How Trump Has Transformed the GOP—and Why Conservatives Should Vote for Him...
This week, Public Discourse is running a symposium on the 2020 presidential election. We’ll hear from authors with a wide variety of perspectives on the difficult prudential question of how social...
View ArticleThe Threat to Life and Liberty from the United Nations’ Abuse of Human Rights
To the surprise of no one, liberal critics of the Trump administration strongly criticized the recent report of the US State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights. Considering the Commission’s...
View ArticleSuing for Peace in the Wedding Vendor Wars
Andrew Koppelman is climbing out of the trenches. In his new book, Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty? (observe the question mark), he requests a cease-fire in the conflict between LGBT-identity claims...
View ArticleUncluttering the Ground between the Trenches
Yesterday I discussed Andrew Koppelman’s proposal for achieving peace in the entrenched conflict between LGBT identity claims and civil liberties such as religious freedom and private property....
View ArticleWhen Conscience Is Attacked, the Ground Beneath Us Shakes
Many say the Canadian election last month achieved nothing, that the country is back to where it was before. There’s a lot of truth to this statement. The new seating map for Canada’s Parliament is...
View ArticleReclaiming the Judging in Judgment: A Response to Christopher Wolfe
Christopher Wolfe’s recent article in Public Discourse argues that Employment Division v. Smith should be upheld by the Supreme Court, despite a recent decision that questioned Smith’s endurance. In...
View ArticleCan Catholics Object to COVID-19 Vaccines on Religious Freedom Grounds?
Last week, the Supreme Court declined to grant religious exemptions to Maine’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers. This decision has intensified debate about whether people of faith...
View ArticleCatholic Bishops Fail in Defending Conscience
American commercial, military, governmental, and even ecclesiastical establishments have for months enforced mandates to penalize conscientious objectors to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. All these vaccines...
View ArticleConscience, Virtue, and Moral Concerns about COVID Vaccines
Conscience claims enjoy great prominence in the modern era. For example, in 2020 the Little Sisters of the Poor sought and attained legal exemptions from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate...
View ArticleMinimalist Religious Freedom as a Self-Inflicted Wound
To be honest, writing a critical review of Phillip Muñoz’s American Liberty and the American Founding was a painful task. It was painful in part because I sincerely admire Muñoz and his scholarship,...
View ArticleColorado’s Anti-Discrimination Law: Justifying Harms to Religious Minorities...
In early December, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis and petitioner Lorie Smith, thus hearing a reprise of many of the arguments from its 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop...
View ArticleBusiness Owners Have Rights, Too
If you choose to serve others, do you forfeit your property rights? Most people who serve the public using their own talents and resources, either for profit or charitable motivations, believe that...
View ArticleDisintegrating Conscience in a Fragmented Age
What is a conscience? What does it mean to say that one ought to follow it or not offend another’s? Those familiar with the New Testament often think of that passage in 1 Corinthians (10:25–29) in...
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