Document Type
Symposium
Publication Title
ABI Law Review
Publication Date
2011
Volume
19
First Page
453
Abstract
(Excerpt)
From the time of its creation and throughout its evolution, bankruptcy law has affected and been affected by religion. Important aspects of current bankruptcy law, such as the discharge of debt and the exemption of personal property, originated in religious traditions before making their way into secular law. At the same time, religious individuals and institutions are themselves often parties in bankruptcy cases, and the Bankruptcy Code specifically protects religious contributions from avoidance as fraudulent transfers, excludes them from consideration in connection with the dismissal of a bankruptcy case for reasons of abuse, and allows them as a deductible necessary expense when calculating the debtor's disposable income. While there has been some prior legal-academic commentary on the treatment of religious individuals and institutions in bankruptcy, scant attention has been paid to the flipside interaction, religion's influence upon bankruptcy.
To address this gap in the literature, we organized a symposium ("Religion and Bankruptcy: Perspectives Thereon and Treatment Therein") that brought leading thinkers together to examine both sides of the relationship between the two fields. And we are now delighted to present the symposium papers in this issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review.
Comments
Reprinted with permission of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review. Originally published at 19 AM. BANKR. INST. L. REV. 453 (2011).