Religion Law Commons^™

The Pulpit Initiative: Fighting To Return America's First Freedom To Her Churches, David Abbondanza

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This Comment looks at the foundational principles of the Pulpit Initiative and examines first, whence the need for a change came, and second, whether it is likely to come about. Part 11 examines the historical developments that resulted in the 1954 amendment banning pastors from speaking on candidates from the pulpit. Part III focuses on the ADF and its rationale for bringing about change along with the constitutional reasoning behind its arguments. Part IV provides some concluding remarks surrounding this initiative's likely future and whether the ADF and its associated pastors stand a chance of succeeding against the United States …

Protecting Neglect: The Constitutionality Of Spiritual Healing Exemptions To Child Protection Statutes, Scott St. Amand

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This comment examines the historically uncertain balance between an individual's right to freely exercise his religious beliefs and the state's countervailing interest to protect the welfare of its youngest and most vulnerable citizens. By detailing the history of this fragile relationship through its statutory and judicial renderings, this comment will illustrate that spiritual exemptions to child protection statutes violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and conflict directly with multiple landmark Supreme Court decisions.

The Pulpit Initiative: Fighting To Return America's First Freedom To Her Churches, David Abbondanza

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This Comment looks at the foundational principles of the Pulpit Initiative and examines first, whence the need for a change came, and second, whether it is likely to come about. Part 11 examines the historical developments that resulted in the 1954 amendment banning pastors from speaking on candidates from the pulpit. Part III focuses on the ADF and its rationale for bringing about change along with the constitutional reasoning behind its arguments. Part IV provides some concluding remarks surrounding this initiative's likely future and whether the ADF and its associated pastors stand a chance of succeeding against the United States …

Biblical Interpretation, Constitutional Interpretation And Ignoring Text, Henry L. Chambers, Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

Much is made of how to interpret the Constitution. The Constitution is foundational and its law is the highest law in the land. Consequently, interpreting the Constitution correctly is important, not only so that the Constitution's words are honored but so that its ideals are honored. Similar desires accompany the interpretation of other important documents. Indeed, how a sacred text like the Bible is or can be interpreted may shed light upon how the Constitution could be or should be interpreted. This brief Essay considers how a particular vision of Christian biblical interpretation can inform constitutional interpretation. This Essay does …

Creation, Liberation, And Property: Virtues And Values Toward A Theocentric Earth Ethic, W. Wade Berryhill

Law Faculty Publications

Religion continues to play a significant role in shaping our attitudes toward nature.2 Time-honored principles of stewardship of the land demand that we owe a duty to future generations to allow them to inherit a healthy environment. Essential to this obligation is spiritual faith, not the trendy brand of secular humanism espoused by ecodogmatists seeking environmental justice through means unmoored from centuries-old principles of creation. What secular humanism ignores-and what religious traditions the world over have recognizedis the reality that we are a "creative expression of the earth's own evolution."3 Thus, in light of our duty to posterity, mere emphasis …

Islamic Law Vs. Patriarchal Systems: A Woman's Perspective, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

It is best to understand Islam through its core concept,· adalah (justice). This is a complex concept that thoroughly permeates the Islamic worldview. It is not reducible to retributive justice, because it is a higher-order concept whose backbone is the Mizaan (balance and harmony).

Separating Church And State: Roger Williams And Religious Liberty, Kurt T. Lash

Law Faculty Publications

Roger Williams was a religious bigot. He never met a church pure enough for his brand of Puritanism, and he never found a congregation worthy enough to have him as its pastor. After alienating every potential ally and provoking every critic, Williams was forced to flee to the wilds of Narragansett Bay in present-day Rhode Island. There, he preached to his remaining congregation- his family- and supported laws prohibiting men from wearing long hair.

