Religion Dispatches
In the concluding volume of his trilogy on religion and secularism, the author argues that there is no chasm between religious belief and non-belief; certainly not in terms of politics and not even in personal terms.
Read More
Non-believers and the community of liberal believers, typically the ones attempting to ban religious imagery from the public square, have avoided specifying which forms of communal expression of meaning are appropriate.
Read More
How did we get to the point where the infringement of a religious obligation is constitutionally irrelevant despite the existence in the text of a constitutional protection of religion?
Justice Department attorney David Margolis rejected the recommendations of the investigation into the actions of two Bush-era lawyers claiming that the infamous ‘torture memo’ simply constituted ‘poor judgment.’ But John Yoo’s arguments are eerily reminiscent of the Nuremberg Defense and both men still face the judgment of international law and history.
Read More
Is it time for progressives, religious and nonreligious, to move toward a strategic acceptance of religious language in the public square? Or should efforts be focused on adding bricks to the wall of church/state separation?
Read More
Can government use religious language while remaining neutral in matters of religion? This question, and others, were addressed at a lively panel discussion at Netroots last month. Bruce Ledewitz reports on the event, and sets the stage for further conversation.
Read More
“The Constitution is not what the Court says it is. Rather it is what the people…eventually allow the Court to say it is.” A careful read of the history of great advances in American freedom reveals that high court decisions like Brown v. Board of Ed. actually relied both on the clarity of the argument and the perception that the nation was ready.
Read More
Why was a Utah city allowed to prevent a minority religion from erecting a monument next to a monument of the Ten Commandments? The Supreme Court’s Summum decision, litigated in the shadow of the Establishment Clause, raises more questions than answers.
Read More
The presidential inauguration showed that an enforceable wall of separation between church and state simply does not exist in America, at least at the level of expression in the public square. What is the future of secularism in our religious democracy?
Read MoreNew atheist Daniel Dennet joined Charles Taylor and a host of others gathered at the New School Conference on the religious/secular divide, predicting a complex future for the culture wars.
Read More