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Legal Spirits 073: A Short Take on the Minnesota Church Protest

Cities Church (MPR News)

In this episode—the first in a new series of Legal Spirits law-and-religion short takes—Mattone Center Director Mark Movsesian offers an initial assessment of the recent anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in Minnesota. He explains what is known so far, the legal issues the episode raises, and why those issues matter beyond this particular controversy. Whatever the merits of the underlying cause, he argues, intruding into a private worship service infringes a core understanding of the free exercise of religion. Listen in!

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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in two cases challenging state laws that require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case brought by a Jewish group seeking to recover a collection of sacred manuscripts that were seized by the Nazis and are now being held in Russia.
  • A Ukrainian Catholic Church in Pennsylvania has sued Collier Township, alleging religious discrimination after the town rejected plans for a church bell tower.
  • The European Court of Human Rights is hearing a case that seeks to remove Christian icons and symbols from public buildings in Greece.
  • The Vatican is currently evaluating the Trump Administration’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, which was established with the goal of rebuilding Gaza. 

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Legal Spirits 072: Religion at the “Constitutional Court of Europe”

In this episode, Mattone Center Director Mark Movsesian speaks with Judge Ioannis Ktistakis of the European Court of Human Rights about his career as an advocate, scholar, and international judge, and about emerging religious-freedom challenges facing Europe. They explore the role of the European Court—which Judge Ktistakis describes as “the Constitutional Court of Europe”—and examine how it supports the protection of fundamental rights across the continent. The conversation offers U.S. lawyers and law students a rare inside look at the Court’s internal workings and its approach to sensitive questions of law and religion.

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Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • The Department of Homeland Security announced that it will implement a rule that eases the requirements for foreign religious workers in the United States. 
  • In the European Court of Human Rights, the judge presiding over Tafzi El Hadri and El Edriss Mouch v. Spain held that Spanish courts did not violate the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to sanction a journalist who had written about Islamist indoctrination at a residential center for minors. 
  • In Brox v. Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, the 1st Circuit ruled against employees seeking religious exemptions from a state board’s Covid vaccination policy.
  • In the United Kingdom, Catholic leaders are urging lawmakers to reject a proposed bill in Parliament that would allow for doctor-assisted suicides. 
  • As political protests and unrest grow in Iran, Christians in Iran report increasing anxiety about their vulnerable status.