{"id":5213,"date":"2004-12-28T13:15:10","date_gmt":"2004-12-28T17:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2004\/12\/28\/why-the-unholy-silence-on-fai"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:58:06","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:58:06","slug":"why-the-unholy-silence-on-faith-based-law-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/12\/28\/why-the-unholy-silence-on-faith-based-law-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"why the unholy silence on faith-based law schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’ve been surprised that so little has been written on faith-bi<\/EM>ased legal education     \"torah\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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by weblawgers who might be apprehensive about the idea.  We seem to hear only from <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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fans<\/FONT><\/A> of<\/FONT> the notion.  While I am not like <\/FONT>Chris Newman’s friend<\/FONT><\/A>, who would refuse <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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accreditation for such schools, I’m very wary about claims that religion-focused law<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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schools will produce lawyers who are <\/FONT>more moral<\/FONT><\/A> and ethical, or that proper legal<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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interpretation should look to the Bible first rather than our Constitutions.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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My misgivings can be found in the earlier post<\/FONT><\/A> “<\/FONT>religious law schools offer no salvation<\/FONT>,”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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which was quoted at length yesterday (Dec. 27, 2004) — not by a blawger — but by <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Austin Cline<\/FONT><\/A>, at his <\/FONT>Agnosticism\/Atheism Blog<\/FONT><\/A>. [talk about preaching to the choir]<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Non-lawyer Cline wrote:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Religion doesn’t make one more moral, so a religion-based legal education <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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couldn’t be expected to turn out more moral lawyers. It’s also doubtful that <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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religious traditions necessarily have a great deal to offer when it comes to <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a legal education today. In fact, if a religion-based education inspires one <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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to try to apply religious texts to legal cases rather than just the law, it could <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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cause more problems. Aren’t religious conservatives the ones who complain <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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about judicial activism? “<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Cline previously posted <\/FONT>Falwell Opening Law School<\/FONT><\/A> and <\/FONT>Onward Christian Lawyers<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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at his A\/ABlog.  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Why are weblawggers so shy about this topic?  One told me he didn’t want to take on <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the religious right in public.  I hope others will overcome such fears and openly discuss <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a topic that may become quite important for the future of our profession and legal system.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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As usual, thoughtful discussion pro, con or in between would be welcome. (and, as you<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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can see, <\/FONT>irreverence<\/FONT><\/A> need<\/FONT> not be shunned)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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night storm–
I rely on my little
plague god<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT><\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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with our gods out of town
they raise a ruckus…
crows
<\/FONT>
<\/FONT><\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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even the outhouse
has a guardian god…
plum blossoms<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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\"commandments\"  Kobayashi Issa<\/EM><\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/A><\/FONT> translated by <\/FONT>David G. Lanoue<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><\/FONT>  <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been surprised that so little has been written on faith-biased legal education     by weblawgers who might be apprehensive about the idea.  We seem to hear only from fans of the notion.  While I am not like Chris Newman’s friend, who would refuse accreditation for such schools, I’m very wary about claims that religion-focused law schools will produce lawyers who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1m5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13439,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions\/13439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}