Interactions Podcast

Interactions Podcast

The Interactions podcast, a podcast about the interactions between law and religion, is produced by the CSLR and distributed by Canopy Forum. Episodes now available.

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Upcoming Book Symposium

Upcoming Book Symposium

Canopy Forum will be organizing an online book symposium regarding Donald L. Drakeman’s upcoming book: The Free Exercise Clause and the Rights of Conscience. Read more about the event here.

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Law and Religion Series

Law and Religion Series

Read essays here from our latest webinar on Law, Religion and the Johnson Amendment. Our latest series include essays from Derecho en Sociedad. Other series feature current topics like the Ten Commandments in schools, Immigration, IVF and Christian Nationalism.

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“Christianity and Constitutionalism at the American Founding: An Introduction” by Nathan S. Chapman

Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull, Wikimedia Commons (PD-US). This article is part of our series on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Americans approaching the religiosity of the founding must begin by resisting the temptation to read our present cultural and political disputes, so often draped in claims about national identity, onto…

“Does the Free Exercise Clause Protect Only Public Worship? Book Review” by Eric Wang

Senate Revisions to House Proposed Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, National Archives (US-PD) On October 15, Canopy Forum, hosted by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, will be organizing an online book symposium regarding Donald L. Drakeman’s upcoming book, to be published November 2026, titled The Free Exercise Clause and the Rights of Conscience (Harvard University Press,…

“Dharma, Guṇa, and the Making of a Hindu-American Lawyer” by Sai Santosh Kumar Kolluru

Dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, from the San Diego Museum of Art (US-PD) The views expressed in this article are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer, the U.S. Government. A Hindu-American lawyer practicing within the American legal system carries two overlapping sets of obligations. The first are sāmanya-dharma(s),…

“Does the “Exercise of Religion” Equal Public Worship?” by Steven D. Smith

Senate Revisions to House Proposed Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, National Archives (US-PD) On October 15, Canopy Forum, hosted by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, will be organizing an online book symposium regarding Donald L. Drakeman’s upcoming book, to be published November 2026, titled The Free Exercise Clause and the Rights of Conscience (Harvard University Press,…

“Beyond Litigation: The ADR Advantage in a Digital, Islamic World” by Jo Chitlik

Image by Alessandro Biascioli. Licensed and provided by author from from stock.adobe.com. Modern conflict has evolved. It is faster, louder, more public, and more persistent than in prior eras. A disagreement that once remained between the parties involved can now become a screenshot, a group-chat thread, a social-media post, or even fodder for the court…

“Law, Religion, and Attention: Protecting the Dignity of Worship Online” by Ramazan Özgü

A computer at the Science Museum by Robert Brook (CC BY 1.0). Imagine a member of a congregation who wakes on Sunday morning too ill to attend church. She is particularly reluctant to miss the sermon. Fortunately, a local service is being broadcast live on television. She follows it from the opening hymn to the…

“The Free Exercise Cat is Out of the Bag: Can History and Tradition Lure It Back In?” by Whittney Barth

Senate Revisions to House Proposed Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, National Archives (US-PD) On October 15, Canopy Forum, hosted by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, will be organizing an online book symposium regarding Donald L. Drakeman’s upcoming book, to be published November 2026, titled The Free Exercise Clause and the Rights of Conscience (Harvard University Press,…

“Law and Religion in Revolutionary Pennsylvania” by Aaron J. Walayat

Crowds outside of Independence Hall in Pennsylvania by Ferdinand Richardt (US-PD-Art) The thirteen colonies,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville, “that simultaneously threw off the yoke of England at the end of the last century had, as I have already said, the same religion, the same language, the same mores, nearly the same laws; they struggled against…

“Drakeman’s Faint-hearted Originalism” by Andrew Koppelman

Senate Revisions to House Proposed Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, National Archives (US-PD) On October 15, Canopy Forum, hosted by the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, will be organizing an online book symposium regarding Donald L. Drakeman’s upcoming book, to be published November 2026, titled The Free Exercise Clause and the Rights of Conscience (Harvard University Press,…

“The Global Legacy Of American Exceptionalism: The Sound of Liberty” by Luca Pietro Vanoni

Page from original working manuscript of Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, held by Yale University (US-PD) This article is part of a forthcoming series on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In political and legal discourse, American exceptionalism denotes the idea that the United States is a distinctive political community, both…