Religion Law Commons^™

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’S ‘Confrontation’: A Reassessment, Marshall J. Breger

Scholarly Articles

Responding to a recent symposium on Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's 1964 article on the propriety of Christian-Jewish dialogue, this essay begins by assessing several arguments put forth by Soloveitchik. These include the incommensurability of religious faith, the risks interreligious dialogue presents to the Jewish minority, the dangers of syncretism, and the ability to separate neatly the sacred and the profane. The article then proceeds to discuss the nature of Catholic-Jewish today, and concludes with thoughts about the future of Christian and Jewish interaction.

Clergy, Sex, And The American Way, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

Part I of the Article discusses the two hundred year history of the Roman Catholic Church in America. Internationally the Church has over a billion members, but the American Church has distinctive characteristics that have allowed it to prosper and serve as a model for other nations.

Growth, involvement, wealth, and a nexus between being American and being Catholic evidenced by cooperation with civil authorities are among the characteristics. The Charter is now a marker in that history. Part II examines what happened to bring about the crisis of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. In spite of the …

Catholic Social Teaching And Its Impact On American Law: Observations On The Past And Reflections On The Future, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

In recent years, greater attention has been paid to the influence of Catholic social teaching as a contributor to legal debates in American society. As it has developed, Catholic social teaching clearly envisions a role for the Church to play in shaping society. The interplay between Catholic social teaching and American law is a fascinating, complex, and, at times, tense relationship. That relationship is the subject of these observations and reflections. The first part of this discussion explores how leading Church documents define the proper scope of influence for Catholic social teaching. After this brief background, the discussion will turn …

Tolstoy And The Christian Lawyer, Raymond B. Marcin

Scholarly Articles

It may be that there is no literate person alive in the Western world who has not heard of Count Lyof Nikolaevich Tolstoi (Tolstoy), author of what some have called the quintessential novel among all recorded literature: War and Peace. It may also be that most literate persons are aware that Tolstoy was a moralist of some renown-of great renown in his day-whose pacifist thought presaged and influenced Mohandas K. Gandhi, the great and saintly Mahatma of India. One doubts, however, whether many are aware that Tolstoy penned what is perhaps the most devastating attack in all religious literature on …

The City Of Babel: Yesterday And Today, Raymond B. Marcin

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No abstract provided.

Old Testament Justice: The Mirror Of Justice Lecture, Clifford S. Fishman

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Note, Kdm Ex Rel. Wjm V. Reedsport School District, Kevin C. Walsh

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No abstract provided.

Emerging Trends In Religious Liberty, Robert A. Destro

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From a religious liberty perspective, the October 2000 term of the United States Supreme Court was relatively uneventful. The Court decided only one case raising significant religious liberty concerns, Good News Club v. Milford Central School. Good News Club adds little to the First Amendment case law already on the books, but it does provide an excellent opportunity to highlight the growing need for well-informed scholars, both American and foreign, to examine the relationships between and among clauses of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Religious Liberty And The Politics Of Judicial Review, Robert A. Destro

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No abstract provided.

The Reawakening Of Marriage, Raymond C. O'Brien

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This Article contends that the convergent societal pressures from the same-sex marriage debate, the effect of the welfare legislation to define family, and the allowance of greater religious involvement in marriage preparation and divorce will precipitate a reawakening of marriage. The emergence of covenant marriage, the public debate over no-fault divorce, the resurgence of fault grounds, and Florida's enactment of its Marriage Preparation and Preservation Act are ramifications of this reawakening. Public concern over the frequency of divorce and the resulting adverse consequences for children and adults, indicate a change in attitude concerning marriage, divorce and family. Covenant marriage is …

The Bishops' New Statement On Abortion: Why It Isn't Accomplishing Much Of Anything., Raymond B. Marcin

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Death, Dying, And Burial: Approaches In Religious Law And Practice, William J. Wagner

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Régime Des Cultes Et Liberté Religieuse En Europe: Relectures Américaines, Robert A. Destro

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Catholic Judges In Capital Cases, John H. Garvey

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Single Gender Marriage: A Religious Perspective, Raymond C. O'Brien

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This Article will offer a religious perspective which is a response to the legal arguments in favor of single-gender marriage. Three arguments will be made: first, that the religious perspective identified and associated with the Roman Catholic tradition offers a fundamental basis for family life that has been proven to be beneficial to society as a whole, and to the message of revelation consigned to Christians by Jesus Christ; second, inasmuch as the religious perspective is being contradicted by judicial interpretation rather than through legislative process, a tyranny of judicial activism has and is subverting a public policy consensus; and …

Religious Freedom In The Courts: The 1996–1997 Term Of The United States Supreme Court, Robert A. Destro

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No abstract provided.

