Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
On religious liberty, or, Why the courts matter

On religious liberty, or, Why the courts matter

Last updated on: October 3, 2019 at 10:03 pm by Dan Peterson

On religious liberty, or, Why the courts matter 2019-10-03T22:03:31-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Supreme Court Building in Washington DC (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

“Sports Illustrated reports on Freedom From Religion Foundation’s complaints about Clemson football”

It may shock some to learn that I find myself sympathetic in this case to the position of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. What is plainly appropriate and good for a place like Brigham Young University or Baylor University or the University of Notre Dame seems quite obviously inappropriate for a place like Clemson, which is a public school.

***

Again, private colleges and universities are generally and rightly free to enforce whatever policies they wish to enforce. In this particular case, the school in question is Duke University, from which one of my nieces received a bachelor’s degree in engineering. (We attended her graduation.) It was once a fairly conservative Methodist school. Nowadays, it . . . well, it isn’t. In fact, practices consistent with conservative Methodism (and with roughly 2000 years of Christian tradition) may well get an individual or a group into trouble with Duke’s powers-that-be:

“Religion News Service story on Young Life avoids crucial, complex doctrine questions at Duke”

***

My principal concern in such stories as these tends to be freedom. Simply that. I don’t believe, speaking very broadly, that state institutions should favor or disfavor particular positions on theology or religious practice. Thus, cake decorators shouldn’t be forced by the state to create designs endorsing gay marriage, or Nazism, or Latter-day Saint missions. Nor should students at a public university be subjected to pro- or anti-religious messages from official sources at that university.

Freedom is the crucial concept in the case discussed below, as well. Not my supposed “homophobia” or my alleged “hate” for gay people. (I hold none.) No, the point at issue is freedom. It’s about liberty.

Here are two articles about a case recently decided by the Arizona Supreme Court. The first deals with the case itself:

“The Arizona Supreme Court Strikes a Powerful Blow for Free Speech and Religious Freedom”

The second deals with the strange and quite unbalanced media response to the case:

“Arizona media sizzle over whether calligraphers can decline to create gay wedding invites”

***

I was happy to read this:

“Once Again, Progressive Anti-Christian Bigotry Carries a Steep Legal Cost: Masterpiece Cakeshop continues to pay religious-liberty dividends.”

I was not so happy to read this:

“A California Court Dealt a Blow to Religious Liberty. It’s Time for SCOTUS to Act. The California Court of Appeals rules that a transgender patient can sue a Catholic hospital for refusing to perform a hysterectomy.”

A note, by the way, about the author most commonly cited above:

“David French is a senior writer for National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, and a contributor to Time. David is a New York Times bestselling author, and his next book, The Great American Divorce, will be published by St. Martin’s Press later this year. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and a former lecturer at Cornell Law School. He has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. David is a former major in the United States Army Reserve. In 2007, he deployed to Iraq, serving in Diyala Province as Squadron Judge Advocate for the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he was awarded the Bronze Star. He lives and works in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife, Nancy, and his three children.”

Posted from Park City, Utah

Previous Post

September 29, 2019

"Faith and Science are Symbiotic"

Next Post

September 30, 2019 A bit of science and two bits on scientism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Jesus, what defiles a person?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Money What comes out of the heart Food eaten Clothing