February 13, 2015 - LAW AND RELIGION FORUM

Posted on February 13, 2015July 26, 2016 by

Around the Web This Week

Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:

A federal judge in Alabama ruled on Thursday that the local probate judges cannot refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Two members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation are suing a Georgia elementary school for allegedly conducting daily prayers in class and embarrassing their children and “coercing” the children’s participation after the parents complained.
In the execution style killing of three Muslims at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a hate crime may be difficult to prove.
The Third Circuit ruled that the ACA’s accommodation for religious non-profits did not substantially burden the exercise of religion under RFRA .
A prisoner in a Connecticut state prison has filed an RLUIPA action, arguing that the prison forbids the practice of his religion, the “Five Percenters.”
In Turkey, parents complain that the state is seeking to promote Sunni Islam in the public schools, notwithstanding contrary decisions from international courts
The Indiana Senate will vote on a bill that would allow religious-affiliated organizations that receive state contracts to consider religion in employment decisions.
Eugene Volokh: Outgoing NPR ombudsman’s farewell column seems to have some words in favor of restricting blasphemy in the United States.
- Read Edward Schumacher-Matos’s farewell column here.
A survey found that public figures who disavow belief in God win approval from a growing number of Britons, especially the young.
A former prison chaplain pleaded guilty to a federal charge of carrying messages from an imprisoned Chicago mobster. The defendant’s lawyer said that there are legal issues that will be challenged in a higher court despite the plea.

Posted on February 13, 2015 by

Mutch, “Religion and National Identity”

This March, Edinburgh University Press will release “Religion and National Identity: Governing Scottish Presbyterianism in the Eighteenth Century” by Alistair Mutch (Nottingham Business School). The publisher’s description follows:

Presbyterianism has shaped Scotland and its impact on the world. Behind its beliefs lie some distinctive practices of governance which endure even when belief fades. These practices place a particular emphasis on the detailed recording of decisions and what we can term a ‘systemic’ form of accountability.

This book examines the emergence and consolidation of such practices in the eighteenth century Church of Scotland. Using extensive archival research and detailed local case studies, it contrasts them to what is termed a ‘personal’ form of accountability in England in the same period. This supports the contrast that has been made by other authors between a focus on system in Scotland, character in England. The wider impact of this approach to governance and accountability, especially in the United States of America, is explored, as is the enduring impact of these practices in shaping Scottish identity.

This book offers a fresh perspective on the Presbyterian legacy in contemporary Scottish historiography, at the same time as informing current debates on national identity.

Posted on February 13, 2015 by

Haselby, “The Origins of American Religious Nationalism”

This March, Oxford University Press will release “The Origins of American Religious Nationalism” by Sam Haselby (Columbia University). The publisher’s description follows:

Sam Haselby offers a new and persuasive account of the role of religion in the formation of American nationality, showing how a contest within Protestantism reshaped American political culture and led to the creation of an enduring religious nationalism.

Following U.S. independence, the new republic faced vital challenges, including a vast and unique continental colonization project undertaken without, in the centuries-old European senses of the terms, either “a church” or “a state.” Amid this crisis, two distinct Protestant movements arose: a popular and rambunctious frontier revivalism; and a nationalist, corporate missionary movement dominated by Northeastern elites. The former heralded the birth of popular American Protestantism, while the latter marked the advent of systematic Protestant missionary activity in the West.

The explosive economic and territorial growth in the early American republic, and the complexity of its political life, gave both movements opportunities for innovation and influence. This book explores the competition between them in relation to major contemporary developments-political democratization, large-scale immigration and unruly migration, fears of political disintegration, the rise of American capitalism and American slavery, and the need to nationalize the frontier. Haselby traces these developments from before the American Revolution to the rise of Andrew Jackson. His approach illuminates important changes in American history, including the decline of religious distinctions and the rise of racial ones, how and why “Indian removal” happened when it did, and with Andrew Jackson, the appearance of the first full-blown expression of American religious nationalism.