What’S Next After Separationism?, John H. Garvey

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Professor Carl Esbeck argues in his article' that the traditional theory of separationism is giving way to a theory of equality (or more accurately, protection for religious choice). The argument is very astute, and I agree with much of it. I will give my own perspective on the same two points.

On Doing Justice And Walking Humbly With God: Catholic Social Thought On Law As A Tool For Achieving Justice, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

The text of the 1996 “Mirror of Justice” lecture at the Catholic University of America, this article explores the potential - and the limitations - of law as a tool for achieving justice. Drawing heavily on principles of Catholic social thought, it also considers the various ways in which “justice” may be defined.

The Real Reason For Religious Freedom, John H. Garvey

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The Architecture Of The Establishment Clause, John H. Garvey

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‘By What Right?’: The Sources And Limits Of Federal Court And Congressional Jurisdiction Over Matters ‘Touching’ Religion, Robert A. Destro

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This Article examines the extent to which the Court's power "to say what the law is"" on the sensitive subject of religious liberty has been, and continues to be, constrained by the lawmaking powers of Congress and the states. Though the topic is obviously an important one, it has not been examined systematically. Most of the case law and commentary focuses on the limits which the Constitution imposes, or should be held to impose, on the powers of Congress and the states. The Court's power to define those limits appears, by contrast, to be one of those "fundamental assumptions [that] …

Developments In Liability Theories And Defenses, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

Litigators with experience in the field of religious liberty believe that courts do not seem to take religious liberty claims and defenses very seriously; however, it is difficult to know why. To be sure, the anecdotal evidence is certainly there, not only in the reported cases, but also in the actual courtroom experiences of those who attempt to raise religious liberty claims and defenses. In one Texas tort case, a trial court judge stated that she would not permit the Church "to hide behind the first amendment;" in a Maryland case a number of years ago, I was asked by …

All Things Being Equal, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

I will discuss the effect that the proposed Religious Equality Amendment might have on existing First Amendment law.

An Anti-Liberal Argument For Religious Freedom, John H. Garvey

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I want to consider why we protect freedom of religion as a constitutional right. The commonsense answer, which I think hits close to the truth, is that we protect it because religion is important. I will try to show that this answer is better than the alternatives which liberal theory offers.

The Structure Of The Religious Liberty Guarantee, Robert A. Destro

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Aba And Aals Accreditation: What’S ‘Religious Diversity’ Got To Do With It?, Robert A. Destro

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The subject of this essay is whether, and under what circumstances, the religious commitment of an institution should become an issue in the law school accreditation process. Originally presented at the March 1994, Marquette University Conference on Religiously Affiliated Law Schools, this essay begins with the commonly shared assumption that some tensions do exist between religiously affiliated law schools and their accrediting agencies, the American Bar Association (ABA), and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). For present purposes, the task will be to differentiate those tensions that arise from the accreditation process itself, and those that arise from the …

Hauerwas On Religious Freedom, John H. Garvey

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The Pending Gauntlet To Free Exercise: Mandating That Clergy Report Child Abuse, Raymond C. O'Brien, Michael T. Flannery

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This Article analyzes the conflict between statutory child abuse reporting requirements for clergy and the clergy-communicant privilege for confidential communications made within specific religious practices. The constitutional conflict arises between the state's interest in the protection of children by requiring that suspected cases of abuse be reported and the clergy's interest in the free exercise of their religious tenets by maintaining confidentiality. This analysis recognizes that state legislators have broadened reporting requirements to include more and more classes of people in an effort to arrest the tremendous increase in child abuse in the past decade. As a result, the shield …

Churches And The Free Exercise Of Religion, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

The first amendment says that "Congress shall make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise" of religion. This rule is most often used to protect individuals (religious speakers, pacifists, people claiming public benefits). This is hardly surprising. We naturally think that free exercise is an individual right, as we think that religion is a personal and private affair. I want to dispute (more modestly, to qualify) that view. I will argue that we should (sometimes) see the freedom of religion as a group right, which can conflict with, and take precedence over, individual rights.

Developments In The Law Of Church-State Relations: The 1987 Term Of The United States Supreme Court, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.