Daniel McCarthy In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian interviews journalist Daniel McCarthy on his recent essay in Modern Age, “The Other Nones.” Dan argues that the decline of traditional Christianity in the West hasn’t led to the age of rationalism and progress that many secularists predicted, but instead to an age of entropy, in which people have lost faith in unifying narratives of all kinds, political and ideological as well as religious. Can we restore some idea of the common good? Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 059: Daniel McCarthy on “the Other Nones” appeared first on LAW ..read more

“Measure for Measure” in the First Folio (1623) First performed 400 years ago, William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” addresses an enduring human dilemma. No society can safely exist without law, but law itself depends on human judgment, which is prone to error and corruption. In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian and Northwestern Law Professor John McGinnis discuss this great but problematic play and explore why it remains so humbling for lawyers and judges today. Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 058: Law & Justice in Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” appeared first on L ..read more

In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian interviews historian Richard Brookhiser about his new documentary, “Free Exercise: America’s Story of Religious Liberty.” How have minority religions tested and shaped America’s commitment to religious freedom over the centuries–and how has America changed those religions in return? From the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657 until now, it has been a grand story. Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 057: Historian Richard Brookhiser on Religious Freedom in America appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM ..read more

Chick-fil-A Inc. logo (PRNewsFoto/Chick-fil-A) In this episode, we discuss a bill pending in New York that would require future fast food restaurants at rest stops on the State Thruway to open seven days a week. The bill expressly targets Chick-fil-A, which closes on Sundays in line with the owners’ religious commitments. Does the bill violate Chick-fil-A’s free exercise rights under the US and NY State Constitutions? And what does this controversy suggest about religious practice in the US? Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 056: Can the NY State Thruway Ban Chick-fil-A? appeared first on LAW ..read more

Speaker Mike Johnson on CNBC last month In a TV interview last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson raised eyebrows by asserting that Framers welcomed religion in public life and that the Establishment Clause protects religion from the encroachment of government, not the other way around. In this podcast, we show how Johnson was both right and wrong. Many Framers shared his view, but others did not. The controversy over Johnson’s comments is just the latest episode in a continuing debate over the meaning of religious liberty. When we argue about the past, we are really arguing about what our coun ..read more

Recently, many people have been talking about classical law–specifically whether classical law, with its focus on Christian universals and natural law concepts, can make a comeback in American law schools. Will classical law have traction in an academy dominated by positivism, law-and-economics, and critical theories? Would it be a good thing if it did? We’re joined on this episode by Steve Smith (San Diego) and Julia Mahoney (UVA), who recently debated the question in an online forum, here and here. Sparks fly (just kidding–it’s all among friends, as the above picture suggests). Listen in! T ..read more

A protester calling for justice for Elijah McClain clashes with a member of the Proud Boys in Denver, Colorado, U.S., November 21, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt Welcome back! In our first Legal Spirits episode of the academic year, we interview our friend, law professor Tom Berg (University of St. Thomas) about his new book, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age. We explore how fights about religious liberty both reflect and contribute to the deep social division in the US today–but also how a commitment to religious liberty might help ease that division. Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 053: Tom ..read more

In our traditional end-of-term wrap up, Marc and Mark discuss the Supreme Court’s decisions in two cases: Groff v. DeJoy, the Title VII religious accommodations case, and 303 Creative v. Elenis, the website designer case. Were these simple cases masquerading as complicated ones? Do they suggest the Court is rethinking its views on free speech, religious freedom, and anti-discrimination law? Listen in to find out! The post Legal Spirits 052: SCOTUS Decides Groff and 303 Creative appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM ..read more

In this episode, Marc and Mark offer some thoughts about the Biden Administration Department of Education’s guidance issued earlier this month (the first since 2020) on prayer and religious expression in public schools. The new guidance largely avoids much discussion of the newest Supreme Court decision on the matter, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, and does not mention the Court’s new text and tradition test at all. Marc and Mark offer some explanations (and entertain a few gentlemanly disagreements!) about just why that might be. Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 051: The Biden Admini ..read more

In this podcast, Marc and Mark discuss some of the common themes in two books that we recently read and reflected on with our students in the Center’s Reading Society: Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz and Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. The themes include the nature and value of knowledge, the fragmentary quality of moral discourse today, and the question whether (law) teachers are, or should be, (more like) monks (than anything else). Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 049: A Canticle for Leibowitz & After Virtue appeared first on LAW AND RELIG ..read more