Weary of Culture-Warring

The landmark ruling in Hobby Lobby induced a heavy sigh in the chests of some Christians who are tired of culture-warring. Eager for détente, these types tend to view those of us in debates at the nexus of faith and culture with suspicion. They place fault on fellow believers for being too-easily aggrieved, and accuse us of being motivated more by the need to sustain our culture-war industrial complexes than by principle. Recently, one such observer curiously described the Hobby Lobby decisionas a win for the Green family, but a loss for religious liberty. Continue Reading »

Will Doctors Be Forced to Kill?

The wailing and gnashing of teeth in some quarters over the modest Hobby Lobby decision has me worried. Apparently, many on the political port side of the country believe that once a favored public policy has been enacted, it immediately becomes a “right” that can never be altered or denied. More, once such a “right” is established for the individual, others should have the duty to ensure access—even at the cost of violating their own religious consciences. Continue Reading »

Freedoms At Odds

In the wake of the Hobby Lobby decision, argument on the issue has raged with heightened vehemence. Buzzwords abound in the debate—equality, imposition, right, discrimination—and the equivocation at work makes the fallout increasingly polemical. One term that has shared in the general collapse of meaning is “freedom” or “liberty.” Continue Reading »

Let Religious Freedom Ring

When Chuck Colson, Robert George, and I drafted the Manhattan Declaration back in 2009, some people questioned why we had chosen to include religious freedom, along with the sanctity of life and the integrity of marriage, as one of the three most pressing moral issues of our time. Life is sacred, and matrimony is holy, they said, but isn’t religious freedom just another “political” tenet? What does it have to do with the Christian faith? Continue Reading »

Will Catholics Comply?

Sometime soon, the Supreme Court will announce its decision in the Hobby Lobby case. Depending on how the justices rule, certain institutions may find themselves exempt from the controversial HHS mandate that requires them to arrange for the provision of contraception, sterilization, and certain abortifacient drugs. Although Hobby Lobby is a private corporation with Protestant owners, the case has implications for many others. Continue Reading »