Mark Movsesian

Next weekend, the Center for Irish and Irish-American Studies at NYU will host a conference marking the bicentennial of  People v. Phillips , an early freedom-of-religion case involving the priest-penitent privilege: “ Religious Freedom in America, 1813 to 2013: Bicentennial Reflections . . . . Continue Reading »

Last summer, a federal appeals court ruled that a Wisconsin public high school could not hold its graduation ceremonies in a rented Evangelical church sanctuary. To do so, the court ruled, posed too great a risk of government coercion, proselytism, and endorsement of religion. Three . . . . Continue Reading »

In many Christian churches, Easter begins tonight with the Easter Vigil. And so I thought it would be appropriate to share one of the greatest Easter poems, written five hundred years ago by Edmund Spenser to his wife. To all who celebrate, a very joyous Easter. Christ is Risen. Most glorious Lord . . . . Continue Reading »

I guess it was bound to happen. A public elementary school in Alabama has renamed  its annual Easter Egg Hunt  to avoid giving offense to non-Christian children and parents. According to the school’s principal, Lydia Davenport, the hunt will still take place; it will just no longer . . . . Continue Reading »

At the Huffington Post , U-Texas grad student William Blake writes about a study he conducted on the  impact of the justices’ religious views  on Supreme Court decisions. (The study, published in the  Political Research Quarterly , is  here .) Although they are not as . . . . Continue Reading »

For the “Everything in America Today is Entertainment” file: Harvard University has announced that its commencement speaker this year will be entrepreneur and talk show host Oprah Winfrey . This is a new thing for Harvard, which sadly ignored Merv Griffin all those years. According to . . . . Continue Reading »

This will cause a stir. The  New York Times  reports that, in a private meeting with bishops in 2010, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio  endorsed the idea of civil unions for gay couples  as an alternative to same-sex marriage. The suggestion came in the context of debate over . . . . Continue Reading »

His Holiness Karekin II with then Cardinal Bergoglio ( source ). One of the most hopeful aspects of the ecumenical movement of the past decades has been the growing warmth among Western and Eastern Christians. Here is part of the letter that the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch, or Catholicos , Karekin . . . . Continue Reading »

A federal judge in New York this week denied a defense attorney’s request  to exclude Jews from a jury  that will hear the case of alleged terrorist Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, on trial for lying to the FBI about plans to kill Americans.  Shehadeh’s lawyer, Frederick Cohn, told . . . . Continue Reading »

This week, the papal conclave begins in Rome. Many expect it will end this week as well, with the election of Pope Benedict’s successor. But reader John McGinnis, a law professor at Northwestern and a leading expert on supermajority rules, alerts me to a recent change that may cause the . . . . Continue Reading »