Canopy Forum

“Would You Change Your Religion For a Religious Exemption to the Covid-19 Vaccine?” by Dwight M. Kealy

Jan 28, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, Healthcare, January 2022, Kealy, Dwight M., Politics

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash. Many evangelical Christians are turning to pastors, priests, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 seeking a religious exemption to Covid vaccine mandates. However, resistance to the Covid vaccine appears to be rooted not in historic Christian theology, but in current social, political, and economic philosophies.…

“The Holiday Blues in Prison” by Juan Carlos Riofrío

Jan 27, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysJanuary 2022, Riofrío, Juan Carlos, US Supreme Court (SCOTUS)

Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash. Holidays are not the same for everyone, not even in prison. No matter what the constitutional principle of equality says, holidays are not the same for everyone. For the wealthy, holidays present an opportunity to travel and relax with their loved ones. On the other hand, for those who…

“Why This Supreme Court Should Overrule Employment Division v. Smith” by Raphael A. Friedman

Jan 24, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysFriedman, Raphael A., History, January 2022, Religious Freedom, US Supreme Court (SCOTUS)

Photo of the Village Church of Lincolnshire by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash. For several decades, parties asserting religious liberty claims under the Free Exercise Clause saw little success at the Supreme Court. Over the past few years, however, religious groups have fared better. Recently, they prevailed in cases challenging various restrictions imposed on houses of…

“Ramirez v. Collier: Will the Supreme Court Expand the Right to the Presence of a Spiritual Advisor for Prisoners During Execution?” by Peter Wosnik

Jan 21, 2022Canopy ForumConvictionChristianity, History, January 2022, Religious Freedom, US Supreme Court (SCOTUS), Wosnik, Peter

Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “Ramirez v. Collier: Will the Supreme Court Expand the Right to the Presence of a Spiritual Advisor for Prisoners During Execution?” Peter Wosnik In September 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a rare, eleventh-hour stay in an execution case for prisoner John Ramirez. Ramirez was convicted of stabbing…

“Christianity and the International Criminal Court” by Johan Van der Vyver

Jan 19, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, History, International Law, January 2022, van der Vyver, Johan D.

Photo of Lady Justice (Pixabay). In 2021, Johan D. van der Vyver, I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the Emory University School of Law, published a three-volume treatise on international criminal law. Volume One deals with The History and Structures of the International Criminal Court; Volume Two is devoted to Crimes within the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court;…

“#Abortion: The Religious Right Meets TikTok” by Rachel Wagner

Jan 17, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysHealthcare, January 2022, Media and Culture, Sex and Gender, Wagner, Rachel

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash. Given the centrality and heatedness of the abortion debate in the U.S. political sphere, it might seem as though abortion has always been a rallying cry for religious conservatives. But as Sarah Posner describes in her book Unholy, despite abortion’s contemporary significance, other evangelical grudges emerged “long before” abortion…

“Why the History of English Law Has Been Neglected” by Russell Sandberg

Jan 14, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysEurope (Geography), History, January 2022, Sandberg, Russell

Photo of Elizabeth Tower in London by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash. Legal historians have regularly regretted what they perceive to be the side-lining of their subject. Writing almost a decade ago, Daniel Siemens noted that “one gets the impression that legal history is slowly and inevitably dying — or that it has been in a coma for the last 30…

“The First Word: To Be Human is to be Free” by Desmond M. Tutu

Dec 26, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, December 2021, Human Rights / Civil Rights, Tutu, Desmond

Photo by kylefromthenorth on Unsplash. We at Canopy Forum join the world in lamenting the recent death and celebrating the remarkable life of Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu. The following text is based on a keynote lecture that Archbishop Tutu offered to conclude the international conference on “Christianity and Democracy in Global Context,” November 11-14, 1991, convened by…

“Why Secular Society Desperately Needs the Recognition of Religious Holidays” by Bruce Ledewitz

Dec 22, 2021Canopy ForumEssaysDecember 2021, Ledewitz, Bruce, Politics, Religious Freedom, Secularism

Image by Fabio Valeggia from Pixabay. It is the common and traditional view that disputes over the recognition of religious holidays — disputes over creches and menorahs on public property, for example — are a clash between religious and secular citizens over the meaning of the Establishment Clause in the Constitution. But this is an…

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