Unalienable Rights and Foreign Policy

by Thomas F. Farr

A new commission should reaffirm the traditional place of human rights in American policy-making. Continue Reading »

9 Jul 2019

What Are We For?

by Cole Aronson

The Christian Colorado baker case may be decided by the answer to a deceptively simple question: What is society for? Continue Reading »

25 Jul 2017

Gorsuch and the Washington Script

by Mark Movsesian

A familiar Washington script exists for Republican Supreme Court nominations. Once the president announces his choice, Democrats and advocacy groups on the left start issuing dire warnings about the threat the nominee poses to the Constitution, the law, and the American way of life. The words are always the same: The nominee is “extreme,” “outside the mainstream,” “radical,” and “far-right wing.” Continue Reading »

3 Feb 2017

Free Exercise, Penance, and Delaware Court

by John M. Grondelski

Regular First Things readers know that the late Father Richard John Neuhaus never tired of arguing that the First Amendment contains not two religion clauses but one: “no establishment” and “free exercise” are not two free-floating provisions at occasional loggerheads with each other but . . . . Continue Reading »

9 Feb 2016

“For Freedom Set Free”

by Bianca Czaderna

As I took the plane to South Bend for this Fall's Center for Ethics and Culture conference, I wondered how exactly “freedom” would be spoken of.

7 Dec 2015

A Thanksgiving Meditation on Freedom and Its Enemies

by George Weigel

Shortly after jihadist murderers killed over 130 people in Paris, seven of the terrorists blowing themselves up in the process, President Obama spoke to the nation and described the massacres as “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.” No, Mr. President; with all . . . . Continue Reading »

25 Nov 2015

The Church of the Left

by Mark Bauerlein

Yuval Levin has an interesting commentary at the blog of National Review. It’s entitled “The Church of the Left,” and it argues for an important shift in the understanding of where religious objectors stand today after the Indiana affair.The shift goes back to the Bill of Rights. . . . . Continue Reading »

17 Apr 2015

D.C. City Council Violates Catholic Schools' Right to Free Exercise of Religion

by Michael Root

One might think that the District of Columbia, our nation’s capital, would be particularly vigilant in defending the freedoms fundamental to American life. Unfortunately, the District’s City Council has now seen fit to intervene into the life of religious institutions and insist that such institutions handle some topics in ways amenable to the Council’s opinions. Continue Reading »

26 Mar 2015

Canadian Doctors’ Religious Freedom Under Threat

by Mathew Block

Wesley J. Smith’s article “The Coming of Medical Martyrdom” highlights a troubling trend in Canada that would see physician’s religious rights sacrificed. But it’s not just in Saskatchewan this is happening.
Continue Reading »

20 Feb 2015

The Curious Case of Free Exercise

by Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain

On June 1, 1925, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in  Pierce v. Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The decision responded to two appeals brought by Walter Pierce, the governor of Oregon, about the Oregon Compulsory Education Act of 1922, a voter-passed . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Dec 2007