Paying the piper who protects our freedoms
Article Abstract:
The history of a tension between religious liberty and society's expectation that people follow societal norms is long. In 1986, in Goldman v. Weinberger the US Supreme Court upheld military rules forbidding an Orthodox Jew from wearing his yarmulke while on duty and in Employment Division v. Smith, the same court upheld drug laws forbidding Native Americans from using the hallucinogen peyote for rituals. The court has, however, twice upheld the right to burn an American flag as a form of First Amendment protest. The private sector, for example colleges and universities, tend to see conformity to social norms as a greater good than freedom of conscience.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1996
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Price of religious liberty is oddity
Article Abstract:
Sects such as the Heaven's Gate one, which gained publicity through a mass suicide in 1997, have, if analyzed without prejudice, similarities to mainline religions. Criticism of the indoctrination of young people practiced by cults ignores the fact that mainline religions start such indoctrination shortly after birth. Volunteer work in mainline religions occupies many hours, just as is the case in cults. Christian nuns and monks give up all worldly goods for the church. Religious liberty, including the toleration of sects, contributes in the long run to civic peace.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1997
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