Religious Freedom, Equality, and Non-Discrimination in Employment Cases: Interview with Cole Durham

W. Cole Durham, Jr. is Emeritus Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University, where he held the Susa Young Gates University Professorship and Founding Director of the Law School’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies. He was interviewed by Dmytro Vovk.

Before the interview, we asked you to think about a case of a line of cases you have modified your views about. What have you chosen?

My plan is to talk mainly about Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC (2012) and the follow-up case, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (2020). These are both cases that deal with the religious autonomy doctrine, and I think they represent a concerning trend.

(more…)

Continue Reading Religious Freedom, Equality, and Non-Discrimination in Employment Cases: Interview with Cole Durham

Magnifica Humanitas: Human Dignity, Technology, and the International Order

Pope Leo XIV signing the Magnifica Humanitas Encyclical / Vatican News

In May 2025, Pope Leo XIV presented his first encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas. In a lengthy, thoughtfully constructed, insightful document, the Pope addresses a broad range of questions from the nature of human personality to artificial intelligence to peaceful international order. It emphasizes the role of human dignity as an ultimate ethical principle for navigating the challenges and leveraging the opportunities that our rapidly changing world holds for humanity. It warns against both unlimited belief in technological progress and Luddism-style rejection of it. This blog series has united theologians, constitutional theorist, political scholars, software business managers, and human rights lawyers to reflect on this powerful document and on the ethical approaches and solutions it advocates to make our use of technology safer and more dignified, and the world more just, equal, and peaceful.

(more…)

Continue Reading Magnifica Humanitas: Human Dignity, Technology, and the International Order

Magnifica Humanitas and the Organic Evolution of Catholic Social Teaching on Online Exploitation

Yuriy Tykhovlis, PhD, is a an antitrafficking lawyer and writer.

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

Introduction

Magnifica Humanitas (MH) represents an organic evolution of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) that applies the perennial principles of human dignity, the common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity to the novel threats of the digital frontier, including online human trafficking and digital exploitation. In this post, I posit that the encyclical’s unprecedented attention to digital exploitation, evidenced by the substantial focus on these concepts, signals their elevation from peripheral concerns to central structural threats to human dignity.

(more…)

Continue Reading Magnifica Humanitas and the Organic Evolution of Catholic Social Teaching on Online Exploitation