Same-sex marriage advocates insist that the court’s Obergefell ruling is not like Roe v. Wade, which engendered undying controversy, but like Loving v. Virginia, the universally accepted decision that struck down bans on interracial marriage—a decision now so uncontroversial that most Americans . . . Continue reading →
Civil Liberties
Berger: Is Religion Like Pornography?
In a broader context what this means is the privatization (or, if you will, the domestication) of religion. There is an underlying, unspoken (perhaps unconscious) assumption: Religion is okay if engaged in by consenting adults in private, not so if it spills . . . Continue reading →
The Redefinition Of “Free Exercise”
When one judge asked whether an oil painter had to create a painting celebrating same-sex marriage, an ACLU lawyer replied yes, Tedesco noted. “And if they don’t want to have to do that, then they can close down their business and just . . . Continue reading →
Part Of The Answer: Americans Ignorant Of Basic Civics?
According to the 2015 State of the First Amendment Survey: When asked to name the five specific freedoms in the First Amendment, 57% of Americans name freedom of speech, followed by 19% who say the freedom of religion, 10% mention the freedom . . . Continue reading →
The Handwriting Is On The Wall
The handwriting is on the wall. You need only reflect on how a screaming mob managed to conjure up total surrender from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence so he would reject that state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Catholic Charities is closing its adoption . . . Continue reading →
Alito On The Consequences Of The New Orthodoxy
Today’s decision usurps the constitutional right of the people to decide whether to keep or alter the traditional understanding of marriage. The decision will also have other important consequences. It will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to . . . Continue reading →
We Opposed Tyrants
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Continue reading →
Americans Are Independent But Are They Still Free?
A majority of the honorable Supreme Court of the United States has recently judged that, whereas as recently as 2013 the court had asserted that marriage law is the province of the states, homosexuals have a constitutional right under the 14th amendment to . . . Continue reading →
Justice Kennedy Contra DOMA: Marriage Belongs To The States
By history and tradition the definition and regulation of marriage has been treated as being within the authority and realm of the separate States. Congress has enacted discrete statutes to regulate the meaning of marriage in order to further federal policy, but . . . Continue reading →
When In The Course Of Human Events
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws . . . Continue reading →
Justice Thomas: Obergefell v Hodges Threatens Religious Liberty
Numerous amici—even some not supporting the States—have cautioned the Court that its decision here will “have unavoidable and wide-ranging implications for religious liberty.” Brief for General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists et al. as Amici Curiae 5. In our society, marriage is not simply a governmental institution; it is a religious institution as well. Id., at 7. Today’s decision might change the former, but it cannot change the latter. It appears all but inevitable that the two will come into conflict, particularly as individuals and churches are confronted with demands to participate in and endorse civil marriages between same-sex couples. Continue reading →
Fundamental Liberties Still Matter
The colonists brought the principles of Magna Carta with them to the New World, including that charter’s protection against uncompensated takings of personal property. In 1641, for example, Massachusetts adopted its Body of Liberties, prohibiting “mans Cattel or goods of what kinde . . . Continue reading →
The First Amendment Defense Act
The First Amendment Defense Act follows our nation’s long tradition of protecting the natural right to the free exercise of religion and freedom of association as enshrined in our Constitution. It ensures that the federal government respects the rights of individuals, businesses . . . Continue reading →
A Win For Free Speech
Today, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Good News Community Church, concluding that these sign restrictions are content-based regulation because they define the categories of temporary, political and ideological signs on the basis of their messages and subject each category . . . Continue reading →
Logicide And The Death Of Freedom
All of that and more promotes the semantic fog that allows for mind rape. It amounts to an act of “logicide,” to borrow a term from Meerloo, whom I will continue to quote below. To kill logic and reason that might stand . . . Continue reading →
Pay No Attention To That Slippery Slope Behind The Curtain
The Emory Law Journal has a symposium on the constitution and polygamous marriage. Some articles are on whether the government may criminalize adults entering into polygamous religious marriages, even when the parties aren’t claiming any legal rights stemming from such a marriage. . . . Continue reading →
What’s Going On, Why, And What To Do About It?
…There is indeed a war on the private mind, as Kevin Williamson explained in a recent National Review column. Unfortunately, too many Americans have been sleeping through most of its propaganda battles, and for a very long time. When it comes to . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 94: The LGBT Movement And Free Speech (pt 2)
This is part 2 of our two-part interview with Stella Morabito about an essay she published in The Federalist on the how LGBT movement is seeking to restrict free speech in the United States. Here is part 1. This is not a theoretical issue. Consider this scenario: . . . Continue reading →
The New Inquisition
In retrospect, Kipnis might as well have been a 13th-century monk taunting the Inquisition. She was duly accused of violating Title IX by writing an essay questioning the excesses of Title IX. The university’s investigation of her was about what you would . . . Continue reading →
They Will Make An Example Of You
“There was a point in time where [the Bureau of Labor and Industries] was unsure on whether or not we should pursue the case right now or wait, just because of marriage equality in Oregon becoming a thing, and we were looking . . . Continue reading →