized. Moreover, religious organizations are often insulated from public scrutiny because of First Amendment …


The Duty To Rescue And The Exodus Meta-Narrative Of Jewish Law, Sheldon Nahmod Feb 1999

The Duty To Rescue And The Exodus Meta-Narrative Of Jewish Law, Sheldon Nahmod

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No abstract provided.


The Religious Lawyer In A Pluralist Society, Howard Lesnick Jan 1998

The Religious Lawyer In A Pluralist Society, Howard Lesnick

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No abstract provided.


Religious Particularity, Religious Metaphor, And Religious Truth: Listening To Tom Shaffer, Howard Lesnick Jan 1995

Religious Particularity, Religious Metaphor, And Religious Truth: Listening To Tom Shaffer, Howard Lesnick

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No abstract provided.


A Tale Of Two Religions: A Contractual Approach To Religion As A Factor In Child Custody And Visitation Disputes, Rebecca Korzec Jul 1991

A Tale Of Two Religions: A Contractual Approach To Religion As A Factor In Child Custody And Visitation Disputes, Rebecca Korzec

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This article focuses on the role of religious conflict between parents in determining child custody and visitation disputes. It suggests a framework for reconciling parental control over religious observance and training with the state's duty to protect the child's best interests. First, it examines the history of English and American child custody law and analyzes modern custody cases in which religion is a factor. Next, it addresses the alarming recent attempt by courts to resolve religious disputes with a shared custody approach, awarding 'spiritual custody' to one parent and 'physical custody' to the other. Finally, this article proposes a contractual …


Alive And Well: Religious Freedom In The Welfare State, Anita L. Allen Jan 1990

Alive And Well: Religious Freedom In The Welfare State, Anita L. Allen

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No abstract provided.