Philosophy, the Handmaid of Judicial Review

November 25, 2011 By francisbeckwith Leave a Comment

That’s the title of my latest entry over at The Catholic Thing. Here’s how it begins:

In his most recent column here at The Catholic Thing, my friend Hadley Arkes raises the question as to why the federal courts, and the Supreme Court in particular, could not extend the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to unborn human persons by employing the same reasoning these courts have utilized elsewhere.

What Hadley is suggesting in his query should be uncontroversial:  the courts must apply the principles of the Constitution to new realities that share the properties of those realities to which the principles have always applied, even though these new realities were not predicted or anticipated by the framers.

In order to make this point, we need not look further than a 1970 federal district court case, Steinberg v. Brown (1970). This case was cited by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade (1973) as one of the many cases that had upheld anti-abortion statutes. What the Supreme Court failed to mention is that the Steinberg court upheld Ohio’s statute based on reasoning that the Supreme Court claimed the defendant in Roe, the state of Texas, did not provide, namely, evidence that a federal court had found an unborn human being to be a person under the Fourteenth Amendment.

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Filed Under: Abortion, Constitutional Law, The Catholic Thing Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

Paul Copan on the Mike Licona-Norm Geisler Controversy

November 22, 2011 By francisbeckwith 1 Comment

For background, go to the Christianity Today article on the matter here. For Mike Licona’s 2011 ETS paper in which he addresses this controversy, go here. (An mp3 of his November 17, 2011 presentation of his paper can be found here.)  Best blog post on the controversy can be found here.

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Filed Under: apologetics, Evangelical Philosophical Society, Evangelical Theological Society, Norman L. Geisler Tagged With: 1 Comment

Religion, Politics, and the Public Square

November 18, 2011 By francisbeckwith Leave a Comment

Over the years I’ve published several academic articles dealing with the separation of church and state and the status of theology as knowledge. I bring this to your attention because of the increasing attention on the religious beliefs of those running for the U. S. Presidency. Here are some of my articles with links:

Filed Under: American Culture, politics Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

Same-Sex Marriage and the Failure of Justificatory Liberalism

November 17, 2011 By francisbeckwith Leave a Comment

I am in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. This morning I delivered a paper entitled, “Justificatory Liberalism and Same-Sex Marriage,” during one of the sessions of the Evangelical Philosophical Society.

I first began thinking about the paper’s main argument nearly three years ago when I wrote a piece for First Things‘ On the Square, “Same-Sex Marriage and the Failure of Justificatory Liberalism.” Here’s how it begins:

On November 4, 2008, the people of California—in a 52 to 48 percent vote—placed in the state’s constitution an amendment that reaffirmed that marriage consists of one man and one woman. The amendment, Proposition 8, overturned the California Supreme Court’s May 2008 ruling that invalidated a statute that was passed in 2000 in a statewide referendum by a 61 to 39 percent vote. That 2008 opinion held that limiting marriage to one man and one woman, as required in the 2000 statute, violated the equal protection rights of homosexuals under the California constitution.

Following the Proposition 8 victory, thousands of its opponents protested in a number of California venues including in front of the Mormon Temple in Los Angeles and Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Orange County. The rage and anger exhibited toward the Latter-day Saint and Evangelical believers who were present during the protests was palpable. The protesters were clearly blaming their loss on the effort and organizational and financial support of LDS citizens as well as Pastor Warren’s vocal backing for Proposition 8.

There is a certain irony in seeing those who speak so often of tolerance and understanding using the occasion of a political loss to unleash a torrid of vitriol that no one would ever confuse with tolerance and understanding if the perpetrators were burning crosses or Dixie Chick CDs. And yet the perpetrators in this instance, the losers in the Prop 8 election, do not see it that way. They see the absence of same-sex marriage from our legal regime as a grave injustice that must be remedied by any means necessary. For them, tolerance does not extend to injustice.

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Filed Under: American Culture, Evangelical Philosophical Society, Evangelical Theological Society, First Things, Marriage Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

Progressive Politics and Diminishing Religious Liberty

November 15, 2011 By francisbeckwith Leave a Comment

Over at Public Discourse this morning, attorneys Jane Robbins and Emmett McGroarty have authored an eye-opening piece, “Mandating Our Religious Freedom.” Here’s how it begins:

People of faith must reclaim their religious freedom, granted by the Creator and protected by the Constitution.

The Founders’ protection of religious freedom in the First Amendment was in keeping with their recognition of the supreme importance of the individual, who was created by God and subject to God’s natural law. The early twentieth-century Progressives largely rejected this view, as they concluded that man must not be limited by “arbitrary” rules such as those imposed by religion. Modern progressives have seized upon this viewpoint, especially in their attitudes toward sex. The State will teach children about sex, and it will do so by disconnecting it from its most important component—the spiritual. It does not matter that such teachings are, by nature, within the rights of parents.

Progressives have carried these attitudes to federal, state, and local governments, and the result has been an unprecedented assault on religious values and religious practice. Governmental authorities embrace the view that access to contraception (and abortion) is a fundamental right vital to sexual freedom. Similarly, homosexual conduct must be completely normalized and accepted. The law must prohibit even private preference for heterosexual norms, and if religion teaches such a preference, religion must yield. These attitudes must be taught to children in the public schools in order to affirm, in the state’s view, the full self-realization of every person—and as shown below, parents who object to the assault on their right to bring up their children according to their religious values have discovered that the courts will not protect their rights in this regard.

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Filed Under: American Culture, Constitutional Law, Law Tagged With: Leave a Comment

Is There a Right to Clone?

November 14, 2011 By francisbeckwith Leave a Comment

I don’t think so. In a 2002 article in the Nevada Law Journal, “Cloning and Reproductive Liberty,” I make the argument that one cannot get a right to clone from the Supreme Court’s reproductive rights jurisprudence. You can read the article here.

Filed Under: Constitutional Law Tagged With: Leave a Comment
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