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Ferrari on a European Perspective of Law and Religion in a Secular Society

Silvio Ferrari (U. of Milan) has posted Law and Religion in a Secular World: A European Perspective. The abstract follows.

This article examines two interpretations of the process of secularisation that can be traced back through European legal and political thought, and a more recent trend that challenges both of them. It does this through the prism of the public sphere, because in today’s Europe one of the most debated issues is the place and role of religion in this sphere, understood as the space where decisions concerning questions of general interest are discussed. The article concludes, first, that the paradigm through which relations between the secular and the religious have been interpreted is shifting and, second, that this change is going to have an impact on the notion of religious freedom and, consequently, on the recognised position of religions in the public sphere.

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Augustine on Environmental Justice and Eschatology in Revelation

Jonathan C. Augustine (Southern U. Law Center) has posted Environmental Justice and Eschatology in Revelation. The abstract follows.

The concept of environmental justice is not new. While some scholars and activists trace its origins as part of the ongoing American Civil Rights Movement—a movement which emerged within the interdisciplinary connection of law and religion—this Essay argues that the concept of environmental justice has deep origins in the Holy Bible. With a foundation in the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, this Essay combines the disciplines of law and religion by arguing that the Book of Revelation should be read ecologically, as a clarion call to protect the environment in anticipation of the time the triune God will return to live on the planet earth, which will exist as a new heaven.

To support the thesis that the Book of Revelation calls members of Judeo-Christian faith traditions to be protective stewards of planet earth, this Essay is organized into five interconnected parts, undergirded by religious views on the environment and the concept of environmental justice. Part I is an introductory overview, which lays a foundation for the matters related to law, religion, and ecological eschatology detailed herein. Part II builds upon Part I by transitioning into a substantive analysis of environmental justice, as detailed by John in Revelation. Part III then moves in chronology from a time when Judeo-Christian morals influenced ecological eschatology, millennia before antiquity, by exploring the same influences on environmental justice in the post-modern era. Part IV outlines policy considerations related to the continuing environmental justice movement from a Judeo-Christian thought perspective. Finally, Part V of this Essay is a synthesis and conclusion, where the author attempts to harmonize the themes and theories detailed herein, all at the proverbial intersection of law and religion.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian · 1 Comment

Ax Murderers, Values, and International Law

At a NATO conference in Hungary in 2004, an Azeri officer, Ramil Safarov, murdered one of the other participants, an Armenian officer named Gurgen Margaryan. Actually, that doesn’t quite capture it. Safarov broke into Margaryan’s room, stabbed him while he was sleeping, then severed his neck with an ax. Safarov confessed to the crime; Hungary convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Two weeks ago, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan, which promptly pardoned him, promoted him, restored his back pay for his years in the Hungarian prison, and generally gave him a hero’s welcome.

The extradition and pardon have caused a storm of protest — from Armenia, of course, but also from the UN, NATO, the US, Russia, and several church bodies within and outside Hungary. Hungary’s  Lutheran and Reformed Churches wrote to condemn “the unacceptable amnesty” given Safarov. The Hungarian Catholic Bishops Conference was more circumspect, writing only to express solidarity with Armenians and condemn ethnic violence, but the point was clear. The World Council of Churches, and the National Council of Churches in the US, also condemned the actions of Hungary and Azerbaijan. On Friday, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, through a spokesman, strongly criticized the pardon, stating that “ethnically motivated hate crimes of this gravity should be deplored and properly punished.”

How can one begin to make sense of this incredible episode? It’s important to focus on three things. First, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked for twenty years in one of the Caucasus’s “frozen conflicts,” a dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabagh. Indeed, Azerbaijan alleges that Safarov was incited by Margaryan’s insults to the Azeri flag — at his trial, Safarov did not mention any such insults, and of course they could not have justified this brutal murder even if they had occurred — and by injuries Safarov’s family suffered in Read more

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Catholic Representative Accuses Israel of Ignoring Attacks on Christians

Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa is the “Custodian of the Holy Land,” in charge of Catholic rights in Christian holy places in Israel and Palestine. Normally,  Custodians are fairly circumspect. This week, however, Fr. Pizzaballa gave an interview to the  Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, in which he criticized Israeli law enforcement for failing to do enough to prevent attacks on Christians. Fr. Pizzaballa’s comments came in response to a recent arson attack by Jewish settlers on an 11th-Century Trappist monastery. The monastery’s door was set on fire and anti-Christian graffiti sprayed on the walls. Although the Israeli government condemned the attack, Pizzaballa alleges that police are not taking the crime seriously. In his view, Christians are convenient scapegoats in the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians. “Those who sprayed their hateful slogans expressed their anger at the dismantlement of the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank,” he says. “But why do they vent this anger against Christians and Christian places of worship?”The Haaretz interview requires a subscription, but you can read an account in the Telegraph, here.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Catholic Bishop Convicted in Child Sex Abuse Case

A Missouri court this week convicted Bishop Robert Finn of failing to report suspicion of child abuse by a priest in his diocese, a misdemeanor offense. Bishop Finn is now the highest ranking Catholic cleric to be convicted in the sex abuse scandal. Religion Clause has the details here.

