Mark Movsesian

A few days ago, I wrote about the  persecution of Coptic Christians  in Egypt and the failure of many  in the West to recognize it for what it is. The Arab Spring has made the Copts’ situation even more unsafe than it used to be. The Muslim Brotherhood is even less concerned . . . . Continue Reading »

Today is the 98th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide,  an ethnic cleansing campaign in the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Although the Genocide had many causes—political, economic, social—law and religion were major factors. As Christians, Armenians had a . . . . Continue Reading »

At an academic conference a while ago, I made an offhand reference to the contemporary persecution of Christians. My remark was greeted with some incredulity, even derision. There are, one scholar responded sarcastically, something like two billion Christians in the world today. “Next . . . . Continue Reading »

At the Center for Law and Religion Forum yesterday, my colleague Marc DeGirolami wrote about the establishment-clause implications of a yoga garden  at the White House’s Easter Egg Hunt. His post reminded me of something I saw twenty years ago as a lawyer for the federal government. . . . . Continue Reading »

This time it’s in South Carolina. Yesterday’s  Wall Street Journal   reports  (subscription required)  on litigation between two rival factions in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. One faction, representing the leadership and about two-thirds of the membership, . . . . Continue Reading »

In a thought-provoking essay at Center for Law and Religion Forum , University of Michigan Law School’s Dan Crane wonders how Jesus might have responded if someone had asked him about same-sex marriage, the way people asked him about taxes to Caesar and divorce: Chances are that Jesus’ . . . . Continue Reading »

Today and tomorrow, Touro Law School is hosting the fourth annual Religious Legal Theory Conference. This is a traveling conference that gathers law and religion scholars from around the world; past hosts include Seton Hall, St. John’s, and Pepperdine Law Schools. This year’s theme is . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s hard to know what to make of these results, but a recent Huffington Post /YouGov survey reveals that  roughly one-third of Americans  would favor amending the Constitution to make Christianity the nation’s official religion. A similar percentage would favor making . . . . Continue Reading »

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 »