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 →
Religious Freedom Watch
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 →
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 →
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 →
Heidelcast 93: The LGBT Movement And Free Speech
We’re interrupting the series Of Nice And Men for a 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. This is not a theoretical issue. Consider . . . Continue reading →
The Mob To Christians: You Will Conform
Let’s understand what happened here. This Christian jeweler agreed to custom-make engagement rings for a lesbian couple, knowing that they were a couple, and treated them politely. But when they found out what he really believed about same-sex marriage, even though the . . . Continue reading →
Why Churches Are Tax Exempt In America
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 →
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 →