Corporate Religious Liberty Research Articles

A Christian Approach to Corporate Religious Liberty. By Edward A. David

The proper subject of corporate religious liberty claims is group action, not individuals or corporate persons per se. And groups are best understood as verbs, not nouns. These striking claims, ‘mostly alien’ to modern ears, warrant the inclusion of A Christian Approach to Corporate Religious Liberty in the Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion series. That series promises fresh perspectives on timely disputes in philosophy of religion. And Edward David’s retrieval and application of classical resources to a fraught contemporary debate is a welcome interpolation. David is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Oxford Character Project. That interdisciplinary milieu helps explain the book’s twin target audiences: ‘theologians and their church communities’ and, ‘equally’, ‘political theorists and philosophers of law’. Aspirational parity notwithstanding, the heart of the book, Chapter 4, ‘A Modest Account of Corporate Religious Liberty’, is decidedly philosophical, not theological. David answers there his central question: to what or to whom are owed the duties correspondent to corporate religious liberties? As noted, his surprising reply is group action.

Book Review: A Christian Approach to Corporate Religious Liberty by Edward A. David

Book Review: <i>A Christian Approach to Corporate Religious Liberty</i> by Edward A. David

A Christian Approach to Corporate Religious Liberty by Edward A. David, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, 2020, pp. xxiii + 264, £79.99, hbk

A Christian Approach to Corporate Religious Liberty by Edward A. David, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, 2020, pp. xxiii + 264, £79.99, hbk

The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty

This Introduction to our edited book, The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty (Oxford University Press, 2016), offers an account of the “corporate turn” in law and religion. Here the term “corporate” refers to any organized body of people - groups, associations, organizations, and institutions - and, more specifically, to for-profit corporations. Our contention is that the relationship between law and religion has shifted dramatically in the last decade, moving from a conception of religious freedom focused mainly on individual liberty toward one that privileges the rights of religious organizations. We trace this development in two stages, describing the initial movement from individual liberty to church autonomy, or what some have called “freedom of the church,” and the subsequent extension of religious liberty claims to for-profit corporations. We then survey the main questions about corporate religious liberty addressed in the book and provide an overview of its structure.

The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty. Edited by Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoe Robinson. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016. xxvi + 494 pp. $99.00 Cloth, $45.00 Paper

The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty. Edited by Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoe Robinson. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016. xxvi + 494 pp. $99.00 Cloth, $45.00 Paper

The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty. Edited by Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoё Robinson

The Rise of Corporate Religious Liberty. Edited by Micah Schwartzman, Chad Flanders, and Zoё Robinson

Employer Conscience after Hobby Lobby and the Continuing Conflict between Women's Rights and Religious Freedom

Thirty-seven years have passed since Congress amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to declare that workplace discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions is illegal sex discrimination. Yet, women in the workplace today continue to experience high levels of discrimination, particularly as it relates to their reproductive capacity or choices. Oftentimes, religious beliefs form the basis for the sex stereotypes that have been used to justify discrimination against women. This Article examines the ongoing conflict between women’s rights and religious liberty interests by discussing the risks associated with for-profit employer conscience exemptions to current anti-discrimination laws. The Article begins in Part I, explaining the origins of prohibitions against sex discrimination in employment and the protections they have provided since their enactment. In Part II, the Article examines well-established religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws found in statutory and case law. Part III reviews the majority reasoning in Hobby Lobby within the anti-discrimination framework and explores how the decision in that case could expand current religious exemptions. Part IV analyzes whether an employer can use RFRA as a shield to defend itself against discrimination claims brought by or on behalf of employees, and concludes that, while an employer can do so, a RFRA defense should fail when applied to anti-discrimination laws, notwithstanding the Hobby Lobby decision. Part V cautions against the expansion of the corporate religious liberty interest and employer conscience exemption created in Hobby Lobby. Part VI concludes. Throughout the Article, the role of legislation and case law examining or prohibiting workplace discrimination against women based on their reproductive capacity are used as the case study for the impact of the post-Hobby Lobby legal landscape.

The Rise of corporate religious liberty

The Rise of corporate religious liberty

Corporate Religious Liberty

Do for-profit corporations have a right to religious liberty? This question was before the Supreme Court for the first time in a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s “contraception mandate.” According to Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., the answer is yes: for-profit corporations are “persons” entitled to religious exemptions under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.This Article argues that there is no principled basis for granting religious liberty exemptions to for-profit corporations. For-profit corporations do not possess the inherently human characteristics that justify religious exemptions for individuals. For-profit corporations also lack the unique qualities that justify exemptions for religious associations such as churches. Finally, corporate religious liberty risks trampling on the employment rights and religious liberty of individual employees.

Corporate Religious Liberty

Do for-profit corporations have a right to religious liberty? This question was before the Supreme Court for the first time in a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s “contraception mandate.” According to Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., the answer is yes: for-profit corporations are “persons” entitled to religious exemptions under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.This Article argues that there is no principled basis for granting religious liberty exemptions to for-profit corporations. For-profit corporations do not possess the inherently human characteristics that justify religious exemptions for individuals. For-profit corporations also lack the unique qualities that justify exemptions for religious associations such as churches. Finally, corporate religious liberty risks trampling on the employment rights and religious liberty of individual employees.