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…
Image of Ten Commandments outside of Stephens County Courthouse from WikiMedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). It’s already back to school time, and while students in Louisiana and Oklahoma may notice that the Ten Commandments and Bible are now in their classrooms and curricula, religion has always been part of the structure of public schools in the…
John Witte, Jr. On Christianity and LawRafael Domingo The following is an adapted excerpt from the chapter “John Witte, Jr. On Christianity and Law” from the book, Faith in Law, Law in Faith: Reflecting and Building on the Work of John Witte, Jr. (2024). Reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC-BY-NC). This is part…
Can Laws and Rights Teach? John Witte and the Uses of the LawPatrick McKinley Brennan & William S. Brewbaker III The following is an adapted excerpt from the chapter “Can Laws and Rights Teach? John Witte and the Uses of the Law” from the book, Faith in Law, Law in Faith: Reflecting and Building on…
Law from Below: How the Thought of Francisco Suárez, SJ, Can Renew Contemporary Legal EngagementElisabeth Rain Kincaid The following is an excerpt from Elisabeth Rain Kincaid’s new book, Law from Below: How the Thought of Francisco Suárez, SJ, Can Renew Contemporary Legal Engagement. Excerpted with permission from Georgetown University Press, 2024. Often in American civil…
A Field Sermon by Anna Ancher (CC0 1.0). Since Donald Trump’s appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices beginning in 2017, the Court released a series of rulings that have had a profound impact on the rights of historically marginalized groups, as well as environmental protection. Regarding immigration rights, the Court ruled in Trump v. Hawaii…
Mount Rushmore, USA by Dean Franklin (CC BY 2.0). Rob Reiner’s recent movie, God & Country is, to be sure, a compelling presentation of the character and influence of white Christian nationalism and a powerful reminder of the dire threat the movement represents for American political and social life in this portentous presidential election year. …
Photo by Pexels on Pixabay (CCO). In a recent campaign speech, Donald Trump referred to immigrants as a “poisoning of our blood,” arguing that immigration weakens and overall contaminates American society. He presents a perspective on immigration that is not uncommon—one of suspicion and preemptive mistrust of foreigners. Even those who are tolerant of foreigners…
Code of Hammurabii via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). In a March 5, 2024 headline, the NY Times named immigration as “the biggest issue on Americans’ minds” today. Be that as it may, America is not the first (and surely not the last) society to wrestle with legal and ethical questions related to how one…
Old Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee by DXR (CC BY-SA 4.0) We Have Come Into His House is an essay published in two corresponding parts. The first part specifically examined recent Florida legislation that has restricted and restructured the way classrooms in primary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions within the state may explore topics relating to race and racism.…