Religion Law Commons^™

Law And Redemption: Political Judgment And The Church's Proclamation , Joan Lockwood O'Donovan

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cain's Law, Elizabeth Mensch

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Neutrality In The Early Republic, Jud Campbell

Law Faculty Publications

Governmental neutrality is the heart of the modern Free Exercise Clause. Mindful of this core principle, which prevents the government from treating individuals differently because of their religious convictions, the Supreme Court held in Employment Division v. Smith that a neutral law can be constitutionally applied despite any incidental burdens it might impose on an individual’s exercise of religion. Conscientious objectors such as Quakers, for instance, do not have a constitutional right to be exempt from a military draft. Thus, neutrality now forms both the core and the outer limit of constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom. Judged according to founding-era views, …

Tango Or More - From California's Lesson 9 To The Constitutionality Of A Gay-Friendly Curriculum In Public Elementary Schools, Amy Lai

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

In August 2009, a group of parents in California filed a lawsuit, Balde v. Alameda Unified School District, in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda. They alleged that the Alameda Unified School District refused them the right to excuse their children from a new curriculum, Lesson 9, that would teach public elementary school children about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) families. The proposed curriculum included short sessions about GLBT people, incorporated into more general lessons about family and health, once a year from kindergarten through fifth grade. Kindergarteners would learn the harms of teasing, while fifth graders …

Is Modern Legal Liberalism Still Compatible With Free Exercise Of Religion?, Donald R. Mcconnell

Campbell Law Review

Classic liberal legal thought has clearly been shaped by the influence of Christianity. But in recent years, the movement, like ancient Gnosticism, has some Christian elements, but has become a decidedly anti-Christian force in the courts. This comparison tracks well with the analysis of other parallel modern intellectual movements by the political scientist Eric Voegelin. It is also supported by current events such as the recent Federal District Court opinion by Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in Perry v. Schwartzenegger. Liberalism has transformed from an attempt at neutrality, to an established religion that not only promotes its own perverse version of …

"Causing The Blood To Flow Where I Touched Him" - Liberalism, Constitutionalism, Christianity, And The "War" At Covey Farm, Anthony V. Baker

Campbell Law Review

I will begin my critique by going directly to the source here, the famous Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787, and ask us to look somewhat carefully at the work of the "founders" there, in considering the ultimate integrity of the product they fashioned and the world they "created." That they gave us a classical liberal wonder, with tenets of that philosophy writ large in government for the very first time, is undeniable, though it will be submitted that they gave us "something else" as well. It is right for us then to explore that "something else," not abstractly, through ideas, …

Mulieris Dignitatem And The Exclusivity Of Marriage Under Law, Howard Bromberg

Articles

Jesus Christ established monogamy, the marriage of one man to one woman, as the canonical norm of his church and the juridical norm for all nations. This was a unique event in the history of the cultures and religions of the world. The Catholic Church has always defended its canonical norm of monogamy, often with great opposition. Through its influence, monogamy has been established as law in the Western world and in almost all cultures influenced by Western law and norms. The emerging jurisprudence of the United States, however, rejects any religious derivation as the basis of our laws. With …

Book Review. Liberty: Rethinking An Imperiled Ideal By Glenn Tinder, Daniel O. Conkle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Christianity And The Legal Status Of Abandoned Children In The Later Roman Empire, Joshua C. Tate

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Late Roman imperial legislation relating to abandoned or exposed children has been the subject of much debate. Some have argued that the constitutions of Constantine relating to abandoned children marked a new Christian influence, and that the years between Constantine and Justinian merely refined and explained Constantine's legislation. This paper argues that the legislation of Constantine was not distinctly Christian in content, but that some Christian influence can be seen in the rhetoric of imperial constitutions beginning in the fifth century, and that Christian ideas seem to have affected both the substance and the rhetoric of Justinian's legislation. The paper …

"Just" Married?: Same-Sex Marriage And A Hustory Of Family Plurality, Judith E. Koons

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

To contribute to a full moral deliberation about same-sex marriage, this Article inquires into the meanings of marriage, sexuality, and family from historical and narrative perspectives that are situated at the intersection of religious and political domains.

