Did Richard Dawkins Hand Creationists Their Next School Strategy?
Since the 1990s the Discovery Institute, a conservative think-tank, has tried to make it easier…
Read Morefreedom of religion
America Does Not Have a Religious Identity
A new book by a Constitutional scholar argues that the founding document does not protect religion—it protects religious freedom.
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Why Atheists Should Fight For Establishment of State Religion
The debate over the “Defense of Religion Act” in North Carolina played out with the predictability of a sitcom. I offer this modest proposal, then, to remind both sides that if this is a war, then they have fought to a stalemate, and it is time for some new tactics, by which I mean: the history of religion in America demonstrates that the winner of the culture war will be the side that does the opposite of everything they are doing now.
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New Reports Reveal Global Persecution of Nonbelievers
Almost half of the world’s countries have laws or policies that penalize blasphemy, apostasy, contempt of religion, or religious “hate speech.”
Read MoreThe Contraceptive Mandate and Animal Suffering
Peter Singer: if your religious beliefs don’t permit it, don’t do it.
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‘Religious Freedom’ Rally Sets Stage for 1st Amendment Collision
A report from the principally Catholic anti-contraception rally in Maryland reveals a constituency whose calls for religious freedom appear to be at the cost of freedom for all others.
Read MoreAre Kosher Delis Like Catholic Hospitals?
On the Parable of the Kosher Deli, contraception, and freedom of religion.
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Liberals Enabled Bishops in Contraception Battle
What propelled a ginned up controversy into a media frenzy wasn’t that the Bishops opposed Obama—again; it was that “even progressive Catholics” were up in arms about it.
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United Nations Affirms the Human Right to Blaspheme
The message of General Comment No. 34 is not only a clear condemnation of the blasphemy laws of countries such as Pakistan, which despite having ratified the ICCPR in 2008, continues to impose the death sentence for blasphemy and “defiling” the name of Prophet Muhammad. The Comment equally repudiates the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which has upheld Austrian, British, and Turkish laws against blasphemy and religious insult by invoking a sui generis right to “respect for the religious feelings of believers.”
Read MoreThe Limits of David Barton’s “Freedom of Religion” Argument
Religious right historian makes explicit that he believes only Christianity is protected by the Constitution.
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