Correct Bits that Do Not Fit: Elizabeth A. Clark on the ECtHR Grand Chamber’s Unsettling Judgement in Lautsi v. Italy

In Lautsi v. Italy (2011), the European Court of Human Rights considered whether a crucifix displayed in an Italian public-school classroom violated a non-Catholic student’s right to religious freedom. While a chamber of the Court decided in favor of the student, the Grand Chamber later sided with the Italian government and found the crucifix to be a passive symbol that did not infringe the student’s and his parents’ rights. Elizabeth A. Clark explains how her experience as a member of a religious minority group complicates her views of the Grand Chamber’s Lautsi judgment.

(more…)

Continue ReadingCorrect Bits that Do Not Fit: Elizabeth A. Clark on the ECtHR Grand Chamber’s Unsettling Judgement in Lautsi v. Italy

Global Overview of Religious Registration Systems: Latin America

Brandon Reece Taylorian (University of Lancashire) has conducted a global study of religious registration. In a series of videos for Talk About: Law and Religion, Taylorian explores challenges and trends related to the registration and recognition of religious organizations. He also discusses the impact of these challenges and trends on religious freedom and minority rights. This episode focuses on Latin America.

(more…)

Continue ReadingGlobal Overview of Religious Registration Systems: Latin America

Building Babel or Rebuilding Jerusalem: Magnifica Humanitas on AI, Power, and the Measure of Civilization

Erik Longo is full professor of constitutional and public law at the University of Florence.

This post is a part of our series on Magnifica Humanitas.

I write these notes on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (MH), moved by its expressive power and convinced it will become essential reading on the human and social consequences of new digital technologies. The encyclical itself opens with the responsibility we bear, as individuals and a community, in the face of the challenges of our time:

Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible. Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world (MH, para. 1).

(more…)

Continue ReadingBuilding Babel or Rebuilding Jerusalem: Magnifica Humanitas on AI, Power, and the Measure of Civilization