This essay with four responses from Mosaic examines several trends and issues in the current factional disputes over religious liberty in the courts, the schools, and the secularized culture of America.
Items included for this subject area come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
"Open Book" by R. Marxhausen: the Bible, the book open to us all
Symposium: Trinity Lutheran v. Pauley
“American Culture on Appeal” symposium series: This is an ADF two-panel conversation, including Q&A, examining the implications of Trinity Lutheran and treatment of religious freedom and conscience rights by our nation’s highest court. Check this link and their site for details and follow-up posts on the contents.
Civil Rights and Religious Liberty: Peaceful Co-existence?
Even the Government’s Smartest Lawyers Can’t Figure Out Religious Liberty — From the Atlantic: It took the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights three years to produce its report on religious freedom and non-discrimination. With 27 pages, more than 1000 days of work, and 200-some additional pages of commentary, the document essentially amounts to this–legal scholars […]
State Applies Transgender to Church
Massachusetts Agency Says Transgender Non-Discrimination Can Apply To Some Church Events: the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination released its Gender Identity Guidance (full text) setting out the Commission’s interpretation of the new law. The Guidance suggests that in some situations, the anti-discrimination ban can apply to churches. “Even a church could be seen as a place of public accommodation […]
Court Dismisses Suit Against Catholic Hospital
6th Circuit Dismisses Suit Over Catholic Bishops’ Health Care Directives: The U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the suit against the Catholic Health Ministries by which the plaintiff claims she was inadequately treated when she prematurely went into labor at 18 weeks into her pregnancy. The hospital, complying with the USCCB’s Catholic health care directives, did not […]
The State of a State-Sponsored Church
This Sceptic Isle: Britain is unusually irreligious, and becoming more so. That calls for a national debate, says a recent article in the Economist. Religion in Britain may or may not be a harbinger. Students can consider this situation, the future of Christianity, and its relation to direct or indirect assistance from the governing authorities. […]
Center for Law and Religion on Religious Liberty Currently
Interview with Mark Movsesian: Religious Liberty at the Present Time — The question now of religious accommodation is a lot more murky. There is now a great deal of pressure being put on the traditional American ideal that religion is special and deserves special protection under the law. That’s a cultural shift—not a legal shift, but […]
Religion as Distinct in the First Amendment
The Distinctiveness of Religion in American Law: Rethinking Religion Clause Jurisprudence by Kathleen M. Brady (Cambridge, 2015) — Religion’s traditional distinctiveness under the First Amendment has been challenged by courts and scholars. As America grows more secular and as religious and nonreligious convictions are increasingly seen as interchangeable, many have questioned whether special treatment is still […]
The Law and Innate Religious Identity
Innate Religious Identity: (Note: one free download) This volume of essays is devoted to predicting the direction sexuality law will take after the Obergefell ruling. My essay continues my interrogation of legal attentiveness to children’s identity development in custody disputes. LGBT advocates and parents benefited from science that promoted understanding of sexual orientation and gender […]
Essay: State Regulation of Religion
Exposing a State’s Attempt to Censor and Control Church Teaching On Biblical Sexuality: This brief essay addresses the efforts of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to regulate speech and conduct in the activities of the congregation which the commission determines are not religious. Interested readers can follow further court procedings with the usual searches, at the […]