In Timothy Hall's illuminating book, the reader is confronted with a flesh and blood Roger Williams who is rather different from the modern myth. Although Williams …

Praying For Relief: The Impact Of Secular Organizations On Internet And Trademark Law, Ramona Leigh Taylor

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

"The creation and rapid growth of the Internet have been 'hailed' [as] one of the greatest technological advances in recent history,” remarked one scholar of Internet law and jurisdiction. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals characterizes the Internet as "a global network of interconnected computers allow[ing] individuals and organizations around the world to communicate with one another." It is, therefore, not surprising that the Internet impacts every aspect of our daily lives. The Web is the fastest growing part of the Internet, and thus, an important mechanism for commerce. Authors Joseph Zammit and Lynette Herscha explain, "[t]he rapid growth in …

Introduction, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

Putting this issue together was more difficult than we initially expected. Translating and editing jurisprudential articles that fuse law with philosophy and religion requires very advanced skills and is very demanding. Despite all our collective efforts to meet these challenges we are likely to have missed some errors. We are fortunate that everyone who participated in this project was ready to do their best, and thank everyone, particularly our authors, for their commitment and perseverance. Needless to say, the articles in this issue represent the views of their authors and do not reflect views of the Journal itself. The Journal …

Muslim Women's Rights In The Global Village: Challenges And Opportunities, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

In this age of information technology that shrank our world into a global village, it is fair to ask how this recent development has impacted Muslim women's rights across the world. Having just traveled through nine Muslim countries, ranging from Pakistan and Bangladesh to the Gulf States, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, I would answer that it is leading, slowly but surely, to reassessment and change.' Attempts to accelerate the pace of this change, however, without full understanding of its complex topology, and the deep-rooted commitment by most Muslim women to spiritual and cultural authenticity, could halt or even reverse this …

Faith And The Attorney-Client Relationship: Muslim Perspective, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

Three significant factors have converged to contribute significantly to the state of spiritual impoverishment, fragmentation, and work-place alienation experienced by professional people of faith in this country. They are: the emergence of material secularism as the dominant ideology, the uncritical acceptance of technological reductionism, and the over-broad interpretation of the public/private distinction. I shall discuss these factors from a spiritual perspective generally, and an Islamic one specifically. I shall also present an Islamic point of view on of the attorney-client relationship, critique Professor Allegretti's proposal, and mention some of the problems that lawyers of faith must consider in their daily …

Power And The Subject Of Religion, Kurt T. Lash

Law Faculty Publications

Under the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Nevertheless, congressional actors have on occasion enacted laws that expressly make religion the subject of legislation. Many scholars justify these laws on the grounds that Congress at the time of the Founding had an implied power to legislate on religion if necessary and proper to an enumerated end.

Professor Lash argues that the "implied power" theory cannot withstand historical scrutiny. Whatever "implied power" arguments may have emanated from the original Constitution, those arguments were foreclosed by the adoption of the …

Legal Reform: Reviewing Human Rights In The Muslim World, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

Muslims take spirituality very seriously and would be willing to put up with a great deal of pain and suffering rather than abandon this fundamental disposition. Additionally, many Muslims have an intuitive belief that it is not religion which is at fault, but those in power. Consequently, they continue to search for the spiritually acceptable solution. In the meantime, Western NGOs offer no more than lightly-modified Western secular solutions, sometimes thinly disguised with religious rhetoric.

The Status Of Constitutional Religious Liberty At The End Of The Millennium, Kurt T. Lash

Law Faculty Publications

I have the privilege of introducing the 1998 Bums Lecture Symposium- Religious Liberty in the Next Millennium: Should We Amend the Religion Clauses of the United States Constitution? My role in this Symposium is to acquaint you with the religion clauses of the Constitution- where they came from- where they've been- and where they seem to be today. Our Symposium contributors, Professors Kent Greenawalt and Robert George will discuss just where they think the religion clauses should go in the future.

