Russo, Charles J. Archives

“The Constitutional Limits of Aid to Students in Faith-Based Schools in The United States and Australia: A Brief Comparative Analysis” by Charles J. Russo and P. T. Babie

Jun 20, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysBabie, P. T., June 2025, Politics, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

Australian House of Representatives by JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0). The constitutional protections for religious freedom and against the establishment of state religions in the United States and Australia bear a striking similarity. Under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, approved as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791, “Congress shall make…

“St. Isidore of Seville Redux: Do Faith-Based Charter Schools Have a Future?” by Charles J. Russo

Sep 6, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, Education, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

St. Isidore of Seville (1655) depicted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (CC0). Introduction As I discussed previously, a controversy arose on June 5, 2023, when Oklahoma’s Statewide Virtual Charter School Board authorized the creation of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. Named after the patron saint of the internet, and intended to operate under the leadership of…

“Religious Charter Schools: A New Horizon for the Establishment Clause and School Choice” by Charles J. Russo

Apr 16, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysConstitutional Law, Education, Family Law, Politics, Russo, Charles J.

Oklahoma City’s Skyline by Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau (CC BY-SA 3.0). The school choice movement spurred on by Milton Friedman’s highly influential 1955 essay, The Role of Government in Education, affords parents greater opportunities to select where their children can be educated. A key component in this movement are charter schools. Charter schools…

“Chaplains: Indispensable Members of the Military” by Charles J. Russo & John C. Mosbey

May 29, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysMay 2023, Mosbey, John C., Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

“First Female Muslim Chaplain, 2021” by Airman 1st Class Jackson Manske (CC0). Senator John Boozman (R-AR) and Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) recently sponsored the Chaplains Memorial Preservation Act, authorizing the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces to update the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish chaplains’ memorials at Arlington National Cemetery to recognize those who died…

“Perilous Times Ahead for Religious Freedom on Public College and University Campuses?” by Charles J. Russo

Mar 16, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, Education, March 2023, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

“Library” from Pixabay (License) After its recent attempts to challenge conscience exemptions for medical professionals whose faiths prevent them from participating in procedures such as abortion or gender reassignment surgery, the Biden administration has continued its assault on religious freedom. This time the administration and the Federal Department of Education (DOE) are placing the status…

“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…

“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…

Does Clothing Make the Person: Reflections of the Rights of Public School Employees to Wear Religious Garb in the Workplace By Allan G. Osborne and Charles J. Russo

Jan 21, 2023Canopy ForumSeriesJanuary 2023, Osborne, Allan G., Politics, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

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. Introduction In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius famously muses that “the apparel oft proclaims the man.” Yet, in today’s increasingly religiously diverse (and religiously unaffiliated) American society wherein about 30% are religiously…

“Can Faith-Based Schools Retain Their Traditional Religious Values in a Changing World?” by Charlie Russo and Keith Thompson

Oct 17, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysEducation, Oceania (Geography), October 2022, Politics, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J., Thompson, A. Keith

Picture by Mostafa Meraji (CC BY-SA 4.0) Contemporary efforts to regulate religious schools are unjust and bound to fail. Emerging legislation in Australia and the ongoing judicial controversy in the United States over the freedom of officials in faith-based schools to hire staff and admit students who share their values present serious challenges to educators in…

“Carson v. Makin and the Blossoming of Religious Freedom in Education” by Charles J. Russo

Aug 16, 2022Canopy ForumSeriesAugust 2022, Christianity, Education, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J., US Supreme Court (SCOTUS)

Picture by Wokandapix on Pixabay. This article is part of our “Kennedy, Carson, and Dobbs: Law and Religion in Pressing Supreme Court Cases” series. If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. Notwithstanding the fears of the Supreme Court’s critics, who suggest that it intends to eliminate public education by providing…