March 2012
20 posts
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The human papillomavirus (HPV) has long been known as a sexually transmitted infection that, at its worst, can cause cervical cancer in women. A vaccine is now available – these days vaccines are increasingly swiftly developed – not to cure this malady but to immunize women against it. But there are forces in the [Bush] administration who oppose the adoption of this measure on the grounds that...
February 2012
18 posts
2 tags
Accordingly, at the first session of the first Congress the amendment now under consideration [the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution] was proposed with others by Mr. [James] Madison. It met the views of the advocates of religious freedom, and was adopted. Mr. [Thomas] Jefferson afterwards, in reply to an address to him by a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association (8 id. 113), took...
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There are few, if any, governmental activities to which some person or group might not object on religious grounds.
- Judge Ben C. Duniway, Autenrieth v. Cullen, 418 F.2d 586 (1969)
This decision held that a group claiming religious opposition to the Vietnam war was still obligated to pay income taxes. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied certiorari.
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Not all burdens on religion are unconstitutional. … The state may justify a limitation on religious liberty by showing that it is essential to accomplish an overriding governmental interest.
…
The design of the [social security] system requires support by mandatory contributions from covered employers and employees. This mandatory participation is indispensable to the fiscal...
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Conscientious scruples have not, in the course of the long struggle for religious toleration, relieved the individual from obedience to a general law not aimed at the promotion or restriction of religious beliefs. The mere possession of religious convictions which contradict the relevant concerns of a political society does not relieve the citizen from the discharge of political...
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They assert, in other words, that “prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]” includes requiring any individual to observe a generally applicable law that requires (or forbids) the performance of an act that his religious belief forbids (or requires). As a textual matter, we do not think the words must be given that meaning. It is no more necessary to regard the collection of a...
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“The cure for poverty has a name, in fact: it’s called the empowerment of...”
– Christopher Hitchens, speaking during a Nov. 26, 2010 debate with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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“No woman’s health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much...”
– Barack Obama, in remarks on access to preventive care.
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Catholics and contraception
My posts on the Catholic “outrage” over the new ruling by the Health and Human Services Department.
The Catholic Church’s weird ideas about conscience and contraception
More thoughts on Catholicism and contraception
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“Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism, invested in...”
– Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great.
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The Catholic Church's weird ideas about conscience... →
My latest for Angry Black Lady Chronicles.
“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”
– Winston Churchill.
—I do not think Winston Churchill would have liked Mitt Romney.
(via politicalprof)
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