Islam, Law And Custom: Redefining Muslim Women's Rights, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

In discussing personal status codes, the article focuses on three specific issues: the right of a woman to contract her own marriage, the duty of the wife to obey her husband, and the right of the wife to initiate divorce. There are several good reasons for focusing on these issues. Foremost among them is the fact that they have been and continue to be of great concern to Muslim women. Another reason is that despite their diverse subject matter, these three issues are based on the same jurisprudential foundation. Hence, our discussion and critical analysis of that foundation will have …

Civilizing Religion, Kurt T. Lash

Law Faculty Publications

Is it appropriate to restrict abortion at any stage in pregnancy on the ground that human life is sacred? Should the public square be open to biblical arguments against homosexuality? Or, to frame the issue in a more scholarly fashion: What role may religious arguments play, if any, either in public debate about what political choices to make or as the private basis of a political choice? In his recent book, Religion in Politics: Constitutional and Moral Perspectives, Michael Perry addresses these questions as a matter of constitutional law and political morality. Perry has been down this road before, most …

The Muslim Perspective On The Clergy-Penitent Privilege, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

Before Jones confesses his crimes to Imam Ahmad, he should be clear on the duties and role of the imam of a mosque. The imam's duties usually consist of leading prayers and providing advice and assistance to those in the community who seek them. Imams are chosen for their knowledge in matters of religion. It is possible, however, that the community has more knowledgeable persons within it who are not interested in the position of imam. In such cases, when a more knowledgeable person visits the mosque, the Muslims present at that time, including the imam, may choose that visitor …

On Being A Muslim Corporate Lawyer, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

It appears to me that religion subconsciously informs our individual professional practice and that a non-humanitarian form of secularism has quietly shaped our corporate laws. The attendant dissonance causes severe dissatisfaction, and at times even disfunction, in our society. The claim that our present corporate laws are imbued with a non-humanist secularist perspective deserves closer examination from a religious vantage point. Given our constitutional guarantees, our present legal structure appears to place undue burdens on persons of faith in this country. A more just balance between religious and various forms of secular perspectives is, I submit, a worthy goal for …

"The Harvest Is Plentiful, But The Laborers Are Few": Hiring Practices And Religiously Affiliated Universities, Robert John Araujo

University of Richmond Law Review

This is a paper with a modest goal about an immodest topic: how mankind does God's work in this world. In particular, I address a small part of this rather large question: how do religiously affiliated schools make their modest contribution to this work? More particularly, who gets chosen to be a laborer in bringing in the plentiful harvest. The laborer is the teacher or administrator, the vineyard is the religiously affiliated university or college of the late twentieth century United States. Consequently, I address employment practices: who gets hired as a laborer and by what criteria is this special …

Considering Religion As A Factor In Foster Care In The Aftermath Of Employment Division, Department Of Human Resources V. Smith And The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Thomas J. Cunningham

University of Richmond Law Review

Most rights considered by Americans to be "fundamental" are granted a special level of protection by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The standard is often described as "strict scrutiny" or "compelling interest." Under this standard of protection, a state must have more than just a good reason for writing legislation that encroaches upon its citizens' fundamental rights. Rather, the state must be able to prove a "compelling" interest in achieving some desired result, a result which necessitates the curtailment of fundamental rights. In 1990, however, the United States Supreme Court substantially restricted a right from this list: …

Partially Disabled And Religious: Virginia Workers' Compensation And The Free Exercise Clause, Brydon Dewitt

University of Richmond Law Review

The Virginia Workers' Compensation Act denies wage loss benefits to partially disabled employees who unjustifiably reject employment procured by their employer which is within their remaining work capacity. Section 65.2-510 of the Virginia Code provides that "[i]f an injured employee refuses employment procured for him suitable to his capacity, he shall only be entitled to the benefits provided for in section 65.2-603 during the continuance of such refusal, unless in the opinion of the Commission such refusal was justified." Essentially, unjustified refusal of selective employment within the employee's work capacity results in a suspension in wage loss benefits until the …

Persuading Thy Neighbor To Be As Thyself: Constitutional Limits On Evangelism In The United States And India, Jonathan K. Stubbs

Law Faculty Publications

Religious belief is frequently a very personal concern. Accordingly, situations in which individuals discuss beliefs with one another can result in a wide range of consequences. Such consequences may include mutual gratitude and growth as well as mutual distrust and destruction. ...

Symposium On Religious Law: Roman Catholic, Islamic, And Jewish Treatment Of Familial Issues, Including Education, Abortion, In Vitro Fertilization, Prenuptial Agreements, Contraception, And Martial Fraud, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

This symposium offers perspectives from three religious law traditions: Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism. Each of the three legal traditions offers a comprehensive, normative system that translates doctrine into practice and religious values into concrete directives. While the place of theological law differs in the respective religious bodies, each body asserts a binding authority over its confessional members.

