Drawing the Line on Freedom of Religion

Freedom of religion is a founding principle of our culture and our country. But it is not a “Get out of Jail Free” card to let you do anything you want. I have no problem with religions teaching their beliefs of various and sundry deities, or teaching their followers how they should live. Religions should be able to preach and proselytize in the free market of ideas.

But when a religion seeks to impose itself by force, or usurp the rule of law, it has crossed the line and deserves no constitutional protections. As Andy McCarthy puts it:

Implementing sharia is the purpose of jihad. Sharia is antithetical to our Constitution in fundamental ways.

So if you want to preach sharia in your mosque, my country has both a right and a duty to listen in and to do something about it.

Citizens United Good News for Progressives, Too

Will Wilkinson lays out the case.

Progressives are right to worry about corporatist government. But they locate the problem in the wrong place, which is why their proposed solutions repeatedly miss the target. It would be a great tragedy for democracy if a commonsense reading of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech truly undermined democratic freedom. Thankfully, it does not. Ultimately, the Citizen’s United case will change very little about how our political system works. Election-season speech was never the chief means by which special interests did their dirty work. But in some modest measure, the decision actually sets the right example. By limiting government power, it protects our freedom.

Of course a deliberately dishonest, illiterate reading of the Constitution is a requirement for being a “progressive”.

Yesterday in Azerbaijan

Because your Friday isn’t weird enough yet.