Interactions Podcast

Interactions Podcast

The Interactions podcast, a podcast about the interactions between law and religion, is produced by the CSLR and distributed by Canopy Forum. New episodes now available.

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Law, Religion, and The Johnson Amendment

Law, Religion, and The Johnson Amendment

Canopy Forum hosted a virtual conference regarding the recent court filing of the Internal Revenue Service, which introduced a reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment. The conference recording and essays will be published here.

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Law, Religion, and Immigration and Other Series

Law, Religion, and Immigration and Other Series

Read essays here from our latest webinar on Law, Religion and Immigration. Our other series include essays on topics like Religious Violations, Transnational Christian Nationalism, IVF, and more.

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“My Body, Their Baby: A Progressive Christian Vision for Surrogacy” by Grace Y. Kao

“My Body, Their Baby: A Progressive Christian Vision for Surrogacy”Grace Y. Kao Nearly four decades after the In re Baby M case stimulated widespread debate in the United States, the legal and religious debates over surrogacy continue. Surrogacy laws in the U.S. vary widely by state, and Pope Francis recently made international headlines by calling

“The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Law” by John Witte, Jr. & Rafael Domingo

The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and LawJohn Witte, Jr. and Rafael Domingo This text is excerpted in part from the front matter of the Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Law, edited by John Witte, Jr. and Rafael Domingo (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) and is used herein with permission. This hefty new volume, over

“Dissenting Voices: Unveiling Complexity in the Russian Orthodox Church’s Stance on the Ukraine Conflict” by Evgeniia Muzychenko

Picture of a dome at the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, Petergof, Russia. Taken by Author. Expressing the position of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) regarding the conflict in Ukraine, the media predominantly concentrates on the stance articulated by Patriarch Kirill, a longtime ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. In his capacity as the head

“Table Talks on Law and Religion” by John Witte, Jr.

Table Talks on Law and ReligionJohn Witte, Jr. This is an excerpt from John Witte, Jr.’s open access book, Table Talk: Short Reflections on the Weightier Matters of Law and Religion (Leiden: Brill, 2023). “Table talks” have long been a familiar genre of writing for jurists, theologians, politicians, and novelists. In this little volume, leading

“Tracking Religious Liberty in the States over Time” by Jordan J. Ballor

Panorama of “Religious Liberty” Statue in Philadelphia by Andrey Bobrovsky (CC BY 3.0 Deed). Since its founding, the United States has had a unique national commitment to religious liberty, most notably exemplified in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Ratified in 1791, it serves as the primary basis for the nation’s legal recognition of religious

“‘Churches Can, Mosques Can’t’: Race, Immigration, and Islam in Belgium” by Hafsa Oubou

View of the Lys river in the centre of Ghent, Belgium by Joaquim Alves Gaspar (CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed). In July 2023, the government of the Netherlands abruptly collapsed amid a heated disagreement over migration. At the core of this debate was an attempt to limit the right of child refugees from war zones to

“Playing with Fire: The Normative and Prescriptive Implications of Carl Schmitt’s Theory of Sovereignty” by David Little

Home of Carl Schmitt in Plettenberg-Pasel (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0). Editorial Note: Page numbers in the text refer to the prior publication linked in the text. There is, apparently, a new surge of interest among scholars of religion and law in the theory of sovereignty proposed by the twentieth-century German legal philosopher, Carl Schmitt

“Religious Freedom and Comparative Law: The Protection of Rights and the Exception of Religious Freedom” by Andrea Pin, Nicholas Aroney, & et al.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C by King of Hearts (CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed). As the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the December 10, 2023 International Human Rights Day, a group of scholars have submitted the following reflections on religious freedom and comparative law.  The twentieth century

“Shifting Alliances and the Lost Consensus: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act at Thirty” by Kenneth Townsend

“Facade and fountain of the United States Supreme Court Building” by Sunira Moses (CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed). This article is part of our “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act at Thirty” series. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. Few Supreme Court opinions in recent generations have produced such swift and near-universal condemnation

“Religious Accommodation and its Limits” by Farrah Raza

Religious Accommodation and its LimitsFarrah Raza On what grounds should religious accommodation claims be limited? When do religious claims harm the autonomy of others? This book proposes an original model of religious accommodation which can be applied in secular liberal democracies where religious diversity has been a hotly contested issue. Addressing the complex question of