Last week, Emory University School of Law received an anonymous one million dollar gift to “expand training in religious freedom for law students and bring new scholarship and fresh voices to the field.” The money will fund a new four-year project at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion called…
Recent Books and Articles on Religion and Law
Religion Clause blog has a nice list of articles addressing the interaction between religion and law. Some of the more interesting ones (to me): Jennifer Carr, Complicity and Collection: Religious Freedom and Tax, (University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 183, Spring 2014). Robert D. Goldstein, The Structural Wall…
Center for Law and Religion (Cardiff University)
There are only a handful of whole organizations devoted to the study of law and religion in the US and the UK. Once such is the Law and Religion Scholars Network is hosted by the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University. The Centre was the first such organisation in the UK…
Graduation Prayers in Public Elementary Schools
For me, this was a fascinating opinion. It is a Federal District Court decision from the South Carolina District concerning graduation prayers in the Greenville County School district. The case is American Humanist Association v. South Carolina Department of Education (D SC, May 18, 2015). The facts behind the case were that many…
Donate to earthquake relief in Nepal
While the media gave good attention to the event and needs in Nepal, the nature of modern media is to move on to the next thing. Yet the needs in the Himalayas continue to worsen, especially as attention wanes. Helping needy people is a Christian calling, of course, but it is also…
Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Speaking Before Researching
This post is late to the game, as the media controversy over Indiana’s recent Religious Freedom Restoration Act seems to have boiled over and then simmered back down, taking a back seat to the next outrage. During the first stages of any scandal in the modern age, critical thinking or calm…
“Not under man, but under God and law”: unconstitutional in courtroom? Lord Coke, history, and the state and church
Here is a story that combines almost all my areas of interest: law in the US, law in the UK, history, and religion. Sir Edward Coke (pronounced “cook”) was a barrister and a judge in 17th century England, where he both represented and judged some of the most famous cases in common…
Law Degree Completed
I have now taken my last law exam, and the degree is complete. No, grades are not out so quickly, but I do not have any doubt I passed. There are no surprises in the last year of the ordeal. Here is a list of my final courses: Jurisprudence Company…
Dr. Ronald Dworkin, requiescat in pace
As most of you know, Ronald Dworkin, the American philosopher and legal scholar, passed from this life last week. He was Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University, Emeritus Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London, and taught at Yale Law School and the University of Oxford. He is…
ABA’s lists of lists
Finally, to close off a week of legal lists from 2011, the American Bar Association has listed lists of 2011. Among the lists are: POPULAR CULTURE 30 Lawyers Pick 30 Books Every Lawyer Should Read The 25 Greatest Legal Movies The 25 Greatest Legal TV Shows Top 10 Lawyers in…
Real Life Law: disaster stories
In the last couple of months, we have seen a lot of depositions. We have noticed them ourselves and deposed parties; and have received noticed and had our clients deposed. I sat in as second chair on my first depo. It is both enjoyable and fulfilling to be part of some…
Religion, the Slave Trade Act 1807 and the 13th Amendment
Slavery in the British and American countries was an issue that found religious people arguing both sides. Biblical texts were used to argue both for and against; this usually means that the biblical texts are being misused. The modern social and cultural contexts are so radically different. Even in the Roman Empire,…
Interracial Marriage in the UK and the US
Marriage is both a religious and a legal act in most cases, whether we are speaking of a civil ceremony, a religious ceremony, a common-law marriage, or so on. While there have been laws at various times and places throughout history preventing interracial marriages, these normally seemed to have derived from social…