https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to first amendment en https://religiondispatches.org/2023/01/10/celebrating-religious-freedom-day-taking-back-revolutionary-meaning-religious-freedom Religious freedom has been at the center of American history since the founding. (And by the founding , I mean of the United States of America , not including the roughly century-and-a-half of colonial era.) There’s a story of religious… Tue, 10 Jan 2023 12:09:48 EST Frederick Clarkson 53ffc929-a1d7-4534-854e-e4b4545b0011 https://religiondispatches.org/2020/10/21/pulitzer-prize-winning-historians-latest-reveals-problem-todays-religious-freedom Jack Rakove, the Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, is back with another prize-worthy book, Beyond Belief, Beyond Conscience , a history of religious freedom in America. While Rakove warns readers that Beyond Belief is an “intentionally provocative work,” it was, at least… Wed, 21 Oct 2020 01:31:07 EDT Andrew L. Seidel 0eaa78da-f88f-4255-bb28-a1e1efc906e1 https://religiondispatches.org/2019/08/14/myth-lone-wolf-shooter-blinds-us-reality-white-supremacy Thinking of these killers as “lone wolf” actors makes it easier to dismiss them as demented individuals, hapless victims of bad parenting, self-destructive misfits, or erratic evil doers. But we need to see these “lone wolf” white supremacists for what they are—members of “wolf packs.” Wed, 14 Aug 2019 03:25:31 EDT Ivan Strenski 0628b67a-1ad9-4dfc-9f82-af3d195e037f https://religiondispatches.org/2018/02/12/lgbtq-equality-pendulum-abruptly-swinging-back-religious-exemptions-gain-victories As the U.S. Supreme Court continues to mull the arguments of a baker who on religious grounds refused to design a custom cake for a same-sex wedding, two cases elsewhere this week suggested that however the high court rules, religious… Mon, 12 Feb 2018 12:30:43 EST Patrick Hornbeck 9f8ec984-69e2-4ab7-b86c-4cc9c1aa12af https://religiondispatches.org/2017/11/27/religious-case-against-religious-discrimination-cakeshop-case It might be tempting to think that Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission—the upcoming Supreme Court case about a baker who refused to make a custom cake for a same-sex wedding reception—pits religious believers against the nonreligious. After all… Mon, 27 Nov 2017 03:55:29 EST Patrick Hornbeck 7b013805-033d-4f1b-97ad-a5ca1b2af0f5 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/11/13/subway-sandwich-artist-argument-when-religious-freedom-isnt-about-religious-freedom Consider this faintly ridiculous hypothetical: I am in line at my local Subway sandwich shop, ordering my favorite sub with a generous helping of hot sauce. “I’m sorry, sir,” says the person behind the counter, “but that much sriracha will… Mon, 13 Nov 2017 02:58:53 EST Patrick Hornbeck e1e84e02-e193-4087-b857-3b183ab072bf https://religiondispatches.org/2017/09/12/trumps-doj-wants-constitutional-protection-wedding-cakes-not-lgbt-people Nine months into Donald Trump’s presidency, it should surprise no one to learn that his administration is going out of its way to restrict civil rights, rather than expand them. Nevertheless, a brief the Department of Justice filed this month… Tue, 12 Sep 2017 05:56:54 EDT Sunnivie Brydum 42ca0ef5-46be-42a4-b749-88eb29f6e5cb https://religiondispatches.org/2017/06/27/whats-so-troubling-about-funding-playground-how-trinity-lutheran-undermines-first On Monday, the Supreme Court took a dramatically new approach to the First Amendment, though you wouldn’t have known it from reading the brief, oversimplified opinion. In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer the Court held that—at least… Tue, 27 Jun 2017 02:30:13 EDT Elizabeth Platt ee2bebec-e9fb-4e45-9271-9f43c865a63f https://religiondispatches.org/2017/01/26/religious-freedom-president-gutting-rest-1st-amendment For all his talk of protecting religious freedom, one of the First Amendment’s five sacred rights, it’s taken President Donald Trump less than one week to start kicking the legs out from under each of the others. The new administration… Thu, 26 Jan 2017 05:08:02 EST Sunnivie Brydum 76bd18bc-6df9-42be-88ce-4318acddc880 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/07/12/mississippis-gov-bryant-resorts-far-fetched-analogy-defend-anti-lgbt-hb-1523 According to Bryant, the carve-outs in HB 1523 are no different than federal laws protecting pacifists from military conscription. Tue, 12 Jul 2016 01:45:03 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft d5b9f17c-6d48-4a5e-8231-b76c659acac6 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/06/08/mississippi-religious-lib-law-violates-first-amendment-and-shuts-out-religious As I predicted after the first two lawsuits were filed against Mississippi’s House Bill 1523, a third suit now claims that the state’s outrageous new religious liberty law violates the First Amendment. A group of pastors, community leaders and activists… Wed, 08 Jun 2016 06:39:43 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft ffd0bf1a-d9be-4ad4-b134-003219eabdda https://religiondispatches.org/2016/05/19/will-do-no-harm-act-do-any-good-religious-lib-battle Two Democratic congressmen this week introduced the “Do No Harm Act,” a proposed amendment