Photo by Victor Moussa on adobe.stock.com. The contemporary debate around the right to free exercise of religion — and its limits — focuses overwhelmingly on conservative Christian beliefs about sex, gender, marriage, and reproduction. This is understandable given the vast resources and focus that the Christian right has placed on gaining religious exemptions from laws…
Though the COVID health emergency within the U.S. seems to be lessening in intensity, the occurrence of 35,000 COVID hospitalizations per day and 12,000 deaths per week during early March 2022 shows that the crisis is clearly not over. Widespread resistance to public protocols and mandates aimed at halting the spread of the virus has…
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash. Many evangelical Christians are turning to pastors, priests, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 seeking a religious exemption to Covid vaccine mandates. However, resistance to the Covid vaccine appears to be rooted not in historic Christian theology, but in current social, political, and economic philosophies.…
Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash. Given the centrality and heatedness of the abortion debate in the U.S. political sphere, it might seem as though abortion has always been a rallying cry for religious conservatives. But as Sarah Posner describes in her book Unholy, despite abortion’s contemporary significance, other evangelical grudges emerged “long before” abortion…
Photo by Jurga Ka on Unsplash. This article also appears at Mere Orthodoxy. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many deaths and much suffering. It has also created a number of acute challenges for churches, one of which is how to think about religious exemptions to vaccine requirements. These requirements are sometimes imposed by employers, and…
Photo by Joshua Fuller on Unsplash. On December 1, 2021, the United States Supreme Court will hear the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that threatens to be the death knell for abortion rights, reproductive freedom, and the right of women to bodily autonomy and security in the U.S. In Dobbs,…
Photo by Rachel Moore on Unsplash. What does it mean to call a law generally applicable? The question is timely because of a confluence between the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this summer in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia and ongoing litigation over COVID-19 prevention measures, especially vaccination mandates. In Fulton, the Court gestured toward two…
MRI Imaging by Raspbery Vibe. (CC0). If someone is an addict, does that mean he or she is immune from moral responsibility? From substance addiction to addictive behaviors, many addicts blame others, attributing their addiction problem to a source outside their control. A recent example is the case of Robert Aaron Long, the gunman responsible…
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash. Introduction The coronavirus pandemic has robbed us all of something. My brother works for the state of Texas, and he still hasn’t returned to his office, having been away for more than a year. My elderly parents caught the virus early this year. Even after recovering, they have…
Photo by Pedro Lima on Unsplash. In a recently issued report, the RAND Corporation highlighted a dimension of the impact that the government response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had on trust. It noted that trust in the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declined significantly between May and…