JCPW, Author at LAW AND RELIGION FORUM

Posted on August 9, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Around the Web This Week

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

Supporters of Egypt’s deposed Islamist president rallied in Cairo to demand his restoration
Secretary John Kerry named Shaun Casey of Wesley Theological Seminary head of the State Department’s new office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives
A Pennsylvania judge upheld murder charges against a fundamentalist Christian couple in their infant’s faith-healing death
To protest new anti-piracy rules in Russia, piracy advocates submitted official applications to form their own church, the Church of Kopimizma
In South Africa, a series of botched circumcisions by unlicensed practitioners led to calls for regulation (subscription required)
A Muslim test-taker was told by a proctor to remove her head scarf during the Massachusetts bar exam last week; bar examiners later apologized
A London pastry chef fired for using non-kosher jam while working at a kosher bakery won a large compensation payout after employment judges ruled he had been unfairly dismissed
An attack on a Buddhist temple in Indonesia’s capital was apparently aimed at avenging violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myannmar
A Sharia committee in the rebel-held area of Aleppo issued a fatwa deeming croissants “haram” (forbidden) because they symbolize a European victory over Muslims

Posted on August 9, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Yukich, “One Family Under God: Immigration Politics and Progressive Religion in America”

This month, Oxford University Press releases One Family Under God: Immigration Politics and Progressive Religion in America by Grace Yukich (Quinnipiac University). The publisher’s description follows.

Behind the walls of a church, Liliana and her baby eat, sleep, and wait. Outside, protestors shout ”Go back to Mexico!” and ”Tax this political church!” They demand that the U.S. government deport Liliana, which would separate her from her husband and children. Is Liliana a criminal or a hero? And why does the church protect her?

Grace Yukich draws on extensive field observation and interviews to reveal how immigration is changing religious activism in the U.S. In the face of nationwide immigration raids and public hostility toward ”illegal” immigration, the New Sanctuary Movement emerged in 2007 as a religious force seeking to humanize the image of undocumented immigrants like Liliana. Building coalitions between religious and ethnic groups that had rarely worked together in the past, activists revived and adapted ”sanctuary,” the tradition of providing shelter for fugitives in houses of worship. Through sanctuary, they called on Americans to support legislation that would keep immigrant families together. But they sought more than political change: they also pursued religious transformation, challenging the religious nationalism in America’s faith communities by portraying undocumented immigrants as fellow children of God.

Yukich shows progressive religious activists struggling with the competing goals of newly diverse coalitions, fighting to expand the meaning of ”family values” in a globalizing nation. Through these struggles, the activists both challenged the public dominance of the religious right and created conflicts that could doom their chances of impacting immigration reform.

Posted on August 9, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Hill & Whistler, “The Right to Wear Religious Symbols”

Next month, Palgrave Macmillan will publish The Right to Wear Religious Symbols by Daniel J. Hill (University of Liverpool) and Daniel Whistler (University of Liverpool). The publisher’s description follows.

Few issues concerning religious freedom provoke so much controversy and debate as the extent to which religious symbols should be protected in the public sphere and the workplace. This book provides the first sustained philosophical analysis of the concepts at issue in this debate, as well as covering all the major recent cases brought under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights, including the landmark judgment Eweida v UK. In particular, it gives a clear presentation of the current state of the case-law, grounding it, in a unique contribution to the debate, in an investigation of its philosophical underpinnings. Particular attention is paid to different functions of the symbol and their theoretical background, with new emphasis on the role of the symbol in bearing witness to faith. This book will open up new vistas for philosophers of religion and legal theorists alike.

Posted on August 2, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Around the Web This Week

