PS 'freedom of religion' also means 'freedom on conscience' for atheists, & for anyone who wants to form _any_ kind of morally cohesive community.
Show this thread
'Religious liberty' includes the freedom of communities to impose their own moral judgments & social norms. 'Equal protection under the law' means everyone must be immune to those judgments & norms. There is no credible way to reconcile these conflicting principles. Never was.
-
-
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
As long as the law is not used to enforce moral judgements and social norms, it's fine.
-
The law is entirely about enforcing moral judgments & social norms. Norms against rape & murder, for example.
- 4 more replies
New conversation -
-
-
Does this now make it illegal for Catholic Churches or Islamic mosques to deny women or trans people positions as priests or Imams?
-
That would be one implication, unless SCOTUS figures out how this fits with religious liberty. Which it really can't, IMHO.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Only if those judgments and norms are imposed under a theocracy. Imposing moral judgments and norms within a religious body operating inside a republic doesn't violate equal protection; the secular laws govern. The religious authority only binds its members, who can always exit.
-
So we've been told. But it rarely works in practice, because all social & moral norms are 'discriminatory' in some way, with respect to some behaviors... or else they couldn't function as norms (based on rewards & punishments) at all.
- 2 more replies
New conversation -
-
-
I wonder where freedom of association falls in this mix?
-
Freedom of association is the heart of the problem, and maybe it's also the heart of the solution.
- 2 more replies
New conversation -
-
-
Liberal societies usually adopt a Protestant concept of religion, that religion is part of one's conscience and that being religious means nothing more than having a certain concept of God or higher deity that is purely subjective. Religion as ritual or festival has vanished.
-
Yep. I'm seeing a lot of that rhetoric in the replies here. 'Religion as individual conscience' isn't enough to support 'religion as constitutionally protected social practice & moral communities based on freedom of association'
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.