Blogroll

Yielding our freedoms: Ending the Hutterite threat

Most of the posts in this series have focused on the activities of the South Dakota Council of Defense. But it had no inherent mechanism to enforce its legal authority. When “the Russian colonist problem” brought the Council in conflict with religious principles, it turned to the courts, often considered the last bastion for the […]

A tradition of institutional self-protection

One of the best things about reading history is the insight or perspective it can provide on today. I saw a perfect example over the weekend in The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal. Written by German ecclesiastical historian Hubert Wolf, the book looks at the Roman Catholic Church’s investigation […]

Look who’s caving

I shook my head when I saw the lede in a USA Today article in this morning’s local daily: “The Western world stood up against Islamic terrorism Wednesday after 12 people, including four cartoonists, were assassinated in the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo outside Paris.” Fact is, akin to Sony and the movie […]

Potential effects of ‘sincerely held religious beliefs’

I have a number of problems with the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision on health insurance coverage of contraceptives and religious freedom. But the concept that corporations can freely exercise religion isn’t the main one. I’m more concerned about what I perceive to be far broader and more problematic issues.

The decision is framed in […]

Justice Clarence Thomas still pushing state theocracy

This week’s Supreme Court decision on prayer before municipal meetings wasn’t really that surprising. Particularly given the make-up of the Court, it’s a fairly narrow decision that is based in large part on its particular facts. Yet while it got plenty of attention, one thing that went largely unmentioned is something I blogged about in […]