Interactions – A Law and Religion Podcast

Why is QAnon significant, and why has the conspiracy theory taken root in certain evangelical circles? In today's episode of Interactions, we hear from Sarah Louise MacMillen of Duquesne University, who investigates these questions in her Canopy Forum article “A Native of Conklin, NY Discusses QAnon.” Drawing on the work of Jacques Ellul and Theodor Adorno, Macmillen puts forward that one reason Q...

How can vulnerable parties, such as minorities and women, best be protected during religious arbitration within the Islamic tradition? Should parties be informed of their legal rights under American law or their rights within their religious tradition? For Rabea Benhalim, the answer is a balance of both. In today’s episode of Interactions, we hear from Benhalim and her Canopy Forum article, “Limit...

In today’s episode of  Interactions,  we discuss the ongoing court case of  Kennedy v. Bremerton School District  with Ira “Chip” Lupu and Holly Hollman. The case concerns a public high school football coach in Washington State who argues that he has the right to pray on the fifty-yard line of the field after each game—and that his high school players should be allowe...

In today’s episode, we hear from Jacob Lassin and his Canopy Forum article “The Russian Orthodox Church’s Empire of Media” in light of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. In his article, Lassin explores the ways that the Russian Orthodox Church has used the media in an attempt to aid the Russian state in maintaining control over Ukraine. A strategic use of the media and an alignment with P...

In today’s episode, we’ll be exploring the ways in which law plays a role in discrimination based on sexual orientation. In his article for Canopy Forum, Johan D. van der Vyer of Emory University compares discrimination in employment practices in the U.S. to dissimilar legislation in South Africa to investigate international discussions on sexual orientation. "The Constitution of the Republic of S...

In today’s episode, John Corrigan in his Canopy Forum article “Why Do White Christians in America Think They Are Persecuted?” considers the narrative of white Christian persecution in America and shows that throughout history, white Christians have often been the perpetrators rather than victims of religious violence. This violence, Corrigan argues, has been willfully obscured through the whi...

In today's episode of Interactions, we hear from Joseph Winters of Duke University and his Canopy Forum article “Imperial Pieties: Religion, the Sanctification of Whiteness, and the Duplicity of the Sacred”. In his essay, Winters analyzes the slogan “make America great again” against the now infamous photograph of Trump holding a Bible on church steps forcefully cleared of protesters.  Both,...

"At first glance it would appear as though the Movement for Black Lives, or the more general Black Lives Matter movement, has lost its religion ," says Ari Colston of Emory University. "But the Movement for Black Lives, its theories of liberation, and the social and political actions for which it is responsible are far from purely secular or atheistic." In today's episode, we hear from Ari Colston...

The "No Religious Test Clause" is the only reference to religion in the original Constitution before the addition of the first amendment. It stipulates that there can be no religious test of a candidate to determine whether they are suited to public office. In her article for Canopy Forum, M. Christian Green writes that the No Religious Test Clause is symbolic of America’s commitment to religious...

Does a death row inmate have a constitutional right to the presence of a spiritual leader of their choice in the death chamber? In today's episode, we hear from criminal defense attorney Peter Wosnik about the religious rights of death row inmates. In his Canopy Forum article "Ramirez v. Collier: Will the Supreme Court Expand the Right to the Presence of a Spiritual Advisor for Prisoners During Ex...

Should states be able to mandate vaccinations without providing any accommodation for those whose religious beliefs prohibit it? That is the question posed by Patrick Hornbeck of Fordham University. On today's episode of Interactions , we hear from Hornbeck and his article "The Limit Case: Vaccination Mandates without Religious Exemptions." Amidst all the litigations concerning COVID vaccination m...

Religious conservatives' opposition to abortion is so prevalent in our political sphere that it might seem like a given. But Rachel Wagner of Ithaca College puts forward that this wasn't always the case. In today's episode of Interactions , in light of the abortion hearing in Mississippi, we hear from Wagner and her Canopy Forum article "#Abortion: The Religious Right Meets TikTok." In her article...

Join Eythen Anthony and Ana Knudsen, cohosts of "From the Archives," as they look back, re-listen, and reconsider past talks, lectures, and speeches given at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. Today, they listen to a lecture by sociologist of religion Robert Bellah called "Marriage: Sacred Institution or Obsolete Tyranny?” In his speech, Bellah responds to what he se...

