News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
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…
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…
This one makes me scratch my head. The Tennessee House of Representatives has passed a bill (by 55-38), to make the Bible the “state book,” and it has passed on to the Senate. Many of us who are Christians (and perhaps religious Jews) might like this idea—not to force our…
This book is the first English translation of a number of Voltaire’s pamphlets which argued for the freeing of law-making from religion. Voltaire criticized what he saw in the Catholic Church as an “oppressive orthodoxy” and its effect on laws. The result, in his opinion, resulted in a lack of freedom of conscience and expression.…
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…
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…
I just received notice of this forthcoming book on religion and law. It is a collection of essays which address legal subjects and issue through an moral evaluation of the laws based on Catholic theology. “The moral evaluative perspective which unfolds in succeeding pages illumines, justifies, and critiques America’s laws.” (From the Forward by…
Recent and modern court controversies over areas that impact religious belief and doctrine are interesting compared with similar ancient legal controversies. Of course, the common law has evolved over the centuries, even substantively in the area of religion. It is well-known to legal scholars and practitioners that “public policy” shifts,…
Here is a short article by Bryan Garner as posted on the ABA Journal website. While the article is aimed at practicing attorneys, it is also helpful for law students who are researching and writing the law. Be sure you understand the client’s problem. Don’t rely exclusively on computer research. Never turn…
Having been a law review editor through most of my law degree, I was interested to see this post on The Girl’s Guide to Law School. The author, Jonathan Burns, urges a focus on first impressions, organization, and research. He closes the article with final comments: forget Bluebook and the Chicago…
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…