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EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION: HONORING OUR PARENTS1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2016

Amy Ziettlow  and
Naomi Cahn
Amy Ziettlow
Affiliation:
Ordained Minister, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; Affiliate Scholar, Institute for American Values
Naomi Cahn
Affiliation:
Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
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Extract

What role does the honor commandment play in contemporary law and culture? Answering this question is especially pertinent in the early twenty-first century. With advances in longevity and declining birth rates, a growing percentage of the population is graying. In 2015, there were 901 million people aged sixty or over worldwide; a number projected to rise to 1.4 billion in 2030. By 2050, there will be more persons over the age of sixty than children under the age of fifteen. As the number of our global elders grows, so too will the number of those needing and providing physical and financial care.

Type
SYMPOSIUM: GLOBAL LEGAL AND RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON ELDER CARE
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , July 2016 , pp. 115 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2016 

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Footnotes

1

Amy Ziettlow and Naomi Cahn guest edited this symposium for the Journal of Law and Religion. They are the coauthors of Homeward Bound (forthcoming 2017), and The Honor Commandment: Law, Religion, and the Challenge of Elder Care, 30 Journal of Law & Religion 229 (2015).

References

2 World Population Ageing 2015, United Nations, http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WorldPopulationAgeing2015_InfoChart.pdf.

3 Id.

4 Bookman, Ann & Kimbrel, Delia, Families and Elder Care in the Twenty-First Century, 21 The Future of Children 117, 124 (Fall 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Who Are the Caregivers?, Family Caregiver Alliance, http://www.caregiver.org/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=892 (last visited Mar. 3, 2014). The Prophet Mohammed listed one's mother as the first person to whom one should be good. Al-Heeti, Roaa M., Why Nursing Homes Will Not Work: Caring for the Needs of the Aging Muslim American Population, 15 Elder Law Journal 205, 209 (2007)Google Scholar.

5 Exodus 20:12 (New Revised Standard Version).

6 E.g., Goldberg, Charlotte K., The Normative Influence of the Fifth Commandment on Filial Responsibility, 10 Marquette Elder's Advisor 221, 244 (2009)Google Scholar; Al-Heeti, supra note 4, at 209; Elsaman, Radwa S. & Arafa, Mohamed, The Rights of the Elderly in the Arab Middle East: Islamic Theory versus Arabic Practice, 14 Marquette Elder's Advisor 1, 47 (2012)Google Scholar. The Analects of Confucius, the Qur'an, and The Laws of Manu all contain commandments related to filial piety. Comparative religious traditions and the honor commandment is the organizing principle for this symposium.

7 See Qin, Daniel, Confucian Filial Piety and the Fifth Commandment: A Fulfillment Approach, 16 Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 139 (2013)Google Scholar; Adult Children Ignoring Confucius Risk Lawsuits in China, Bloomberg (Mar. 17, 2013), http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-17/chinese-kids-who-ignore-confucious-face-state-backlash.html).

8 Chris Buckley, China Approves Two Child Policy to Help Economy, New York Times, Oct. 30, 2015, at A1.

9 Family Support in Graying Societies: How Americans, Germans and Italians Are Coping with an Aging Population, Pew Research Center (May 21, 2015), http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/05/21/family-support-in-graying-societies/.

10 Katherine C. Pearson, Filial Friday: Court Finds Less Than “Ideal” Childhood Not Enough to Release Duty to Support Indigent Parent, Elder Law Prof Blog (Nov. 20, 2015), http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/elder_law/2015/11/filial-friday-court-finds-less-than-ideal-childhood-not-enough-to-release-duty-to-support-indigent-p.html. The article discusses Eori v. Eori, 2015 WL 6736193 (Aug. 7, 2015), which notes, “This ruling obligates one son, the defendant, to contribute financially towards the care of his 90-year old mother, being provided in the home of another brother. The incorporated findings of fact, from the lower court, track a sad family story. One point in dispute was whether the mother's alleged actions during the son's childhood constituted the defense of ‘abandonment.’”

11 Ziettlow & Cahn, The Honor Commandment, supra note 1.

12 Confucian practices of filial piety have been written about extensively but merit further research as demographic changes take place in East Asia. Likewise, Indian society is experiencing rapid development and changes in social roles informed by Hinduism. African traditional religions, the religions of Latin America, and elder-care duties and practices in indigenous religions around the world all deserve further scholarly exploration, especially as they are reflected in legal systems.