Essays Archives - Canopy Forum

“Religious Belief as an Existential Threat: How Russia Victimizes Religious Minorities in Russia and in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine” by Dr. Kyriaki Topidi

Nov 2, 2024Canopy ForumEssays, SeriesChristianity, Constitutional Law, Human Rights / Civil Rights, November 2024, Topidi, Kyriaki

“Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks” by Ilya Repin (CC0) This article is part of our series on Transnational Christian Nationalism, and its impact on politics, the rule of law, and religious freedom. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. Russia counts more than 200 ethnic groups among its more than 140 million…

Gender, Russian Orthodoxy, and the Invention of “Traditional” Values by Regina Elsner

Oct 31, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Christianity, Elsner, Regina, October 2024, Sex and Gender

Russian Orthodox Church, Rocklea, Russia by Bert Knot (CC 2.0) This article is part of our series on Transnational Christian Nationalism, and its impact on politics, the rule of law, and religious freedom. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. For many years, Russia has been known as one of the main…

“Fraternity: The Long Lost Companion of Liberty and Equality in the United States” by Marguerite Hattouni Spencer

Oct 30, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysEurope (Geography), October 2024, Politics, Spencer, Marguerite

Image by Filip Filipović from Pixabay Our nation is at a crossroads. In light of our calcifying divisiveness in the United States of America, we are worried that our lively constitutional experiment may fail. To get our bearings, it might be helpful to reflect back on what the “land of the free” stands for and…

“Good Vibes Only: The “Aloha Spirit” in Hawaiʻi Constitutional Interpretation” by Aaron Walayat

Oct 24, 2024Canopy ForumEssays“Other”, Constitutional Law, October 2024, Political Philosophy, Walayat, Aaron J.

Image by Talpa from Pixabay In 2017, Christopher Wilson, a resident of Maui, Hawaiʻi, was charged by the state for possession of an unregistered pistol, a violation of state statute. He moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that the statutes unconstitutionally infringed on his right to keep and bear arms under both the Hawaiʻi Constitution…

“Towards a Multidimensional Understanding of Places of Worship for Rights Balancing in Colombia” by John Osorio

Oct 22, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysJohn, Latin America (Geography), October 2024, Osorio, Religious Freedom

Image by Neidy Girado from Pixabay (license). The following essay is reprinted and adapted on Canopy Forum in collaboration with the journal Derecho en Sociedad, a biannual electronic publication that is free and open access. Their issue 18(2) features full length articles in Spanish and English. Read Osorio’s long-form essay on places of worship in Colombia here. The following…

“The Muslim Family Law Reform: Exploring Cross-National and Historical Differences” by Yüksel Sezgin

Oct 9, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysFamily Law, Islam, October 2024, Religious Law and Legal Systems, Sezgin, Yüksel

Illustration commissioned for this project by Tahira Rifath Fifty-three nations (35 Muslim-majority, 18 Muslim-minority) formally integrate shari‘a-based Muslim Family Laws (MFLs) into their domestic legal systems and enforce them through state-run (religious or civil) courts adjudicating familial disputes among their Muslim citizens. State-enforced MFLs often violate people’s fundamental rights and liberties. For example, in many…

“Normative Development of Religious Freedom in Latin America: Counter-Transfer of Religious Policies” by Camila A. Sánchez Sandoval

Sep 26, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysLatin America (Geography), Politics, Religious Freedom, Sánchez, Camila, September 2024

Santuario de Las Lajas, Ipiales, Colombia by Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 4.0) The following essay is reprinted and adapted on Canopy Forum in collaboration with the journal Derecho en Sociedad, a biannual electronic publication that is free and open access. Their issue 18(2) features full length articles in Spanish and English. Read Sandoval’s long-form essay on Religious Freedom in…

“Cuba: A Legal Framework that Restricts the Right to Religious Freedom” by Teresa I. Flores

Sep 23, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysConstitutional Law, Flores, Teresa, Latin America (Geography), Religious Freedom, September 2024

Image of Palacio del Centro Asturiano, Havana, Cuba by Carol M. Highsmith (CC0) The following essay is reprinted and adapted on Canopy Forum in collaboration with the journal Derecho en Sociedad, a biannual electronic publication that is free and open access. Their issue 18(2) features full length articles in Spanish and English. Read Flores’ long-form essay on the Cuban…

“Violence in Nigeria: discussion of the statistical evidence for the disproportionate targeting of Christians” by Dennis P. Petri & John Bainbridge

Sep 11, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysAfrica (Geography), Christianity, Human Rights / Civil Rights, Petri, Dennis P.

Makoko Lagos, Nigeria by Collins Okoh (CC BY-SA 4.0) A longstanding debate in the social sciences concerns whether violence in civil conflicts targets specific groups or is indiscriminate. Security scholar Stathis Kalyvas, in his 2006 seminal book The Logic of Violence in Civil War, argues that indiscriminate violence is less likely when actors have high…

“St. Isidore of Seville Redux: Do Faith-Based Charter Schools Have a Future?” by Charles J. Russo

Sep 6, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, Education, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

St. Isidore of Seville (1655) depicted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (CC0). Introduction As I discussed previously, a controversy arose on June 5, 2023, when Oklahoma’s Statewide Virtual Charter School Board authorized the creation of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. Named after the patron saint of the internet, and intended to operate under the leadership of…