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News & Commentary

"Religious freedom and contraception case headed to Supreme Court?"

May 1. 2012

Matthew Schmalz lauds the Jehovah's Witnesses for engaging in aggressive litigation to defend their religious freedom, for these actions created for all Americans "an expanded space for the exercise of conscience and religious speech." Schmalz worries aloud, however, that public perception of Catholics might be diminished if the church aggressively litigates its religious freedoms in the face of the HHS "preventive services" mandate. More>>

 

"The Battle of Vanderbilt: The Tennessee Legislature Comes Through"

May 1. 2012

David French reports on the Tennessee legislature’s act yesterday requiring Vanderbilt University to (1) drop its alleged “all-comers” policy governing student organizations, (2) apply the policy even-handedly and without exception to all student organizations – including fraternities and sororities, or (3) lose well over $24 million in state funding the school receives each year. More>>

 

"The Founders Loved Mandates?"

May 1. 2012

 

Matthew Franck scrutinizes the factual basis for the claim being touted by Harvard’s Einer Elhauge that Congress in the 1790s created three mandates similar to the mandates implementing President Obama’s PPACA healthcare overhaul.  

 

"No Rule by Decree"

April 26. 2012

Professor Michael Paulsen considers how the Obama administration's proposed "accommodation" to the HHS's contraceptives and abortion-drugs mandate compares with President Harry Truman's unilateral 1952 seizure of the U.S. steel industry, a move that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in its landmark Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer decision.

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Latest ARFP Videos

Archbishop Timothy Dolan responds to the February 10, 2012 White House statement regarding the HHS mandate "accomodation."  Check out the video here.

EPPC President Ed Whelan discusses on C-SPAN's Washington Journal the impact of the Obama administration's "contraceptives" mandate on religious-freedom.  

Survey Fact Sheet: Americans' Views on Religious Freedom

In a national survey of registered U.S. voters commissioned by EPPC's American Religious Freedom Program in early November 2011, respondents provided their opinions on various topics related to domestic First Amendment rights. Below are top-line findings from the survey. Read More >>   (Click charts below for a larger view)

                     Chart 2                          Survey Chart 1                           

George Washington's Vision for Religious Freedom and Church-State Relations

Senator Joe Lieberman at ARFP's Inaugual Event Be sure to check out these other videos from the inaugural event:

Brian Walsh, ARFP Executive Director

Michael W. McConnell, Stanford University

Vincent Philip Munoz, University of Notre Dame

Question & Answer Session 

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ARFP Event Calendar

President Washington on Religious Freedom

Click the images below to view some of the key documents from George Washington's views on religious freedoms:

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation (1789) 

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

 

Letter to Newport (R.I.) Synagogue (1790) 

Newport RI


Farewell Address to the American People (1796)

Farewell Address 

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