By darshika @Adobe Stock
What Happened to Live and Let Live
The Little Sisters, a congregation of nuns, has been fighting the Obama administration mandate that would force this faithful flock to pay for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs.
Although the Little Sisters won twice at The Supreme Court, there are lawsuits in both Pennsylvania and California that make them uneasy. The Sisters fear a Grinchly rule will sabotage their religious exemption. One concern is that Joe Biden, on his way out the door, will disrupt the standing of the Little Sisters.
Religious Freedom a Partisan Issue
The Little Sisters aren’t the only ones who are nervous, continues William McGurn in the WSJ. Religious organizations across America are fighting government decrees that would compel them to violate their beliefs. The Free Exercise Clause won’t mend all of America’s divisions, but it’s a good place to start.
These lawsuits occur in an America polarized by religion. Donald Trump won the votes of a majority of Catholics and evangelical Protestants, 7 of 10 nonreligious voters supported Kamala Harris. Religious liberty has become a partisan issue.
Unlike the late 1970s, when Baptist minister Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority, today’s view is not about which traditional worldwide view will prevail. Rather, today the looming question is whether those with religious convictions can live their lives in their own institutions and communities in harmony with their own beliefs.
Even those who have no dog in this fight have a stake, because a government that doesn’t respect the religious liberty of its citizens is unlikely to respect much else.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah
We used to be a pillar of American liberalism, championed by men such as Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan. They understood that tolerance was born not out of indifference to beliefs but respect for conviction. This, according to McGurn, “is the heart of any liberal order and the key to civic peace.”
Much of today’s litigation is aimed at marginalizing religious Americans and forcing them to park their convictions at the entrance to the public square. We see this in the efforts to force bakers to bake cakes for gay weddings, to demand that Catholic nuns pay for contraception, and to oblige parents to abandon a Jewish education for their disabled children as a condition for special-education funding.
Deeply held convictions are wrapped up in how others identify themselves. Religious liberty can’t mend all America’s divisions, McGurn realistically notes.
But respecting the beliefs of others—and encouraging the government’s constitutional obligation to accommodate those beliefs at both the individual and institutional levels—is an excellent place to start.
This year marks the fifth time over the last 114 years Hanukkah has started on the same day as Christmas. It won’t happen again until 2035. Mark Rienzi, the Becket Fund’s president and a Catholic University law professor, weighs in:
“Christmas and Hanukkah both arrive on Wednesday, so this is a season of miracles. Let’s pray that the opponents of religion can remember how to live and let live.”
James Freeman describes Christmas as a time to celebrate neighbors. One of the great blessings of America is the way such faith traditions live side by side. Spending the next 8-12 nights expressing gratitude, toasting our neighbors and joyful celebrating seems like a capital idea.
If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.
