Witte to Speak from Calvin's Pulpit on Reformer's Birthday
John Witte, Jr., director of Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR), will deliver the Calvin Quincentenary keynote address at St. Pierre's Cathedral in Geneva July 6 in celebration of John Calvin's 500th birthday. Witte's lecture, "Reading Calvin as a Lawyer," explores the legal side of the Protestant Reformation. The Calvin Quincentenary is an international, interdenominational, and interdisciplinary commemoration of the life and work of Calvin, who was born July 10, 1509, in Geneva. The 11-day event (June-30-July 10) combines history, spirituality, and culture. Read more.

Bishop says Religion is Greatest Hindrance to Gay Civil Rights
As the first openly gay bishop in a mainline Christian denomination, the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson wants to assure other gays and lesbians that they are not "abominations," despite the persecution they may have experienced. “Let’s be honest, most of the discrimination . . . has come at the hands of religious people, and the greatest single hindrance to the achievement of full civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people can be laid at the doorstep of the three Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam,” said Robinson, who spoke at Emory in late March to an overflowing crowd of approximately 700. Robinson delivered the final address of the CSLR's "When Law and Religion Meet" 2008-2009 lecture series. Read more.

World Must Hold Iran Accountable for Threats
Iran’s highest officials should be held legally accountable by the international community for their language of “genocidal incitement” toward Israel, said Canadian Parliamentarian and former Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, who spoke in mid March as part of the CSLR's "When Law and Religion Meet" 2008-2009 lecture series. Read more.

Western Law Needs Greater Grasp on Islamic Law
Great Britain has given little thought on how to deal with the religious beliefs of the Muslim minority within the country’s larger civic and legal systems despite an increasing suspicion of Islamic law and culture, says Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic Studies and Public Understanding at the University of Glasgow and a scholar of classical Islamic law. Siddiqui lectured on the issue in mid March as part of the CSLR's "When Law and Religion Meet" 2008-2009 lecture series. Read more.

Bederman Wins U.S. Supreme Court Case 6-3

David J. Bederman, a CSLR associated faculty member and Emory professor of law, was the winning attorney in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Ministry of Defense and Support for the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi, by a 6-3 decision Tuesday, April 21. The court overturned a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Dr. Dariush Elahi, who sought $2.8 million as compensation for the killing of his brother in Paris in 1990. Read more.

Van der Vyver Celebrates 50 Years of Teaching Law
CSLR Senior Fellow Johan D. van der Vyver, I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Emory, has completed his 50th year of law teaching. He says he’s just getting started, and still has his best work ahead of him. His colleagues think that he is, as usual, being too modest. “We have had a legal giant quietly walking amongst us, and it’s time to take his full measure,” said CSLR Director John Witte, Jr., in toasting Van der Vyver on behalf of the Emory Law faculty.  Van der Vyver has lectured throughout the world and published 15 books, 300 articles, and hundreds of shorter essays. Read more.

An-Na'im, Shari'a Law Receive Attention, Awards 
CSLR Senior Fellow Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na‘im is helping increase understanding of Shari`a law, and his efforts are being widely recognized. This spring, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory has been named a 2009 Carnegie Scholar, received the degree of doctor honoris causa from the Universite catholique de Louvain and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, delivered Emory's annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture, and appeared in print and television media interviews. Read more about the Carnegie grant. Read more about the honorary doctorate. Read more about news coverage. 

Alexander Wins 'Good Apple'
CSLR Founding Director Frank S. Alexander has won the 2009 Good Apple Award, presented by the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, for his pro bono work in property law, real estate sales and finance, state and local government law, law and theology, and federal housing policies. The Good Apple Award recognizes distinguished pro bono leadership, seeks to effect change by addressing difficult social justice problems with systemic solutions, and levels the playing field for children, the poor, and the marginalized. Read more.

Broyde, Scalia Debate Freedom of Speech
CSLR Senior Fellow Michael J. Broyde engaged in a friendly debate with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia over freedom of speech during a panel discussion in late January. The event, "The Right to Privacy and Individual Liberties - From Ancient Times to the Cyberspace Age," was sponsored by the Institute of American and Talmudic Law in New York and drew an audience of 500. Read more.


The Sins of the Fathers: The Law and Theology of Illegitimatcy
John Witte, Jr.
Cambridge University Press, 2009

For nearly 2000 years, religious and secular laws have wrongly judged illegitimate children by the sexual impropriety of their parents, and it is high time for modern-day parents, not children, to be held accountable, says CSLR Director John Witte, Jr. in his new book The Sins of the Fathers: The Law and Theology of Illegitimacy Reconsidered.  “There are no illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents,” said Witte, Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Alonzo L. McDonald Distinguished Professor. The book, his 23rd, is a product of the CSLR’s “Christian Jurisprudence” research project sponsored by the Alonzo L. McDonald Agape Foundation and by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Read more.

New Book Explores Using God to Justify Military Might
T. Jeremy Gunn
Praeger, 2009

T. Jeremy Gunn's new book, Spiritual Weapons: The Cold War and the Forging of an American National Religion , explores how after World War II Americans developed a trinity that has become a national religion: The United States should have a military second to none even in peacetime; government officials should adopt laws praising God; and "capitalism means freedom." Gunn is a CSLR senior fellow and director of the American Civil Liberties Union Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. Read more.

Polyphonic Federalism: Towards the Protection of Fundamental Rights
Robert A. Schapiro
University of Chicago Press, 2009

The relationship between the states and the national government is among the most contested issues in the United States. And questions about where power should reside, how decisions should be made, and how responsibility should be allocated have been central to the American experiment in federalism. In Polyphonic Federalism, Robert A. Schapiro, CSLR associated faculty member and Emory professor of law, defends the advantages of multiple perspectives in government, arguing that the resulting “polyphony” creates a system that is more efficient, democratic, and protective of liberties. Read more.
 
Children and Childhood in American Religions
Don S. Browning and Bonnie Miller-McLemore, eds.
Rutgers University Press, 2009

Whether First Communion or bar mitzvah, religious traditions play a central role in the lives of many American children. In this collection of essays, leading scholars reveal for the first time how various religions interpret, reconstruct, and mediate their traditions to help guide children and their parents in navigating the opportunities and challenges of American life. Read more.

African Human Rights Law Journal, Symposium Edition

Johan D. van der Vyver, M. Christian Green, eds.
Vol. 8., No. 2 (2008)

This volume represents the outcome of a major three-day roundtable conference with a score of leading religious liberty scholars, advocates, judges, NGO heads, and media personnel from various parts of Africa, in Durban, South Africa, in the Spring of 2008. The conference situated and complicated the discourse on religion, culture, and human rights in Africa. It became quite clear that -- beyond the conventional issues of religion-state relations, freedom of conscience and expression, religious group rights, and the like -- African nations face formidable issues of religion and human rights in a number of specific subject areas from proselytism to religious dress and ornamentation to concerns about sex, marriage, and family.  Read more.

"The Future of Law, Religion, and the Family," Emory Law Journal
John Witte, Jr., ed.
Vol. 58, No. 1 (2008)

In October 2007, 25 world renowned scholars gathered at Emory for the CSLR's silver anniversary. Their goal was to anticipate some of the most difficult questions of law and religion facing the world in the 21st century and map out strategies for answering them. This symposium edition focuses specifically on law and religion issues surrounding the family. Read more.