After initially intending to complete this series in three parts (Part I, Part II, Part III), it appears that it may be useful to tie up any remaining loose ends with an overview of the propositions put forth in the Declaration on Religious Liberty of Vatican II, followed by Fr. Murray’s own reflections dated the […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on today’s announcement from the Obama administration that it is going forward with its original “Obamacare” policy that mandates coverage of sterilization and contraceptive services in most healthcare plans: Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said today that aside from houses of worship, all other religious agencies […]
A Gay Marriage Equality bill (read SB 6239) has been introduced this month in Washington State. The measure is deceptive and exceedingly dangerous. It represents a radical shift in the definition of marriage, and it would pose a serious threat to religious freedom. … The bill’s introduction says it would not force clergy or churches to marry […]
Tension between free speech advocacy and efforts to curb “hate speech” has arisen over the past year as the result of recent initiatives at the United Nations (UN) and by the Obama administration. Freedom of opinion and expression have long been recognized as fundamental, and a recent UN Human Rights Committee “General Comment” affirmed these […]
At the conclusion to Part 2, we weighed certain of Murray’s arguments in favor of an historically nuanced understanding of the traditional teaching on religious liberty. We will begin Part 3 with what he labeled the “decisive proof.” Murray goes on to quote the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX, extracting from it what […]
Today the Supreme Court decided its most important religious liberty case in twenty years, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The government lost 9-nothing as the Court unanimously rejected its narrow view of religious liberty as “extreme,” “untenable” and “remarkable.” The unanimous decision adopted the Becket Fund’s arguments, saying that […]
Careful examination of Fr. Murray’s corpus reveals that he takes great liberty (no pun intended) in his treatment of the traditional teaching on religious freedom. However, he does so in such a way that the casual observer may either miss it altogether, or may perhaps just consider it so subtle as to be irrelevant to […]
Everyone knows that religion is noble, and since no one in his right mind would possibly argue that liberty is not a precious right, it only stands to reason that “religious liberty,” as it is so often invoked these days, must be especially good! Now, it’s just a hunch mind you, but I suspect that […]
Today, U.S. Supreme Court Justices criticized the federal government’s argument that the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment do not apply to church decisions about hiring and firing ministers, calling the aggressive position “extraordinary” and “amazing.” The sentiment bridged the Court’s traditional ideological divisions, with Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Kagan, Breyer, Scalia, and Alito […]
A few weeks ago I published an article entitled “Responsibility, Solidarity, and Healthcare,” its several points being: Covering routine, non-catastrophic healthcare increases costs and reduces access to healthcare in two ways a. it makes the health care cost more b. it makes insurance more costly The Catholic principle of solidarity means that we should not […]
Today, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Elijah Group, an Christian church prohibited from worshiping in its building because that building was located in a retail district. The Becket Fund represented the church against the City of Leon Valley, Texas, which refused to allow churches into its retail zone, but welcomed businesses […]
Plundering the possessions, lives, and dignity of Christians in the Islamic world: is this a random affair, a product of the West’s favorite offenders—poverty, ignorance, grievance—or is it systematic, complete with ideological backing? Consider the very latest from the Muslim world: Pakistan: Muslim landowners used tractors to plough over a Christian cemetery in order to […]
Law enforcement scrutiny, detainment by police, and a court date to answer trumped-up charges: these are the consequences of preaching Christianity to Muslims not only throughout much of the Islamic world, but sometimes even in America as well. The most infamous example occurred last June, when four missionaries from Acts 17 Apologetics were arrested and […]
In his engaging new biography, Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story, journalist Howard Means scrubs away nearly two centuries of rumor and myth to uncover the truth about 19th-century pioneer nurseryman John Chapman, a national folk hero whom most of us know only from Disney cartoons and children’s books. Means’ meticulous research […]
Today a federal judge ruled that Spartanburg County School District No. 7 did not violate the Constitution by allowing students to earn elective credit for released time courses. U.S. District Court Judge Henry Herlong issued an emphatically worded order in Freedom of Religion Foundation v. Spartanburg County School District No. 7, holding that the District’s […]
A Michigan Federal Judge yesterday ordered a Detroit-area transportation authority to display an anti-Jihad advertisement on its buses. Judge Denise Page Hood granted an injunction request filed by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) to reverse the bus authority’s refusal to display the ads, which state, “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community […]
[Yesterday] the Supreme Court said it would decide a groundbreaking First Amendment case concerning the right of churches and other religious employers to freely choose the people who will lead their congregations, instruct their faithful, and speak for the church. The lower courts agree that these employees cannot sue their employers when that would put […]
Irony is defined as “the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.” The term doublespeak means “evasive, ambiguous language that is intended to deceive or confuse.” There is perhaps no greater example of ironic doublespeak than inclusion of the phrase “civil liberties” within the inapt designation: “American Civil Liberties […]
