Essays Archives - Canopy Forum

““[E]ven in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten:” Banning Communal Worship Poses Continuing Threats to Religious Freedom” by Charles J. Russo

Apr 2, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysApril 2021, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

“Even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten.” — Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63, 68 (2020) One can only imagine what James Madison, lead advocate of the First Amendment Religion Clauses, or other American Founders, would say if they could witness the status of religion freedom in the…

“The Scowling ‘Shari’a’: Muslim Views on Prayer” by Niloofar Haeri

Mar 23, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysHaeri, Niloofar, March 2021, Religious Freedom

Do Muslims pray even when they are not required to by “shari’a”? Or is being a Muslim a matter of performing exclusively compulsory religious acts, punctually and “to a T,” lest one get punished by the dreaded, bearded, and scowling “shari’a”? For reasons that we need not review here, outside of Muslim countries, we read…

“The Reckoning of Religious Studies and Colonialism” by Laura Ammon

Mar 19, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysAmmon, Laura, Ethics & Morality, March 2021

The study of religion has a long history of service to Western imperial ambitions. Recent decades have seen religious scholars wrestle with the implications of this colonial legacy for the future of the field. This essay, divided into two parts, will explore the connections between religion and colonialism. First, I will give a brief history…

“A Votive Candle in the Tiny Chapel in the Middle of Our Nation” by Marguerite Spencer

Mar 16, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysMarch 2021, Politics, Spencer, Marguerite

US Center Chapel, located at the Geographic Center of the Lower 48 States in Lebanon, Kansas / Flickr Jimmy Emerson, DVM CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 During the Super Bowl, Jeep ran an ad that featured singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen in a chapel. Not at a political rally, not at a demonstration, but in a tiny chapel in…

“The Chorister’s Tale: Religious Freedom Analogies in the COVID Pandemic” by M. Christian Green

Mar 10, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysGreen, M. Christian, March 2021, Religious Freedom

No one has heard a peep from this chorister in nearly a year. Trained in law, religion, and the law of religious freedom, there was a time early in the pandemic when I wondered whether the social distancing mandates being adopted by state and, in some cases, municipal governments would be experienced by some as…

“Religious Freedom Cases During the Pandemic: Round II” by Michael J. Broyde

Mar 10, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysBroyde, Michael J., March 2021, Religious Freedom

Three weeks ago, in the case of South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, the United States Supreme Court stayed the enforcement of California’s occupancy limits on worship services during the pandemic. At some level, there is nothing new here, as the Court had done the same in a New York case only a few…

“Section 230 and the Millstone” by Mark Edward Blankenship Jr.

Mar 4, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysBlankenship Jr., Mark Edward, March 2021, Media & Culture

The millstone was an integral tool needed to grind grain to make bread and sustain life, and during Biblical times, it was deemed that taking someone’s millstone would be like taking his or her life in pledge. It has been analogized as an instrument of death, a wrath of severe judgment, and/or heavy burden. For…

“America’s Constitutional Theology: Sovereignty and Grace In Bostock, Espinoza, and Our Lady of Guadalupe” by William E. Thro

Feb 5, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysFebruary 2021, Politics, Thro, William E.

Constitutional Theology is the intersection of theology with constitutional theory. Constitutional Theology recognizes that the constitutional design will reflect society’s beliefs about the nature of humanity or those who rule. At the same time, it acknowledges that, if the constitutional system is to work, a faith’s interactions with the larger society must echo the constitutional…

“The Cross and the Criminal Record” by Darrin Sims

Jan 26, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysCriminal Justice, January 2021, Sims, Darrin

Though you might not know it, you’re probably familiar with the Biblical story of Barabbas. Appearing only briefly in the crucifixion narrative of the New Testament, Barabbas is the prisoner who was chosen by the crowd, over Jesus Christ, to be released by Pontius Pilate in a customary pardon before the feast of Passover. We…

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