Religion Dispatches
…n put small delays in the path of a few people headed for the Twin Towers that day, why not do that to all of them? If God has the power to save some, why not save all? Why not perform a true miracle and make the buildings empty that morning—or better yet, send small delays to the hijackers so they missed their chance to hijack planes that morning? Rejoicing that God sent mini-miracles to save the few while allowing the many to perish is an odious…
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…ptor, not just for Lewis and his ilk, but for all those who want to argue that freedom must be tolerated and defended by free societies. The reverse is also true, in their view: that the apparent rejection of free speech by Muslims and offended others demonstrates that their minds, as well as their bodies and their polities, are shackled; they will never be free unless or until they embrace freedom as an absolute, unqualified good. In light of thi…
Read More…iety and for an individual’s own intellectual growth. But what about honor codes that many universities impose? These are usually attempts to regulate behavior—not thought. They attempt to prohibit, for example, alcohol and pot in student dorms. Prohibitions against thinking, against ideas that are counter to administrators’ beliefs, however, should have no place in a university. Although I am not an expert in issues of religious freedom in Americ…
Read More…y inaccurate statement made to her by conservative pastor Rev. Tony Evans that the Bible is “clear… that sexual relationships are to be between men and women in the context of marriage.” Perhaps Ms. Hagerty, like Rev. Evans, is not aware that the Bible includes references to marriage between a man and his wives AND his concubines, between a man and a woman plus other women, between a man and his brother’s widow, between a man-as-rapist and his vic…
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…orms of speech. While Miller’s attorneys based their arguments on both the Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses of the Constitution, Judge Lampe declined to comment on the latter “because the case is sufficiently resolved upon Free Speech grounds.” But his ruling made clear that Miller denied service to the lesbian couple because she “is a practicing Christian and considers herself a woman of deep faith.” Not long after Judge Lampe exempted Mille…
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…celebrate their identity, but interrogate it. Many students have told me that what they want more than anything is a “safe space” on campus to discuss the problems in the Middle East. When I was asked to join the Hillel Executive I accepted, even if hesitantly, because I thought I might bring a more liberal voice. When I was told that the “price” to be on the committee was a donation in the five-figure range, I balked. The obligation to donate wa…
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…These vary by state, but politically and culturally the shift to religious freedom signaled that these conservative Christian groups were not going to fight the legalization of same-sex marriage by seeking to overturn the decision. Rather than try and overturn Obergefell, as they have been doing with Roe, they consider this a lost cause, retreating instead to a stronger, minority rights position. You close the book with the hopeful suggestion that…
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…may be shaky at best. Such complexities notwithstanding, most would agree that religious freedom is a good thing even if we can’t agree on exactly what it means. Informed people on all sides also tend to agree that the taproot of religious freedom in the United States is the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777 and shepherded through the Virginia legislature by James Madison in 1786. The following…
Read More…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…
Read More…and outside a 35 foot “buffer zone” from the facility’s entrance, holding that it violated the free speech rights of “sidewalk counselors” whose work “involves offering information about alternatives to abortion and help pursuing those options.” The Massachusetts buffer zones, the Court concluded in McCullen v. Coakley, restricted the speech of these “sidewalk counselors,” who claimed the law “hampered their counseling efforts,” having had “many f…
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