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

A ruling by the Third Circuit increased the chances that the Supreme Court will need to settle whether secular, for-profit corporations must provide contraceptive coverage to employees despite the owners’ religious objections
A Bangladesh court declared the country’s main Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, illegal as a violation of the country’s secular constitution. The ruling effectively bans the party from a general election due early next year
Several controversies have arisen in France involving strict church-state separation and Muslims
Christian activists have called upon Britain’s most senior policeman to issue guidance to all officers about the public’s freedom of speech, following an incident where a street preacher was held for almost seven hours and fingerprinted for delivering sermons that refer to the traditional Christian view of homosexuality
A Saudi website editor has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an internet forum that violates basic Islamic values and propagates liberal thought
Egyptian authorities gave a strong indication this past week that security forces are preparing a strike against the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming they pose a threat to national security
The New York Times considers Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
On Monday, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law a measure directing state officials to regulate abortion clinics based on the same standards as those used for outpatient surgical centers
Hundreds of Buddhists demonstrated in Nepal’s capital on Tuesday to protest local authorities’ denial of permission to build a shrine
The New Orleans city council has ended a ban on disseminating “any social, political, or religious message between the hours of sunset and sunrise” on Bourbon Street

Posted on August 2, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Seib (ed.), “Religion and Public Diplomacy”

This July Macmillan published Religion and Public Diplomacy edited by Philip Seib. The publisher’s description follows.

Mixing religion and public diplomacy can produce volatile results, but in a world in which the dissemination and influence of religious beliefs are enhanced by new communications technologies, religion is a factor in many foreign policy issues and must be addressed. Faith is such a powerful part of so many people’s lives that it should be incorporated in public diplomacy efforts if they are to have meaningful resonance among the publics they are trying to reach. This book addresses key issues of faith in an increasingly connected and religious world and provides a better understanding of the role religion plays in public diplomacy.

Posted on July 26, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Around the Web This Week

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

Pope Francis arrived in Brazil on Monday for his first international trip as pontiff. On a visit to a Brazilian slum, the Pope criticized a “culture of selfishness and individualism”
On Tuesday, House lawmakers approved an amendment to a Pentagon spending bill to prevent the appointment of nonreligious military chaplains
On Wednesday, Orthodox candidates were elected as Israel’s chief rabbis
Officials in the third-largest county in Pennsylvania have agreed to issue same-sex marriage licenses despite a state law that bans the practice
In New York, refunds will be issued to same-sex spouses previously forced to pay New York estate taxes on the death of their partner
An article on the shifting religious balance of power in the United States, and whether the religious left could become the new “moral majority.” Peter Steinfels is skeptical.
The British government plans to investigate whether other Jews were denied employment benefits after an Orthodox Jew who refused to work on the Sabbath won a landmark appeal
A non-Muslim Chinese couple who posted a photo of themselves eating pork during Ramadan face up to 15 years in prison in Muslim-majority Malaysia for sedition and other crimes
Malaysian Muslims are asking the Vatican’s first envoy to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino, to return to Rome after he stated that Christians may use the word “Allah” to describe God
State lawmakers in North Carolina have given final approval to ban courts from recognizing “foreign law” in family court matters
Senator Rand Paul is encouraging churches to challenge the IRS with bold political speech
The New York Times profiles Mormons who go online searching for answers about their church

Posted on July 26, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Benton & Ross (eds.), “Legal Pluralism and Empires”

This July, New York University Press published Legal Pluralism and Empires: 1500-1850 edited by Lauren Benton (NYU) and Richard J. Ross (University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign). The publisher’s description follows.

This wide-ranging volume advances our understanding of law and empire in the early modern world. Distinguished contributors expose new dimensions of legal pluralism in the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Ottoman empires. In-depth analyses probe such topics as the shifting legal privileges of corporations, the intertwining of religious and legal thought, and the effects of clashing legal authorities on sovereignty and subjecthood. Case studies show how a variety of individuals engage with the law and shape the contours of imperial rule.

The volume reaches from Peru to New Zealand to Europe to capture the varieties and continuities of legal pluralism and to probe the analytic power of the concept of legal pluralism in the comparative study of empires. For legal scholars, social scientists, and historians, Legal Pluralism and Empires, 1500-1850 maps new approaches to the study of empires and the global history of law.

Posted on July 26, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Ball, “At Liberty to Die”

This July, New York University Press published At Liberty to Die: The Battle for Death with Dignity in America by Howard Ball (University of Vermont). The publisher’s description follows.

