One of the most important trends in American religion in recent decades has been the rise of the “Nones,” Americans who tell pollsters they have no religious affiliation. Some observers see this trend as evidence of the continuing secularization of American society. But is religion really in decline? And how much can surveys tell us about Americans’ religious beliefs and practices?
In this episode of Legal Spirits, Center Director Mark Movsesian interviews historian Thomas Kidd about his provocative new co-authored book, The Death of Religion? Nones, Others, and the Flourishing of Faith. They discuss why conventional surveys may exaggerate religious decline, the surprisingly long history of religious disaffiliation in America—including the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century phenomenon of the “Nothingarians”—and whether Americans’ longstanding suspicion of institutions helps explain the rise of the Nones today. Listen in!
Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction blocking enforcement of a California law that restricted employers from requiring employees to attend meetings concerning political or religious matters, holding that the law infringed employers’ free speech rights.
A former Texas public school teacher sued his school district, alleging that evangelical Christian prayers at mandatory staff meetings violated the First Amendment.
A Maryland federal district court declined to grant additional injunctive relief to a rabbi challenging a county firearms restriction that prevents him from carrying a gun while walking to synagogue on the Sabbath.
A California appellate court rejected First Amendment challenges to the admission of evidence concerning Scientology’s teachings in the criminal trial of actor Danny Masterson.
A Florida federal district court dismissed a pastor’s lawsuit challenging the denial of a property tax exemption for church property, holding that the Tax Injunction Act barred federal court intervention.
A New York appellate court upheld penalties against a clothing retailer that refused to sell a bridal outfit for a same-sex wedding, rejecting the retailer’s First Amendment defense.
A Michigan federal district court dismissed a former school bus driver’s lawsuit challenging her termination for distributing candy bearing religious messages to students, holding that her conduct was not protected private religious expression.
This fall, the Mattone Center hosted a reading group that brought together students and alumni to explore questions of faith, morality, law, and the human experience through C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. Mark Lanier, an attorney, scholar, and founder of the Lanier Theological Library in Houston led the four-part series at his firm’s office in Midtown Manhattan. He guided participants through Lewis’s influential work, which began as a series of BBC radio broadcasts during World War II and later appeared as a book. The group examined Lewis’s effort to articulate the core beliefs shared across Christian traditions, using his arguments as a starting point for thoughtful discussion about morality, responsibility, and what it means to live a good life.
The discussions began with Lewis’s argument that people recognize a moral law they did not create, yet repeatedly fail to live up to it. From there, the group considered Lewis’s Christian explanation for the gap between moral knowledge and human behavior, including the roles of human freedom, evil, and Christ’s atonement. The sessions then turned to the practical demands of Christian conduct, exploring forgiveness, pride, humility, and the limits of law in shaping individual character and a just society. These themes raised questions particularly relevant to the legal profession: Can law establish the standards necessary for a good society without being able to make people good? Can forgiveness coexist with punishment and accountability? When does professional ambition become pride? In the final session, participants considered Lewis’s reflections on the Trinity, individualism and community, the purposes of church and state, and his central claim that Christianity seeks not merely outwardly respectable behavior, but the transformation of the whole person.
For law students, the reading group offered an opportunity to step beyond the rules, doctrines, and analytical frameworks that ordinarily shape legal education and reflect on the moral questions underlying the practice of law. Lewis’s arguments invited participants to consider both the power and the limitations of legal institutions: law can establish standards, identify wrongdoing, assign responsibility, and provide remedies, but it cannot by itself cultivate the virtues on which a healthy society depends. Discussions of forgiveness and accountability also offered a way to examine the distinction between pursuing justice and seeking vengeance, while reflections on pride challenged students to think critically about competition, ambition, and professional success. By connecting a classic work of Christian thought with questions about legal responsibility, public life, and personal character, the group created space for students to engage with difficult ideas, test their assumptions, and consider not only what lawyers do but what kind of people they aspire to become.
A group of Catholic moral theologians is urging a federal appeals court to support “defined normative boundaries” regarding AI use in the military.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a Maryland federal district court’s holding that Catholic Relief Services violated Title VII and the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act by denying health insurance coverage to an IT analyst’s same-sex spouse.
The Virginia Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from McLean Bible Church (MBC) that sought to end a lawsuit brought by longtime members over the church’s 2021 elder election and other concerns.
Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the spiritual care of Catholic members of the United States armed forces, released a strongly worded statement raising objections to the plan to broadcast the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. He also declared that Catholic members of the US Army must not participate in the firing squad.
In Lajara v. McMenamin, a Pennsylvania appeals court vacated a custody order that prohibited either parent from influencing, restricting or limiting their child’s participation in religious services, events or activities.
In Domanic v. Christian Brothers Automative Corporation, the 5th Circuit held that a Texas religion-based franchisor did not violate federal civil rights laws by requiring that its franchisees be professing Christians.
A Christian evangelist filed suit earlier this month in an Arizona federal district court challenging Tucson’s decision to exclude religious, political, and issue-based leafleting at an annual holiday display. The complain alleges this exclusion violates plaintiff’s free speech, free exercise and due process rights.
Christian Counselors in Lincoln Nebraska filed suit last week in federal district court to enjoin enforcement of city ordinances that prohibit conversion therapy for minors, alleging that the challenged rules are almost identical to the Colorado statute that the U.S. Supreme Court found unconstitutional on free speech grounds in Chiles v. Salazar.
Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a Catholic order’s challenge to a denial of a permit to build a shrine next to its church. The case could provide clarity on protections for houses of worship against restrictive local zoning.
The U.S. Supreme Court may also take up the Texas and Louisiana Ten Commandments classroom laws, according to CBS’s new-term preview.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis sued in federal district court over a detention center policy that bars priests from giving Communion and hearing confessions, claiming the policy denies detainees spiritual care core to their faith.
A federal district court in New Jersey dismissed without prejudice the Justice Department’s FACE Act suit over a 2024 protest outside a synagogue, ruling that the complaint did not allege a violation of the statute’s protections for worship.
Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs reporting directly to him to advocate for military chaplains and religious support.
The Justice Department’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced the first stop of a national “American Tour Against Hate” in Michigan.
President Trump issued a Columbus Day proclamation that invokes devotion to God in describing the nation’s origins.
In his new book, So Ordered, Justice Alito said that the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized marriage equality in all 50 states, was “perhaps the decisive point in our nation’s turn against religious liberty.”
Mark welcomes back his friend and former colleague, Professor Marc DeGirolami of the Catholic University of America, for a conversation about Marc’s new book, The Constitution of Practice. Drawing on questions they have discussed and debated for years, Mark and Marc explore the case for constitutional traditionalism, how it differs from originalism, and what the Supreme Court’s turn to “history and tradition” means for the Establishment Clause. Mark presses Marc on some of the harder questions for a traditionalist approach: how to identify the relevant tradition, what to do about bad traditions, and whether in a country as diverse as the United States constitutional law should leave more room for regional and local variation. Listen in!
Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
The Ninth Circuit rejected an effort to remove a nearly century-old cross and longstanding nativity display at the historic El Pueblo monument in Los Angeles.
In a speech to sick people and caregivers, the Pope Leo denounced France’s recent legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Catholic Church has continued to push against assisted suicide laws in the U.S.
A federal district court in Oklahoma ruled the state may not single out religious schools for exclusion from public charter funding on the basis of religion.
A federal judge in Tennessee dismissed most of the claims against Southern Baptist Convention leaders in a lawsuit filed by a former SBC seminary professor David Sills, who lost his job due to sexual misconduct allegations.
The Muslim Center of New Jersey is suing the Marlboro Township, New Jersey zoning board, council, mayor and others, alleging religious discrimination and violations of the community’s right to worship after a five-year application process to build a mosque ended in a denial.
The Chicago Immigration Court ruled that the U.S. can deport the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque on the grounds that he is a threat to national security.
Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
A federal judge ruled that Oklahoma cannot exclude a Jewish charter school from the state’s charter school program because of its religious character.
The Eighth Circuit heard arguments over Arkansas’s law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
An Oregon mother sued a public school district for refusing to reimburse her for Christian homeschooling materials while providing reimbursements for secular materials.
A dispute over access to a Jewish rabbinical court reached the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.
Two Christian student organizations sued Virginia State University, alleging that the public university discriminated against them in access to campus recognition and benefits because of their religious requirements for student leaders.
I’m looking forward to participating in this upcoming online symposium the SMU Law Review will sponsor next month: Religion and Government: The Future of the Establishment Clause. Registration link available in the photo above. Friends of the Mattone Center, sign on and say hello!
