Essays Archives - Page 11 of 32

“The Conscience Rights of Health Care Professionals Under the Affordable Health Care Act and its Regulations: An Emerging Controversy” by Charles J. Russo

Feb 11, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, February 2023, Healthcare, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

One of the more contentious issues surrounding medical care concerns the conscience rights of health care professionals such as doctors, physician assistants, nurses, and the faith-based institutions in which they work. Controversy arises when individuals and/or their institutional policies refuse to comply with federal rules mandating that they violate their sincerely held religious beliefs, which…

“Irreconcilable differences: Law, Religion, and Taiwan’s relationship with China” by André Laliberté

Feb 7, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAndré Laliberté, Asia (Geography), Christianity, February 2023, Religious Freedom

Taipei Sunrise by Chensiyuan (CC BY-SA 4.0). Historically, laws regarding religion in China and Taiwan differ considerably, and these differences have increased in recent years. Under Xi Jinping’s rule, China seeks to revert to an earlier period of intertwined political and religious authority under the uncontested leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. In contrast, Taiwan…

“Faculty Unions in Catholic Educational Institutions: A Disconnect between Church Teachings and Practice” by Charles J. Russo

Feb 6, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysCatholicism, Christianity, Education, February 2023, Russo, Charles J.

Approaching Vatican City, Rome by Fenous (CC BY-SA 4.0). Speaking in the Vatican to a gathering of the Italian General Confederation of Labor on December 19, 2022, Pope Francis eloquently proclaimed “there are no free workers without unions.” Francis affirmed the long-standing labor teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, which began in 1891 with Pope…

“Plessy, Prince, and Me: Law, Religion, and the Quest for Racial Justice” by M. Christian Green

Feb 1, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, February 2023, Green, M. Christian, History, Human Rights / Civil Rights

Photo by Matthew Bedford on Unsplash. 1896. The year seemed to flash in glaring red lights from the text of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision as I was preparing my next lecture for “Law, Religion, and Social Change,” a course that I was teaching at Harvard Divinity School in the fall of…

“How Is Eastern Christianity Affecting Pope Francis’s Priorities?” by Matthew Cavedon

Jan 26, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysCatholicism, Cavedon, Matthew P., Christianity, January 2023, Philosophy

Cloisters of Norwich Cathedral by Arjen Bax (CC BY-SA 2.0). Introduction: Easter with the Easterns? The Christmas season hadn’t even begun when Pope Francis announced a potential change to future Easters: if Eastern Christians unite around a single date for celebrating the holiday, he said, Catholics will adjust their calendars accordingly. This might be mistaken…

Does Religion Speak War; Why Use It As A Means? By Rackel Jackson Agara

Jan 18, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAfrica (Geography), Jackson Agara, Rackel, January 2023, Religious Freedom

Aso Rock in Abujo, Nigeria by Mike Fisher (CC BY-SA 2.0). “War is the greatest plague that afflicts humanity, it destroys states, it destroys families, and even religion…Any scourge is preferable to it,” observed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many people in the world have used religion to instigate violent conflicts but these religious roots…

“Together” by Almas Shaikh

Jan 5, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysJanuary 2023, Media and Culture, Religious Freedom, Shaikh, Almas

“Together” Almas Shaikh Medium: Water and Acrylic Colors on a 300 GSM PaperDate: March 2022Artist’s Note: I painted this in early March while awaiting the verdict in the Hijab ban case we had argued before the Karnataka High Court. The court upheld the ban and the same was later challenged in the Supreme Court. This…

“Sovereigns, Exceptions, and ‘Shadow Dockets’: Law, Religion, and States of Emergency” by M. Christian Green

Dec 14, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, Constitutional Law, December 2022, Green, M. Christian, Healthcare, History, Politics, US Supreme Court (SCOTUS)

Picture by Adam Kring on Unsplash. “Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.”Carl Schmitt, Political Theology (1921) “By nonetheless granting relief, the Court goes astray. . . . That renders the Court’s emergency docket not for emergencies at all.”Justice Elena Kagan, Louisiana v. American Rivers (2022) Hitler’s Lawyer About a decade ago, the name…

“Religious Freedom and the Burqa Ban in Italy” by Rebeca Vázquez Gómez

Nov 21, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysEurope (Geography), November 2022, Religious Freedom, Vázquez Gómez, Rebeca

Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome, Italy by Matthias Lemm on Pixabay. This article is part of our “Clothed in Religion: Law and Religious Attire/Garb” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. The Italian legal system embraces a positive concept of secularism and, in general, demonstrates a positive attitude towards…

“Identifying Religious Modes of Discourse in Healthcare Policy Debates” by Ira Bedzow

Nov 18, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysBedzow, Ira, Healthcare, Judaism, November 2022

Black Beach in Iceland by Job Savelsberg on Unsplash. Religious discourse in multicultural environments has enormous potential to enrich our larger society, especially in matters related to healthcare. It can allow religious communities to ensure that their values are both heard and considered. The introduction of different religious views also provides context and counterpoints in…