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)
For a .pdf version of the syllabus, click
here
Class Schedule
Subject to Change
September 8th
Introduction
- Antonin Scalia, “God’s
Justice and Ours,” First Things 123
(May 2002): 17-21
- Sean Wilentz, “From Justice Scalia, A Chilling Vision of Religion’s
Authority in America,” New York Times, July 8, 2002
- Anne Thompson, “Scalia:
Stuck in the Past,” Washington
Post, February 26, 2002
- Articles on Roy Moore and Alabama Controversy
September 15th
- Edward J. Larson, Summer
for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s
Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1997)
- At Food for Thought and on reserve at DuBois
September 22nd
Understanding
Religion’s
Role in Envisioning America (discussion questions)
- David L. Chappell, A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death
of Jim Crow (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2004)
- At Food for Thought and on reserve at DuBois
September 29th
Understanding
Religion’s
Role in Shaping America: Same-Sex Marriage and the Law (discussion questions)
- Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 440 Mass. 309 (2003)
- Additional articles distributed in class
October 6th
Understanding
Religion’s
Role in Envisioning America
- Pat Robertson, “Road to Victory,” Washington,
DC, September 17, 1994
- Pat Robertson, “Citizens of Character Must Get Involved,” National
Religious Broadcaster’s Convention, February 5, 1986
- Susan Pace Hamill, “An
Argument for Tax Reform Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics,” Alabama Law Review 54(1) (Fall 2002): 1-79
October 13th
No Class
October 20th
Religion and Constitutionalism: Introduction
- Elizabeth Mensch, “Christianity and the Roots of Liberalism,” in Christian
Perspectives on Legal Thought, eds. Michael McConnell et al. (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2001): pp. 54-72
October 27th
Religion’s
Role in the Current Election
- Articles supplied by class to be distributed
November 3rd
Presentation
of Election Projects
November 10th
Final
Version of Election Projects Due
Understanding Religion’s
Role in Envisioning Nation and World
- Manzar Faroohar, “Liberation
Theology: The Response of Latin American Catholics to Socioeconomic Problems,” Latin American Perspectives 13(3)
(Summer 1986): 37-58
November 17th
Religion
and Constitutionalism: Free Exercise
- Shawn Francis Peters, Judging
Jehovah’s Witnesses: Religious
Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution (Lawrence: University
Press of Kansas, 2000)
- At Food for Thought and on reserve at DuBois
November 24th
Religion
and Constitutionalism: Separation of Church and State
- Newdow v. U.S. Congress, 328 F.3d 466 (2003)
- Additional reading to be distributed in class
December 1st
Religion
and Constitutionalism: Citizenship and Faith in Israel
- Shalit v. Minister of the Interior,
in Selected Judgments of the Supreme Court of Israel (Special Volume),
eds. Asher Felix Landau & Peter
Elman (Jerusalem: Ministry of Justice, 1971: 35-191.
December 8th
Religion,
Rights and the State in the Islamic World
- Samuel Huntington, “The
Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign
Affairs (Summer 1993): 22-49.
- Robin Wright, The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation
in Iran (New York: Vintage, 2001)
- At Food for Thought and on reserve at DuBois