For religious believers (as the vast majority of Utahns are), this world is made up of two kingdoms: the kingdom of God (or Gods), and the kingdom of men. These kingdoms are very different. They have different languages. They have different customs. They have different laws. They have different leaders. Believers owe allegiance to both […]
Book Review: The Right to Be Wrong by Kevin Seamus Hasson [Contributor]
February 18, 2014 by
America is exceptional. It’s exceptional because of our love for and commitment to individual freedom. And the first individual freedom delineated in the Bill of Rights is the freedom of religion. This first freedom is the subject of Kevin Hasson’s wonderful little read: The Right to Be Wrong. (Hasson is the founder of the Becket […]
Why religious freedom?
January 30, 2014 by
Why religious freedom? The question seems, on its face, silly. We are Americans. We value religious freedom and we have since before the Founding. Religious freedom is the first freedom protected in the Bill of Rights. It comes before the freedom of speech and assembly and before freedom of the press. It is the freedom […]
Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Why doesn’t Utah have one?
January 25, 2014 by
Recently, Senator Stuart Reid announced that he is working on three bills that are intended to protect religious freedoms in Utah, including implementation of a state-based version of the Religious Freedom Act. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . . .” These are the immortals words of the Declaration […]
Campaign Fundraising: Free Speech or Extortion?
January 24, 2014 by
Utah has learned a lot about the state of campaign fundraising in recent months. We have John Swallow and Jason Powers to thank for that. With perhaps more creativity than we would like to give them credit for, Swallow and Powers found ways to duck, dodge, and hide from just about every Utah law designed […]
Religious Freedom Prevails Over Obamacare in the D.C. Circuit Court [Contributor]
November 4, 2013 by
In Gilardi v. Department of Health and Human Services, handed down on November 1, 2013, the D.C. Circuit of Appeals examined whether the contraceptive mandate imposed by the Affordable Care Act violates the right of free exercise protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In its ruling, the D.C. Circuit invalidates the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate […]
Senator Lee wants to protect paid journalists, but not bloggers.
September 6, 2013 by
In America, we believe in equal protection under the law. That law includes the First Amendment and its protection of speech. “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” In forty-eight states, called shield laws (or a shield rule, in Utah) laws on the books protect journalists from being forced […]
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