Religious Liberty

November 18, 2016

Garnett on the future of religious liberty

What is the future of religious liberty? Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) type laws, says Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame. In any society where there is (a) religious and moral diversity and (b) an active, regulatory welfare state, there will — necessarily — be conflicts and tensions between (i) duly enacted, majority-supported, generally applicable laws and (ii) some citizens’ religious beliefs and exercise. Continue Reading...

September 26, 2016

Should religious exemptions be given even if they harm third parties?

“Religious liberty exemptions should be given as long as _____________.” How would you fill in the rest of that sentence? Most Americans (who are somewhat sympathetic to religious freedom) would say as long as “they don’t harm third-parties.” Continue Reading...

September 20, 2016

Will free exercise of religion survive as a legal concept?

Is the ultimate repository of authority and control human or divine? While that is a religious question, how we answer has profound ramifications on policy and law. In fact, as Marc Degirolami notes, the answer may determine whether free exercise of religion can survive as a legal concept: Continue Reading...

September 13, 2016

Why is Russia restricting religious freedom?

Two months ago Russian president Vladimir Putin signed into law a number of “anti-terrorism” measures that limit missionary and evangelistic efforts and restrict the religious freedoms on non-Orthodox groups. As Christianity Today notes, to share their faith, citizens must now secure a government permit through a registered religious organization, and they cannot evangelize anywhere besides churches and other religious sites. Continue Reading...

September 12, 2016

Religious healthcare workers have a professional obligation to follow their conscience

For centuries, doctors subscribed to the Hippocratic Oath, a vow that includes admonitions against abortion, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. This oath formed the core of Western medical ethics and provided a boundary marker for a physician’s conscience by outlining an ethic of neighbor love (Cf Rom 13:8-10). Continue Reading...

August 17, 2016

State Department releases 2015 report on international religious freedom

The State Department recently released its International Religious Freedom Report for 2015. A wide range of U.S. government agencies and offices use the reports for such efforts as shaping policy and conducting diplomacy. Continue Reading...

August 09, 2016

Religious leaders call on California to protect religious liberty of colleges

Today, a group Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders have released a statement in defense of the religious freedom of private colleges and universities in California. Current legislation pending in the California State Senate threatens to strip some private colleges and universities of an exemption that protects them from lawsuits and allows them to function as faith-based organizations.  Continue Reading...