Meeting between Indian Prime Minister Modi and Vice President Harris, from Office of the Vice President of the United States (CC0). The legislative proposal, Senate Bill no. 403, has been approved overwhelmingly by the California Senate and awaits the assent of the State Assembly. It would amend several existing laws on discrimination in California to…
“Cristo Church, Havana, Cuba” by Roberts & Co., Havana (CC0). The Regulation of Religion in Communist Cuba Religious groups have been viewed with suspicion by the Cuban government for a long time, as they are seen as potential threats to the socialist state. This distrust has led to subtle forms of repression, such as surveillance…
I read a newspaper column many years ago by Garry Wills. He was writing about a priest and three peace activists, morally outraged by the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, who participated in a White House tour. At one point, they abruptly knelt, announced that the War was an affront to God, and…
Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash. Introduction From its establishment in 1928 until the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood developed from a small religious study group into the most influential Islamist movement in the world. After coming to political power in 2012 during Egypt’s brief democratic transition, the group was ousted…
“The Potential Religious Context of The Fourth Amendment” Peter Wosnik James Madison first introduced the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to Congress in 1789. Since that time, the Fourth Amendment has become a bedrock in criminal procedure in American constitutional law. Thousands of state and federal cases have been decided interpreting and applying it…
In May of 2022, the news broke that the US Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) had released an independent report investigating the SBC’s handling of sexual harassment and assault by clergy and other employees of SBC-affiliated churches. The report described an institution that prioritized avoiding liability, was callous and offensive towards victims, resisted reforms, and that…
Crimesploitation: Crime, Punishment, and Pleasure on Reality Televisionby Paul Kaplan and Daniel LaChance No reality television program about crime and punishment satisfied a hunger to see inmates as redeemable more than the A&E network’s most watched show, Dog the Bounty Hunter. Over the course of 246 episodes that aired from 2004 to 2012, the show…
“The Supreme Court Expands the Rights of Prisoners Facing Execution” Peter Wosnik Religious liberty claims in death penalty cases have been an active area of litigation in the Supreme Court over the last several years. In a recent line of cases, the Supreme Court has clarified both a prisoner’s right to the presence of a…
“What Theological Roots of Reasonable Doubt Might Teach Us” Peter Wosnik Unlike some esoteric legal terms, the term “reasonable doubt” is familiar to most Americans. Anyone who has sat in jury service in a criminal trial or watched a legal drama has likely encountered the phrase. What many are unaware of is that modern scholarship…
“Harold J. Berman on the Revitalization of Criminal Law and Religion” Peter Wosnik The age we live in can be defined in part by its skepticism: skepticism of our national history, of our traditions, of our institutions. Commentators from various ideological persuasions have bemoaned the collapse of important American institutions. According to Gallup polling, major…