Street sign of Max Weber Square. Cholo Alemen on Wikimedia (CC-BY-SA-3.0) Editorial Note: Page numbers in the text refer to the prior publication linked in the text. In an earlier article in this publication on Robert A. Yelle’s book, Sovereignty and the Sacred, I claimed that Yelle fails to take seriously the distressing theoretical and…
Photo of Ukrainian Flag from Pixabay Religious freedom is ominously shrinking in Ukraine. Unlike Moscow, post-Soviet Kiev used to tolerate the various rival Eastern Orthodox Christian jurisdictions. But Kiev is now blatantly persecuting the UOC (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), favoring the OCU (Orthodox Church of Ukraine). Ukraine’s parliament has passed the first reading of a bill…
Picture of a dome at the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, Petergof, Russia. Taken by Author. Expressing the position of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) regarding the conflict in Ukraine, the media predominantly concentrates on the stance articulated by Patriarch Kirill, a longtime ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. In his capacity as the head…
View of the Lys river in the centre of Ghent, Belgium by Joaquim Alves Gaspar (CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed). In July 2023, the government of the Netherlands abruptly collapsed amid a heated disagreement over migration. At the core of this debate was an attempt to limit the right of child refugees from war zones to…
Home of Carl Schmitt in Plettenberg-Pasel (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0). Editorial Note: Page numbers in the text refer to the prior publication linked in the text. There is, apparently, a new surge of interest among scholars of religion and law in the theory of sovereignty proposed by the twentieth-century German legal philosopher, Carl Schmitt…
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. Throughout its history, capitalism has been met with harsh religious resistance and objections. Today, both Islam and Christianity continue to criticize capitalist economies and societies for injustice, exploitation, and the concept of humanity. In such criticism of economy and society, actors refer to religious ideas to reinterpret their situation, ideas…
From the President of Ukraine (PD-US). The right to conscientious objection to military service as a fundamental human right is recognized and guaranteed at the international level. This opposition may rest upon reasons of religious belief, philosophy, morality, ethicality, emotional or political grounds. However, at the same time, the recognition of the right to conscientious…
*(Proverbs: 12:10); “The Good Shepherd, St. Botolph without Aldersgate” by Andrewrabbott (CC BY-SA 4.0). The present essay explores why the various versions of Christianity that emerged in North America by the early nineteenth century contributed almost nothing to the emerging concern about the rights of animals and the prevention of cruelty. Despite the gradual emergence…
Religious Diversity in Europe: Mediating the Past to the YoungRiho Altnurme, Elena Arigita, and Patrick Pasture The following is an introduction to Religious Diversity in Europe: Mediating the Past to the Young, edited by Riho Altnurme, Elena Arigita, and Patrick Pasture (Bloomsbury Publishing, March 2022). The full book is available here. This book is one result…
“Italian Parliament Building” by Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0). In a constitutional democracy, the right to freedom of religion implies that everyone can freely profess, practise, and propagate their faith in various forms, alone or in community with others, in public or private, in worship, teaching, and observance. With this in mind, the political-legal task…