while the influence of religion on political behavior is widely recognized, (1) theologically-rooted norms, and the elites who hold or are influenced by them, frame and shape American policy choices to an extent that is not appreciated; (2) the country?s increasing religious diversity is affecting our ability to forge consensus or to govern; and (3) disciplinary ?silos? have prevented scholars from developing a sufficiently comprehensive synthesis of existing scholarship to adequately describe the nature and effects of the religious underpinnings of contemporary political polarization. As a result, while lawyers, political scientists and others recognize the more explicitly religious components of America?s current polarization, we fail to appreciate the extent to which conflicting policy preferences are rooted in religiously-shaped normative frameworks. Much like the blind men and the elephant, we encounter different parts of the animal. We see a tree, a wall, a snake?but we fail to apprehend the size, shape and power of the whole elephant.
Continue reading “Religious Paradigms: Thinking in Red and Blue”
Category Archives: Academic Papers
Using Restraints: The Legal Context of High Risk Interventions
The treatment of children by mental health professionals–particularly in an institutional setting–implicates three sets of important, and frequently competing, interests.
Continue reading “Using Restraints: The Legal Context of High Risk Interventions”
Religious Paradigms and the Rule of Law: Thinking in Red and Blue
While lawyers, political scientists and others recognize the more explicitly religious components of America?s current polarization, we fail to appreciate the extent to which conflicting policy preferences are rooted in religiously-shaped normative frameworks. Much like the blind men and the elephant, we encounter different parts of the animal. We see a tree, a wall, a snake?but we fail to apprehend the size, shape and power of the whole elephant.
Continue reading “Religious Paradigms and the Rule of Law: Thinking in Red and Blue”
Charitable Choice: First Results from Three States
Interim findings from a three-year, three-state study of implementation of the Charitable Choice provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA).
Continue reading “Charitable Choice: First Results from Three States”
The Digital Divide
The American legal system evolves far more slowly than the new technologies that present almost daily challenges to rules framed for a simpler time.
Continue reading “The Digital Divide”