a seminar on religion, law, & politics around the globe
syllabus • readings • assignments • links
Professor Thomas Hilbink • 110 Gordon Hall • 413-545-2003 • hilbink@legal.umass.edu
office hours: Wednesdays, 11 to 1 (or by appointment)
• In its year-end issue on new ideas of 2003, the New York Times Magazine listed one idea linked to religion and the law in Alabama that, perhaps shockingly, has nothing to do with a big monument to the Ten Commandments. Check out the article here.
• Roy Moore for Prez!? To some, it looks like a possibility.
• Disappointed that your professor resists using Power Point in class? Perhaps you should be thanking him instead, smarty-pants.
• France is currently engaged in a major debate over the role of religion in public life -- spurred on largely by the nation's large and growing population of Muslims. The debate heated up this week, as discussed in the previous link as well as this article from the New York Times.
• Islam and Government. It's a hot topic in Iraq and Iran.
• Evolution: the issue that won't go away in American educational circles. The debate is back in Georgia.
• Here's the map of the Islamic "World." Take a few minutes and figure out what the publication's position is on the Islam and democracy question.
• Meanwhile, in Japan, the religious cult-leader Shoko Asahara was sentenced to death for his group's gassing of the Tokyo subway -- an act believed to be politically-motivated. Read about it here.
• 
The French Government's ban on religious garb in public
schools recently went into effect. Read here about how the ban was received.
