For those who may be interested, my colleague Marc DeGirolami and I have done a podcast on last week’s oral argument in Holt v. Hobbs, the “prison beard” case currently before the Supreme Court. The case asks whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) requires a prison to grant an accommodation to a prisoner who wishes to grow a beard for religious reasons. Marc and I discuss the claim, the arguments of the attorneys, and the Justices’ questions — and offer some predictions about the case’s ultimate outcome. You can find the podcast at the Center for Law and Religion Forum.
Notes on Anosmia
One morning several years ago, as my wife, Wendy, and I were having breakfast together, I had…
Empire of Unreality
Shiva Naipaul (1945–1985) was the author of three novels and two books of mordant dispatches from places…
The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist
It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…