Law and Religion Headlines
Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Beth Moore, famed Bible teacher quits Southern Baptists
(Bob Smietana, Associated Press)
Report: China’s treatment of Uyghurs meets definition of genocide
(Catholic News Agency)
One year into the pandemic, U.S. bishops call for global solidarity
(Catholic News Agency)
Fire destroys historic church in Mexico
(Catholic News Agency)
Iraq pilgrims defy virus protocols as case numbers rise
(Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press)
EU lawmakers seek to declare bloc an LGBT ‘freedom zone’
(Vanessa Gera, Associated Press)
Supreme Court allows religious speech violation lawsuit to continue
(Catholic News Agency)
Firefighters, faith leaders team up to vaccinate vulnerable
(Giovanna Dell'Orto, Associated Press)
UN rights office laments Swiss ban on Muslim face-coverings
(Jamey Keaten, Associated Press)
Switzerland: Where face masks are required but burqas are banned
(Rim-Sarah Alouane, Foreign Policy)
Switzerland referendum: Voters support ban on face coverings in public
(BBC News)
Vatican COVID-19 commission: Church can help combat rising violence against women
(Catholic News Agency)
Gulf opens door to public Jewish life amid Israel ties
(Ilan Ben Zion, Associated Press)
Few women on party lists for upcoming elections in Israel
(Mazal Mualem, Al-Monitor: Israel Pulse)
Tel Aviv’s Jewish museum reopens after $100 million upgrade
(Ilan Ben Zion, Associated Press)
Congo bishops deplore human rights abuses in country
(Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Irish bishops call for resumption of public worship after COVID restrictions eased
(Charles Collins, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Vancouver archbishop works with provincial officials to get churches open
(Agnieszka Ruck, Catholic News Service)
Russia's Roskomnadzor holds preventive talk with Paramount Comedy representatives over South Park episode
(Interfax-Religion)
Tajikistan: "I do not know what the Mandela Rules are"
(Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service)
Hey journalists: Can you name three or more Ramadan news angles linked to COVID-19 vaccines?
(Terry Mattingly, GetReligion)
Christians, Jews, Muslims and lobbyists left and right fret over SCOTUS 'donor privacy' case
(Richard Ostling, GetReligion)
Some faith leaders call Equality Act devastating; for others, it's God's will
(Tom Gjelten, National Public Radio)
How the Equality Act would impact faith-based child placement agencies
(Chelsea Langston Bombino, Religion Unpugged)
Progressive church lobbies push radical LGBTQ “Equality Act”
(James Diddams, Juicy Ecumenism, Institute on Religion and Democracy)
Grounds for the Equality Act are simply not there
(Nathan Berkeley, Religious Freedom Institute)
Church of England statement on “position of trust legislation”
(David Pocklington, Law & Religion UK)
Report: Fast growth of UK Charedi population risks ‘polarisation’ with secular Jews
(Michael Daventry, Jewish News)
Uzbekistan: Draft criminal code offers little meaningful reform
(Human Rights Watch)
With pointed urgency, faiths rise for climate justice
(Religion News Service)
The chorister’s tale: Religious freedom analogies in the COVID pandemic
(M. Christian Green, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)
Religious freedom cases during the pandemic: Round II
(Michael J. Broyde, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)
Tuesday, 9 March 2021
ONLINE EVENT, 9 March 2021 (2PM GMT): Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in Practice: Roadmap for working together
(The Faith & Belief Forum)
WEBINAR, 9 March 2021, (15:00 GMT): The Right to Opt-out or Not: The Legal Right of Withdrawal from Religious Education in Norway
(Philosophy, Religion and Education Research Group, University of Oxford)
WEBINAR, 9 March 2021 (15:15 CET): Beyond Hirsi: The interception of migrants at sea
(Seline Trevisanut, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Andrea Saccucci, Hélène Trigoudja, The Netherlands Institut for the Law of the Sea, The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe)
Monday, 8 March 2021
High court revives ex-student’s suit against Georgia college
(Jessica Gresko, Associated Press)
Supreme Court rules in favor of student barred from sharing his faith
(Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)
Supreme Court sides with Christian students silenced on Georgia campus
(Devin Dwyer, ABC News)
Roberts alone in dissent as Supreme Court backs student in religious-speech case
(Robert Barnes, The Washington Post)
Court revives lawsuit from student seeking nominal damages for free-speech violation at public college
(Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog)
In campus religious speech case, Supreme Court says nominal damage claim can support standing
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
President Bingham on International Women’s Day: Empower women through education
(Sydney Walker, Church News)
How an Indonesian woman is fighting child marriage (video)
(Ayu Purwaningsih, Deutsche Welle)
“Being different is considered a crime”: The story of a Muslim woman in Cuba
(FoRB in Full: A blog by CSW)
Pakistani women protest 'patriarchy pandemic'
(Farah Bahgat, Deutsche Welle)
Jane Wise on International Women's Day
(Twitter, International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
WEBINAR, 8 March 2021 (5PM GMT): Turning Her Body into a Weapon of Persecution/Genocide: Rape and Sexual Violence Against Uyghur Women
(The Coalition for Genocide Response)
March 8 is International Women's Day - Commentary on India, Niger, Iraq, North Korea
(Weekly Bulletin, United Sates Institute of Peace)
EJIL:The Podcast! Episode 7: “Walking Back Human Rights in Europe?
