The United States is one of the most, if not the most,  liberated countries in the world for women generally, but there are pockets of severe oppression, largely driven by religious precepts.  Join us for a lecture by Marci A. Hamilton, Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, as she discusses the First Amendment doctrines that permit and even foster oppression, and the legal principles that have counteracted it.  

Audience members may want to prepare for the talk by reading Professor Hamilton's amicus brief in the Hobby Lobby case, available here, or contact info@ircpl.org for a copy.

Marci A. Hamilton’s passionate and persistent defense of child sex abuse victims in religious organizations has drawn fire from the highest levels of numerous religious organizations.  Hers was one of the earliest voices in favor of legislative reform to protect child sex abuse victims, based on the lessons learned from the problems within numerous religious organizations, and then universities, prep schools, and many other institutions. Professor Hamilton is the author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children(Cambridge University Press 2008, 2012) and God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005, 2007), which won the Silver Medal, Foreword Magazine Political Science Book of the Year Award, Political Science in 2005.

Professor Hamilton’s lecture is part of the IRCPL’s Religion and Politics in American Public Life lecture series, coordinated by Professors Karen Barkey, Jean Cohen, and John Torpey.  Seeking to further understand the relationship between religion and politics in the United States, the series continues to explore a number of timely topics that intersect with religion, such as civil religion, public discourses of morality, and reproductive and sexual rights.

Sponsored by the Institute of Religion, Culture, and Public Life, The Department of Political Science at Columbia University, and the PhD Program in Sociology at the Graduate Center, CUNY.