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

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

“Reflections on Washington State’s Effort to Eliminate the Priest-Penitent Privilege” by Charles J. Russo

Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City via Wikimedia Commons (CC0-01). Washington’s controversial Senate Bill 5375, “An ACT Relating to the duty of clergy to report child abuse and neglect,” scheduled to go into effect on July 27, 2025, removes the legal protection for Roman Catholic priests under the seal of confession when dealing with mandatory sexual

“The Ethical Spirit of AI Constitutionalism” by M. Christian Green

ChatGPT Rendering of AI via Wikimedia Commons (PD). In the spring of 2024, the state of Louisiana faced a critical legal juncture. The newly elected Governor Jeff Landry had begun to speak of the need for a new Louisiana Constitution and to gesture toward the new constitution being drafted by the end of the regular

“When Dharma Meets Dobbs: Navigating Abortion Through the Hindu-American Lens” by Sai Santosh Kumar Kolluru

Tripura Sundari Hindu Temple via WikiMedia Commons (CC0 1.0) In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the United States Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and overruled both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In doing so, the Court puts state governments in charge of regulating

“Comparative Answers to Contemporary Challenge of Legal Authoritarianism: The Case of Kuwait” by Courtney Freer

North Kuwait City by Francisco Anzolaivi (CC BY-SA 2.0) Kuwait, prior to May 2024, presented political scientists with a valuable case study of a hybrid regime within the Middle East: a monarchy under the al-Sabah ruling family held strong and indeed ultimate authority, yet an elected parliament also held significant power to effect policy changes.

“Justifiable Limitations Upon Freedom of Religion and Belief in Australia’s Draft Human Rights Bill: Lessons from the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990” by P. T. Babie

Image of Dunedin, New Zealand by Arvid Olson from Pixabay While Section 116 of the Australian Constitution appears textually to provide broad protection for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), its interpretation by the High Court of Australia severely restricts its potential. The problem stems from the judicial conflation of two questions: whether FoRB has been violated and,

“Constitutions Address Religious Freedom, but Not as Much as Desired” by Dennis Petri and Jonathan Fox

The Village Lawyer by Pieter Brueghel (US-PD). The following essay is reprinted and adapted on Canopy Forum in collaboration with the journal Derecho en Sociedad, a biannual electronic publication that is free and open access. Their issue 19(1) features full length articles in Spanish and English. Read Petri and Fox’s long-form essay on Constitutions Address of Religious Freedom here. See other

“Defining a Muslim; The Case of Pakistan and its Ahmadis” by Yasser Latif Hamdani

Main chamber of Badshahi Mosque by User:Amjad.m (CC BY-SA 3.0) On January 16th, 2025, the government of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, demolished a historic Ahmadi mosque in the city of Daska. This mosque was built by Zafrullah Khan (1893-1985), Pakistan’s first foreign minister and one of the founding fathers of the country. This is

“’No Idols In Our Town’: Competing for Religious Space in Kisumu, Kenya” by Esha Faki Mwinyihaji 

Photo of Kisumu Municipal Hall by (WT-fr) Omondi  (CC BY-SA 3.0) Kisumu is a cosmopolitan city that lies on the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. The city is inhabited by the majority Luo ethnic group and other Kenyan ethnic groups as well as Arabs and Asians East Africa who work in the city

“Religious Belief as an Existential Threat: How Russia Victimizes Religious Minorities in Russia and in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine” by Dr. Kyriaki Topidi

“Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks” by Ilya Repin (CC0) This article is part of our series on Transnational Christian Nationalism, and its impact on politics, the rule of law, and religious freedom. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. Russia counts more than 200 ethnic groups among its more than 140 million