Religious Legal Theory Symposium: Introduction, 2011 St. John's University School of Law
Religious Legal Theory Symposium: Introduction, Mark L. Movsesian
Faculty Publications
On November 5, 2010, the St. John's Center for Law and Religion proudly hosted the annual Religious Legal Theory Conference. The event, now in its second year and to be shared among different universities, brought together scholars from around the world to discuss this year's theme, "Religion in Law, Law in Religion." The Center chose this theme in order to include papers on traditional church-state issues—“Religion in Law"—as well as papers addressing the role that law plays in various religious traditions—“Law in Religion." In addition, because contemporary law and religion scholarship has moved beyond strictly domestic-law questions, and takes an …
Eagle Party, 2011 Boston University School of Law
Eagle Party, Jay D. Wexler
Faculty Scholarship
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is a straight shot up Havana Street off of I-70 just east of downtown Denver, past an Office Depot and the national headquarters of a company called Scott’s Liquid Gold. No signs point to the Refuge, which was created on the site of a chemical munitions facility back in the mid-1990s and is now home to a herd of bison, dozens of burrowing owls, and so many furry prairie dogs that a roadside sign warns oncoming traffic of their potential “XING.” The entrance is hardly inviting, although the officer working the booth there …
Noah's Curse: How Religion Often Conflates Status, Belief, And Conduct To Resist Antidiscrimination Norms, 2011 Yale Law School
Noah's Curse: How Religion Often Conflates Status, Belief, And Conduct To Resist Antidiscrimination Norms, William N. Eskridge Jr.
Georgia Law Review
Today, many devout Christian fundamentalists support
some state discrimination against gay people, on the
ground that full equality for gays would mean fewer
liberties for themselves. In its recent controversy with a
public law school, the Christian Legal Society argued that
it was entitled to state subsidies even though it violated
the school's antidiscrimination policy. The Society said it
excluded only "unrepentant homosexuals"-those gay
persons whose "immoral" conduct and degraded status
were directly linked to what the Society considered an
anti-Christian message.
Professor Eskridge demonstrates that the same clash
between equality for minorities and liberty for Christian
fundamentalists played out …
The Unavoidable Ecclesiastical Collision In Virginia, 2011 University of Richmond
The Unavoidable Ecclesiastical Collision In Virginia, Isaac A. Mcbeth, Jennifer R. Sykes
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
Section 5 7-9(A) of the Code of Virginia is a statute that purports to resolve church property disputes. There is, however, a significant amount of controversy as to whether the statute encroaches on the free exercise rights of hierarchical churches located in Virginia and enmeshes Virginia courts in the ecclesiastical thicket. Given the debate surrounding Section 57-9(A) and the controversial shift of several mainstream denominations in matters of substantive church doctrine, Virginia is a fertile breeding ground for church property disputes. Accordingly, the Commonwealth is in the midst of an ecclesiastical crisis. The impact of the crisis is evidenced by …
Liberté Religieuse En Europe: Discussing The French Concealment Act, 2011 American University Washington College of Law
Liberté Religieuse En Europe: Discussing The French Concealment Act, Robert E. Snyder
Human Rights Brief
No abstract provided.
A Standard For Salvation: Evaluating “Hybrid-Rights” Free-Exercise Claims, 2011 The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
A Standard For Salvation: Evaluating “Hybrid-Rights” Free-Exercise Claims, William J. Haun
Catholic University Law Review
No abstract provided.
Conference: Laïcité In Comparative Perspective, 2011 Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Conference: Laïcité In Comparative Perspective, Elisabeth Zoller, Marc O. Degirolami, Nina Crimm, Javier Martínez-Torrón
Articles by Maurer Faculty
No abstract provided.