Posted on by ddrakeman

Things That Aren’t on Enough Church-State Syllabi: Part III — Federally Funded Evangelism

Colonel Johnson of my last post was not only center stage for the country’s first big law and religion debate, he was also in the middle of the most amazing non-event in American church-state history.  Running short of cash, Johnson turned his Kentucky property into the site of one of the many federally-funded boarding schools where young Native American boys would be “Christianized” and “civilized.”  Every presidential administration from George Washington until the 20th century had some sort of effort to “civilize” the Indians, with James Madison helping to launch the school project.

Johnson partnered with the Baptist General Convention for Missionary Purposes, since the schools were invariably run by missionary organizations.  At one point, the War Department complained that the Kentucky Colonel’s school wasn’t properly recognizing the Sabbath.  After becoming famous for his reports decrying any federal cognizance of religion – especially relating to the Sabbath – what did he do?  He wrote to the Baptist minister running the school to complain about the apologies he had to make in Washington.  Johnson promised that these “irregularities” had been corrected, and the War Department would get the full Christianizing benefits it was paying for.

Isn’t it remarkable that this civilization process endured for a century without any church-state controversy?  Even President Grant, famous for his speech about keeping church and state “forever separate,” awarded control of part of the federal Indian agency to the Society of Friends, saying, “If you can make Quakers out of the Indians it will take the fight out of them.”

Church-state issues didn’t arise until late in the 19th century, when Catholic schools ended up with the lion’s share of the $3.8 million annual budget.  Only then did all the previous Protestant beneficiaries decide to call for an end to funding “sectarian” schools.  An interesting account is in R. Pierce Beaver, Church, State and the American Indians (1966).

It seems to me that we simply can’t talk about 20th century school-aid cases without paying attention to this remarkable history.

Don Drakeman

Posted on by JCPW

Murphy, “State Security Regimes and the Right to Freedom of Religion and Belief: Changes in Europe Since 2001”

This December, Routledge will publish State Security Regimes and the Right to Freedom of Religion and Belief: Changes in Europe since 2001 by Karen Murphy. The publisher’s description follows.

The question of to what extent, manifestations of religious beliefs should be permitted in the European public sphere has become a salient and controversial topic in recent years. Despite the increasing interest however, debates have rarely questioned the conventional wisdom that an increase in the range of security measures employed by a government inevitably leads to a decrease in the human rights enjoyed by individuals.

This book analyses the relationship between state security regime changes and the right to religious freedom in the EU. It presents a comparative analysis of the impact these regime changes have had on the politics, policies and protections of religious freedom across the EU member states in the post-2001 environment. The book provides a timely investigation into the role of national legislation, the European Court of Human Rights, and societal trends in the protection of religious freedom, and in so doing demonstrates why the relationship between state security and religious freedom is one of the most socially significant challenges facing policymakers and jurists in Europe at the present time.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Lecture: Jewish Law and Civil Procedure

Touro’s Jewish Law Institute will host a lecture, “A Comparative Look at Jewish Law and Civil Procedure,” by Rabbi Yona Reiss (Yeshiva University), on September 21. Details are here.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Girl in Pakistani Quran-Burning Case to be Released on Bail

Rimsha Masih, the Pakistani Christian teenager who has been in prison for weeks on blasphemy charges, will be freed on bail to await trial, the Guardian reports. A local mullah had accused Masih, who has Down’s Syndrome, of burning pages from a Quran. This week, however, the mullah’s colleagues accused him of framing Masih by planting incriminating evidence on her as part of a plot to drive Christians from the neighborhood. A senior Muslim cleric subsequently spoke in Masih’s defense and personally guaranteed her safety if the court were to release her. The case has shed light on Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which, detractors claim, is often used as a pretext for settling scores with Christians and other religious minorities. Ali Dayan Hasan, the Pakistani director of Human Rights Watch, says that he hopes the Masih case will lead to re-examination of the law, but other experts have expressed doubt about the possibility of reform. The law enjoys great popular support in Pakistan.

Posted on by JCPW

Wolterstorff, “Understanding Liberal Democracy: Essays in Political Philosophy”

This November, Oxford University Press will publish Understanding Liberal Democracy: Essays in Political Philosophy by Nicholas Wolterstorff (Yale) and edited by Terence Cuneo (University of Vermont). The publisher’s description follows.

Understanding Liberal Democracy presents notable work by Nicholas Wolterstorff at the intersection between political philosophy and religion. Alongside his influential earlier essays, it includes nine new essays in which Wolterstorff develops original lines of argument and stakes out novel positions regarding the nature of liberal democracy, human rights, and political authority. Taken together, these positions are an attractive alternative to the so-called public reason liberalism defended by thinkers such as John Rawls. The volume will be of interest to philosophers, political theorists, and theologians, engaging a wide audience of those interested in how best to understand the nature of liberal democracy and its relation to religion.