Racism As "The Nation's Crucial Sin": Theology And Derrick Bell, George H. Taylor

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Part I develops Bell's thesis that racism is permanent, an ineradicable structure in American life. Bell's stance here is unrelenting and a direct and deep challenge to liberal notions of racial progress. This section draws out the social facts Bell provides about the status of Blacks in American society and examines Bell's argument for the continuing disparity between the races, particularly the claim that Whites hold on to a property in Whiteness. Part II analyzes Bell's call for action despite racism's permanence. Part III develops Niebuhr's theology of the possibility of action despite sin. Niebuhr too criticizes the liberal-and liberal …

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 …

Distinctively Christian Perspectives On Legal Thought?, Mark Tushnet

Michigan Law Review

The plural in the title of Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought immediately suggests one problem in reviewing this collection of essays: identifying unifying themes is difficult precisely because there are a variety of Christian perspectives represented here. Christian perspectives include those of Anabaptists and their modern successors such as Mennonites (who regard law as simply irrelevant to their Christianity), those of the nineteenth-century Catholic church (which was hostile to democracy and religious toleration), and those of the modern Catholic church (which endorses religious pluralism and the preferential option for the poor - among many others). What, then, might be distinctive …

The Qualities Of Completeness: More? Or Less?, Mark R. Killenbeck

Michigan Law Review

On January 14, 1983, Chief Judge W. Brevard Hand announced what he knew would be widely regarded as a rather startling proposition. Believing that "[t]he first amendment in large part was a guarantee to the states which insured that the states would be able to continue whatever church-state relationship existed in 1791," Judge Hand held that the people of Alabama were perfectly free to "establish[] a religion," in this instance by allowing public school teachers to begin the school day with prayer. The ruling reversed an earlier decision in the same case, which characterized the statutory provision at issue as …

Christian Constitutions: Do They Protect Internationally Recognized Human Rights And Minimize The Potential For Violence Within A Society? A Comparative Analysis Of American And Irish Constitutional Law And Their Religious Elements, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Section II of this Article studies in greater detail the religio-legal debate currently being waged in American courts and legislatures, including a brief discussion of the religio-legal history of the United States. Section II also describes how the United States resembles and differs from Ireland such that subsequent comparisons will be more accurate. Section III compares the two constitutions by analyzing the provisions and policies most influenced by religion. First, general principles of sovereignty and constitutional interpretation are reviewed to understand the general constitutional framework of each nation. Second, the manner in which personal rights are treated by each nation's …

The Word On Trial, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Milner Ball's extraordinary book, The Word and the Law, begins with a narrative account of "seven practices in law." The seven practitioners Ball brings to life for the reader share two powerful traits: they all, in quite different ways, use law to lessen the multiple sufferings of various communities of poor people, and they all, by doing so, strengthen the communities within which and for which they labor. The reader gains from these accounts not only a sympathetic understanding of the lives of seven lawyers, but a renewed sense of the possibilities their practices present. This can be put any …

The Promise Of American Law: A Theological, Humanistic View Of Legal Process, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Promise of American Law: A Theological, Humanistic View of Legal Process by Milner S. Ball

Conscientious Objection To Public Education: The Grievance And The Remedies, Charles E. Rice

Journal Articles

The Christian school movement is the logical outgrowth of the dissatisfaction of some parents, particularly some fundamentalist Baptists, with what they regard as excessive secularism in the public schools. The controversy has already produced some definitive litigation, but much remains unsettled. On the one hand, public authorities contend the public school is truly neutral toward religion. Compulsory attendance laws and other regulations by the state of private education are seen as legitimate measures, pursuant to the police power, to achieve a minimal level of intellectual and civic competence among the young. On the other hand, objecting parents and pastors regard …

Kauper: Religion And The Constitution, Wilber G. Katz

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Religion and the Constitution. By Paul G. Kauper.

The Establishment Clause And The Ecumenical Movement, Robert C. Casad

Michigan Law Review

In recent years the Roman Catholic Church has begun to give tentative official support to the view that eventual reconciliation with the Protestants is feasible and desirable. The acceptance of the ecumenical ideal by the Roman Catholic Church removes virtually all doubt that in the ecumenical movement organized Christianity is facing an upheaval of major importance, comparable perhaps to the Reformation. It is not likely to lose force after a few years, as so many minor religious movements do. It is definitely under way, gaining momentum year by year. It is bound to have far-reaching effects and give rise to …

Introduction: Law, Christianity And The University, Wilber G. Katz

Vanderbilt Law Review

Demand for exploration of the relations between Christianity and law comes both from theologians and from members of the legal profession--practicing lawyers, judges, legislators and scholars. Among theologians, the demand reflects the concern of the Church for man's work and the desire to relate Christian teaching to the problems of the various professions. Among lawyers the demand reflects dissatisfaction with purely secular analyses of the functions and problems of the law and hope for profounder understanding in the light of Christian doctrine.

