On Thursday evening, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal delivered a speech on the “Silent War” against religious liberty in America. Jindal criticized the Obama administration, liberal elites, the HHS Mandate, and the infringement experienced by such businesses as Elane Photography, a . . . . Continue Reading »
Harvard’s Cass Sunstein rearticulated criticisms of “originalism”the theory that judges should construe legal texts using the original public meaning of its wordsin a Bloomberg op-ed piece last week. While critical of conservative originalism, Sunstein does not reject the entire approach outright. Sunstein, like Jack M. Balkin in his 2011 book, Living Originalism, seeks to wrest the idea originalism from the proprietary hands of conservative legal authorities like U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Continue Reading »
In a collection of essays entitled The Sanctified Church, Zora Neale Hurston described the traditions of the African American holiness and Pentecostal churches as a “revitalizing element” in black music and religion. As someone deeply invested in African American folk culture, . . . . Continue Reading »
Let’s consider a hypothetical case. Imagine that a Muslim middle schoollet’s call it Zaytuna Academyhires Mr. Khalil as its Vice Principal. Mr. Khalil is an effective administrator and is very popular with teachers and students alike. Now, Mr Khalil happens to believe that the prohibition of alcohol consumption in Islam is wrong. So he doesn’t honor that teaching in his personal life. Continue Reading »