What does the future hold for alt-right social media platforms? In today’s episode, we hear from Sarah Riccardi-Swartz as she considers Trump’s announcement of TRUTH Social, his new social media platform, and traces the long history of alt-right media in America, from apps like Parler to radio host Rush Limbaugh. In her Canopy Forum article, “The Mainstreaming of Alt-Right Media,” Swartz writes th...

This week, we finish our series on the January 6th Capitol riots. Last year, Canopy Forum contributors weighed in on what the siege meant for law, religion, and democracy. Some turned to political theorists to cast a light on the violence sanctioned at the heart of American democracy. Others dismantled the argument that Capitol rioters were simply exercising their religious freedom. Still more dre...

This week, we continue our series on the January 6th Capitol riots. Last year, Canopy Forum contributors weighed in on what the siege meant for law, religion, and democracy. Some turned to political theorists to cast a light on the violence sanctioned at the heart of American democracy. Others dismantled the argument that Capitol rioters were simply exercising their religious freedom. Still more d...

This week, we continue our series on the January 6th Capitol riots. Last year, Canopy Forum contributors weighed in on what the siege meant for law, religion, and democracy. Some turned to political theorists to cast a light on the violence sanctioned at the heart of American democracy. Others dismantled the argument that Capitol rioters were simply exercising their religious freedom. Still more d...

It has been one year since the January 6th Capitol riots. Last year, Canopy Forum contributors weighed in on what the siege meant for law, religion, and democracy. Some turned to political theorists to cast a light on the violence sanctioned at the heart of American democracy. Others dismantled the argument that Capitol rioters were simply exercising their religious freedom. Still more drew connec...

In today’s episode from the archives, the most reverend Wilton D. Gregory, archbishop of Atlanta from 2005 to 2019, addresses the position of the Catholic Church on the death penalty in a speech given at the Emory Center for the Study of Law and Religion in 2012. Now Archbishop of Washington, U.S., Wilton D. Gregory emphasizes the case of Troy Davis, a death-row inmate in Georgia who appealed to P...

Today's episode of Interactions discusses French secularism and its targeting of Muslim communities. In his article for Canopy Forum, Dr. James McBride of New York University traces a series of French statutes that claim to be religiously neutral but in fact marginalize the Islamic community in France, especially in regards to public schools. "Despite the claim that the ban on headscarves is incid...

Should foreign law play a role in U.S. jurisprudence? In light of the upcoming case on abortion in Mississippi, M. Christian Green outlines the debate in the U.S. Supreme Court between justices Kennedy and Scalia about whether foreign rulings should be considered when deciding U.S. law. This conversation becomes even more pressing when speaking about abortion rights. Scholars have pointed out that...

In her Canopy Forum article “American Jesus, At Home And Abroad,” Dr. Méadhbh McIvor of the University of Oxford shows how “religion and America are mutually constitutive,” to the point where protestant Christianity comes to stand for a “good religion,” voluntary and free, whereas religions practiced abroad are thought to be bad, coercive, and mandated. Building on the scholarship of Hurd and Sull...

In March of this year, Robert Aaron Long claimed his sex addiction was responsible for his shooting spree in Atlanta-area spas that resulted in the deaths of eight people, the majority of whom were Asian women. And in the Christian evangelical sphere, Ravi Zacharias is merely one of countless examples of men in positions of power who claim they have a sex addiction--an assertion that too often all...

In today's episode of Interactions, we hear from Raphael Friedman and his Canopy Forum Article "Stop Accusing Religious Conservatives of 'Using' Religion." What happens when an individual or institution claims a religious exemption from a law that protects others' rights? LGBTQ+ rights, for example, or the rights of women? These are complex questions in the area of law and religion, and when these...

In today's episode of Interactions , we hear from Kristina Arriaga and her Canopy Forum article "Disgust and Discrimination in Tehran," where she demonstrates how the recent surge of hate propaganda against members of the Baha’i faith in Iran is rooted in a politics of disgust. "The campaign casts the Bahai’s as  disloyal to the regime ,  as agents for other countries , and, most notably...