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Several recent unpublished U.S. federal court opinions have responded to claims under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and the U.S. Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause by incarcerated Native American practitioners. The RLUIPA, enacted by Congress in 2000, provides that governments may not impose a substantial burden on the religious exercise of persons confined to institutions unless the government can demonstrate that the burden is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is narrowly tailored to further that interest. Incarcerated practitioners of Native American religion have been able to get access to sweat lodges and other aspects of Native religious practice and to have certain religious practices accommodated under the law.
One of the most significant challenges facing contemporary religious systems is the regulation of the rights of religious minorities. Legal systems approach this issue in varied ways, reflecting differences in political philosophy, historical development, and religious traditions. Some states adopt closed-list strategies, explicitly enumerating the communities entitled to recognition. Others employ more universalist frameworks, whereby secular law applies to all, but recognized groups are granted additional rights, most often in areas such as personal status. These divergent approaches shape not only the rights afforded to minorities but also the mechanisms through which exclusion is enforced.
Frank Ravitch (Michigan State University College of Law) discusses America’s shift from moderate separationism to an anti-separationist approach to religion-state relations. According to Ravitch, the victimhood of social conservatives not only drives the Supreme Court’s current majority to an increasingly anti-establishment stance but also results in strong politicization of the Court and its decisions. Ravitch explains how recent First Amendment decisions, including Mahmoud v. Taylor (more because of bias evident in the majority opinion rather than the decision itself), contribute to this trend and predicts that the Court will eventually overturn Smith v. Employment Division and constitutionalize Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. He also touches on an alternative approach to both the current anti-establishment drift and radical separationism.
“Sacred Stuff”: Indigenous Religions in Post-Apartheid South Africa
by Christine Venter
A nation, David Chidester tells us, is “made out of sacred stuff.” Nowhere is that more apparent than when examining the rich religious diversity of South Africa. According to the most recent (2022) South African census figures, approximately 73% of the population identifies as Christian, 14% report affiliation with “unspecified” religions, while affiliates of African Indigenous Religions (AIRs) make up 7% of the population. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Bahá’ís respectively account for 1–2% or less of the population. Although the census has been criticized for its methodology and questionable accuracy, it provides some insight into the myriad religions that comprise the South African population. However, it fails to fully capture the fact that some adherents of AIRs combine indigenous beliefs and practices with those of Christian or other major religions, seeing no incompatibility between the two. …
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