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| Dear Friends,
It’s been a productive 2022-2023 academic year at St. John’s Center for Law and Religion, and we’re pleased to share some of the highlights and achievements with you:
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| MEDIA PRODUCTIONSPodcast
Legal Spirits, the Center's podcast series on cases and issues in law and religion, posted its 50th episode this spring and continues to grow its listener base. Episodes cover a range of topics, including Supreme Court decisions, newsworthy church-and-state conflicts, and scholarship by the podcast's co-hosts, Center Co-Directors Marc DeGirolami and Mark Movsesian. You'll find Legal Spirits on Apple, Android, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.
Blog
The Center's blog, the Law and Religion Forum, regularly draws media attention and has been cited in major law reviews. As in past years, this year's posts included book notices for new scholarship in the field, commentary from the Center's co-directors, and a weekly Around the Web roundup of the latest law and religion news.
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| CENTER NEWSLaw and Religion Colloquium
The Center hosted its sixth biennial Law and Religion Colloquium in Fall 2022. The first of its kind at St. John’s, the Colloquium brings jurists and scholars to campus to teach a seminar on cutting-edge questions in law and religion. This year’s participants included Hon. Richard Sullivan (CA2) and Professors Joel Alicea (Catholic University); Nathan Chapman (University of Georgia); Nicole Garnett (University of Notre Dame); Fr. Pat Reidy (Yale University); Nelson Tebbe (Cornell University); and Anna Su (University of Toronto).
Reading Society
The Center’s Reading Society continues to bring law students, alumni, and friends together to discuss law and religion in works of fiction and non-fiction. The Society convened in November, hosting author Tara Isabella Burton. She discussed her recent book, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, on the rise in the number of unaffiliated believers in America. In April, the Society met to discuss two works that address cultural fragmentation and the nature of moral knowledge: Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz and Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue. Students and faculty discussed the books’ themes and debated law schools’ responsibility for teaching moral virtues.
Public Events
In February, the Center hosted a panel discussion, "Law and Religion at the Supreme Court: New Directions," with Hon. Richard Sullivan (CA2) and Hon. Rachel Kovner (EDNY), as well as Professors DeGirolami and Movsesian. In March, the Center co-hosted a symposium, "The Rise of the Nones and the Impact on American Law," along with the St. John’s Law Review. Speakers included Professors Steven Collis (Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center at the University of Texas) and Gregory Sisk (University of St. Thomas School of Law—Minnesota), as well as Professor Movsesian.
Student Fellows
Each year, the Center selects St. John’s Law students to serve as student fellows and assist with its programs. This year’s fellows were Fotini Mamos ’23, Patrick McKelvey ’24, Ryan Pugh ’24, and Brendan Spagnuolo ’23. We’re grateful for their hard work, including their contributions to the Law and Religion Forum and Legal Spirits.
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| CO-DIRECTOR NEWSMarc DeGirolami
Professor DeGirolami published “The New Disestablishments” in the George Mason Civil Rights Law Journal. Forthcoming work in constitutional theory, tort theory, and law and religion—including his pieces, “Establishment as Tradition,” “Traditionalism Rising,” “Public-Private Drift,” and “Mysterizing Religion” —will appear, respectively, in the Yale Law Journal, Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues, the American Journal of Jurisprudence, and the Notre Dame Law Review. Professor DeGirolami guest-blogged at the Volokh Conspiracy about his work in constitutional traditionalism and presented his work at Yale Law School, NYU Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Catholic University School of Law, Pepperdine Law School, Notre Dame Law School, and elsewhere. This spring, he taught a seminar on Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Inquiry in Princeton University’s Department of Politics.
Mark Movsesian
Professor Movsesian presented a paper at a workshop at the University of Texas School of Law and spoke about religious exemptions at the 2022 Religious Freedom Annual Review at BYU Law School. He spoke on a panel, "The Supreme Court and New Frontiers in Religious Liberty," at the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at Cardozo Law School and at a symposium on the rise of the Nones and American Law co-sponsored by the Center and the St. John’s Law Review. Professor Movsesian participated in a panel, "Law and Religion at the Supreme Court: New Directions," which the Center sponsored in March, and wrote regularly for opinion journals, including COMPACT, First Things, Law & Liberty, and the Volokh Conspiracy. He also gave interviews to media outlets and continued to serve as co-editor of the Journal of Law and Religion (Cambridge).
THANK YOU!
Thank you for being part of the Center community. We have much more planned for next year, so please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions for future programs. If you would like to support our ongoing research, programs, and student fellowships, please make a gift online (from the designation menu, first select Centers and then select Center for Law and Religion).
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