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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. 

Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to reconsider its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. 
  • The Satanic Temple has been denied the opportunity to amend its Idaho abortion ban lawsuit.
  • The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement addressing their concern for the evolving situation impacting migrants in the United States.
  • The Supreme Court heard arguments in a religious rights case involving a Rastafarian man who is trying to sue Louisiana prison officials after they forcibly shaved his dreadlocks.
  • U.S. bishops announced this week that Catholic hospitals in the United States are expressly prohibited from performing transgender-related surgeries on individuals who identify as the opposite sex.
  • Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Elpidophoros became a naturalized U.S. citizen on November 10.
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Around the Web

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

  • After New York City dropped the case against a woman who assaulted a pro-life influencer, the legal nonprofit Thomas More Society has asked the DA to reconsider. 
  • The Vatican has appointed a five-member panel of independent judges to oversee the canonical trial of Father Marko Rupnik, who faces allegations of sexual and psychological abuse involving consecrated women under his spiritual care.
  • Oklahoma’s new state superintendent has dropped the prior mandate requiring Bibles to be placed in public school classrooms and will not distribute them or enforce a biblical character curriculum. 
  • A federal judge has temporarily blocked key provisions of Texas’ new campus speech law, siding with Christian and other student groups who argued the law infringed their First Amendment rights.
  • A New Jersey jury has awarded $5 million in damages to a former student who alleged he was sexually abused decades ago by a monk at the elite Delbarton School.
  • After strong community pressure and protests, St. Demetrios Church in Astoria and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America reached a deal changing how the Archdiocese is involved in the parish, including removing a controversial clause and banning the sale of church or school property. This agreement protects the school, keeps the parish independent, and sets up a plan for managing money responsibly in the future.
  • Dallin H. Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice, has been selected to lead The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following the death of his 101-year-old predecessor, Russell M. Nelson.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 509, a proposed law that would have required police to receive training on “transnational repression” (how foreign governments target people living in the U.S.) because he felt existing programs were sufficient and worried about federal coordination. The veto caused tension in the Indian-American community, with many Sikh Americans supporting the bill for protection against harassment, while many Hindu Americans opposed it, fearing it could unfairly target them.
  • The Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will publish its biennial “Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025” on October 21 in Rome, highlighting global trends in religious persecution and restrictions. 
Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • The 10th Circuit held that that the nondiscrimination requirements of Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program do not violate the free exercise or expressive association rights of Catholic schools by excluding them from the program due to their policy of considering the sexual orientation and gender identity of applicants and their parents in making admissions decisions. The Court cited the program’s general applicability in reaching their decision that it does not discriminate against religious schools specifically.
  • A federal district court in Idaho ruled that a charter school violated Truth Family Bible Church’s First Amendment rights when it canceled a lease that allowed the church to hold Sunday services inside its gymnasium.
  • Students and former students at Brooklyn yeshivas, as well as parents, filed a class action lawsuit claiming that New York allows yeshivas to meet state education requirements “without reliably teaching core subjects such as English, math and civics.”
  • An Illinois state appellate court held that the state’s Insurance Abortion Coverage Mandate did not violate a Baptist group’s rights under the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Court reasoned that since the group is neither required to provide insurance that is regulated by the Illinois Department of Insurance, or any insurance at all for that matter, nor subject to any tax or penalty for failing to provide this type of insurance, the regulation did not violate the group’s rights.
  • King Charles announced that he has approved the nomination of Bishop Sarah Mullally for election by the College of Canons of Canterbury Cathedral as Archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop Mullally would be the first woman to hold the position.
  • The FDA recently approved a generic version of the abortion pill, mifepristone. Conservatives objected to the move, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who called approval of the pill “a betrayal.”

Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • Texas House Bill 7 allows private citizens to sue anyone involved in the manufacture, distribution, or mailing of abortion pills into or out of the state, with a minimum of $100,000 in damages per violation. The law is intended to enforce the state’s abortion restrictions.
  • Mid Vermont Christian School successfully challenged the state’s exclusion of the school from state sports and tuition programs. The school argued that the state had targeted the school because of its religious beliefs about gender identity.
  • A pastor and deacon are suing a Tennessee sheriff and deputies for attempting to force their removal during a church service, claiming the actions violated the church’s autonomy.
  • A federal court dismissed a lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, reaffirming that courts cannot intervene in internal church governance matters. The case involved disputes over missionary selection, funding, and associational decisions protected by the First Amendment.
  • The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has left the Evangelical Immigration Table to pursue an independent approach to immigration-related work, while the coalition continues its advocacy.
  • Easton, Pennsylvania, and Rock Church reached a settlement in an eminent domain dispute, with the city paying $350,000 to acquire and restore the historic Hooper House.
  • Christians in Gaza are refusing to evacuate their churches despite Israeli orders and growing fears of further attacks.

