Inside the First Amendment
Contributor Charles C. Haynes is vice president of the Freedom Forum Institute, founding director of the Religious Freedom Center and a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life. Listed below are his most recent columns with “Inside the First Amendment.”
‘I am America’
“I am America,” Muhammad Ali famously declared. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”
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Without virtue, freedom fails
Legislatures and courts alone cannot protect our fundamental freedoms, especially the freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Our freedom is ultimately sustained by the civic virtue of citizens.
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Make America Safe Again: Reject Islamophobia
On the campaign trail, Islamophobia has moved from the crackpot fringe to mainstream political discourse. Only by making America safe again for Muslim citizens will we keep America safe for people of all faiths and none.
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With Bible bill vetoes, governors uphold religious freedom
The culture wars took an expected turn this month when two Republican governors vetoed “Bible bills” in the reliably red states of Idaho and Tennessee.
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Without LGBT rights, religious freedom fails
In a pluralistic democracy, people can and should debate differences about religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. But our common goal must be public policies that uphold both religious freedom and equality – two constitutional principles grounded in the inviolable dignity of every human being.
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Safe space for free speech
When chalked graffiti promoting Donald Trump and his controversial wall appeared overnight on buildings, steps, and other surfaces at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., last week, student reaction ranged from amusement to outrage.
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Beyond left vs. right, Madison’s vision of religious freedom
Madison, whose birthday the nation largely ignores every year on March 16, would be appalled to see the true meaning of religious freedom, the great cause of his life, lost in the din of charge and counter-charge in our increasingly ugly political arena.
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Trump and the future of the First Amendment
Vicious name-calling, racist fear-mongering, crude remarks about women’s body parts, cyberbullying, playground taunts: Welcome to the ever-lowering low bar for political discourse in Trump’s America…
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Justice Scalia’s disastrous decision on religious freedom
Justice Scalia was no defender of religious freedom. On the contrary, Scalia authored Employment Division v. Smith, the landmark 1990 Supreme Court decision that all but erased the Free Exercise clause from the First Amendment.
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At Morocco summit, Muslim leaders stand up for religious freedom
The Marrakesh Declaration comes at a time of unprecedented persecution of Christians and other minority groups by extremists acting in the name of Islam in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
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