Mark Movsesian

This Thursday, November 29, I’ll be giving a lecture, “Equality for Christians in the Middle East, Yesterday and Today,” at the Armenian Orthodox seminary in New Rochelle, New York. My lecture will discuss the precarious state of Christian communities in the Middle East and the . . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday, Matt Schmitz posted about the decision by the General Synod of the Church of England to reject women bishops. At question time in the House of Commons today, UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about yesterday’s decision. According to the  Guardian , Cameron said he was . . . . Continue Reading »

This is welcome news. Next semester, Stanford Law School will start the nation’s first law school clinic focusing on religious liberty. Here’s the announcement from the Stanford  website : The Religious Liberty Clinic is the newest addition to the Mills Legal Clinic, and is presently . . . . Continue Reading »

In the last few years, a new word has crept into our vocabulary: Christianophobia . As far as I can tell, the word is being used to refer to two different, though related, phenomena. The first is the anxiety and antipathy that traditional Christianity creates in cultural and intellectual . . . . Continue Reading »

Here’s an interesting piece of data from Tuesday’s  exit polls , which Joseph Knippenberg discusses below: President Obama won the Catholic vote. The margin was narrow—50 percent to 48 percent, which more or less mirrors the President’s popular-vote victory—but, . . . . Continue Reading »

In Egypt this weekend, the Coptic Orthodox Church will select its 118 th pope. The new pope will succeed the late Shenouda III, who led the Coptic Church—-a venerable and long-suffering communion, and the largest Christian church in the Middle East today—-for forty years. The selection . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve written before about how international human rights law increasingly reflects the norms of the so-called WEIRD countries – that’s Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic – and assumes that those norms must be honored across the globe. This assumption is going . . . . Continue Reading »

Last Thursday, I attended a meeting of the UN General Assembly’s Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Committee —the so-called “Third Committee”—for presentation of the annual report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Professor Heiner Beilefeldt. . . . . Continue Reading »

This month’s Pew Report on religious affiliation in America has drawn much well-deserved attention, particularly two of its findings: a continuing increase in the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion – the “Nones” – and a continuing decrease in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Last week’s post about WEIRD values (that’s “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic”) drew a number of comments. Readers focused on the implications for the West’s relations with the Muslim world. It’s worth pointing out, though, that the clash is not . . . . Continue Reading »