Author: Ryan T. Anderson (Ryan T. Anderson)

About the Author
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September 9, 2019September 9, 2019Culture, Philosophy, Politics, Religion

False Dichotomies, the Common Good, and the Future of Conservatism

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David French, Sohrab Ahmari, and others who are debating the future of conservatism are right to think that the challenges facing our nation are grave. Still, we need not feel forced into cheering for one side or the other, into viewing this as a matter of “teams.” We conservatives need to keep the main focus on ideas, not personalities, and engage each other both robustly and charitably. We need to think prudently about practical steps we should take—here and now, given all the givens—that will promote the common good.

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March 30, 2019March 31, 2019Religion, Religion and the Public Square, Sunday Long Reads

Catholic Thought and the Challenges of Our Time

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The early Church saw challenges to truths about God, the Reformation-era Church saw challenges to truths about the Church herself, and today’s Church is confronted by challenges to truths about man—the being made in the image and likeness of God whom the Church is tasked with protecting. This essay is based on Ryan T. Anderson’s inaugural lecture as the St. John Paul II Teaching Fellow at The University of Dallas.

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February 14, 2017October 15, 2018Conscience Protection, Politics, Sexuality

How to Think About Discrimination: Race, Sex, and SOGI

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Sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) antidiscrimination laws are unjustified, but if other policies are adopted to address the mistreatment of people who identify as LGBT, they must leave people free to engage in legitimate actions based on the conviction that we are created male and female and that male and female are created for each other.

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January 11, 2016July 23, 2018Conscience Protection, Politics, Sexuality

Liberty and SOGI Laws: An Impossible and Unsustainable “Compromise”

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Big Business and Big Law are using Big Government to impose their cultural values on small businesses and ordinary Americans. Indiana does not need to create new laws on sexual orientation or gender identity for people who identify as sexual minorities to be treated justly. The best way to protect all Hoosiers is for Indiana not to adopt a SOGI policy at all.

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March 18, 2015July 23, 2018Marriage, Religion and the Public Square, Sexuality

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Are Not Like Race: Why ENDA is Bad Policy

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Sexual orientation and gender identity are conceptually different from race, and beliefs about marriage as the union of man and woman are conceptually and historically different from opposition to interracial marriage. Adapted from testimony delivered on Monday March 16 before the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

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July 1, 2014September 27, 2018Abortion, Conscience Protection, Constitutional Law, Healthcare, Religion and the Public Square

Supreme Court to Obama Administration: You Don’t Have to Agree with Religious Beliefs to Respect the Liberty of the People Who Hold Them . . . and the Groups They Form

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Yesterday’s decision demonstrates that the Supreme Court understands what Congress set out to do when it passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Religious freedom is for all, regardless of the popularity of the belief. Congress, in passing RFRA, has said that if the belief can be accommodated, then it must be.