Mark Movsesian

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”480”] The Crisscross-Applesauce Position (NYT) [/caption] An update on a case  I wrote about in May: a California state court has ruled that including  yoga in an elementary school phys ed program . . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday, the US House of Representatives held a joint subcommittee hearing on the situation of religious minorities in Syria,  Religious Minorities in Syria: Caught in the Middle . Co-sponsored by the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations . . . . Continue Reading »

[caption id=”” align=”alignleft” width=”305”] Image from the Flathead Beacon [/caption] Yesterday, a  federal district court ruled  that the US Forest Service did not violate the Establishment Clause by renewing a permit for “Big Mountain . . . . Continue Reading »

When it comes to mixing religion and politics, I’ve often thought, the principle seems to be, it’s wrong when the other guy does it. For example, conservatives become annoyed when Christians call for liberalizing immigration laws or for universal healthcare. Don’t impose your . . . . Continue Reading »

[caption id=”” align=”alignleft” width=”300”] Image from Patheos [/caption] The third largest religious affiliation in the United States is “None.” Roughly one-fifth of adult Americans tell surveyors that they have no religious affiliation at all. The . . . . Continue Reading »

When he died, roughly 50 years ago at the age of 59, Raphael Lemkin was impoverished and embittered, an unnoticed man. Only 7 people attended his funeral. Yet he was one of the most influential international human rights lawyers of the twentieth century. Lemkin, whom  Jay Winter describes . . . . Continue Reading »

For reasons I’ve discussed before , elite opinion in the West is uncomfortable with the idea of Christians as a persecuted minority. At least since the Enlightenment, Western intellectuals, as a class, have seen traditional Christians as adversaries to be resisted, not victims to be rescued. . . . . Continue Reading »

Law has an outsized influence on American culture. And, according to University of Michigan Law Professor Dan Crane, religious skeptics have an outsized influence on the legal profession . He refers to a recent survey of students at an elite law school: According to Pew Forum data, people who . . . . Continue Reading »

For FT readers in the area, I’ll be giving a talk, “Psychic Sophie and the Rise of the Nones,” next week at the European University Institute in Florence. My talk will be sponsored by the Institute’s ReligioWest project. Here’s the abstract: The most important story in . . . . Continue Reading »

Last month, I  wrote about a controversy surrounding the White House’s  inclusion of a yoga garden  in its annual Easter Egg Roll. The problem is this: yoga is a Hindu spiritual practice. Arguably, therefore, state-sponsored yoga is a religious endorsement that violates the . . . . Continue Reading »