What does love have to do with it?

Race, Rationality, and Religion, and the US Jury in Civil Cases: What Does Love Have to Do With It? By Paul J. Zwier (An Essay for the Nootbaar Conference, Draft, Not for Citation March 9, 2017)1 The United States is the sole remaining common law jurisdiction that provides parties with the right to have facts in dispute in civil cases determined by a jury.2 This paper considers whether a religious critique in a postmodern era provides insight into and is itself informed by examining the question whether juries in civil cases are a “good” thing, or whether they have overstayed their welcome. How might such a critique provide perspective on the apparent racism, or at least the nonrational attributes of the practice [or tradition] of civil juries? Moreover, what might a religious critique teach us about the relationship of process, empiricism, and religious principles in modern tort law?