Written by David Harsanyi
I’ve been writing about Denver-area baker Jack Phillips for over a decade now. It’s clear to me he’s going to be badgered into the grave by authoritarians intent on punishing him for thought crimes. From the first time his name appeared in the news until this day, the media have misled the public about him, about the case and about the law.
The latest chapter in Phillips’ Kafkaesque saga involves a transgender lawyer named Autumn Scardina, who demanded Phillips create a pink cake with blue frosting to help celebrate a gender transition.… Continue Reading
Tags: A. Bruce Jones, Autumn Scardina, Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Colorado Supreme Court, David Harsanyi, First Amendment, Jack Phillips, Masterpiece Cakeshop, religious liberty, Rights of Conscience, SCOTUS, U.S. Supreme Court
LGBTQ Agenda, Religious Liberty | David E. Smith | October 13, 2023 7:00 AM | Comments Off on Authoritarian Thugs Continue Their Persecution of Jack Phillips
Written by Robert Knight
Did you know that debating issues in Congress is part of the culture war and is bad for democracy?
That’s what The Washington Post (motto: “Democracy Dies in Darkness”) implied in its front-page story after the Republican-led House approved the National Defense Authorization Act in a 219-210 party-line vote.
The bill authorizes an $886 billion defense budget and rolls back some of the Democrats’ schemes aimed at turning America into a Marxist version of Sodom and Gomorrah.… Continue Reading
Tags: Angel Studios, Biden Administration, Catherine Rampell, COVID–19, Disney, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, Elena Kagan, Environmental Protection Agency, Gerald Groff, Harold Shurtleff, Jim Caviezel, Joe Kennedy, Kevin McCarthy, Lorie Smith, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Mira Sorvino, Obergefell, Roe v. Wade, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, same-sex marriage, The Washington Post, Tim Ballard, U.S. Postal Service
Marriage, Family & Culture, Political | David E. Smith | July 24, 2023 7:00 AM | Comments Off on Yes, The Culture War is Real, And Democrats Started It
Written by Daniel Horowitz
James Madison once wrote, “Government is instituted to protect property of every sort” and that “conscience is the most sacred of all property.” Yet just before July 4 weekend, the U.S. Supreme Court, by denying an appeal in an important religious liberty case, has essentially abrogated both property and conscience rights, as well as the right to use one’s own property in accordance with deeply held religious beliefs. So much for self-evident truths, inalienable rights, and the institution of government to secure these rights.… Continue Reading
Tags: Amy Coney Barrett, Anthony Kennedy, Arlene's Flowers, Barronelle Stutzman, Brett Kavanaugh, Calvin Coolidge, Jack Phillips, John Roberts, Joseph Story, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, SCOTUS, U.S. Supreme Court
Religious Liberty | David E. Smith | July 8, 2021 7:00 AM | Comments Off on Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett Deal Crushing Blow to Religious Liberty
Written by Daniel Horowitz
“Separation of church and state.” There may be no reference to, inference of, insinuation of, or display of religion anywhere in any government operation or public school, even if there is no coercion to participate in any Christian event or prayer. That is enshrined in every clause of the U.S. Constitution.
That is essentially what the Left has been telling us for years, and those principles have been enforced to varying degrees in many lower courts and, intermittently, even by the U.S.… Continue Reading
Tags: Allah, Barbara Milano Keenan, Bladensburg Cross, Brett Kavanaugh, Caleigh Wood, Clarence Thomas, Daniel Horowitz, Establishment Clause, First Amendment, Free Exercise Clause, James Madison, John Roberts, La Plata High School, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Muhammad, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, shahada, The Muslim World, Town of Greece v. Galloway, Wood v. Arnold
Religious Liberty | David E. Smith | October 30, 2019 4:45 AM | Comments Off on NO to Voluntary Christian Prayer in Schools. YES to Mandatory Muslim Prayer
Written by David Limbaugh
Various leftist grievance groups have insisted for years that they just want equal treatment and equal rights, that they only want to end discrimination and that they come with an attitude of “live and let live.” Nope.
We’ve long known that the “tolerance” police don’t merely want equal rights and to be treated with civility. They require that you honor their ideas as superior, reject your own contrary ideas and do penance for ever having held your own ideas.… Continue Reading
Tags: Academy Awards, Brandi Miller, Colorado Civil Rights Commission, David Limbaugh, Jack Phillips, Kevin Hart, LGBTQ, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Rich Kiamco, U.S. Supreme Court, USA Today
Religious Liberty | David E. Smith | December 21, 2018 7:00 AM | Comments Off on That Giant Liberty-Sucking Sound From the Tolerant Left
In this week’s Spotlight, is Laurie Higgins, the Cultural Affairs Writer for the Illinois Family Institute.
They converse on the Masterpiece Cakeshop case before the Supreme Court, something called the Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) which Laurie asserts is similar to the transgender movement, the government’s role in the institution of marriage, and the role of Anger in the Christian Church.
Higgins emphasizes that it’s important to use proper analogies when writing about what the LGBT letters truly represent.… Continue Reading
Written by David E. Smith
The Springfield Nativity Scene Committee* (SNSC) recently held its annual opening day ceremony for their privately sponsored and funded display depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. This display marks the 10th straight year that this display has had a place in the center of the State Capitol Rotunda. This is possible, thanks in large part to the help of the Thomas More Society, including our guest Tom Brejcha. … Continue Reading
Tags: Bruce Rauner, HB 40, Jack Phillips, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Monte Larrick, Peter Breen, SCOTUS, Springfield Nativity Scene Committee, Thomas More Society, Tom Brejcha
Religious Liberty | David E. Smith | December 19, 2017 10:00 AM | Comments Off on SPOTLIGHT: A Creche on Display in the Illinois Rotunda
Written by Monica Burke
[Last] week, an ABC News headline referred to Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian nonprofit committed to defending religious liberty in the legal system, as an “anti-LGBT hate group.” ABC reported on a speech delivered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the following manner:
Sessions addressed members of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which was designated an ‘anti-LGBT hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016, at the Summit on Religious Liberty at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, in Dana Point, California.
…
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Tags: ABC News, Alliance Defending Freedom, Blaine Adamson, GuideStar, Jack Phillips, Jeff Sessions, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Obergefell, Southern Poverty Law Center, Steve Scalise, Tennes family
Media Watch | David E. Smith | July 17, 2017 6:30 AM | Comments Off on ABC News Vilifies Everyday Americans with “Hate Group” Headline