Burying Barronelle Stutzman
by Steven D. SmithThe Court has declined to review Arlene’s Flowers despite hopes that the Trump-appointed justices would spur the Court to take on lingering First-Amendment questions. Continue Reading »
The Court has declined to review Arlene’s Flowers despite hopes that the Trump-appointed justices would spur the Court to take on lingering First-Amendment questions. Continue Reading »
A new commission should reaffirm the traditional place of human rights in American policy-making. Continue Reading »
The Christian Colorado baker case may be decided by the answer to a deceptively simple question: What is society for? Continue Reading »
A familiar Washington script exists for Republican Supreme Court nominations. Once the president announces his choice, Democrats and advocacy groups on the left start issuing dire warnings about the threat the nominee poses to the Constitution, the law, and the American way of life. The words are always the same: The nominee is “extreme,” “outside the mainstream,” “radical,” and “far-right wing.” Continue Reading »
Regular First Things readers know that the late Father Richard John Neuhaus never tired of arguing that the First Amendment contains not two religion clauses but one: “no establishment” and “free exercise” are not two free-floating provisions at occasional loggerheads with each other but . . . . Continue Reading »
As I took the plane to South Bend for this Fall's Center for Ethics and Culture conference, I wondered how exactly “freedom” would be spoken of.
Shortly after jihadist murderers killed over 130 people in Paris, seven of the terrorists blowing themselves up in the process, President Obama spoke to the nation and described the massacres as “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.” No, Mr. President; with all . . . . Continue Reading »
Yuval Levin has an interesting commentary at the blog of National Review. It’s entitled “The Church of the Left,” and it argues for an important shift in the understanding of where religious objectors stand today after the Indiana affair.The shift goes back to the Bill of Rights. . . . . Continue Reading »
One might think that the District of Columbia, our nation’s capital, would be particularly vigilant in defending the freedoms fundamental to American life. Unfortunately, the District’s City Council has now seen fit to intervene into the life of religious institutions and insist that such institutions handle some topics in ways amenable to the Council’s opinions. Continue Reading »
Wesley J. Smith’s article “The Coming of Medical Martyrdom” highlights a troubling trend in Canada that would see physician’s religious rights sacrificed. But it’s not just in Saskatchewan this is happening.
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