Within the university this effort is not merely the concern of the schools of law and theology. One …

Wu: Fountain Of Justice, Thomas E. Davitt S.J.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Fountain of Justice. By John C.H. Wu.

Book Reviews, Nels F.S. Ferre, Seymour W. Wurfel (Reviewer), Lloyd S. Adams (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Few topics are currently more at the center of both interest and need than that of Dr. Stumpf's new book. The ship of democracy is being tossed by heavy seas. Many are looking for a haven of faith. They tell us that the ship cannot stay afloat unless it reaches the well-protected harbor of religion. It needs at least to be overhauled, they say, and made more seaworthy in that harbor before it braves again the heavy onslaughts which it must necessarily breast. Dr. Stumpf probes too deeply into the relation between democracy and religion, however, to fall prey to …

Constitutional Law-Judcial Powers-State Taxpayer Denied Standing As Party In Interest In Bible Reading Case, Frank M. Bowen, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs sought a judgment to declare unconstitutional a New Jersey statute which required the reading of five verses of the Old Testament at the opening of each day in the public schools. Plaintiffs contended that the practice under the statute was an "establishment of religion" prohibited by the First Amendment and applicable to the several states through the "due process" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment Both plaintiffs were taxpayers of New Jersey, and one was also the parent of a child who had attended a public school, but had left school before the appeal was taken. The Supreme Court of …

Schools - Private Parochial Schools - Transportation Of Pupils - Use Of Public Funds, Dan K. Cook

Michigan Law Review

A New York statute provided for the public transportation of school children to public and private schools. Plaintiff instituted a taxpayer's action to enjoin defendant board of education from furnishing transportation, in compliance with the statute, to children attending a parochial school. Plaintiff contended the statute was unconstitutional by reason of a provision of the New York constitution which forbade public aid or maintenance of denominational schools. Held, that the statute was valid, and plaintiff's prayer was denied. Judd v. Board of Education, 164 Misc. 889, 300 N. Y. S. 1037 (1937), affd. (App. Div. 1938) 3 N. …

Law Of Blasphemy, Robert Warden Lee

Michigan Law Review

Is Christianity part of the Law of England? It would seem that if it ever was so, it is so no longer. Such at least is the conclusion which Austin's "simple-minded layman" will undoubtedly draw from the recent decision of the House of Lords in Bowman v. The Secular Society, Limited, [1917] A. C. 4o6. The lawyer who recognizes that such phrases as the above can have little or no value in legal science will be more concerned to note the unanimous determination of the final court of appeal in Great Britain in favor of the view of the law …

The Law In The United States In Its Relation To Religion, Edwin C. Goddard

Other Publications

Man is a religious being. To him, everywhere and always, religion and religious institutions have been and will be of prime concern. He is also a social being. As such he has always found it necessary to live in an organized society, under some form of government. Man never has lived to himself alone. Government is not an invention, a necessary evil, to which men submit. On the contrary, from the most primitive beginnings it has been man's natural though imperfect instrument for controlling and developing the social estate so essential to his very existence. And universally this government has …

The Mosaic Law, Clarence A. Lightner

Michigan Law Review

In recent years much has been learned of the civilization, which developed in early times in Mesopotamia. In Babylon, laws appropriate to a vast and wealthy agricultural nation, which was engaged, also, largely in commerce, had been developed many centuries before the authentic history of other peoples begins. This civilization was Semitic. A great light, where formerly but dim reflections had been seen, was thrown upon this jurisprudence by the discovery, in 1901, of the codification of the laws of Babylonia, which was promulgated by King Hammurabi about 2350 B. C. Migration from Babylonia occurred from time to time, and …

The Law In Its Relation To Religion And Morals, Edwin C. Goddard

Other Publications

Man is a religious being. To him, everywhere and always, religion and religious institutions have been and will be of prime concern. Now, and in this United States, not less than in ages past and in other parts of the world, is this a fundamental fact. He who, without a recognition of this, would study either religion or government, would quite fail to comprehend his problem. Man is also a social being. As such he has always found it necessary to live in an organized society, under some form of government. The world depicted with such irresistible genius by Rosseau …