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Call for Papers: Seton Hall University School of Law

The Program on Faith, Values, and the Rule of Law (FVRoL) at Seton Hall University School of Law is requesting submissions for its inaugural academic conference to occur on February 4-5 2026 at the school’s Newark, New Jersey campus.

  • Paper Topic: The conference is seeking papers that explore the relationship between faith, values, and the rule of law, drawing on religious, theological, philosophical, and historical perspectives to address contemporary threats such as nationalism, authoritarianism, and disinformation. Submissions should offer both conceptual insights and, where possible, practical proposals for how religious and philosophical traditions can contribute to strengthening justice, dignity, and peace in a pluralistic world.
  • Paper Proposals: The deadline for paper abstracts is November 1, 2025. 
  • Paper Submission: There is no publication requirement, although FVRoL may seek a suitable venue for publication of selected papers.
  • Contact: To submit an abstract for consideration, please use this form. If you have any questions, please contact Brett Canaval, Administrative Director of the Program on Faith, Values, and the Rule of Law, at brett.canaval@shu.edu.
Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Oman on Law and the LDS Church

I’m delighted to highlight a new book by my friend (and sometime Forum contributor and Tradition Project participant) Nate Oman on the relationship between law and LDS thought, Law and the Restoration: Law and Latter-day Saint Thought and Scripture, from Greg Kofford Books. Nate, a professor at William and Mary Law, writes in contracts and in law-and-religion, and is always a careful scholar. Amazon lists Nate’s new book as the #1 New Release in Christian Canon Law. Here’s the description from the publisher’s website:

Law and the Restoration: Law and Latter-day Saint History is a profound exploration of the intricate legal history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this first of two volumes, Nathan B. Oman delves into the unique intersection of law and religion, uncovering how legal frameworks have shaped and been shaped by the experiences of Latter-day Saints. Through a series of meticulously researched essays, Oman reveals the profound impact of legal conflicts and developments on the growth and identity of the Church. From the early struggles for legal recognition and the battles over polygamy to the establishment of corporate entities and the role of religious courts, this book offers a comprehensive and enlightening narrative of the Church’s legal journey.

Oman’s scholarly work extends beyond mere historical recounting; it situates the Mormon legal experience within the broader context of American legal history. By examining the ways in which the Latter-day Saints navigated the legal challenges posed by a predominantly Protestant legal system, Oman provides invaluable insights into the broader themes of religious freedom, church-state relations, and legal pluralism. Each chapter is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the Church, highlighting pivotal moments and key figures who influenced its legal standing.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Rethinking Law and Religion

Law and religion, as an academic discipline, seems to be on the cusp of something new and different. It’s not just recent SCOTUS decisions that overturn 50 years of precedent, although that’s part of it. Crucially, Americans’ understanding of religion itself seems to be changing. And the polarization between traditional believers and more secularly-minded Americans continues to grow. So it’s not surprising that scholars (like my former colleague Marc, e.g.) are beginning to wonder just what “law and religion” will mean in the future as an academic subject. A new book from Edward Elgar, Rethinking Law and Religion, argues for a new, critical and interdisciplinary conception of the field. The author is Russell Sandberg (Cardiff University), and the publisher’s description follows. Thanks to our friend Paul Horwitz for drawing our attention to this.

This incisive book delineates the development of Law and Religion as a sub-discipline, critically reflecting on the author’s own role in constructing the field. It develops a subversive social systems theory in order to take both law and religion seriously and to challenge them equally.

Russell Sandberg crafts a new agenda for academic scrutiny of the interaction between religion and the law. Sandberg criticises scholarship to date for focusing on the legal regulation of religion, which reduces the field to an academic sub-discipline in Law Schools. Instead, Sandberg argues for a re-conceptualisation of Law and Religion as an interdisciplinary interaction, comparing it to fields such as legal history and legal geography. He contends that Law and Religion should take on a critical perspective, interrogating the content, nature and purpose of law, and drawing from literature on law and race and law and gender.

Provocative, personal and sometimes surprising, Rethinking Law and Religion is an illuminating read for students and scholars of law and society, legal theory, and sociology of law and philosophy.

Posted on by L&R Forum

Legal Spirits 058: Law & Justice in Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure”

“Measure for Measure” in the First Folio (1623)

First performed 400 years ago, William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” addresses an enduring human dilemma. No society can safely exist without law, but law itself depends on human judgment, which is prone to error and corruption. In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian and Northwestern Law Professor John McGinnis discuss this great but problematic play and explore why it remains so humbling for lawyers and judges today. Listen in!

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