2018 Essays

Religious freedom for me, but not for thee

Franke, Katherine M.

An Op-Ed focused on the particular use and precedents set by the Trump Administration in discourse and practice regarding religious liberty and religious freedom. "When you pay close attention to the litigation strategy pursued by the federal government’s lawyers, what you see is that this administration is not committed to an overarching principle of religious liberty—or even rights for Christians, in general. Like so much of the current political climate under President Trump, the administration is not defending a neutral constitutional principle—religious liberty—for all people, but rather only for those who share the administration’s political perspective. In fact, this government has weaponized the notion of religious liberty, not for its own sake, but rather to advance a blatantly partisan, conservative agenda."