On October 5 at UNAM in Mexico City, John joined fellow scholars to talk about Linda McClain’s forthcoming book on The Rhetoric of Bigotry and Conscience.
Blog
-
NDPR reviews DRLD
At the online Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Nicholas Bamforth provides a thoughtful review of Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination. His takeaway:
Overall, this book is a thought-provoking endeavour, and it is commendable that the authors have tried to challenge one another and to find areas of agreement. Their willingness to reach out and engage in reasoned debate is valuable in and of itself. However, they have not succeeded in reaching any real consensus, sometimes even about reference-points for the debate. Perhaps, though, their willingness to engage may be all that can reasonably be hoped for when so many components of the debate involve dispute.
Read the full review here.
-
The Message of Masterpiece
In the Detroit Free Press, John explains the Court’s decision in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. From the piece:
The case was not “narrowly decided” in the sense of being a close verdict: Indeed, it was a 7-2 decision. But it was “narrowly written,” in the sense of applying only to this particular commission’s treatment of this particular baker in this particular case. It does not decide, one way or another, whether bakers generally have a right to refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples.
John was also asked to share his thoughts with the Christian Science Monitor. He responded:
The decision didn’t settle the hard questions, but it acknowledged that there are indeed hard questions here and that we won’t do a good job of addressing them if we’re too quick to label either side as “despicable.” In doing so, it invited us all to turn down the heat in the culture wars – a result I very much welcome.
Read his further thoughts in his full Freep op-ed here.
-
John and Martha Nussbaum on Scalia
On Sunday May 20, John joined Professor Martha Nussbaum at the University of Chicago’s Court Theatre following a performance of The Originalist–John Strand’s play about the late Justice Antonin Scalia–to discuss law, religion, and LGBT rights. The Windy City Times wrote about their dialogue here.
-
Princeton Panel on Masterpiece Cakeshop
On May 9 at Princeton, John joined his DRLD counterpoint authors Ryan T. Anderson and Sherif Girgis, along with moderator Robert P. George and respondents Christopher Tollefsen and Kevin Vallier, to talk about their book and about the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. Here’s The Daily Princetonian‘s story on the event; a video should be forthcoming soon.
-
Concordia Debate Video
In January, John did several events with his Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination counterpoint author Ryan T. Anderson, including this one at Concordia University in Irvine, California.
-
John on CNN
On CNN, John discussed the U.S. Supreme Court “wedding-cake case” with host Michael Smerconish. Watch the full video here. -
Slicing the Cake Cases
Sara Krulwich/NYT At The New York Times, John explains how to draw a line between some of the cake cases in the news. From the article:
Therein lies the crucial difference between the cases: Silva’s objection was about what she sold; a design-based objection. Phillips’s objection was about to whom it was sold; a user-based objection. The gay couple never even had the opportunity to discuss designs with Phillips, because the baker made it immediately clear that he would not sell them any wedding cake at all.
Read the full article here.
-
Oral Arguments Next Week in Masterpiece Case
Which seems as good a reason as any to share this video again…
-
Europe Lectures
John, who is on research leave this year, has spent the month of November in Europe as a Visiting Scholar at KU Leuven, Belgium’s largest university, also giving lectures in the UK. Above, he is pictured lecturing at KU Leuven on religious liberty and discrimination. Below, clockwise from top left: At the Oxford University Press Philosophy Festival at Blackwell’s Bookshop; at KU Leuven; at a research seminar with Cambridge University’s Faculty of Law; at a public lecture at Cambridge.
