A Field Sermon by Anna Ancher (CC0 1.0). Since Donald Trump’s appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices beginning in 2017, the Court released a series of rulings that have had a profound impact on the rights of historically marginalized groups, as well as environmental protection. Regarding immigration rights, the Court ruled in Trump v. Hawaii…
Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Bury, England. Photo by Michael Beckwith (CC BY 3.0). Religion is one of the five categories of protection—along with race, nationality, political opinion, and membership in a particular social group—designated by the international and domestic refugee regimes. Migrants who claim a “well-founded fear of persecution” on account…
Mount Rushmore, USA by Dean Franklin (CC BY 2.0). Rob Reiner’s recent movie, God & Country is, to be sure, a compelling presentation of the character and influence of white Christian nationalism and a powerful reminder of the dire threat the movement represents for American political and social life in this portentous presidential election year. …
Rally to Defend NYC’s Right to Shelter by Kenneth C. Zirkel (CC BY 4.0). This essay is part of a virtual conference series “The Roles of Law, Religion and Housing Through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)” sponsored by Canopy Forum and the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.…
Casa de la Libertad (Freedom House) in Sucre, Bolivia by Dan Lundberg (CC BY-SA 2.0). The Growing Sophistication of Religious Freedom Monitoring When considering research and political attention for religious freedom, we have really come a long way. For a long time, secularization theory was dominant in social sciences. Back in the nineteenth century, German…
Photo by Pexels on Pixabay (CCO). In a recent campaign speech, Donald Trump referred to immigrants as a “poisoning of our blood,” arguing that immigration weakens and overall contaminates American society. He presents a perspective on immigration that is not uncommon—one of suspicion and preemptive mistrust of foreigners. Even those who are tolerant of foreigners…
Code of Hammurabii via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). In a March 5, 2024 headline, the NY Times named immigration as “the biggest issue on Americans’ minds” today. Be that as it may, America is not the first (and surely not the last) society to wrestle with legal and ethical questions related to how one…
Old Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee by DXR (CC BY-SA 4.0) We Have Come Into His House is an essay published in two corresponding parts. The first part specifically examined recent Florida legislation that has restricted and restructured the way classrooms in primary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions within the state may explore topics relating to race and racism.…
Old Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee by DXR (CC BY-SA 4.0). We have come into His house to gather in His name to worship Him” – Bruce Ballinger “We request Black teachers of Black studies. It is not that we believe only Black people can understand the Black experience. It is, rather, that we acknowledge the difference…
Nuremburg Trials Protocols by David Shay (CC BY 3.0 DEED) Prologue Rabbi Dr. Emanuel Rackman (b. 1910, d. 2008) was a unique figure in the Orthodox Jewish community. Besides his well-known intellectual brilliance, he was involved with nearly every important Orthodox organization in America for many decades and then moved to Israel to be the…