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News
"Religious freedom and contraception case headed to Supreme Court?"
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"
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?"
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"
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.
"Charles Colson, 1931-2012"
EPPC's Peter Wehner reflects on the life of Chuck Colson, considering Colson's career in politics, dramatic conversion to Christianity, and deep faith which led to his enormously compassionate and productive life of ministry and activism.
"Charles Colson Found Freedom in Prison"
Rather than following most of the media in “preserv[ing] the image of a public figure at the moment when the public glare was harshest,” Michael Gerson at the Washington Post focuses on Chuck Colson’s three and a half decades of devotion to “his calling to serve prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families."
"Why Ross Douthat Thinks We're 'A Nation of Heretics'"
In an interview with Religion News Service discussing his new book Bad Religion, author and columnist Ross Douthat suggests that theological debate is necessary for the health of our culture and offers commentary on the prospects of the church in America.
"Cardinal Tries to Clarify Bishops' Stance on Health Care Law"
Expressing concern over the aggressively secularist rationale underlying the HHS contraceptives and abortion-drugs mandate, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago notes that “if the use of religious pluralism is to remove all religious institutions from public life, it’s going to be a very different society than what we have now.”
"Catholic Bishops Urge 'Campaign' for Religious Freedom"
The New York Times and Washington Post report on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' call to Catholic laypersons today to act to defend religious freedom.
"USCCB Statement on Religious Liberty"
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a call to action today that highlights concrete examples, such as the HHS "preventive services" mandate, of increasing hostility to religious liberty. Read More >>
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The American Religious Freedom Program is sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center