(Dapo Akande, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)
Is Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 shot morally compromised? It's complicated
(Bobby Ross Jr., Religion Unplugged)
A third of Gen Z doesn't trust people of other religions, but they're willing to try
(Kevin Singer and Josh Packard, Religion Unplugged)
The state of religion and young people 2020
(Springtide Research Institute)
When your church sees medicine as weak faith: Kenyan Christians wrestle with cancer and God
(Diana Mwango, Religion Unplugged)
EEOC General Counsel fired by Biden
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
9th Circuit refuses emergency injunction for Apache tribal members
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Articles of interest - 8 March 2021
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Massachusetts Supreme Court says social work prof not covered by the ministerial exception
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
State's top court says Gordon College professor not a 'minister'
(Paul Leighton, Salem News)
8th Circuit upholds Missouri immunization opt-out form
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Eighth Circuit tosses challenge to Missouri opt-out rules for vaccines
(Joe Harris, Courthouse News Service)
Swiss narrowly back proposal to ban face coverings in public
(Geir Moulson, Associated Press)
Swiss ‘burka ban’ accepted by slim majority
(Domhnall O'Sullivan, Swiss Info)
Swiss voters approve burka ban
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
UN religious freedom expert blasts Swiss move to ban burqa
(Daily Sabah)
Russia: Deteriorating religious freedom situation denounced at the OSCE
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
#ItsTheirLand: Unprecedented reaction makes voice of persecuted Bahá’ís in an Iranian village global
(Bahá’í World News Service)
UN expert warns counter-terror policies led to 'further stigmatisation' of Muslims
(Areeb Ullah, Middle East Eye)
Church confirms release of pastor threatened with execution in Nigeria
(Morning Star News)
21 women imprisoned from underground church in Eritrea raids freed
(Libby Giesbrecht, CHVN Radio)
Polish women mark Women’s Day protesting abortion ban
(Vanessa Gera, Associated Press)
LGBTQ rights bill ignites debate over religious liberty
(David Crary, Associated Press)
Sri Lanka Catholics mark ‘Black Sunday’ for Easter victims
(Krishan Francis, Associated Press)
Pope says he’s not afraid of being called ‘heretic’ for outreach to Islam
(Inés San Martín, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Where IS ruled, pope calls on Christians to forgive, rebuild
(Nicole Winfield and Samya Kullab, Associated Press)
After historic meeting with pope, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric says religious authorities have role in protecting Christians
(Associated Press)
Shiite powerhouse al-Sistani helped shape today’s Iraq
(Associated Press)
Protesters say out with Cyprus’ ‘Satanic’ Eurovision entry
(Menelaos Hadjicostis, Associated Press)
Religion and gender equality – A way forward
(Sofia Caseiro, G20 Interfaith Forum Blog)
Pope meets father of drowned child whose image captured imaginations
(Elise Ann Allen, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)
Clarence Thomas delivers decisive ruling in religious-free-speech case
(Dan McLaughlin, National Review)
Moral constitutionalism
(Gerard V. Bradley, First Things)
VCL & AN v UK - Prosecution of trafficking victims breaches Article 4 ECHR
(Colin Gregory, ECHR Blog)
Equal protection in Virginia and free exercise in Maine
(Andrew Hamm, SCOTUSblog)
An index of L&RUK posts – Reduction of carbon emissions
(David Pocklington, Law & Religion UK)
Law and religion round-up – 7th March
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)
Pope Francis denounces religious fanaticism in city reduced to rubble when ISIS persecuted Christians and other faiths
(Peter Kenny, Ecumenical News)
Religion Watch, Volume 36 No. 4
(Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion)
Should religions freedom be diluted into a general freedom of conscience law? Spain opens the debate
(Evangelical Focus Europe)
Buddhism, ethnicity, and nationalism in the Myanmar coup
(Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Hope at the end of the tunnel: Myanmar’s civil disobedience movement and moving toward a more inclusive Myanmar (Responding to: Buddhism, ethnicity, and nationalism in the Myanmar coup)
(Khin Mai Aung, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
A Burmese tragedy of power (Responding to: Buddhism, ethnicity, and nationalism in the Myanmar coup)
(Michał Lubina, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Finding a Buddhist middle way in post-coup Myanmar: Ethnocentric nationalism or democratic reform? (Responding to: Buddhism, ethnicity, and nationalism in the Myanmar coup)
(Paul Fuller, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
India sets up holding center for Rohingya in Kashmir
(Associated Press)
Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 passed in Assembly
(Times Now News)
Friday, 5 March 2021
APPG launches commentary on the current state of FORB
(All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief)
The Best and Worst ECtHR judgments of 2020 are…
(Strasbourg Observers)
Only love, no jihad, say Kolkata’s interfaith couples
(Priyanka Dasgupta, Times of India)
Revisiting Jericho: The Biblical exegesis of violence in America and Israel
(Rachel Havrelock, Sightings: The Martin Marty Center, University of Chicago Divinity School)
Faith and belief accommodation at work: More than the right thing to do
(Paul Lambert, Freedom Forum Institute)
IPDC: Three years of dialogue and cooperation in the Arab World
(The Interreligious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab World (IPDC), KAICIID Dialogue Centre)
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