News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
For one reason or another, a number of people in the blogosphere have been writing culture war posts in the last few days. Perhaps it’s the end of the year, or the looming political changes, or exam avoidance, or just the holiday cheer. For those who are interested, have a…
It seems a good time of the year to take stock of the current status of some important Law and Religion issues discussed this year, and to flag some upcoming issues for the New Year. A. Same Sex Marriage 1. Making the change in Australia? 2. Protecting Religious Freedom if…
For an alternative view of the Top Ten Religious Liberty Stories of 2016, see this post by Baptist Joint Committee blogger Don Byrd. Each year in December, I attempt to pick the most important church-state and religious liberty developments of the past year. This was a busy year, and a…
Charity and the advancement of religion Annual reporting consultation Short-term visitor visas for clergy The Great Irish Bake-Off series 3? Yet more on Brexit Quick links And finally…A member of the Polish Parliament, Beata Mateusiak-Pielucha of the ruling Law and Justice Party, has argued that “We should demand that atheists,…
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear appeals by Christian-affiliated hospital systems of lower court rulings that gave the green light to employee lawsuits accusing them of wrongly claiming a religious exemption from federal pension law. New Jersey-based St. Peter’s Healthcare System, Illinois-based Advocate Health System…
This article [1] revisits the case of Gilmour v Coats [1949] AC 426, [1949] UKHL 1. It is a timely moment to revisit the case because there is doubt about the requirement of public benefit for charities with purposes to advance religion. The case deals with the issue of private religious practice and the extent to which a religious organisation needs to engage with the public.
A pair of Arizona-based Christian artists is challenging the local law that threatens to fine and imprison them for refusing to make same-sex wedding invitations. The ordinance also prevents the business owners from publicly explaining their convictions or even defending their decision lest they face jail time for that as…
Sheen is about to be beatified by the Vatican– a step toward Sainthood. The Beatification Ceremony will take place in Peoria since Peoria’s Bishop Daniel Jenky was the Promoter for the Cause of Sainthood for Sheen. According to the New York Times, New York church officials object to moving the…
In 1948, the Greek-Catholic Church of Romania [Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică] was dissolved by Nicolai Ceaușescu and its property handed over to the Orthodox Church by decree. After the fall of Ceaușescu in 1989, Legislative Decree No. 126/1990 was passed to provide that the legal status of property…
Last December, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation threatened the US Air Force Academy with a lawsuit if the did not stop players from holding pre-game prayers together on the field. The Air Force launched an inquiry into the matter, and discussed concerns about some players perhaps feeling “pressure” to participate, but…
Christian Employee Should Not be Fired For Answering a Question Mbuyi v Newpark Childcare (Shepherds Bush) Ltd [2015] ET 3300656/2014. A Tribunal held that the claimant had been discriminated against when she was fired for a supposed homophobic remark she made to a lesbian co-worker on the ground that she had…
Websites Religion Going Public is a new blog posting about “contemporary religion in the public sphere and aims both to inform and participate in on-going public debates relating to religion and society.” It is a collaboration of three research collaboration funded by The Research Council of Norway’s SAMKUL program. Visit the…
Books Samuel Moyn, Christian Human Rights. Hardcover | Kindle Mark A. Smith, Secular Faith: How Culture Has Trumped Religion in American Politics. Amazon | Kindle Articles Ruth Colker, Religious Accommodations for County Clerks?, Ohio State Law Journal 76, (2015). Richard W. Garnett, The Freedom of the Church: (Toward) an Exposition, Translation, and Defense. Michael Harper, Distinguishing Disparate Treatment from…
A roundup of one court opinion and three essays relating to the same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges by SCOTUS.
The US 9th Circuit has rejected the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s charge that a large statue of Jesus on Big Mountain in Montana violated the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. The statue was erected in the 1950s by the Knights of Columbus as a war memorial, under a Special Use Permit by the US…
Three articles that address resulting issues after the SCOTUS decision in Obergefell v. Hodges by a legal scholar, a theologian, and a journalist.
The Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University and Cambridge University has begun a new book series on law and Christianity. The series will be writing by top scholars from around the world to address such topics as religious freedom, human rights, church law, the role of natural law theory, church-state…
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…
A few links that caught my eye this week relating to law and religion in the UK. Nicklinson & Lamb v United Kingdom. Assisted suicide case and the compatibility of the UK law and Article 8 of the ECHR (right of respect for “private and family life”). See R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of…
The interaction between the State and religion is in a period of change, and many of those relationships are being re-evaluated by politicians, government, and others. (The tax-exempt status of religious organization is big issue, in my opinion.) This is a new article entitled “Limits on State Regulation of Religious Organizations:…
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…
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…
This is not directly a story about religion and law, though it would not surprise me to hear of a few lawsuits filed that are related to the technology being used in churches. A new facial-recognition technology by Face-six has been installed by a number of churches around the world. The…
Here are two recent cases involved disputes among church members. The cases are interesting in a prurient sort of way; the theological and practical issues (for believers) are more substantive. Firing Your Pastor: Who Decides? The first dispute arose when the pastor of a small church in New York state reduced the…
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…