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 […]
Many Americans Hear Politics From the Pulpit: About two-thirds (64%) say they heard clergy at their church or other place of worship speak about at least one of the six social and political issues mentioned in the survey, with nearly half (46%) indicating that religious leaders had spoken out on multiple issues. More say their clergy […]
The Higher the Dome, the Closer to God: This interview with photographer Lisa Auerbach explores how the architecture of megachurch buildings represent the faith and community of that faith community, but also the individualism, capitalism and personal agency represented by small businesses. The piece includes 15 photos and could be used in classes on liturgical arts, […]
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 […]
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 […]
In Discovery, Most Documents Fail Clergy-Penitent Privilege: an Ohio appeals court affirmed in part and reversed in part a trial court’s rejection of the clergy-penitent privilege as the basis for a Jehovah’s Witness congregation, finding that only four of 19 documents met the statutory criteria for the clergy-penitent privilege. Communications between bodies of church elders did […]
LGBT 2016 Presidential Election: This PRRI/Brookings survey report offers some results to some questions framed in some ways to provide views and attitudes of registered voters on a selection of LGBT and transgender issues. For example, Americans are also less likely today to see a conflict between same-sex marriage and their own religious beliefs. Today, only […]
