Issue number 5 of this year’s Connecticut Law Review is an excellent symposium on firearms law, policy, and culture. The lead article is from Nicholas Johnson, of Fordham: Firearms Policy and the Black Community: An Assessment of the Modern Orthodoxy. Johnson (who is my co-author on the Second Amendment textbook Firearms Law and the Second Amendment) details the long […]
Archive | Religion
Europe’s Proposed Circumcision Ban: How Far Back We’ve Gone While Making Progress
By Eugene Kontorovich on October 4, 2013 10:12 am in Anti-Semitism, Circumcision Bans, Democracy, Jewish Culture, Religion, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, Uncategorized
The Council of Europe in Strasbourg has recommended nations consider banning child circumcision. Jewish groups, and the State of Israel, are predictably outraged by the recommendation, which if adopted would make traditional (and not just religious) Jewish life impossible on the Continent. Thus the law has been denounced as anti-Semitic. While I have recently criticized […]
The Devil is Doing a Poor Job of Persuading People he Doesn’t Exist
It is said that “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn’t exist.” Well, it obviously wasn’t all that great a trick, because recent survey data shows that 57% of Americans still believe he does exist, including 72% of African-Americans, 65% of Republicans, and 61% of women (but only […]
They Hate Us And/Or Want to Convert Us
Anytime the issue of evangelical Christian support for Israel comes up in a conversation among Jews, someone is bound to say something like, “they may love Israel, but only for theological reasons and they are anti-Semites” or “they are just trying to cozy up to us so that they can convert us all because they […]
Support for So-Called “Honor Killings”
By Eugene Volokh on May 2, 2013 2:34 pm in Religion, Sex Discrimination, Sexual Conduct Restrictions
The Pew Forum’s survey of international Muslim attitudes asks, among other things, Some people think that if a woman engages in premarital sex or adultery it is justified for family members to end her life in order to protect the family honor. Do you personally feel that this practice is [often justified, sometimes justified, rarely […]
Another Example of Unconstitutional Religious Discrimination in Virginia Marriage Law
By Ilya Somin on April 4, 2013 12:49 am in Atheism, Fourteenth Amendment, Religion, Religion and the Law
Co-blogger Eugene Volokh recently linked to a Virginia state court decision striking down as unconstitutional a state law that allowed religious societies without official clergy to designate only one member as having the power to perform wedding ceremonies, while religious groups that do have clergy can designate more. The court concluded that the First and […]
Scotland Considers Law Recognizing Wedding Ceremonies Performed by Jedi Knights
By Ilya Somin on March 22, 2013 2:21 am in Gay Marriage, Religion, Religion and the Law, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Scotland is considering a new law that would grant official recognition to wedding ceremonies performed by practitioners of the new “Jedi” religion: The Force is strong with the Jedi in Scotland. A bill under consideration in Scotland would grant those who have literally made “Star Wars” a religion the power to perform marriage ceremonies. The […]
The Catholic Church and Science Fiction
Co-blogger Sasha Volokh asks for examples of Catholic science fiction. As with the debate over Jewish fantasy literature a couple years ago, a lot depends on the definition of the relevant field. But even under a pretty narrow definition, there are many, many examples. One of my personal favorites is Frank Herbert’s Dune series, where […]
Persuasion
An interesting story about two of Fred Phelps’ granddaughters’ leaving the Westboro Baptist Church — interesting both for its own sake, and also for the account of how they seem to have been persuaded, apparently in part by conversations with David Abitbol, an Israeli web developer and blogger at Jewlicious. As a lawyer, a teacher […]
Evolving Christian Attitudes Towards Personal and National Self-Defense
A forthcoming issue of the Connecticut Law Review will feature a symposium on an article by Prof. Nicholas Johnson (Fordham) about the changing attitudes of the Black leadership towards firearms. In brief, Black leadership was historically very supportive the right to keep and bear arms, and particularly concerned that Blacks be able to have firearms […]
Pat Robertson: Young-Earth Creationism Is “Not the Bible”
Noted televangelist Pat Robertson firmly rejected young-earth creationism on “The 700 Club.” As CNN reports, when asked by a viewer how to respond to those who believe “the Bible could not explain the existence of dinosaurs,” Robertson suggested his viewers should not “fight science.” “You go back in time, you’ve got radiocarbon dating. You got […]
God Sure Goes for Killing Innocent People
MEMRI reports that “Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Munajid” is claiming that “Hurricane Sandy is Allah’s punishment for Afghanistan and Iraq.” Meantime, Rabbi Noson Leiter [UPDATE: starting around 2:45] is claiming that Hurricane Sandy is God’s message about the “same-gender-marriage recognition movement.” A few years ago, “Rev. Bill Shanks, pastor of New Covenant Fellowship of New Orleans” […]
Muslim Rioters Burn Buddhist Temples and Homes in Bangladesh
The AP reports: Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims angry over an alleged derogatory photo of the Islamic holy book Quran on Facebook set fires in at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes near the southern border with Myanmar, authorities said Sunday…. [A police chief] said at least 20 people were injured in the attacks that […]
Riot and Arson Over Apparent Koran Desecration in India
Times of India reports; it’s not clear to me from the article whether the dead were the rioters or innocent victims of the rioters: [S]ix people were killed and 12 injured, including two critically, in violence and arson during a protest against alleged desecration of the Quran. This is the sixth incident of communal violence […]
Criminal Mockery of Islam?
By Eugene Volokh on September 12, 2012 6:52 pm in Blasphemy, Freedom of Speech Restricted by Thugs, Religion
That’s what MSBNC contributors Mike Barnicle and Donny Deutsch, the University of Pennsylvania’s Prof. Anthea Butler (Religious Studies), and of course the Egyptian government argue with regard to the movie that mocks Mohammed: Prof. Butler: “Good Morning. How soon is Sam Bacile going to be in jail folks? I need him to go now.When Americans […]