The Religious Right Gives Religious Liberty a Bad Name

North Dakota will soon vote on a measure that would require burdens on religious liberty to be justified by a compelling state interest, a test that applies to the Federal Government by statute and in more than twenty states. The Star Tribune in an overwrought editorial condemns the measure as “un-American,” right wing, “preferential treatment,” at odds with principles of equality and fairness, and leading to a Pandora’s Box that will threaten others rights. See here. I think the Star Tribune’s editorial represents an all-too-common kneejerk reaction against the religious right. The Star Tribune simply does not get that religious liberty is important to millions across the political spectrum. Tom Berg, one of the nation’s leading experts on religious liberty (who writes from a progressive perspective) gives a characteristically powerful  response.  See here.

Comments

[Jimbino]

There will be no religious liberty until the rights of atheists and freethinkers are protected. In Obamacare, for example, there is provision for exempting Muslims, Christian Scientists, and Amish from the individual mandate, but nothing to exempt non-believers who are conscientiously opposed to insurance.

There is no provision for atheist chaplains in the military or prisons, for chrissake!