Essays Archives - Page 2 of 34

“Democracy and Religions in Italy Beyond the Concordat and Agreements: Towards a Participatory Model” by Davide Dimodugno

Sep 4, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysConstitutional Law, Dimodugno, Davide, Europe (Geography), Interfaith, September 2025

Italian Chamber of Deputies in Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome, Italy by Palazzo del Quirinale (PD-ItalyGov) This paper summarizes and translates into English the article, Democrazia e religioni oltre il concordato e le intese: verso una declinazione partecipativa nei rapporti tra Stato e confessioni religiose?, published in the Italian Law & Religion Journal, Stato, Chiese e pluralismo…

“Federal Theology as Political Theology” By Pablo Ava

Aug 29, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2025, Ava, Pablo, Christianity, Constitutional Law, North America (Geography)

Reading the Bible by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (US-PD). During the Protestant Reformation, the Herborn Academy was a Calvinist Reformed institution located in German territory, which was therefore Lutheran. It operated from 1584 until 1817. Herborn was the cradle of covenant theology, also known as federal theology. Due to its adherence to Calvinism, it was never officially…

“Balancing Faith and Inclusion in the Federal Workplace” by Michael J. Broyde

Aug 27, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2025, Broyde, Michael J., Constitutional Law, North America (Geography), Religious Freedom

Courtroom Bench Gavel by Patrick Feller (CC BY 2.0). A new memorandum from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), issued July 28, 2025, has put the spotlight on religious expression in federal workplaces. OPM Director Scott Kupor’s guidance explicitly affirms that federal employees “may seek to ‘persuade others of the correctness of their own…

“Alignment to Nothing: AI and the Moral Power of the Silence to Be Human” by Kevin Lee

Aug 14, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2025, Ethics, History, Lee, Kevin, North America (Geography)

Monks in Majestic Bhaga Valley, India by Vyacheslav Argenberg © (CC BY 4.0). Breonna Taylor was an emergency room technician in Louisville, Kentucky. Her coworkers said she was calm under pressure, good with patients. She was twenty-six. On the night of March 12, 2020, after her shift, she fell asleep in her apartment watching a…

“The Illusion of The Repugnant Client: Hindu Ethics in American Legal Practice” by Sai Santosh Kumar Kolluru

Aug 8, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2025, Hinduism, Kolluru, Sai Santosh Kumar, Legal Theory / Jurisprudence, North America (Geography)

Hindu Temple in the United States via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Every Hindu-American lawyer at some point in their career is called to justify their decision to represent certain clients: How can one represent a client they find morally “repugnant” while walking the path of dharma in pursuit of the ultimate goal of human…

“Washington State and the Priest-Penitent Privilege Redux: The Federal Trial Court Injunction” by Charles J. Russo

Aug 7, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2025, Catholicism, Constitutional Law, North America (Geography), Russo, Charles J.

View of the Vatican City Gardens by Patrik Kunec (CC BY-SA 4.0). My earlier column reviewed Washington’s recently passed Senate Bill 5375 that would have required Roman Catholic priests to violate their sacred duty to maintain the seal of confession by reporting those who committed the heinous act of child abuse to state authorities. Based…

“Land Use in Texas: Muslims for Christian Secular Values” by Sharmin Sadequee

Aug 1, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysIslam, July 2025, Property Law, Religious Freedom, Sadequee, Sharmin

Islamic Da’wah Center in Houston, Texas by Jim Evans (CC BY-SA 4.0). From McKinney to Weatherford to Josephine, Texans are losing sleep over the Muslims moving in and allegedly instituting “sharia law.” It’s a disaster! In early 2025, a viral video raised public concern about the creation of Muslim “sharia cities” in the heart of…

“Greener Doesn’t Equal Fairer: Centering Justice and Inclusion in Sustainability Transitions” by E.K. Wilson

Jul 31, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysJuly 2025, Politics, Religious Freedom, Wilson, Erin K.

“Climate Angels at Extinction Rebellion Declaration Day Melbourne” by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0) “I don’t want the same world, just eco.” These are the words of an activist interviewed in the 2021 documentary, Rebellion, directed by Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot. The film tells the story of Extinction Rebellion (XR), arguably one of…

Biblical Demons in Modern Healthcare: The Book of Tobit and Health Policy by Nathan Perl, Devorah Shoenfeld, & Daniel Swartzman

Jul 25, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysHealthcare, Judaism, July 2025, North America (Geography), Perl, Nathan, Schoenfeld, Devorah, Swartzman, Daniel

The Healing of Tobit by Bernardo Strozzi (CC0 1.0). There is ongoing discourse about the relationship between patient agency and external factors in health outcomes. It can be difficult to identify the multifaceted variables that answer the question of why one person becomes ill and not another. While individual action does certainly play a role,…

“Does Religious Peacekeeping Still Matter If It Doesn’t Produce Peace?” by Peter Henne

Jul 18, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Europe (Geography), July 2025, North America (Geography), Politics, Religion and State

Russell Senate Office Building by Architect of the Capitol (US-PD). During his second term, President Barack Obama attempted to restart the Israel-Palestine peace process, following in the footsteps of every president since George H.W. Bush. Like other attempts, it fell apart quickly, much to the frustration of all. In April of 2014, then U.S. Secretary…