A few days ago I received "legal education abstracts" from our friends at SSRN. Catching my eye is the abstract of an essay by Professor Scott Taylor (pictured), of the University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota). The essay is entitled The Relevance of Faith Integration in Legal Education. Here's the opening paragraph of Professor Taylor's three-paragraph abstract:
The purpose of this essay is to consider the question of whether faith
integration in a legal education is worthwhile. A lawyer's work is
essentially problem solving with a moral compass in a legal context. For many people in the United States and in Britain, a substantial part
of a person's moral sense and thinking comes from religious teachings
and traditions. At the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Catholic
Social Teaching and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition offer an
essential backdrop that provides a springboard for discussions about
justice, fairness, tax law, and the state through the lens of a faith
tradition. Other faith traditions and secular humanism are welcome
perspectives. Discussing moral foundations as part of the legal system
and as important in each field of law provides law students with the
opportunity to improve and enhance their own moral reasoning.
integration in a legal education is worthwhile. A lawyer's work is
essentially problem solving with a moral compass in a legal context. For many people in the United States and in Britain, a substantial part
of a person's moral sense and thinking comes from religious teachings
and traditions. At the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Catholic
Social Teaching and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition offer an
essential backdrop that provides a springboard for discussions about
justice, fairness, tax law, and the state through the lens of a faith
tradition. Other faith traditions and secular humanism are welcome
perspectives. Discussing moral foundations as part of the legal system
and as important in each field of law provides law students with the
opportunity to improve and enhance their own moral reasoning.
The full abstract is here. From there you should be able to download the essay itself.
Faith is an integral part of my life, so I'm looking forward to reading Professor Taylor's essay.
I don't think that I have any special problem with religious schools integrating religious elements into their instruction (at least not so long as that this is done is made explicit.) This bit seemed odd to me, though:
For many people in the United States and in Britain, a substantial part of a person's moral sense and thinking comes from religious teachings and traditions.
I wonder, first, how true this is of Britain, where, for example, only about 15% of the people go to church at least once a month. I suppose that their moral sense might still come to them via "traditions" even if they don't go to church, but I'd tend to think that ought to be thought of as part of the broader culture rather than specifically from "religious teachings and tradition" at that point. I also wonder about putting "the United States and Britain" as a pair here- Church attendance is very low in the UK, and there's a sizable number that consider themselves atheists. But also, church attendance in the UK is only a bit higher than France and a bit lower than Germany, while there are several countries (Poland, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Mexico, even Canada) that have significantly higher rates of Church attendance than the UK. That might map imperfectly with the question being considered, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't some significant over-lap. When you read it, Tim, I'd be very interested to hear if there's anything said about this, or if it's just a throw-away remark without any particular significance.
I can't even figure out what Zinneker's purpose was in posting this comment, except to promote another professor's commentary about spirituality.