Canopy Forum

“Beyond Recognition: Integrating Religious Justice into Indonesia’s ADR Framework” by Jo Chitlik

Feb 20, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Chitlik, Jo, Constitutional Law, February 2026, Islam

Bangly Regency, Bali, Indonesia by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas (CC BY-SA 3.0). Indonesia’s constitutional order reflects one of the most ambitious contemporary efforts to govern religious diversity through law. As an archipelagic state encompassing over 17,000 islands and hundreds of ethnoreligious communities, Indonesia has long confronted the institutional challenge of recognizing religious authority within a plural legal…

“Evaluating the Mediation System in Pakistan” by Muhammad Bakhsh Meskanzai

Feb 13, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Bakhsh Meskanzai, Muhammad, February 2026, Legal Theory / Jurisprudence, Religion and State

Supreme Court of Pakistan by Guilhem Vellut (CC BY 2.0). The pursuit of justice is often described as a journey toward truth, yet in the context of Pakistan’s legal landscape, that journey is frequently stalled by the heavy burdens of delay, exorbitant costs, and procedural complexity. As the backlog of cases in the superior and…

“Saint Death v. Church and State: The Political Economy of Santa Muerte in Mexico” by R. Andrew Chesnut

Feb 6, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysCatholicism, Chesnut, R. Andrew, February 2026, History, Latin America (Geography)

Photo of Santa Muerte iconography. Photo taken by author. In March 2009, Mexican soldiers razed more than forty public shrines to Santa Muerte in Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana, pulverizing cement and plaster images of La Huesuda under the treads of military bulldozers. The spectacular demolitions—repeated in subsequent years, including in Coahuila under President Enrique Peña…

“Why Religious Freedom Matters: Human Rights and Human Flourishing” by Allen D. Hertzke

Feb 4, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsHertzke, Allen, Human Rights / Civil Rights, January 2026, North America (Geography), Religious Freedom

Why Religious Freedom Matters: Human Rights and Human FlourishingAllen D. Hertzke The following is an excerpt from Allen D. Hertzke’s upcoming book, Why Religious Freedom Matters: Human Rights and Human Flourishing (April 2026). Reprinted here with permission from University of Norte Dame Press. Imagine a social force, a potent “X Factor,” that underpins democracy, bolsters civil…

Reformist Prison Theology: God The Slave, God The Prisoner by George Walters-Sleyon

Jan 28, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsEurope (Geography), Human Rights / Civil Rights, January 2026, Philosophy, Walters-Sleyon, George

Reformist Prison Theology: God The Slave, God The Prisoner George Walters-Sleyon This essay is an adapted excerpt from the twelve chapter of George Walters-Sleyon’s book,The Rush for Black Diamonds, Volume Two: Chattel Slavery to Penal Slavery in the US and the UK, 1865 to Post-1970 Realities (Cascade Books, 2025). You can view an excerpt from Volume…

“Christianity and the Making of Irish Law: Violence, Virtue and Reason” by David H. McIlroy

Jan 21, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsChristianity, Europe (Geography), January 2026, Theology

Christianity and the Making of Irish Law: Violence, Virtue and ReasonDavid H. McIlroy (ed.) The following essay introduces the new book, Christianity and the Making of Irish Law, Violence, Virtue, and Reason (Routledge, 2026) by the volume’s editor, David H. McIlroy. The volume is now available for purchase via Routledge. Ireland, “the Isle of Saints”,…

“Justice Before Formality: Reframing Women’s Right to Maintenance in Pakistan” by Jo Chitlik

Jan 16, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Chitlik, Jo, Human Rights / Civil Rights, January 2025, Religious Law and Legal Systems

Karakoram Mountains in Pakistan by King Elliot (CC BY-SA 4.0). Since its founding in 1947, Pakistan’s trajectory on women’s rights has been marked by a persistent tension between constitutional promises of equality and periods of legal ambiguity. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan affirms women’s equal status before the law, political participation, and…

“Generations on Generations of Human Rights” by M. Christian Green

Jan 15, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysGreen, M. Christian, Human Rights / Civil Rights, January 2026, North America (Geography), Religion and State

New York City Skyline by Janusz Sobolewski (CC BY 2.0). Recently, a number of us on staff at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, ranging from Gen Z to Baby Boomers, had the occasion to take stock of different generations and their perspectives on human rights. Baby Boomers are old enough to…

“Yoder’s Rumspringa” by Aaron Walayat

Jan 9, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysJanuary 2026, Legal Theory / Jurisprudence, North America (Geography), Religion and State, Walayat, Aaron J.

The West Virginia State Capitol Building by O Palsson (CC BY 2.0). Since 2020, a foster family from West Virginia fostered, and eventually adopted, three girls. In 2023, the girls’ newborn biological brother, M.B., was immediately placed with the foster family. Notably, the foster family are members of an Old Order Amish community. M.B.’s guardian ad…

“The Making of National Ecclesiastical Law in the Eighteenth-Century Kingdom of Naples” by Matteo Carmine Fiocca

Jan 8, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysCarmine Fiocca, Matteo, Catholicism, Europe (Geography), History, January 2026

Carlo III di Borbone visiting the Pope Benedetto XIV in the coffee-house of the Quirinale, Rome (US-PD). As the eighteenth century unfolded, theories aimed at limiting the Roman Catholic Church’s authority, shaped over the previous centuries and influenced by humanist and natural law thinking, started to really take hold in the religious policies of some…

Interactions Podcast

Law, Religion, and The Johnson Amendment

Law, Religion, and Immigration and Other Series