For Love of Neighbor: Engaging Narrative as a Model for Interfaith Pedagogy

Religious literacy and relationship building between religious groups and individuals remain a crucial need in the United States. This need is particularly acute in ‘diversity deserts,’ such as religiously exclusive college campuses. Colleges must respond to this need and course curriculum can provide an advantageous and effective starting point. The new and emerging field of Interfaith Studies provides useful language, concepts, and methods that can be applied to research and sources within established academic disciplines to create new pedagogical models to better equip students to live well in a religiously diverse America. By demonstrating how educational objectives from the field of Interfaith Studies can be integrated into existing curricular models that utilize ethnographic narratives, an innovative model of interfaith pedagogy can be created. This method, called the shared experience model relies primarily on the work of Oddbjørn Leirvik and Eboo Patel, two leading thinkers in the field of what is being called Interfaith or Interreligious Studies. When applied to four ethnographic narratives of young Muslim Americans constructed from methods rooted in ethnography and narrative inquiry, the shared experience model can result in a reader’s development of, appreciative knowledge and narrative imagination, two key capacities from Interfaith theory. Acquisition of appreciative knowledge and narrative imagination through engagement with a narrative fosters empathy and admiration - moving the reader from tolerance to appreciation. Ultimately, it results in a self-reflection that prepares the reader to begin to consider and articulate their own narrative identity

Constitutional Law - Legislative Contempt Power-Procedure Against Witness for Conduct Before Commission Composed of Legislators and Others

The Massachusetts General Court, for the purpose of investigating communism and subversive activities within the Commonwealth, established by joint resolution a special commission composed of two members of the Senate, three members of the House, and two persons to be appointed by the governor. When the commission summoned Otis A. Hood to appear before it, he refused to be sworn as a witness without first receiving witness fees, and flippantly expressed his demand for payment. The general court requested an advisory opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, propounding three questions: (1) whether the special commission was a committee of the legislature so that contempt before it constituted contempt of the general court within the meaning of specified articles of the Massachusetts Constitution; (2) whether the general court could adjudicate in contempt and punish a person guilty of disrespectful behavior before such a commission; and (3) whether, if there were such a power, a hearing before the bar of the general court was required before commitment. Held: No to questions 1 and 2, and question 3 consequently inapplicable. Because a committee composed of legislators and others is not a working part of the House, contemptuous behavior before such a commission cannot be said to be directed against the House as a whole, and therefore is not subject to the legislative contempt power. Opinion of the Justices, (Mass. 1954) 119 N.E. (2d) 385

Constitutional Law - Federal Immunity from State Taxation - Validity of State Sales Tax Upon Purchases and Sales by National Banks

The 1949 revision of the Michigan Sales Tax Act changed the federal exemption provision so as to permit taxation of sales to corporations acting as agents or instrumentalities of the federal government but not wholly owned by the United States. Accordingly, defendant department of revenue took the position that sales to plaintiff, a national banking institution organized under the National Banking Act, are taxable. In the course of its operations, plaintiff purchases office equipment and other tangible personal property from Michigan. retailers. It also sells food and services to employees through its cafeteria, and sells repossessed merchandise to other parties. Contending that the imposition of the sales tax violates the bank\u27s statutory and constitutional immunity, plaintiff sought a declaratory decree that (1) retail sales to plaintiff are not taxable, and (2) retail sales by plaintiff are not taxable. The trial court denied that the asserted immunity exempts plaintiff from the economic burden of taxes on its purchases, but ruled that sales by the plaintiff are immune from the sales tax. On appeal, held, affirmed. The Michigan sales tax is imposed upon the retailer and he is in legal contemplation the taxpayer. Therefore, as to its purchases, plaintiff\u27s immunity is not violated even though the economic burden may be shifted to it. Plaintiff\u27s immunity does prevent taxation of its sales because as to these transactions the legal incidence of the tax rests upon it. National Bank of Detroit v. Department of Revenue, 340 Mich. 573, 66 N.W. (2d) 237 (1954), appeal dismissed (U.S. 1955) 75 S.Ct. 781

Constitutional Law - Freedom of Religion - Judicial Intervention in Disputes Within Independent Church Bodies

It is the purpose of this comment to set forth the several principles applied by courts in determining controversies in independent church groups and to consider the constitutional implications of judicial intervention

Corporations - Shareholders - Use of Corporate Funds for Proxy Contest Expenses

Following a proxy contest in which the insurgent faction of stockholders was successful, the new board of directors paid out $28,000 to members of the old board to cover expenses incurred by them, and also used$127,000 to reimburse the prevailing group. The latter expenditure was approved by a sixteen-to-one majority vote of the stockholders. Plaintiff brought a derivative action seeking restoration of both amounts. The trial court dismissed the complaint, and the appellate division affirmed this judgment. On appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, held, affirmed, three judges dissenting. Corporate directors may make reasonable expenditures in connection with proxy contests which involve issues of policy, and stockholders may reimburse successful contestants for similar expenses. Each allegedly improper expenditure must be challenged specifically. Rosenfeld v. Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corp., (N.Y. 1955) 128 N.E. (2d) 291

The Effect of Self Affirmation on Memory

Infants have demonstrated object permanence understanding during violation of expectation tasks. During these tasks, infants are shown expected (e.g., ball stops at wall) or unexpected events (e.g., ball rolling through a solid wall). Infants look longer at the unexpected event versus the expected tasks (Stahl et al., 2015). Studies have shown that dogs also looked longer at an unexpected events during object permanence tasks (Pattison et al., 2010). In the current study, dogs were presented with a violation of expectation task commonly used with infants to investigate their object permanence abilities. It was hypothesized that dogs participating in the experiment would look longer at an unexpected event than an expected one

Wirtschaftlich mit weniger Kraftfutter? Eine Auswertung von Bio-Milchviehbetrieben im Vergleich

Milchviehfütterung ohne oder mit wenig Kraftfutter ist möglich und auch wirtschaftlich ein günstiger Weg. Doch es ist insgesamt ein eigenes wirtschaftliches System, das verstanden werden will! Zu beachten sind die strukturellen Besonderheiten der Grünlandausstattung, die regionale Lage der Betriebe sowie betriebliche Strategien in den Bereichen Fütterung, Tierhaltung und Zucht