Posted on by Marc O. DeGirolami

The Civil Religion of the First World War

Yesterday was the centenary anniversary of the beginning of World War I. On July 28, 1914,  one month after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, the Austro-Hungarian empire made its first moves against Serbia. The Great War would end more than four years later.

This weekend, I visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which was hosting a very fine exhibit of American World War I posters. I was struck by the powerful imagery of civil religion in many of them. Here are two exhorting the purchase of war bonds that stood out to me as particularly representative of the genre:

World War I #2

World War I #1

And this afternoon, to remember the War, Mark and I visited the Flag Pole Green in Queens, New York, which has this lovely memorial to the men of Queens who died in the War:

World War I #3Just a few fragments of civil religion–that perennial social coagulant–in memory of the war to end war.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

France to Facilitate Asylum for Iraqi Christians

France has offered to facilitate asylum for Iraqi Christians who have fled Mosul since the takeover of that city by ISIS, the jidahist group. The announcement came in a joint communiqué by Foreign Minister Laurence Fabius and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Granting asylum is a very imperfect solution to the crisis Mideast Christianity currently faces. Indeed, Mideast Christian leaders typically resist the “escape option,” out of concern that Christian emigration will put an end to faith communities that have endured for thousands of years. For many Mideast Christians, though, emigration may be the only option left.

Fast-tracking asylum is the least the West can do for Iraqi Christians–but it may also be, sadly, the most. France, which traditionally has seen itself as the protector of Christians, especially Catholics, in the Middle East, deserves credit for taking this step. It would be nice if the United States, which bears principal responsibility among Western countries for what has happened to Iraqi Christians, would do the same thing. (H/T: Rod Dreher).

Posted on by Marc O. DeGirolami

The Forum in the Law Reviews

One interesting development in legal scholarship over the last 10 years or so is the increasing importance and prominence of legal blogs as a source of academic commentary. And one measure (a minor one, to be sure, but an interesting one) of the success of legal blogs in affecting legal academic commentary and discussion is the growing frequency of their citations in traditional law reviews. I am surely not the first to make these observations, and doubtless other legal blogs have been cited in law reviews more times than has our relatively young Center for Law and Religion Forum, which is 3 years old. Still, here are the Forum’s citations in the law reviews over its life:

1. Andrew Koppelman, “Freedom of the Church” and the Authority of the State, 21 J. Contemp. Legal Issues 145 (2013).

  • FN 95: “Steven D. Smith, How Important is Public Support for Religious Freedom?, Center for Law and Religion Forum, July 16, 2012, http://clrforum.org/2012/07/16/ how-important-is-public-support-for-religious-freedom-2-2/).”

2. Jed Glickstein, Should the Ministerial Exception Apply to Functions, Not Persons?, 122 Yale L.J. 1964 (2013).

3. Marie A. Failinger, Twenty-Five Years of Law and Religion Scholarship: Some Reflections, 30 Touro L. Rev. 9 (2014).

4. Elizabeth A. Clark, Liberalism in Decline: Legislative Trends Limiting Religious Freedom in Russia and Central Asia, 22 Transnat’l L. & Contemp. Probs. 297 (2013).

  • FN 95: “Mark L. Movsesian, Copycats, Ctr. for L. & Religion Forum (Aug. 25, 2012),http://clrforum.org/2012/08/25/copycats (noting arrest of copycat protesters who interrupted service in cathedral in Cologne, Germany).”

5. Michael A. Helfand, Religion’s Footnote Four: Church Autonomy As Arbitration, 97 Minn. L. Rev. 1891 (2013).

  • FN 134: “Michael Helfand, The New Footnote Four?, Center for L. & Religion (May 25, 2012), http://clrforum.org/2012/05/25/the-new-footnote-4/ (arguing that footnote four of Hosanna-Tabor undermines the jurisdictional approach to the religious clauses)”

6. Frederick Mark Gedicks & Rebecca G. Van Tassell, RFRA Exemptions from the Contraception Mandate: An Unconstitutional Accommodation of Religion, 49 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 343, 344 (2014).

7. Bruce Ledewitz, Experimenting with Religious Liberty: The Quasi-Constitutional Status of Religious Exemptions, 6 Elon L. Rev. 37 (2014).

8. Perry Dane, Natural Law, Equality and Same-Sex Marriage, 62 Buff. L. Rev. 291 (2014).

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Like Us? Tell the ABA

Just a reminder that the American Bar Association is soliciting suggestions for its annual list of the 100 best legal blogs. If you like the work we’re doing here at the Center for Law and Religion Forum–the Commentaries, Podcasts, and Scholarship Roundups, the Around the Web feature, the Conversations, Debates, and Guest Posts from law professors and other experts–please nominate us. The nomination form is here and the deadline is August 8. Thanks!

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Kochen, “Organ Donation and the Divine Lien in Talmudic Law”

In September, Cambridge University Press will release Organ Donation and the Divine Lien in Talmudic Law by Madeline Kochen (University of Michigan Law School).  The publisher’s description follows:

Organ Donation and the Divine LienThis book offers a new theory of property and distributive justice derived from Talmudic law, illustrated by a case study involving the sale of organs for transplant. Although organ donation did not exist in late antiquity, this book posits a new way, drawn from the Talmud, to conceive of this modern means of giving to others. Our common understanding of organ transfers as either a gift or sale is trapped in a dichotomy that is conceptually and philosophically limiting. Drawing on Maussian gift theory, this book suggests a different legal and cultural meaning for this property transfer. It introduces the concept of the “divine lien,” an obligation to others in need built into the definition of all property ownership. Rather than a gift or sale, organ transfer is shown to exemplify an owner’s voluntary recognition and fulfillment of this latent property obligation.

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“Modern Islamic Thinking and Activism” (Erkan Toguslu & Johan Leman, eds.)

This month, Leuven University Press released Modern Islamic Thinking and Activism: Dynamics in the West and in the Middle East, edited by Erkan Toguslu (KU Leuven University) and Johan Leman (Emeritus Professor at KU Leuven University).  The publisher’s description follows:

Modern Islamic Thinking and ActivismModern Islamic Thinking and Activism presents a series of scholarly papers in relation to Islamic thinking, activism, and politics in both the West and the Middle East. The reader will apprehend that Islam is not the monolithic religion so often depicted in the media or (earlier) in the academic world. The Islamic world is more than a uniform civilization with a set of petrified religious prescriptions and an outdated view on political and social organization. The contributions show the dynamics of ‘Islam at work’ in different geographical and social contexts. By treating the working of Islamic thinking and of Islamic activism on a practical level, Modern Islamic Thinking and Activism includes innovative research and fills a significant gap in existing work.

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Conference: “Liberty and Justice for All” (October 2-5)

The Christian Legal Society will be hosting its national conference, “Liberty and Justice for All,” at the Boston Park Plaza on October 2-5:

Lawyers, law students, professors, judges and friends are invited to join us October 2-5 in Boston. We are excited that we will be hearing from great speakers like Professor Robert George, Dr. Russell Moore, Andy Crouch and John Stonestreet, as well as a wonderful religious liberty panel. And of course, we will continue to offer practical workshops and CLEs covering numerous areas of the law: from estate planning to running a Christian law firm to human trafficking to employment law and ethics, just to name a few.

Details are here