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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.

The Patience of Conservatism

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Public Discourse

Don’t Forget Religious Freedom

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To practice what he preaches, to respect laws passed by Congress, and to support Muslims who advocate for peaceful pluralism, President Obama needs to take action in support of religious freedom. Here are specific suggestions to move this effort forward.
Public Discourse

The Conscientious Engagement of Yves Simon

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Yves Simon's fierce moral intelligence highlights the sad decay of our public deliberation, but his example also gives cause for hope.
Public Discourse

Tortured Reasoning

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Opposition to the CIA interrogations of terror suspects is not a reason to distort important Constitutional principles.
Public Discourse

Faith Makes Us Live: Surviving and Thriving in the Haitian Diaspora

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Religious freedom is a universal human right. The plight of Haitian immigrants shows that religion can also be a vitally important means of integrating some of society’s most vulnerable members.
Public Discourse

Constitutional Questions About Health Care Reform

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Debates over health care reform have focused almost exclusively on policy. Few have considered whether Congress even has the constitutional authority to enact its proposed reforms. Fundamental constitutional issues—such as the scope of the commerce power, the right of individuals to religious liberty, and the different natures of federal and state authority—must be recalled in order to have a more fruitful debate.
Public Discourse

Judge Sotomayor and Abortion on Demand: A Tutorial

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Millions of Americans believe that states can prohibit abortion in the third trimester, yet current Supreme Court jurisprudence has manufactured a right to unfettered abortion right up to the time of the child’s birth. How did Americans become so confused on this issue and how did the Supreme Court end up where it has?
Public Discourse

Making Men Moral

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Earlier this year scholars gathered at Union University for a conference considering the work of Robert P. George in his 1994 book Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality. One theme of the conference was how religion and reason can help us understand and promote the common good.
Public Discourse

Constitutional Disorder in the Era of Judicial Supremacy: What Can be Done Now

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If we want to lower the stakes of winner-take-all Supreme Court battles, we must search for justices who reject the notions of judicial activism and judicial supremacy. The second in a two-part series.
Public Discourse

Constitutional Disorder in the Era of Judicial Supremacy: The Founders’ Understanding of the Court

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Judicial supremacy is inimical to the separation of powers, to republicanism, and even to constitutionalism and the rule of law. The upcoming confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor should force citizens to reconsider the place of the Court in our political life. The first in a two-part series.
Public Discourse

Hypocrisy and Public Life

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Revelations about the infidelities of prominent social conservatives like South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Nevada Senator John Ensign have led many to mock advocates of public virtue who nonetheless succumb to personal vice. But what’s so bad about hypocrisy?
Public Discourse

Is There Value in Religious Pluralism?

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If religious traditions, belief systems, and moral frameworks are the result of a genuine commitment to and search for the truth, then disagreement of truth claims among adherents must be taken as a sign that some, or even all, of the searches have failed. How can this be a good state of affairs?
Public Discourse

Notre Dame and Obama’s Roe Problem

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President Obama’s calls for honest dialogue on the abortion issue can only get off the ground if both sides agree that abortion is a contestable issue. But if it is a contestable issue, it should be settled by democratic processes—not judicial fiat.
Public Discourse

Obama, Muslims, and Religious Freedom

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Muslims who favor religious freedom deserve to have their voices heard. One way President Obama could be respectful of and show his appreciation for Islam would be to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom and support religious freedom in his administration’s foreign policy.
Public Discourse

Can Secularism Save the Islamic World?

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What the Muslim world needs is not Western-style secularization that stresses the privatization of religion, but a form of authentic faith at ease with modernity
Public Discourse

Law, Feelings, and Religion at the Bar in Iowa

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The Supreme Court of Iowa’s decision to redefine marriage abandons reason and replaces it with feelings as the standard of public consensus.
Public Discourse

How the No-Establishment Rule Does (and Does Not) Protect the Freedom of Conscience

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The Constitution’s no-establishment rule does protect the liberty of religious conscience, but not in the way, or ways, that we usually think.
Public Discourse

More Government, Less God: What the Obama Revolution Means for Religion in America

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While many social conservatives have focused attention on Obama’s liberal social commitments, few have considered what effects an expanded welfare state will have on religious belief—or how these religious effects will in turn impact civic virtue, personal responsibility, altruism, or solidarity. If the European experience with the welfare state and religion is any indication, the Obama revolution could well lead the United States down the secular path already trod by Europe.
Public Discourse

Liberty, Authority, and the Good of Religion

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Religious liberty and religious authority are frequently seen in tension, but they need not conflict. In fact, a proper understanding of both shows that they are equally necessary for full human flourishing.
Public Discourse

What Obama Will Give the Left

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With political realities preventing Obama from satisfying his left-wing base on economic and foreign policy questions, look for Obama to give the left the barn on social issues. And expect him to do so in significant measure through the courts.
Public Discourse

Sartre Debates an Islamist

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The play “Madah-Sartre,” both funny and poignant, provides a glimpse into the contradictions, logical impoverishment, and inhumanity of Islamist ideology, while also offering a dose of basic human decency to parties in a conflict which is more often characterized by violence than civil debate.
Public Discourse

David Ogden and the New Pornographers: Why the Senate Should Reject His Nomination

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David Ogden has impressive legal credentials, but his long career as a pornography-industry attorney casts doubt on his ability to enforce laws meant to protect children.
Public Discourse

2009: A Critical Year for Protecting Children

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The recent passage of the PROTECT Our Children Act makes 2009 a critical year in governmental efforts to protect children from sexual exploitation.
Public Discourse

Taking a New Look at Pornography

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Recent technological developments in the production and dissemination of pornography, coupled with recent scientific investigations on pornography’s impact, force all thoughtful citizens to reconsider the social costs of pornography.
Public Discourse

Pornography and the Courts

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The nomination of David Ogden reminds us of the problems caused by pornography, both at home and abroad.
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