Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'religious liberty'

November 30, 2012

Another (Temporary) Advance for Religious Liberty

While its depressing that not being forced to violate one’s conscience is considered a victory, you take what you can get in the age of ObamaCare. So I’m thankful for the news that an appeals court imposed a temporary injunction against the Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing its contraception mandate on a privately owned business: Missouri business owner Frank O’Brien, who employs 87 people at O’Brien Industrial Holdings, alleged in the lawsuit that led to the injunction that the mandate unconstitutionally infringes on his religious beliefs. Continue Reading...
August 20, 2012

Samuel Gregg: Why Religious Liberty (and Thomas Becket) Really Matters

Acton’s Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, has authored a review of the book, “Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel” by John Guy. In it, Gregg notes the continuing need for vigilance regarding religious liberty: And yet as Islam’s present traumas should remind us, a religion’s capacity to make distinctions between the spiritual and temporal realms makes a difference to the more general growth of freedom. Continue Reading...
July 30, 2012

Douthat: Zeitgeist vs. Religious Liberty

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat tackles the topic of religious liberty with his most recent column, “Defining Religious Liberty Down.” In it, Douthat highlights the public nature of the Bill of Rights’ guarantee of the “free exercise of religion”: It’s a significant choice of words, because it suggests a recognition that religious faith cannot be reduced to a purely private or individual affair. Continue Reading...
June 22, 2012

New Video: HHS Mandate and Religious Liberty

What would Diedrich Bonhoeffer have to say about the HHS mandate? Eric Metaxas–best selling author of the biographies on William Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer:Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy gives us some insight in this 2 minute video that explains the real issue behind the HHS Mandate: Religious liberty He’s joined by economist Jennifer Roback Morse, a Catholic economist and founder and president of the Ruth Institute. Continue Reading...
June 12, 2012

North Dakotans Vote on Religious Liberty

Citizens of North Dakota will be voting today on an amendment to the state’s constitution that supporters say will guarantee religious freedom: Measure 3 is worded this way: “Government may not burden a person’s or religious organization’s religious liberty.” Continue Reading...
April 16, 2012

Catholic Bishops Defend Religious Liberty

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty released an Easter week statement titled “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty.” The document outlines recent threats to religious liberty in the States and abroad while endorsing an upcoming  “Fortnight for Freedom” to defend what it calls “the most cherished of American freedoms.” Continue Reading...
March 30, 2012

Morlino: Religious Freedom Defended with Charity and Reason

Yesterday in his personal column for the Diocese of Madison’s Catholic Herald, Bishop Robert C. Morlino issued a call to arms to Catholics battling for their religious freedom. But such a battle, he says, is one that should emulate Christ’s loving nature, while being resolutely clear and firm in rejecting the obligation of Catholic institutions to provide healthcare that includes contraceptives and abortifacients under the Obama administration’s controversial HHS mandate (see recent reactions below on EWTN by U.S. Continue Reading...