by Many religious commentators on the CLS v. Martinez case are upset by the majority’s rejection of the argument that discrimination based on conduct differs from discrimination based on status. Some religious conservatives are keen to promote such a distinction because it would help immunize discrimination based on sexual conduct from strict constitutional scrutiny. For example, [...]
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Today the Supreme Court released its opinion in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. If you have heard about this case from the press or from an advocacy group and are concerned about it, I’d encourage you to read the entire opinion as well as the concurrence and dissent. The whole package is ugly, I think. [...]
Read the full postThis isn’t really a “Law”-related post, but I found it so inspiring I had to pass it on, and it does relate to the broader theme of faith and culture. There is a great piece in WSJ on Manute Bol’s Christian faith. Bol was a professional basketball player, who was known more for his size [...]
Read the full postI enjoy Memorial Day. As an American, it feels right to remember and celebrate the sacrifices of our soldiers. As a Christian, however, I feel ambivalent about this kind of celebration. Pageantry, uniforms, parades, and the rhetoric of civil virtue — all of these things are seductive. It is so easy to fall into idolatry, [...]
Read the full postWell, not really, but this Onion News Network video clip satirizes the absurdity of many of the ongoing disputes about “balancing” public school curricula. This clip would be very funny if it weren’t so sad.
Read the full postIn his new book To Change the World, leading faith-and-culture scholar James Davidson Hunter describes the misplaced efforts by both conservative and progressive Christians in recent decades to change culture through law and politics. In my view, Hunter’s deconstruction of the Church’s complicity in fostering unproductive culture wars is nothing short of prophetic. But what does Hunter [...]
Read the full postSome of you may have seen the article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the job market for law graduates. I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone. The tough job market, of course, is not unique to the legal profession. However, it does raise some difficult moral questions for the enterprise of legal education.
The direct costs of a legal education, for most students without full scholarships, are quite high. The opportunity costs of three years of demanding graduate school also could be quite high, although that is less clear today, when new college graduates also face a devastated entry-level job market. In the past, these costs could be justified because of the possibility of employment in a relatively high-paying corporate law firm. That model is being severly tested by the changes hitting the legal services market as a result of the recession.
Read the full postI’m pleased to announce the “Faith, Law and Culture Distinguished Speaker Series” to be held at Seton Hall University Law School during the 2010-11 academic year. The goal of this series is to create dialogue between legal scholars and theologians around the theme of “faith, law and culture.” Lectures are free to the public. If you’re a regular reader of the “Law, Religion and Ethics” blog and you can attend one of the lectures, get in touch with me about the after-lecture dinner with the speaker.
Read the full postJames Davidson Hunter is well known to most of us interested in the intersection of Christianity and culture. His new book, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World is sure to rock some boats. Here’s a snippet from Chapter Two of the book, in which Hunter lays out what he perceives to be the dominant modes of cultural discourse by contemporary Christianity.
Read the full postI’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the connection between justice, judgment and love in Christian theology. This post is particular to Christian theology, but I’m very interested to hear from my non-Christian colleagues about how they see the themes of justice and judgment in relation to their faith traditions. When I was in [...]
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