Religious Freedom, Church-State Separation, & The Ministerial Exception, 2011 University of Missouri School of Law
Religious Freedom, Church-State Separation, & The Ministerial Exception, Carl H. Esbeck, Thomas C. Berg, Kimberlee Wood Colby, Richard W. Garnett
Faculty Publications
The Hosanna-Tabor case concerns the separation of church and state, an arrangement that is often misunderstood but is nevertheless a critical dimension of the freedom of religion protected by the First Amendment to our Constitution. For nearly a thousand years, the tradition of Western constitutionalism - the project of protecting political freedom by marking boundaries to the power of government - has been assisted by the principled commitment to religious liberty and to church-state separation, correctly understood. A community that respects - as ours does - both the importance of, and the distinction between, the spheres of political and religious …
Calculations Of Conscience: The Costs And Benefits Of Religious And Conscientious Freedom, 2011 Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
Calculations Of Conscience: The Costs And Benefits Of Religious And Conscientious Freedom, Howard Kislowicz, Richard Haigh, Adrienne Ng
Articles & Book Chapters
This article examines the Supreme Court of Canada’s cost-benefit analysis of freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by s. 2(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Alberta v. Hutterian Brethren of Wilson Colony. The article finds that while the Supreme Court’s reasoning was ultimately flawed, its use of cost-benefit analysis may be a positive development in the freedom of religion framework. The article also looks at the Court’s treatment of the freedom of conscience guarantee in relation to freedom of religion. The article suggests that this treatment may foreshadow a more uniform approach to the broader …
The Church Abuse Scandal: Were Crimes Against Humanity Committed?, 2011 Penn State Dickinson Law
The Church Abuse Scandal: Were Crimes Against Humanity Committed?, Dermot Groome
Faculty Scholarly Works
No abstract provided.
Religion And Race: The Ministerial Exception Reexamined, 2011 University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law
Religion And Race: The Ministerial Exception Reexamined, Ian C. Bartrum
Scholarly Works
This essay is a contribution to the Northwestern University Law Review's colloquy on the ministerial exception, convened following the Supreme Court's decision to hear arguments in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC.
The author takes the opportunity to consider the (sometimes) competing constitutional values of racial equality and religious freedom. The author offers historical, ethical, and doctrinal arguments for the position that race must trump religion as a constitutional value when the two come into conflict. With this in mind, the author suggests that the ministerial exception should not shield religious employers from anti discrimination suits brought on the basis of race.
The Unaviodable Ecclesiastical Collision In Virginia, 2011 University of Richmond
The Unaviodable Ecclesiastical Collision In Virginia, Isaac A. Mcbeth, Jennifer R. Sykes
Law Student Publications
Section 57-9(A) of the Code of Virginia is a statute that purports to resolve church property disputes. There is, however, a significant amount of controversy as to whether the statute encroaches on the free exercise rights of hierarchical churches located in Virginia and enmeshes Virginia courts in the ecclesiastical thicket. Given the debate surrounding Section 57-9(A) and the controversial shift of several mainstream denominations in matters of substantive church doctrine, Virginia is a fertile breeding ground for church property disputes. Accordingly, the Commonwealth is in the midst of an ecclesiastical crisis. The impact of the crisis is evidenced by the …
Pakistan's Failed Commitment: How Pakistan's Institutionalized Persecution Of The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Violates The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights, 2011 University of Richmond
Pakistan's Failed Commitment: How Pakistan's Institutionalized Persecution Of The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Violates The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights, Qasim Rashid
Law Student Publications
The United Nations (“UN”) adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”) in 1966 and officially implemented it in 1976 to ensure, among other guarantees, that no human is denied his or her right to equal voting, freedom of political association, due process of law, freedom of life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is among 166 nations that have signed and ratified the ICCPR. Since signing the ICCPR in 2008 and ratifying it in 2010, however, Pakistan has perpetuated state-sanctioned and violent persecution of religious minority groups such …
Religious And Political Virtues And Values In Congruence Or Conflict?: On Smith, Bob Jones University, And Christian Legal Society, 2011 Boston University School of Law
Religious And Political Virtues And Values In Congruence Or Conflict?: On Smith, Bob Jones University, And Christian Legal Society, Linda C. Mcclain
Faculty Scholarship