Family Planning And Islamic Jurisprudence, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

In this speech, the author provides a brief overview of Islamic jurisprudence on the subject matter and does not recommend any particular position with respect to the debate on family planning. The author, however, wishes to emphasize to the reader the importance of correctly analyzing arguments and factors involved in the particular situation under consideration, in light of all relevant communal as well as individual factors. The author also wishes to emphasize the importance of formulating all such analysis free from all forms of compulsion and coercion, whether conscious or subconscious, individual or organized, including that of targeted advertising campaigns. …

The Right To Religion-Based Exemptions In Early America: The Case Of Conscientious Objectors To Conscription, Ellis M. West

Political Science Faculty Publications

One of the more controversial decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in recent years was its decision in the case of Employment Division, Oregon v. Smith, which raised the basic issue of whether the free exercise clause of the First Amendment guarantees a right to religion-based exemptions, i.e., whether it gives persons and groups a prima facie right to be exempt from having to obey valid laws when they have religious reasons for noncompliance. More specifically, in Smith, two Native Americans claimed that their prosecution for using an illegal drug, peyote, was precluded by the free exercise clause …

Abraham, Isaac, And The State: Faith-Healing And Legal Intervention, Henry J. Abraham

University of Richmond Law Review

As a Cambridge magistrate in the England of 1960, Lady Rothschild doubtless considered herself an unlikely candidate for participation in a biblical drama reenactment. Nonetheless, on October 21, 1960, she willingly played the role of the last- minute angel of mercy in a virtual reenactment of the story of Abraham and Isaac -a story which, with unfortunate variations in the outcome for the child, seems destined to be repeated frequently in the future.

Is The Idea Of Human Rights Ineliminably Religious?, Michael J. Perry

University of Richmond Law Review

The name of the state where I was born and raised-Kentucky-derives from a Native American word meaning "the dark and bloody ground." Were there an Indian word for "the dark and bloody time," it would aptly name this century, a century as unrelentingly dark and bloody as any in human history. In the midst of all the terrible inhumanity of the twentieth century, however, there is a hopeful story: the emergence in international law of the idea of human rights.

Islamic Constitutionalism And The Concept Of Democracy, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

This article will discuss select, basic principles of Islamic law relating to democratic governance, pointing out in the process certain areas of disagreement surrounding them in the literature and the grounds for such disagreements. Part II of this article presents a brief overview of Islamic law in order to provide a foundation for later discussion. The article then assesses the Islamic system of government in light of two major principles of Western democracies. They are (1) the principle that the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of the government (Principle A) and (2) the principle …

The Closing Of The Golden Door: Necessity, International Law And Freedom Of Religion Are Failing As Defenses For Sanctuary Movement Workers, Karen E. Lavarnway

University of Richmond Law Review

Victor Walter Garcia Ortiz left El Salvador and came to the United States. In September 1980, he was deported from Los Angeles and returned to El Salvador. In November 1981, he was killed by the Salvadoran National Police. Santana Chirino Amayo was deported back to El Salvador in June 1981. In September 1981, his body was found, tortured and decapitated. Jose Umberto Santacruz Elias was returned to El Salvador in January 1981. He has not been heard from since. Octavio Osequeda, who was returned to El Salvador on July 12, 1982, was killed on July 13, 1982 by special police.

State Action Under The Religion Clauses: Neutral In Result Or Neutral In Treatment?, David K. Dewolf

University of Richmond Law Review

The United States Supreme Court's treatment of the first amendment's religion clauses over the last fifty years has generated considerable controversy. While few religion clause cases reached the Supreme Court prior to 1940, the number steadily multiplied once the first amendment was incorporated into the fourteenth amendment. The Court's doctrinal development was incremental and uncertain, but by 1971 the Court had developed a test for each of the religion clauses to evaluate the constitutionality of challenged state action. Although these tests have not been followed with perfect fidelity, they have been the starting point for virtually all of the religion …