to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the once bipartisan law that’s now at the center of the culture wars. It doesn’t have a chance in… Thu, 19 May 2016 05:12:11 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft 2e78d1f1-5d31-46ac-8422-68ce8c80f152 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/05/16/excruciatingly-different-mississippi-religious-lib-law-specifies-beliefs The Mississippi “religious liberty” law that will soon allow public officials to refuse service to same-sex couples and transgender individuals was hit with two legal challenges last week, one by the ACLU and the other by the Campaign for Southern… Mon, 16 May 2016 05:22:23 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft 708b8b7e-84c7-45e7-beb2-ab2406acb7d9 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/01/13/why-we-must-reclaim-religious-freedom-christian-conservatives An interview with journalist and activist Frederick Clarkson Wed, 13 Jan 2016 07:40:35 EST Bill Berkowitz 4bd0f436-5eff-494e-b27c-47ae8256bc43 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/12/16/party-religious-liberty-botches-debate-religion-and-constitution Remember when the presidential election, or the Republican primary, at least, was going to be about religious liberty? About how Obergefell v. Hodges eviscerated the religious freedom of “Bible-believing Christians,” who would need the big, bad overreaching government’s protection from… Wed, 16 Dec 2015 09:50:04 EST Sarah Posner 92c5004d-85c3-4b4a-b968-c718c0e1f71e https://religiondispatches.org/2015/09/09/back-school-first-public-school-country-require-world-religions-course Could a course prevent public schools from becoming battlefields? Wed, 09 Sep 2015 10:02:42 EDT Joseph Laycock b040ea37-ad8f-4817-9be6-dd999215ece1 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/04/28/marriage-arguments-scalia-frets-over-clergy-religious-freedom A Freudian slip reveals something about the Establishment Clause. Tue, 28 Apr 2015 06:33:17 EDT Sarah Posner ae1656d9-d8df-441f-a37b-a4b42c8c382b https://religiondispatches.org/2015/01/15/religious-freedom-issue-may-cost-accused-boston-bomber-his-life Forget the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should worry about “death-qualifying” the jury. Thu, 15 Jan 2015 04:37:46 EST Anthony Santoro d09a39f1-5562-451f-81bc-18a203e4e271 https://religiondispatches.org/2014/12/25/year-satanism 2014 was the year of the Satanist. In December 2013, The Satanic Temple announced plans to erect a statue of Baphomet on the grounds of the capital in Oklahoma City. This Baphomet statue was intended to challenge the constitutionality of… Thu, 25 Dec 2014 02:12:41 EST Joseph Laycock c5d95f6b-f7b0-46f8-b62a-c43c084c1663 https://religiondispatches.org/2014/11/13/feeding-hungry-vs-antigay-activism-double-standard-religious-freedom If you’ve watched the news or been on social media at all this past week, you’ve by now probably heard that, along with two other ministers, 90-year-old WWII veteran Arnold Abbot, was arrested last week in Fort Lauderdale, FL for… Thu, 13 Nov 2014 12:24:37 EST Hollis Phelps Ryne Beddard 105411a7-cc94-4cb1-80d8-90d87eff298b https://religiondispatches.org/2014/09/09/satanic-foia-reveals-deep-confusion-about-1st-amendment The Satanic Temple, best known for its offer to build a monument to Satan in an attempt to challenge the Constitutionality of a Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma, recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain any… Tue, 09 Sep 2014 04:20:04 EDT Joseph Laycock 7ae9f886-c517-4714-93ed-35f9b60e6bd7 https://religiondispatches.org/2014/07/05/happy-christian-fourth-july-hobby-lobby Tens of millions of people saw a now-familiar name in their newspaper Friday morning, attached to a now-familiar message: America should be a Christian nation. Every Easter and Fourth of July since 1997, Hobby Lobby, has taken out full-page ads… Sat, 05 Jul 2014 02:11:52 EDT Emily Baxter 2d3a0bd3-1a23-49fc-95d4-8a573081fd2e https://religiondispatches.org/2014/07/01/why-hobby-lobby-pandoras-box-ginsburg-v-alito Apart from whether or not we like the Hobby Lobby decision, there seems to be some confusion about the ruling evidenced by the fact that people keep asking “What about Blood transfusions in companies owned by Jehovah’s Witnesses?” or “…mental… Tue, 01 Jul 2014 01:14:37 EDT Julie Ingersoll 2fd6a5c4-4480-43c2-8c4a-9e84376a8053 https://religiondispatches.org/2014/05/22/are-atheists-taking-1st-amendment-suits-too-far While sanctimonious conservatives and godless liberals alike await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Hobby Lobby case, two more suits with serious church and state implications are quietly making their way through the system. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF)… Thu, 22 May 2014 04:32:35 EDT Gordon Haber 665d56b6-0f61-409d-b429-70b018d01593 https://religiondispatches.org/2014/05/13/was-prof-wrong-ask-students-not-thank-god Seemingly to prove the thesis of God’s Not Dead—i.e., that colleges and universities are bastions of secular liberalism, staffed by arrogant professors bent on destroying the faith of their students by any means necessary—an East Carolina University chemistry professor told… Tue, 13 May 2014 03:06:37 EDT Hollis Phelps 708b3ae6-e25f-4c48-9c7a-b22628b8ad3d