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…
The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and LawJohn Witte, Jr. and Rafael Domingo This text is excerpted in part from the front matter of the Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Law, edited by John Witte, Jr. and Rafael Domingo (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) and is used herein with permission. This hefty new volume, over…
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…
Panorama of “Religious Liberty” Statue in Philadelphia by Andrey Bobrovsky (CC BY 3.0 Deed). Since its founding, the United States has had a unique national commitment to religious liberty, most notably exemplified in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Ratified in 1791, it serves as the primary basis for the nation’s legal recognition of religious…
Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C by King of Hearts (CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed). As the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the December 10, 2023 International Human Rights Day, a group of scholars have submitted the following reflections on religious freedom and comparative law. The twentieth century…
“Facade and fountain of the United States Supreme Court Building” by Sunira Moses (CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed). This article is part of our “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act at Thirty” series. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. Few Supreme Court opinions in recent generations have produced such swift and near-universal condemnation…
Religious Accommodation and its LimitsFarrah Raza On what grounds should religious accommodation claims be limited? When do religious claims harm the autonomy of others? This book proposes an original model of religious accommodation which can be applied in secular liberal democracies where religious diversity has been a hotly contested issue. Addressing the complex question of…
Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, UK by Michael D. Beckwith (CC0 1.0 Deed). Over the last two decades, the world-wide Anglican Communion, one of the largest denominational gatherings of Christians in the world, often appears in secular news related to the intensity of its internal conflicts. These debates often center around questions which have roiled…
Picture by Todd van Hoosear (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED). In June 2023, the Supreme Court announced two significant First Amendment decisions: 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis and Groff v. DeJoy. In 303 Creative, both the majority and the dissent commented on what a difference time can make. But in both 303 Creative and Groff, I…