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303 Creative Is Not a ‘Religion v. Gay Rights’ Case — But Here’s Why the Christian Right is Happy with the Media Suggesting Just That

…incentive the Christian Right has to keep the focus on religion instead of free speech is because the implications if Smith wins on the free speech argument are, frankly, unthinkable. A win for Smith would bore a hole right in the center of nondiscrimination laws—nondiscrimination laws for all, not just for LGBTQ people—no matter what ADF want us to think. A win for Smith would, by some measures, create an entirely new class of rights: artists who…

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The Bad Religion at the Heart of GOP Healthcare Policy

…poor and without health coverage, that’s all about you. We wash our hands. Free markets: If you are poor, you are perfectly “free” to sleep under a bridge, in the immortal words of Anatole France. But the wealthy are totally free to suck up health care resources via tax-favored health savings accounts. And it goes without saying that the insurance companies and health providers are totally free to suck out your blood. State authority on insurance…

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“Mitt Romney Style”—A Virtually Religion Free 2012 Contest?

I recently beheld what I believe to be confirming evidence that the 2012 general election has delivered far less religion drama than many of us expected: The CollegeHumor video “Mitt Romney Style,” a political parody of South Korean PSY’s global mega K-pop hit “Gangnam Style,” which is itself a send up of the lifestyles of Seoul’s rich and famous. “Mitt Romney Style” features a Romney impersonator obnoxiously flaunting his wealth.  There are hors…

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The Tebow Superbowl Ad: Offense, Defense, or Interference?

…trage it did because it was perceived to be an act of sacrilege within the free-floating social sacred that is the Super Bowl. So long as the religion is non-sectarian, non-denominational, devoid of anything other than marketing content (and not too nude) it is free to be aired at the Super Bowl. That is one reason why the American viewing public seems prepared to stomach Super Bowl advertisements that offend any number of other ethical sensibilit…

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White House Unveils Contraception Accommodation Plan [UPDATED]

…The catch here is that there’s a difference between “revenue neutral” and “free.” By one report’s measure, it costs about $21.40 to add birth control, IUDs and other contraceptives to an insurance plan. Those costs may be offset by a reduction in pregnancies. But unless drug manufacturers decide to start handing out free contraceptives, the money to buy them will have to come from somewhere. Where will it come from, since neither employers nor emp…

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All the Belly-‘eich’-ing

…reedom bills, meant to take up a perceived lack of protection of religious freedom in existing federal and state law, could provide a free pass to use religion to refuse service to certain types of customers. It was public opposition, widely shared by individuals, businesses, business interests, and religious actors, which spurred Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s veto, and the failure of similar bills in other states (save Mississippi). Opponents of LGBT…

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Sanctuary and the Second Amendment: Do Guns Deserve Special Protection?

…Indeed, the tradition of sacred spaces as gun-free (weapon-free, violence-free, force-free) zones makes the use of sanctuary language in recent “Second Amendment Sanctuary” legislation curious. The turn from the use of “sanctuary” from its origins in restricting vengeance, violent enforcement, and weaponry to the protection of gun-keeping within the sanctuary borders, while rhetorically brilliant, feels particularly cynical when research shows th…

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Mad Men’s Matt Weiner, Warrior Against Woo

…clichéd word turbulence, and free love, and things like that. But there’s free love in the 1920s; there’s free love in the 1930s; the beatnik movement in the 1950s. No one invented any of this. What was different in the 60s, according to Weiner, was that baby boomers were spoiled: plenty of education, money, entertainment; there was a war, but you could get out of it if you were lucky. This vision of unprecedented opportunity strikes me as fair;…

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A Bill Passes, Westboro Baptists Shrug

…the two key issues at stake in its signing: First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion and to free speech: I am very pleased to be signing this bill into law. The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground. And obviously we all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech, but we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor an…

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Stem Cell Chronicles: Why Politics and Science Most Certainly Should Not Be Separated

…commitments. The lifting of the ban was a crucial moment in the defense of free speech and the exercise of free expression, said the President. This kind rhetoric is maddening to conservatives and rightly so; it places their moral concerns on a back burner, by suggesting that the articulation of such concern makes one anti-scientific. Don’t get me wrong: President Obama is surely right to announce, and in bold terms, that the nightmarish condition…

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