This month, the conflict in Syria enters its fourth year. The latest news is that the government has recaptured the border town of Yabrud, an important opposition stronghold. In fact, Yabrud is where the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate in the opposition, had been holding hostage a group of Greek . . . . Continue Reading »
Here is a fun quiz from the Christian Science Monitor that purports to identify one’s socioeconomic status. The questions are about psychology, tastes, and personality traits, not salary. For example, a few test how well one identifies emotions. Our readers should pay particular attention . . . . Continue Reading »
Because the cake baking controversy of 2014 continues on, Jonathan Merritt has an article at the Atlantic working the angles of how bills like the now-vetoed legislation in Arizona can be used against Christians. The example he offers: “I’d like to purchase a wedding cake,” the . . . . Continue Reading »
At the Center for Law and Religion Forum today, my colleague Marc DeGirolami has a trenchant post on the controversy over that Arizona law on religious freedom: The media coverage of the now-vetoed Arizona bill amending the existing Arizona RFRA has been abominable. The claim that the bill would . . . . Continue Reading »
What to make of the recently scuttled FCC study of newsrooms? Gabriel Rossman argues that the FCC’s proposed study of the story selection by media outlets could usefully inform future FCC decisions to deregulate the communications industry. Meanwhile, Jesse Walker argues that the proposed . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the liberal Catholic Commonweal blog, Cathleen Kaveny, who once labeled me and her then-Notre Dame Law School colleague Gerard Bradley “Rambo Cathlolics,” goes after me again in a post under the charmingly intolerant title “A Catholic Mullah, Now?” 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 words—in 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 »
Let’s consider a hypothetical case. Imagine that a Muslim middle school—let’s call it Zaytuna Academy—hires 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 »
I admire the Archbishop of Montreal, Christian Lépine, for speaking out against the new euthanasia program that our politicians have sanctified by calling “medical aid in dying.” Rumour has it that he was forced to buy his own space to do so, inasmuch as Quebec papers proved . . . . Continue Reading »
Here is the latest evidence of the clash between contemporary human rights norms and traditional religions. Last week, the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child reported on the Vatican’s compliance with an international treaty, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention, which virtually every UN member, including the Holy See, has ratified (though not the US), lists universal rights of children, including the right to be protected from discrimination; the right to be free from violence, including sexual abuse; the right to health and welfare; and so on. Continue Reading »
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