Canopy Forum

Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants–And Why It Still Matters by Lloyd D. Barba and Sergio M. González

Aug 7, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsAugust 2026, Barba, Lloyd D., Christianity, González, Sergio M., Immigration Law, North America (Geography)

Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants–and Why It Still MattersLloyd D. Barba and Sergio M. González This article includes excerpts from Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants—And Why It Still Matters by Lloyd D. Barba and Sergio M. González and published by Oxford University Press in…

“From the Sacred Wall to the Rights-Permeated Border: Reading Heaven Has a Wall from Mediterranean Europe” by Alessandro Ferrari

Aug 4, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2026, Europe (Geography), Ferrari, Alessandro, Human Rights / Civil Rights, Immigration Law

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, visited the migrant hotspot in Lampedusam, Italy © European Union, 2026 (CC BY 4.0). I would like to read Elizabeth Shakman Hurd’s Heaven Has a Wall from the perspective of Mediterranean Europe, and more specifically from Italy. My aim is to ask what happens when the…

“What the Religious Liberty Commission and Their Hearings Revealed” by Andrew Paul Smith

Jul 30, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysJuly 2026, North America (Geography), Politics, Religious Freedom, Smith, Andrew Paul

Museum of the Bible by Ajay Suresh (CC BY 2.0). People have different ideas of religion, and what makes religion important; people, furthermore, have different ideas of how religion is being oppressed in society. Thus, if one were to, say, form a commission focused on religious liberty–why don’t we call it the Religious Liberty Commission…

“Who Is American? Belonging and the Question of Jewish Citizenship” by Lila Berman

Jul 29, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsHuman Rights / Civil Rights, July 2026, North America (Geography), Religious Freedom

Who Is American? Belonging and the Question of Jewish CitizenshipLila Berman The following excerpt is from Who Is American?: Belonging and the Question of Jewish Citizenship © 2026 by Lila Corwin Berman. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press. In her recently published book Who Is American, Lila Corwin Berman draws on case law, statutes, and…

“Between Modernity and Faith: Religious Organizations as Lobbying Actors in Italy” by Andrea Santo

Jul 23, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysConstitutional Law, Europe (Geography), July 2026, Santo, Andrea, Secularism

The Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy by Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0). Democratic systems in the contemporary world are often interpreted through the paradigm of secularization, understood as “the emergence of a civilization in which the holders of sacred knowledge no longer possess a monopoly over spiritual production, and in which civil society, emancipated…

“Religion, Pornography, And Section 230” by George Myers

Jul 21, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, July 2026, Myers, George, North America (Geography), Politics

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve by After Domenichino, Italian, 1581-1641 (US-PD-Art). The Religious Right was a consortium of mostly evangelical pastors and public activists who saw modern American culture as godless and degenerate, and sought the regulation of many social issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and pornography. Over time however, the Religious Right…

“A Free Exercise Surprise” by Donald Drakeman

Jul 15, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsConstitutional Law, July 2026, North America (Geography), Religious Freedom

A Free Exercise SurpriseDonald Drakeman The following is an introductory essay to Donald Drakeman’s upcoming book, The Free Exercise Clause and the Rights of Conscience (Harvard University Press, 2026). Drakeman’s work will be available for purchase November 2026. In October, Canopy Forum will host an online book symposium to discuss Drakeman’s work. Read more about…

“Rwanda Travelogue: Rwandan Values for Post-Genocide Resilience” by M. Christian Green

Jul 10, 2026Canopy ForumEssaysAfrica (Geography), Green, M. Christian, Human Rights / Civil Rights, July 2026, Religion and State

Aerial of Kigali Convention Center by Emmanuel Kwizera (CC BY-SA 4.0). I approached attending the recent African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) 2026 Rwanda conference on “Law, Religion and Youth in Africa” with some amount of trepidation. For someone who was studying law and religion, particularly human rights law, at the time of…

“The Religious Left – What It Does and How It Can Do Better” by Robert Wuthnow

Jun 30, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsChristianity, June 2026, North America (Geography), Politics, Wuthnow, Robert

The Religious Left: What It Does and How It Can Do BetterRobert Wuthnow Material excerpted from The Religious Left: What It Does and How It Can Do Better by Robert Wuthnow © 2026 by New York University Press. Excerpted with permission from the publisher. Generations of readers have been amply informed about the Religious Right.…

“Secular-Christian Social Justice – Climate, Race, and Gender in the 21st Century” by Noa Ben-Asher

Jun 26, 2026Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsChristianity, Human Rights / Civil Rights, June 2026, Politics

Secular-Christian Social Justice: Climate, Race, and Gender in the 21st CenturyNoa Ben-Asher Material excerpted from Secular-Christian Social Justice: Climate, Race, and Gender in the 21st Century by Noa Ben-Asher © 2026 by New York University Press. Excerpted with permission from the publisher. In the opening decades of the twenty-first century, a distinctive vocabulary has emerged…

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