Over the past hundred years, average life expectancy in America has nearly doubled, due largely to scientific and medical advances, but also as a consequence of safer working conditions, a heightened awareness of the importance of diet and health, and other factors. Yet while longevity is celebrated as an achievement in modern civilization, the longer people live, the more likely they are to succumb to chronic, terminal illnesses. In 1900, the average life expectancy was 47 years, with a majority of American deaths attributed to influenza, tuberculosis, pneumonia, or other diseases. In 2000, the average life expectancy was nearly 80 years, and for too many people, these long lifespans included cancer, heart failure, Lou Gehrig’s disease, AIDS, or other fatal illnesses, and with them, came debilitating pain and the loss of a once-full and often independent lifestyle. In this compelling and provocative book, noted legal scholar Howard Ball poses the pressing question: is it appropriate, legally and ethically, for a competent individual to have the liberty to decide how and when to die when faced with a terminal illness?

At Liberty to Die charts how, the right of a competent, terminally ill person to die on his or her own terms with the help of a doctor has come deeply embroiled in debates about the relationship between religion, civil liberties, politics, and law in American life. Exploring both the legal rulings and the media frenzies that accompanied the Terry Schiavo case and others like it, Howard Ball contends that despite raging battles in all the states where right to die legislation has been proposed, the opposition to the right to die is intractable in its stance. Combining constitutional analysis, legal history, and current events, Ball surveys the constitutional arguments that have driven the right to die debate.

Posted on July 19, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Around the Web This Week

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

To prevent clashes with Muslims, Israeli officials closed the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to Jews and Christians on Tishna B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the two Jewish Temples that were located on the site.
Britain’s Channel 4 will air the three-minute call to prayer for Muslims at 3am every day for the entire month of Ramadan.
The Thai government and Muslim guerrillas signed a Ramadan cease fire accord.
Coptic Christians in Egypt are being singled out for violence by radical Islamists for campaigning against former President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Christians in Sudan face increased arrests, detentions, and deportations.
The 2013 Economic Values Survey has developed a new religious orientation scale in order to explore differences and similarities among Americans of faith. The survey is sponsored by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institute.
Nearly 40 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama urging him to convene a “Religious Diversity Summit” and do more to fight discrimination against religious minorities.
California state legislators are considering a bill that would give some alleged sex abuse victims more time to sue. Opponents argue the bill allows lawsuits so old that the Church cannot fairly defend against them.
The California Supreme Court refused a request by backers of Proposition 8 to reinstate the measure.
Queen Elizabeth formally approved a gay marriage bill in Britain.
Rhode Island’s Governor Chafee vetoed legislation to authorize a “Choose Life” license plate that would have raised money for a Christian crisis pregnancy center.
A new survey finds a third of Americans believe the First Amendment goes too far in guaranteeing freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.
Halalgoogling, a new search engine, functions much like Google but with a built-in “advanced special filtering system” that blocks content deemed “haram,” or forbidden, in Islam.

Posted on July 19, 2013July 28, 2016 by JCPW

Ariel, “An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews”

In June, New York University Press published An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews by Yaakov Ariel (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). The publisher’s description follows.

It is generally accepted that Jews and evangelical Christians have little in common. Yet special alliances developed between the two groups in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Evangelicals viewed Jews as both the rightful heirs of Israel and as a group who failed to recognize their true savior. Consequently, they set out to influence the course of Jewish life by attempting to evangelize Jews and to facilitate their return to Palestine. Their double-edged perception caused unprecedented political, cultural, and theological meeting points that have revolutionized Christian-Jewish relationships. An Unusual Relationship explores the beliefs and political agendas that evangelicals have created in order to affect the future of the Jews. Additionally, it analyses Jewish opinions and reactions to those efforts, as well as those of other religious groups, such as Arab Christians.

This volume offers a fascinating, comprehensive analysis of the roots, manifestations, and consequences of evangelical interest in the Jews, and the alternatives they provide to conventional historical Christian-Jewish interactions. It also provides a compelling understanding of Middle Eastern politics through a new lens.

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LAW AND RELIGION FORUM

Author: JCPW

Around the Web This Week

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Yukich, “One Family Under God: Immigration Politics and Progressive Religion in America”

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Hill & Whistler, “The Right to Wear Religious Symbols”

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Around the Web This Week

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Seib (ed.), “Religion and Public Diplomacy”

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Around the Web This Week

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Benton & Ross (eds.), “Legal Pluralism and Empires”

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Ball, “At Liberty to Die”

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Ariel, “An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews”

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