Canopy Forum

“State and Non-State Violations of Religious Freedom and Implications for National Unity in Nigeria” by Dodeye Uduak Williams

Aug 5, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2022, Religious Freedom, Williams, Dodeye Uduak

Nigeria is home to about 250 ethnic groups and culturally diverse communities with different religious affiliations, who speak over 500 different languages. The three dominant ethnic groups are the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. Nigerians practice Christianity, Islam or an indigenous religion. The country is divided almost equally between the Muslims who live predominantly in the…

“An Excerpt from ‘Crimesploitation'” by Paul Kaplan and Daniel LaChance

Aug 4, 2022Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsAugust 2022, Criminal Justice, Kaplan, Paul, LaChance, Daniel

Crimesploitation: Crime, Punishment, and Pleasure on Reality Televisionby Paul Kaplan and Daniel LaChance No reality television program about crime and punishment satisfied a hunger to see inmates as redeemable more than the A&E network’s most watched show, Dog the Bounty Hunter. Over the course of 246 episodes that aired from 2004 to 2012, the show…

“Social Media, Free Speech, and Religious Freedom in Australia” by Colette Langos and Paul Babie

Aug 3, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2022, Babie, Paul T., Langos, Colette, Religious Freedom

Social media forms part of the fabric of 21st century global life. A form of speech, social media allows communication with a potentially vast audience. Unsurprisingly, many people use it to disseminate religious views or ideas. While such proselytising (as part of a broad freedom of religion or belief (FoRB)) typically causes little concern, some…

“Celebrating the Scholarship of Michael J. Perry” by John Witte, Jr.

Aug 2, 2022Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsAugust 2022, Human Rights, Witte Jr., John

Celebrating the Scholarship of Michael J. Perry Forward by John Witte, Jr. The following text is an excerpt from the Emory Law Journal’s new Festschrift honoring the scholarly work of Michael J. Perry, who serves as Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory Law School and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law…

“Dobbs Is Not a Religion Case” by Bruce Ledewitz

Aug 1, 2022Canopy ForumSeriesAugust 2022, Ledewitz, Bruce, Politics

I was unhappy, but not surprised, to see Canopy Forum including Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that overruled Roe v. Wade, in a call for submissions under the rubric, “Law and Religion in Pressing Supreme Court Cases.” I was not surprised because, for years, many critics have labeled pro-life opposition to Roe…

“A ‘Revolutionized’ Supreme Court Term” by Steven K. Green

Jul 29, 2022Canopy ForumSeriesGreen, Steven K., July 2022, Religious Freedom

The Supreme Court’s Term in 1991-1992 promised to be highly consequential. Two hot-button issues were on the Court’s docket — abortion and school prayer — and in both cases litigants and amici asked the justices to overturn established precedent. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that precedent was, of course, Roe v. Wade with its famous…

“The Supreme Court Says Conscience is Everything. Or Nothing. It Depends.” by Len Niehoff

Jul 27, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysJuly 2022, Niehof, Len, Politics, Religious Freedom

The Supreme Court has long recognized the individual human conscience as sacred territory. One of the most famous expressions of this principle comes from Justice Robert Jackson in the 1943 case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. He wrote: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that…

“Tax Policy: A Sieve Separating the Genuine Pro-lifers from the Fakes” by Susan Pace Hamill

Jul 25, 2022Canopy ForumSeriesEthics & Morality, Hamill, Susan Pace, July 2022

Labeling themselves “pro-life,” white conservative evangelical Christians waged war against abortion for decades. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court — recently configured in their image — handed them what will ultimately prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization obliterated a woman’s constitutional right to choose to have an abortion,…

“The Post-Pandemic Western Populist Right: A Purported Clash Between the Public Good and Individual Rights” by Chiara Migliori

Jul 21, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysJuly 2022, Migliori, Chiara, Religious Freedom

Vice President Mike Pence meets with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of Italy in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Monday June 17, 2019 (Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen) As the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be loosening its grip on most regions of the world, at least in its deadliest form,…

“The Supreme Court Expands the Rights of Prisoners Facing Execution” by Peter Wosnik

Jul 20, 2022Canopy ForumConvictionCriminal Justice, July 2022, Wosnik, Peter

“The Supreme Court Expands the Rights of Prisoners Facing Execution” Peter Wosnik Religious liberty claims in death penalty cases have been an active area of litigation in the Supreme Court over the last several years. In a recent line of cases, the Supreme Court has clarified both a prisoner’s right to the presence of a…

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