Religious institutions are exempt from taxation because our government has not been given the power to govern religion. This is an expression of the basic principles behind the founding of this country—that is, there is an Authority above the government that has . . . Continue reading →
Religious Freedom Watch
The First Amendment Has A Past
Even so, the American constitutional commitments were hardly concocted ex nihilo. They reflected a recovery, adaptation, and consolidation, under the fresh circumstances of the New World, of themes that went back centuries— of the medieval theme of libertas ecclesiae (freedom of the . . . Continue reading →
What I Learned In English Lit About Civil Liberties
What I learned from my High School English teacher is that civil liberty has nothing to do with ideological conformity or consensus. As a young leftist my first impulse was to silence dissent. I was wrong. Continue reading →
Christians To Be Made To Stop Calling Homosexuality Sin?
Can you imagine the outcry if the Times published a column saying that Jews or Muslims must be “made” to quit believing a tenet of their religion? If socialists must be “made” to disavow any of their political convictions? But not when . . . Continue reading →
They Knew That They Had No “Right” To The Ring
Was one of us Jewish? The jeweler wanted to know. Was either of us leaving another religion to become Jewish? No, we were not. Well then, he was sorry but he would not give us that particular quotation. The point was non-negotiable. . . . Continue reading →
A Gracious Explanation Of Christian Conviction In The Ashers Bakery Case
One Reason Why Religious Liberty Is In Jeopardy
Baker takes a job his faith says he can’t do, bad choice, like a Muslim taking a job to sell bacon. #equalrights @RScottClark @reg1776
— Chuck (@CherMemorabilia) April 9, 2015
The Real Danger Of Theocracy In America
Since evangelical re-engagement with social and cultural issues in the mid-1970s, symbolized by the 1976 election of a self-professed born-again, Southern Baptist (Democrat) from Georgia to the White House, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, against the background of the Moral . . . Continue reading →
(Lesbian) Talk Show Host Speaks Truth To (LGBT) Power
The Logic Of The New Orthodoxy On Same-Sex Marriage
Always question the premise Continue reading →
Comply With The New Orthodoxy Or Be Fined Out Of Existence. In America.
(Credit: KOIN TV)
The Organized Campaign To Demand Ideological Conformity
Barack Obama can run for office as an anti-gay-marriage candidate — which he did, more than once — and that is a ho-hum business, because nobody believed him to be sincere. Brendan Eich was driven out of the company he helped found . . . Continue reading →
Jefferson: Conscience Protected Against The Enterprises Of Civil Authority
No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority. It has not left the religion of its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, . . . Continue reading →
Madison: Conscience May Not Be Coerced By The State
Because we hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, “that Religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.” [Virginia Declaration . . . Continue reading →
Freedom To Act According To Conscience In America
“…this Congress intend no violence to their consciences”—Continental Congress (1775) Continue reading →
The LGBT Lobby Is Threatened By Grandma?
UPDATE (3 April, 2015) The legal conflict, including fines and assessments against her business and personal assets, continues.
Civil Liberty Is The Relative Absence Of Coercion
This is not Mississippi Burning; it’s just a conscientious decision not to engage in purely voluntary commerce in a free society. Continue reading →
Hiding Behind The Cross?
“No one in California will be able to hide their prejudice behind a cross, no one!” Continue reading →
Wealthy Foundations Seek To Suppress Religious Liberty
The Arcus Foundation’s website lists a 2014 grant of $100,000 to the American Civil Liberties Foundation supporting “communications strategies to convince conservative Americans that religious exemptions are ‘un-American.’” A two-year Arcus grant to the ACLU in 2013 gave $600,000 to support the . . . Continue reading →
American Civics 101: No Established Church
Warren Throckmorton, who teaches psychology at Grove City College, the fellow who blew the whistle on Mars Hill, has set his sights on David Barton of Wallbuilders fame. You may have seen Barton on late-night infomercials or on the web. He is known for . . . Continue reading →