Posts

Showing posts from October, 2017

Thoughts on Religious Liberty, In-Waiting

Much has been made in the media about the memorandum on religious liberty protections issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week. That document is the result of a presidential executive order, “ Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty ,” issued on May 4 of this year, in which the president directed that the attorney general “shall, as appropriate, issue guidance interpreting religious liberty protections in Federal law.” That guidance, in the form of the attorney general’s memorandum, “ Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty ,” is now creating something of a kerfuffle among both politicians, civil rights advocates, and religionists. It seems to me that anyone with even an ounce of understanding of “religious liberty” ought to be very concerned about these documents and their effect on the exercise of religious freedom as well as the protection of civil rights. In the Supreme Court decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2013), the court reaffirmed the applicabilit