A basic tension in the U.S. constitutional and political order exists between two important ideas about the relationship between civil society and the state: (1) families, religious institutions, voluntary associations, and other groups are foundational sources, or “seedbeds,” of virtues and values that undergird constitutional democracy, and (2) these same institutions guard against governmental orthodoxy and overweening governmental power by generating their own distinctive virtues and values and by being independent locations of power and authority. The first idea envisions a comfortable congruence between civil society and government: the values and virtues - and habits and skills - cultivated in …
The Political (And Other) Safeguards Of Religious Freedom, 2011 Notre Dame Law School
The Political (And Other) Safeguards Of Religious Freedom, Richard W. Garnett
Journal Articles
This essay is a contribution to a symposium marking the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s still-controversial decision in Employment Division v. Smith. That decision, it is suggested, should not be read as reflecting or requiring hostility or indifference towards claims for legislatively enacted accommodations of religion. Smith is not an endorsement of religion-blind neutrality in constitutional law; instead, it assigns to politically accountable actors the difficult, but crucially important, task of accommodating those whose religious exercise would otherwise be burdened by generally applicable laws. The essay goes on to suggest several things that must be true of our law …
The Siren Song Of History: Originalism And The Religion Clauses, 2011 Georgetown University Law Center
The Siren Song Of History: Originalism And The Religion Clauses, Jeffrey Shulman
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
It is hard to foresee much happiness in the lot of those seeking the original meaning of the Religion Clauses. We may acknowledge the opacity of the historical record, the variety of viewpoints held by founders forgotten and non-forgotten, the humanness of the founders who did not always practice what they preached, even the basic indeterminancy of language; still, we are seduced by the siren song of interpretive certainty. But the search for greater clarity is not without its payoff. As the three books under review here illustrate, the more we look for answers in the historical record, the more …
The First Principles Of Standing: Privilege, System Justification, And The Predictable Incoherence Of Article Iii, 2011 University of Pittsburgh School of Law
The First Principles Of Standing: Privilege, System Justification, And The Predictable Incoherence Of Article Iii, Christian Sundquist
Articles
This Article examines the indeterminacy of standing doctrine by deconstructing recent desegregation, affirmative action, and racial profiling cases. This examination is an attempt to uncover the often unstated meta-principles that guide standing jurisprudence. The Article contends that the inherent indeterminacy of standing law can be understood as reflecting an unstated desire to protect racial and class privilege, which is accomplished through the dogma of individualism, equal opportunity (liberty), and “white innocence.” Relying on insights from System Justification Theory, a burgeoning field of social psychology, the Article argues that the seemingly incoherent results in racial standing cases can be understood as …
The Will Of The (Iraqi) People, 2011 University of PIttsburgh School of Law
The Will Of The (Iraqi) People, Haider Ala Hamoudi
Articles
While there has been much literature on the Iraqi constitution of both the scholarly and popular media variety, attention to contemporary Iraqi judicial decisions, and in particular those of the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, has been far less pronounced. In fact, my own search has not led me to a single published law review article on the subject. There is some irony to this – it is, after all, rather difficult to address the concept of constitutionalism in any state without reference to constitutional praxis, and the judiciary is, at the very least, an integral participant in that praxis. I …
Ancient Laws, Yet Strangely Modern: Biblical Contract And Tort Jurisprudence, 2011 University of Florida Levin College of Law
Ancient Laws, Yet Strangely Modern: Biblical Contract And Tort Jurisprudence, Richard H. Hiers
UF Law Faculty Publications
People generally, and even most biblical scholars, tend to view biblical law as, at best, a random patchwork of odd and antiquated commandments and rules. The present Article demonstrates that many biblical laws can be understood to have functioned in biblical time, in ways remarkably similar to various laws characterized in modern Anglo-American jurisprudence as contract and tort law. In particular, the Article points out that the biblical tort laws found in Exodus 21:18 through 22:17 are structured along lines closely parallel to concepts found in modern tort law jurisprudence. Many of the biblical laws considered here give expression to …
Confirming Piskei Din In Secular Court, 2010 Pepperdine University
Confirming Piskei Din In Secular Court, Michael Helfand
Michael A Helfand
No abstract provided.