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 repealing the First Amendment, explicitly or implicitly

On repealing the First Amendment, explicitly or implicitly

Last updated on: October 19, 2019 at 2:43 pm by Dan Peterson

On repealing the First Amendment, explicitly or implicitly 2019-10-19T14:43:01-06:00 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.

Just a quaint eighteenth-century document, written in quaint and fading eighteenth-century handwriting on quaint eighteenth-century paper? (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Incredibly — to me, anyway — the freedoms guaranteed to Americans under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States are coming under attack in certain quarters. People who value those freedoms should be aware of the attack, and on guard against it. Hence, this compilation of relevant links:

First off, a stunning video, simultaneously funny and appalling and slightly more than 2.5 minutes long, in which . . .

“Yale students sign ‘petition’ to repeal the first amendment”

***

And now to a specific, more recent incident:

Religion News Service: “At LGBTQ forum, Democratic candidates talk God — a lot”

National Review: “CNN’s Anti-Religious Town Hall: Billed an “equality” town hall, the CNN event was anything but.”

Deseret News: “During LGBTQ rights town hall, top Democrats call for limits on religious freedom”

“Top Democratic candidates fail to address concerns of religious conservatives during LGBTQ rights town hall on CNN”

Here’s the great and almost invariably worth-reading conservative commentator George Will (himself an atheist-leaning agnostic, religiously speaking, and a vocal opponent of Donald Trump), in a really good column:

National Review: “Progressives Are All Too Willing to Cut Constitutional Corners: They despise and bully adversaries and practice theatrical but selective indignation about attacks on fundamental American principles.”

National Review: “Beto Proposes to Oppress Church with State”

CATO Institute: “O’Rourke: Churches That Don’t Support Rights Should Lose Exemption”

The New Republic: “Beto O’Rourke Is Out Over His Skis: Desperate to stand out, he has proposed perhaps the worst idea of the Democratic primary.”

National Review: “Sasse Condemns Beto O’Rourke’s ‘Bigoted’ Call to Strip Churches of Tax Exempt Status”

National Review: “Moderate NY Dem Max Rose Bashes O’Rourke’s Policy Extremism: ‘I Don’t Think Losing Is Cool’”

This one is pretty funny:

National Review: “O’Rourke’s America: Imagine one vast airport that you cannot leave.”

The Friendly Atheist: “Beto O’Rourke Wants Anti-Gay Churches to Lose Their Tax Exemptions. He’s Wrong.”

The Atlantic: “Democrats Are Going to Regret Beto’s Stance on Conservative Churches”

“The candidate seems not to realize that eliminating tax exemptions for certain religious institutions would be catastrophic.”

This one takes the discussion in a perhaps unexpected direction:

The Washington Examiner: “Beto’s Muslim ban”

Fox News: “Sen. Thom Tillis: Democrats threaten our freedom of religion – Beto O’Rourke leads assault”

National Review: “Religious Liberty, Nondiscrimination, and the Left”

KSL.com: “Sen. Mike Lee to presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke: ‘Take it back’”

Deseret News: “Democrat Ben McAdams: I stand with Mike Lee — ‘Beto, take it back’”

“The former Texas congressman wants to revoke the tax-exempt status of some religious institutions because of their beliefs. That’s discrimination.”

As Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) tweeted in response to Mr. O’Rourke’s anti-Constitutional demagoguery, “In Beto O’Rourke’s America, who will decide which disfavored religious beliefs will prompt retaliation by government?”

Of course, at this point in time, the typically quite ridiculous Beto O’Rourke stands only a slightly greater chance of winning the White House than I do, and that may merely be because I’m not currently running. Still, the audience applauded when O’Rourke called for lifting the tax-exempt status of churches and other institutions that fail to share his views.

This is the very thing that, during the long march toward redefining marriage, we were assured would not happen. Never. Ever. The government would not punish churches, temples, synagogue, mosques, or gurdwaras that declined to celebrate same-sex marriages. Are Beto O’Rourke and his fans the canary in the coal mine? The harbingers of things to come?

***

Finally, in a somewhat more general vein:

National Review: “Culture with Kat Timpf: Free Speech Isn’t Dangerous, But Restricting It Is”

“A recent New York Times piece argues that Americans’ free-speech rights are literally endangering us. Kat Timpf explains why they actually keep us safe.”

National Review: “Free Speech Isn’t Dangerous, but Minimizing It Is”

National Review: “In His Defense of Free Expression, Mark Zuckerberg Spoke an Important Truth”

The Washington Times: “Protecting religious liberty: Religious liberty is critical for believers and nonbelievers alike”

Previous Post

October 19, 2019

"La Traviata," "like a bird on the wire"

Next Post

October 19, 2019 Monday, 28 October 2019: "Recovering a Lost World: The LiDAR Revolution and Ancient Maya Warfare"

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

I built a great temple with cedar and gold, using 70,000 carriers and 80,000 stonecutters. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Zerubbabel Hiram David Solomon