FoRB Podcast: Business and Religious Rights

In episode 2 of The FoRB Podcast, Dmytro Vovk and Merilin Kiviorg invite Matteo Corsalini (University of Siena) to discuss religious freedom in the workplace and, more broadly, the business approach to FoRB protection. Matteo explains the economic aspect of FoRB, elaborates on the trend in EU Court of Justice (EUCJ) jurisprudence to expand the discretion of public and private employers in FoRB matters, and traces the EUCJ’s approach to the Court’s nature and history. He also guides Dmytro and Merilin through legal reasoning developed by the EUCJ, the European Court of Human Rights, and the U.S. Supreme Court in similar cases.

(more…)

Continue Reading FoRB Podcast: Business and Religious Rights

The Russian Orthodox Church Beyond Russia: Global Pretensions and Security Concerns

This series scrutinizes the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in three overlapping contexts: ROC pretensions to the leadership of the Orthodox world, the ROC as a global conservative force, and the ROC as a supporter and tool of Russian geopolitical ambitions.

Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine has significantly affected all three contexts. And it has deepened and intensified conflicts between the ROC and the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its allies as well as the split in global Orthodoxy generally.

(more…)

Continue Reading The Russian Orthodox Church Beyond Russia: Global Pretensions and Security Concerns

Law, Religion, and Decolonization

This series aims to explore the roles of colonialism and decolonization in the interaction of law and religion.

Religion and religious institutions can be employed by the state to support its imperial expansion and facilitate the loyalty and cultural homogenization of colonized territories and populations. Historically, these processes are often combined with proselytizing the imperial religion. They can, however, also preserve some religious freedom or autonomy for the domestic population, as Stanislav Panin discusses regarding Russia’s colonization of Siberia and the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in that colonization.

(more…)

Continue Reading Law, Religion, and Decolonization