Religious News
The Daily Signal reports on faith and religion in America, covering Christian, Jewish, and other faith communities, with analysis and commentary on cultural trends, religious liberty, and moral issues that influence public life.
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opinion
Lessons From Pro-Life Victories
First the bad news. When it comes to opening the doors to opportunity, a number of cultural trends are not heading in the right direction. The marriage rate is declining. Teen drug use has increased. In fact, a majority of the cultural indicators reported in The Heritage Foundation’s “2014 Index of Culture and Opportunity” are… -
opinion
Don’t Buy the Lie That Freedom to Worship Is the Same as Religious Freedom
The right to live, work and worship according to one’s faith is a freedom foundational to the United States. Many of the first settlers, having faced religious persecution in England, sought a place where they could freely worship and live according to their conscience without interference from the government. The Founders were clear, and the… -
opinion
This Makes No Sense: Democratic Senator Wants to Make International Religious Freedom Agency More Partisan
With large-scale attacks against Christians by groups such as ISIS in Iraq, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and Al-Shabab in Somalia, religious intolerance has been much in the news lately. Christians, of course, are not the only religious group subjected to persecution. Whether it is Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and Falun Gong in China, Baha’is and… -
opinion
Cosmo Marginalizes Pro-Life Women in a Demeaning Way
Cosmopolitan magazine is getting serious this year. For the first time ever, the racy women’s reader will be endorsing candidates for office in their #CosmoVotes campaign. .@Cosmopolitan spits in the face of democracy & insults readers’ intelligence. As a dedicated subscriber of women’s magazines from Marie Claire to Women’s Health, I’m well aware of how… -
opinion
Violations of Religious Freedom Persist in Cuba
A State Department report on religious freedom released in July showed that repression of religious belief is still the norm in Cuba. The report explains that in Cuba “most religious leaders reported they exercised self-censorship in what they preached during services” because of fear of “government reprisals.” Moreover, while the State Department recognizes that established… -
opinion
Obama’s LGBT Executive Order Undermines Pluralism and Religious Liberty
Today President Barack Obama issued an executive order barring federal contractors from what it describes as “discrimination” on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Employers should respect the intrinsic dignity of all of their employees, but today’s executive order undermines our nation’s commitment to pluralism and religious liberty. Today’s executive order does not… -
opinion
Senate Considering Bill That Could Wipe Out Many State Pro-Life Laws
A sweeping bill that could eliminate many commonsense state laws protecting women from the harms of abortion was considered in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. “Imagine the vast majority of pro-life laws wiped out with the enactment of a single piece of federal legislation. That is the purpose behind S. 1696,” summarizes Bill Saunders… -
opinion
This Law Makes Sure Big Government Can’t Crush Religious Freedom
The pitch of public controversy surrounding cultural issues—especially those related to women and reproduction—can give the impression that we live in an intractably divided society with incompatible differences.But the Hobby Lobby decision suggests that such a tone is overwrought. The Supreme Court’s opinion in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell correctly… -
opinion
The Religious Liberty Law That Protected Hobby Lobby From Government Coercion
This week an important religious– liberty law did what it was supposed to do. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) provided the Supreme Court with a mechanism for weighing competing claims in our pluralistic society. The Court determined that we can, in fact, balance seemingly conflicting interests without throwing out… -
opinion
Today the Supreme Court Protected Religious Freedom
You don’t have to agree with Hobby Lobby or share its owners’ opposition to abortion to recognize that the government should not be able to force Americans to set aside their deeply held beliefs simply because they go into business. Thankfully, the Supreme Court agreed and upheld the right of Americans to live and work… -
news
Supreme Court Upholds Religious Freedom in Hobby Lobby Case
The government can’t compel a “closely held” business such as the Hobby Lobby chain to cover abortion-inducing drugs or devices in employee health plans if doing so would violate the employer’s moral and religious beliefs, the Supreme Court ruled today. In a much-anticipated decision, the justices decided 5-4 that the Obamacare provision mandating such coverage… -
news
What Do Millennials Think of Chris Christie’s Spin on Pro-Life?
Are millennials onboard with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s new definition of what “pro-life” means? Speaking today at the Road to Majority conference in Washington, the potential Republican candidate for president made the case for valuing life “from the womb to natural death”—and that includes providing non-violent drug offenders with tools and treatment to get… -
opinion
Care About Religious Liberty? Meet the Most Important Law You’ve Never Heard Of
By now, most have heard of the blockbuster cases before the Supreme Court this month involving religious liberty and the Obamacare HHS mandate. By the end of June, the Court is expected to rule on Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the requirement it provide coverage of abortion-inducing drugs and devices in its employees’ health plans. But… -
news
Kerry Asks Sudan to ‘Respect’ Condemned Mom’s Religious Freedom
A day after Christian groups rallied outside the White House seeking presidential action on behalf of a mother condemned to hang in Sudan because of her Christian faith, Secretary of State John Kerry posted a statement of “concern” about her persecution. Kerry appealed to the Sudanese government in the case of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag,… -
opinion
How Religious Liberty Can Unite Conservatives and Libertarians
On Thursday, on his FOX Business show, investigative reporter and libertarian commentator John Stossel engaged in a rapid-fire exchange over marriage policy with Heritage Foundation scholar Ryan Anderson. In a provocative edition of “Stossel,” themed as “Libertarians vs. Conservatives,” Anderson was the sole guest for a segment exploring how the two groups may differ on marriage…. -
opinion
Not All Religious Liberty Cases Are Black and White. Many Are Gray.
Sometimes religious liberty cases are black and white, but normally they’re various shades of gray and require careful critical thinking. They’re not so much a matter of arithmetic as they are geometry or even calculus. That’s one of the lessons from professor Robin Wilson’s law review article, “The Calculus of Accommodation: Contraception, Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage,…