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Historian John Ragosta Discusses the Context and Inspiration for ‘Religious Freedom’ in the U.S.

By Frederick Clarkson

…saw these three things as the great accomplishments of his life: political freedom, religious freedom, and educational freedom and opportunity. Of the three, he thought religious freedom was the foundation because without freedom to think and believe, you could not have the other two. A republic could not work if government and church officials (what Jefferson referred to as an alliance of “kings, nobles, and priests”) were trying to control what…

Republicans To Get Free “Spiritual, Historical” Trips to Israel

By Sarah Posner

…ining sustainable freedom is righteousness — the same virtue that produced freedom — what is the greatest threat to freedom? Unrighteousness. America has left God.” Lane also aims to persuade 1,000 pastors to run for political office. Lane has already taken Rand Paul to Israel, after which the Kentucky Republican said, “Absolutely we stand with Israel. What I think we should do is announce to the world — and I think it is pretty well known — that…

How the Abortion Debate Turned the Christian Right On To Liberal Arguments… and Birthed the Religious Freedom Industry

By Eric C. Miller

…m the right concerns same-sex marriage. How did they settle on a religious freedom frame? Even prior to Obergefell v. Hodges, religious freedom arguments were being advanced by conservative Christians who disapproved of same-sex marriage. For example, several state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA) were put into motion in 2014 and early 2015 in part to try and protect religious objectors. Immediately after the Obergefell decision, th…

Why I Boycotted a Conference at Brigham Young University

By Mark Juergensmeyer

…place in a university. Although I am not an expert in issues of religious freedom in American higher education, I do not know of many attempts to prohibit the free expression of thought. It would be as if a university expelled a student for accepting the scientific account of evolution, or if another university expelled a student for voting Democrat. Perhaps such cases exist, but I would be opposed to them as well. And if a religious organization…

Your Uterus Is “An Important Subject” About Which Your Fellow Citizens “Wish To Converse”

By Sarah Posner

…f giving abortion-rights advocates a pass when it comes to suppressing the free-speech rights of their opponents.” Despite the grumbling concurrence, abortion opponents are celebrating a victory for the free speech rights of their sidewalk counselors, even portraying women who have been or will be talked out of abortion as the beneficiaries of the ruling. “These buffer zones have not only denied pro-life activists their right to speak, but have al…

New York City a Glenn Beck Radio Free Zone (for now)

By Joanna Brooks

…es, at least momentarily, the boroughs of New York City a Glenn Beck radio free zone. (Word has it syndicators are looking for a new outlet.) Perhaps Beck’s self-styled turn to the prophetic last summer and fall—which included forays into the world of Black theology and the mysteries of the Bat Creek Stone, as well as his lachrymose and prayer-scented DC Rally in August —didn’t go over so well with hardboiled conservatives in the City? Beck’s tel…

Christian Morality vs. Free Markets: The Constants of a Conservative

By Eric C. Miller

…rdline traditionalist Brent Bozell posed to early fusionists in the 1960s: freedom or virtue? Is it more important to exercise freedom of choice regardless of the moral outcome, or is it more important that an individual’s choices align with traditional moral dictates? Some scholars have suggested that liberal arguments, such as those touting rights and freedoms, are politically useful for hardline religious candidates because they allow them to a…

Don’t Let Bigoted Campaigns Sour You to the Revolutionary Idea of Religious Freedom

By Frederick Clarkson

…n the possibility of democracy for all. The authors of the First Amendment knew that without the right to think and believe differently than religious, governmental and economic elites—speech could not be free. Nor could there be a free press. That’s why freedom of religion is called the “first freedom.” Without it, democracy itself is impossible. And that’s why it’s up to the rest of us to not only remember, but to refresh and reclaim religious f…

Blankets, Booties, and Jesus: Spiritual War on the Uterus in Rick Perry’s Texas

By Sarah Posner

…e activists attempt to stop them and offer the women inside a coupon for a free pregnancy test at the HCFL mobile unit. Most of the cars just drive on by, but the activists don’t give up. One of the activists is Karen Perez, a gregarious blonde dressed casually in cargo shorts and a white T-shirt. (Park cautions me not to talk to Perez outside because the Planned Parenthood escorts will try to listen, she claims; she summons Perez into the bus to…

Free Yiddish Lessons, Vacation Liberty School, and Brangelina’s Universalism: The Week in Religion, Poetically

By Michael J. Altman

…s it getting too expensive to be Jewish? Well, Tablet Magazine is offering free Yiddish lessons every Friday. A group of conservatives have launched a pro-Israel, anti-Obama organization called The Emergency Committee for Israel. Meanwhile, J Street, a pro-Israel group that favors a two state solution, is calling on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner to investigate American groups sponsoring Israeli settlements. But have no fear, the Presbyterians…