The Interactions podcast, a podcast about the interactions between law and religion, is produced by the CSLR and distributed by Canopy Forum. New episodes now available.
Canopy Forum and the Australian Journal of Law and Religion, are publishing a set of essays that address the impact of “nones”–individuals who do not identify with any particular religion–on law, politics, religion, and society.
Our latest series include essays on Masking Religious Violations, Transnational Christian Nationalism, IVF and ART, and a collaboration with the journal, Derecho en Sociedad. Explore our latest series by scholars around the globe.
Monks in Majestic Bhaga Valley, India by Vyacheslav Argenberg © (CC BY 4.0). Breonna Taylor was an emergency room technician in Louisville, Kentucky. Her coworkers said she was calm under pressure, good with patients. She was twenty-six. On the night of March 12, 2020, after her shift, she fell asleep in her apartment watching a…
Hindu Temple in the United States via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Every Hindu-American lawyer at some point in their career is called to justify their decision to represent certain clients: How can one represent a client they find morally “repugnant” while walking the path of dharma in pursuit of the ultimate goal of human…
View of the Vatican City Gardens by Patrik Kunec (CC BY-SA 4.0). My earlier column reviewed Washington’s recently passed Senate Bill 5375 that would have required Roman Catholic priests to violate their sacred duty to maintain the seal of confession by reporting those who committed the heinous act of child abuse to state authorities. Based…
Islamic Da’wah Center in Houston, Texas by Jim Evans (CC BY-SA 4.0). From McKinney to Weatherford to Josephine, Texans are losing sleep over the Muslims moving in and allegedly instituting “sharia law.” It’s a disaster! In early 2025, a viral video raised public concern about the creation of Muslim “sharia cities” in the heart of…
“Climate Angels at Extinction Rebellion Declaration Day Melbourne” by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0) “I don’t want the same world, just eco.” These are the words of an activist interviewed in the 2021 documentary, Rebellion, directed by Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot. The film tells the story of Extinction Rebellion (XR), arguably one of…
The Healing of Tobit by Bernardo Strozzi (CC0 1.0). There is ongoing discourse about the relationship between patient agency and external factors in health outcomes. It can be difficult to identify the multifaceted variables that answer the question of why one person becomes ill and not another. While individual action does certainly play a role,…
Christian Natural Law and Religious FreedomAlex Deagon The following is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of Alex Deagon’s new book, Christian Natural Law and Religious Freedom: A Foundation Based on Love, the True, and the Good (Copyright 2025 by Imprint). Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Group. Page numbers refer to publications linked in…
Russell Senate Office Building by Architect of the Capitol (US-PD). During his second term, President Barack Obama attempted to restart the Israel-Palestine peace process, following in the footsteps of every president since George H.W. Bush. Like other attempts, it fell apart quickly, much to the frustration of all. In April of 2014, then U.S. Secretary…
The Inquisition Tribunal by Francisco Goya (PD-Art). Bartolomé de Las Casas (c.1484–1566)—the first Catholic bishop of the Americas—commented on many of the controversies of the Spanish Empire of his day. While he never evaluated the Inquisition in writing, his life intersected with it several times. (Curiously, though Las Casas was possibly descended from conversos, or…
Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City via Wikimedia Commons (CC0-01). Washington’s controversial Senate Bill 5375, “An ACT Relating to the duty of clergy to report child abuse and neglect,” scheduled to go into effect on July 27, 2025, removes the legal protection for Roman Catholic priests under the seal of confession when dealing with mandatory sexual…