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Pillar

Politics & Law

The third pillar of a decent society is a just system of politics and law. Such a government does not bind all persons, families, institutions of civil society, and actors in the marketplace to itself as subservient features of an all-pervading authority. Instead, it honors and protects the inherent equal dignity of all persons, safeguards the family as the primary school of virtue, and seeks justice through the rule of law.

Student Protests and the Old Gods

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Public Discourse

Perry, Prayer, and Politics

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Rick Perry’s prayer rally engendered accusations that he wrongly crossed the church-state divide. But great leaders in American history have long held that religion is a necessary basis for public morality.
Public Discourse

Pornography and National Security

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The frequency with which terrorists are found with pornography raises important questions about the possible effects of pornography on our national security.
Public Discourse

The Balanced Budget Amendment: What Would Hamilton Say?

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The balanced budget amendment would rob the federal government of an essential power.
Public Discourse

Overcoming the Obstacles to Faith-Based Approaches to Crime

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Prejudices of secular and religious groups alike stand in the way of successful crime reduction efforts.
Public Discourse

The Debt Ceiling and the Constitution

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The attempts by both the right and the left to politicize our Constitution must be firmly rejected for the sake of our nation’s health and prosperity.
Public Discourse

John Locke and the Inadequacies of Social Contract Theory

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John Locke is an illustration of how social contract theory distorts sound political reasoning.
Public Discourse

One Man, One Woman, and the Common Good: Marriage’s Public Purpose

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The state should uphold the Defense of Marriage Act, because the state’s interest in marriage is fundamentally about public, not private, purposes for marriage. Adapted from testimony delivered before the United States Senate.
Public Discourse

Is Sex Just Like Race?

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Race and sex play qualitatively different roles in our interactions with each other, making sex rationally relevant to our social and political policies in a way that race is not.
Public Discourse

That’s Entertainment: Free Speech and the Moral Regulation of the Arts

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A recent Supreme Court case reveals a division amongst conservatives over the moral foundations of the law.
Public Discourse

Islam Will Find Its Own Way to Freedom

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With extremism losing momentum, there is hope that the Muslim Middle East is beginning once again to embrace the liberalism of early 20th-century Islam.
Public Discourse

Let Freedom Ring: The Muslim Call for Religious Freedom

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As the call for freedom advances in Muslim-majority countries, we have good reason to be optimistic that religious freedom will increase as well.
Public Discourse

Religious Liberty and Development of Doctrine in Islam

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By the year 2020, the Islamic nations of the Mediterranean Basin will resound with positive cries for democracy, human rights, individual liberty, and the dignity of every man, woman, and child.
Public Discourse

Social Contracts, Human Flourishing, and the Economy

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Our current economic debates underscore the case for an approach to political economy that rejects social contract theory and embraces a robust conception of human flourishing.
Public Discourse

Offense and Criticism in the Marriage Debates

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To take offense does not free us from further argument or criticism. Instead, offense demands ongoing criticism between partners in ethical discourse as a recognition of their fundamental human equality.
Public Discourse

God and Terror

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Whether or not one likes religious actors, they are here to stay. The issue is not whether but when and how religious actors will enter public life and shape political outcomes. The third in a three-part series.
Public Discourse

God and Democratic Diplomacy

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We can no longer afford to hang on to secularization theories as we design policy for nations from Libya to Egypt, Iran to Pakistan, Nigeria to Indonesia, and the numerous other societies being reshaped by the partisans of God in the 21st century. The second in a three-part series.
Public Discourse

God and Political Science

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The view of global politics taught by political scientists is the poorest possible preparation for the era of global politics in which we now live. As we address central geopolitical challenges, we must delve into the details of religion and religious actors. The first in a three-part series.
Public Discourse

Politics and the Devil

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A healthy democracy depends on people of conviction working hard to advance their ideas in the public square—respectfully and peacefully, but vigorously and without apologies. We cannot simultaneously serve the poor and accept the legal killing of unborn children.
Public Discourse

Democracy, Foreign Policy, and American Values

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America has an obligation to look after its own interests.
Public Discourse

Roe to the Rescue?

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Roe v. Wade could prove an unlikely source of pro-life conscience protection.
Public Discourse

Obama, DOMA, and Constitutional Responsibility

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President Obama’s decision to refuse to defend DOMA is not an act of executive assertion so much as an expression of deep deference to the courts.
Public Discourse

The Quranic Case Against Killing Apostates

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A leading Muslim scholar questions whether foundational texts of Islam really do prescribe death for leaving Islam.
Public Discourse

I Protested for Freedom

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A participant in the protests in Tahrir Square looks at the future of freedom in Egypt.
Public Discourse

Scorpions: A Review of FDR’s Supreme Court Justices

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A new book by Noah Feldman explains how Roosevelt’s jurists came to power, and how their constitutional philosophies and disagreements shaped the court.
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