The Legal Guide for Religious Institutions


Book Description

Providing both a comprehensive legal overview and practical advice, this is an essential reference work for every pastor, church administrator, and parish council member. The US is the most litigious country in the world. The sex abuse scandal has virtually bankrupted the American Roman Catholic Church. The breakup of the American Episcopal Church threatens innumerable lawsuits over ownership of church property. Every religious community in the US has reason to be concerned about its legal liability. Wrongful dismissal, potential liability for the actions of employees or volunteers, a parishioner slipping on icy church steps... these are just some of the other legal issues that should be of concern to every Christian church and parish community in America. Recognizing that most people working in the church need guidance when confronting church-related legal issues, lawyers (and long-term church members) David Blaikie and Diana Ginn have adapted their popular Legal Guide for Canadian Churches for the American religious community. This handy reference book takes readers, step by step, through all the legal implications of the daily operation of a church and parish community. Blaikie and Ginn explain different areas of the law, including administrative law, property law, employment law, and civil liability. This book provides a legal context for understanding and responding to relevant legal issues, while at the same time providing answers and directions on specific legal questions. The Legal Guide for Religious Institutions provides a comprehensive legal overview, coupled with practical advice, that will be required reading for every American pastor, church administrator, and parish council member.




Pastor, Church & Law


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International Religious Freedom Advocacy


Book Description

The first resource of its kind, International Religious Freedom Advocacy equips activists and policymakers with an intimate knowledge of the governmental institutions, NGOs, and laws that work to safeguard religious liberties across the world. Beginning with an overview of the international legal protections, these advocacy veterans explain the intricacies of and resources available within the United Nations, European Union, Council of Europe, Organization of American States, African Union, and more. They conclude with in-depth case studies of Turkmenistan and Vietnam and a host of additional helpful information.




The Code of Canon Law


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Church State Corporation


Book Description

Church and state: a simple phrase that reflects one of the most famous and fraught relationships in the history of the United States. But what exactly is “the church,” and how is it understood in US law today? In Church State Corporation, religion and law scholar Winnifred Fallers Sullivan uncovers the deeply ambiguous and often unacknowledged ways in which Christian theology remains alive and at work in the American legal imagination. Through readings of the opinions of the US Supreme Court and other legal texts, Sullivan shows how “the church” as a religious collective is granted special privilege in US law. In-depth analyses of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby reveal that the law tends to honor the religious rights of the group—whether in the form of a church, as in Hosanna-Tabor, or in corporate form, as in Hobby Lobby—over the rights of the individual, offering corporate religious entities an autonomy denied to their respective members. In discussing the various communities that construct the “church-shaped space” in American law, Sullivan also delves into disputes over church property, the legal exploitation of the black church in the criminal justice system, and the recent case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Brimming with insight, Church State Corporation provocatively challenges our most basic beliefs about the ties between religion and law in ostensibly secular democracies.




Death, Religion and Law


Book Description

This practical guide summarizes the principles of working with dying patients and their families as influenced by the commoner world religions and secular philosophies. It also outlines the main legal requirements to be followed by those who care for the dying following the death of the patient. The first part of the book provides a reflective introduction to the general influences of world religions on matters to do with dying, death and grief. It considers the sometimes conflicting relationships between ethics, religion, culture and personal philosophies and how these differences impact on individual cases of dying, death and loss. The second part describes the general customs and beliefs of the major religions that are encountered in hospitals, hospices, care homes and home care settings. It also includes discussion of non-religious spirituality, humanism, agnosticism and atheism. The final part outlines key socio-legal aspects of death across the UK. Death, Religion and Law provides key knowledge, discussion and reflection for dealing with the diversity of the everyday care of dying and death in different religious, secular and cultural contexts. It is an important reference for practitioners working with dying patients, their families and the bereaved.




Catholic Schools and the Law


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A practical guide to helping today's Catholic school teachers deal with the legal issues facing them.




EEOC Compliance Manual


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Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization


Book Description

Everything you need to start and manage a non-profit Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization is written to help anyone who's just getting their toes wet in the sector get up to speed on the critical information needed to protect their nonprofit's tax-exempt status—and avoid the many legal traps out there that you probably didn't know exist. Packed with checklists and step-by-step guidance, Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization demystifies intricate legal issues with plain-English language explanations for non-legal professionals of the statutes, regulations, court opinions, and other rules comprising nonprofit law. Nonprofits must comply with stringent federal and state laws due to their special exempt status; the government's ultimate threat is revocation of a nonprofit's tax-exempt status, which usually means the nonprofit's demise. Written in plain English, not "legalese," this all-important guide provides essential guidance for those interested in starting nonprofits, as well as valuable advice for leaders of established organizations. Covers all aspects of federal and state nonprofit law Discusses significant contemporary issues, including commerciality, private benefit, governance, and unrelated business Provides summaries of current IRS ruling policies Includes procedures and a glossary of legal terms for fail-safe compliance Written by the country's legal leading authority on tax-exempt organizations, Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization is the reference you'll want to keep close by as you navigate your way through the world of nonprofit and the law.




Defending American Religious Neutrality


Book Description

Although it is often charged with hostility toward religion, First Amendment doctrine in fact treats religion as a distinctive human good. It insists, however, that this good be understood abstractly, without the state taking sides on any theological question. Here, a leading scholar of constitutional law explains the logic of this uniquely American form of neutrality—more religion-centered than liberal theorists propose, and less overtly theistic than conservatives advocate. The First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion is under threat. Growing numbers of critics, including a near-majority of the Supreme Court, seem ready to cast aside the ideal of American religious neutrality. Andrew Koppelman defends that ideal and explains why protecting religion from political manipulation is imperative in an America of growing religious diversity. Understanding American religious neutrality, Koppelman shows, can explain some familiar puzzles. How can Bible reading in public schools be impermissible while legislative sessions begin with prayers, Christmas is an official holiday, and the words “under God” appear in the Pledge of Allegiance? Are faith-based social services, public financing of religious schools, or the teaching of intelligent design constitutional? Combining legal, historical, and philosophical analysis, Koppelman shows how law coherently navigates these conundrums. He explains why laws must have a secular legislative purpose, why old, but not new, ceremonial acknowledgments of religion are permitted, and why it is fair to give religion special treatment.