Two Words: Why Frank Ravitch No Longer Supports the Overturning of Employment Division v. Smith

In its landmark 1990 decision Employment Division v. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause does not require religious exemptions to neutral and generally applicable laws, even if those laws incidentally burden religious practice. Over the years, Smith has been criticized for its insensitivity and harm to religious needs and rights, particularly those of religious minorities. Frank S. Ravitch (Michigan State University College of Law) explains why he no longer supports the overturning of Smith.

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The EUCJ Ruling in Katholische Schwangerschaftsberatung v. JB and Its Impact on Ecclesiastical Labor Law in Germany

Judith Hahn is Professor of Canon Law at the University of Bonn and McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.

On 17 March 2026, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) issued a judgment regarding Catholic institutions in Germany and their employment relationships, in Katholische Schwangerschaftsberatung v. JB. The ruling established that a Catholic employer, in this case a pregnancy counseling office at Caritas, cannot terminate a contract of employment solely on the basis of the employee’s leaving the Catholic Church. The Court determined that such a dismissal constitutes unequal treatment, unless the employee’s church membership is a genuine, legitimate, and necessary requirement for the specific occupation. While acknowledging the right of churches to self-determination in employment matters, the CJEU determined the dismissal to be unlawful, as the employer did not generally require staff to be Catholic and had employed non-Catholics in similar roles.

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Registering Faith: Recognition, Legal Personality, and Religious Freedom in the Caribbean

Brandon Reece Taylorian is a research fellow at the University of Lancashire (UK).

Introduction

Caribbean states have inherited—and reshaped—colonial approaches to governing religion. Since gaining independence, governments across the region have had to decide what it means to be “secular,” which communities the state treats as legitimate, and what legal steps religious groups must take to operate in public life. Those choices matter for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) because recognition and registration rules shape who can manifest their beliefs and how, for example, by building places of worship or providing pastoral care in public institutions like hospitals, prisons, and the military.

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