Religious Liberty, etc.

There are rumors in the air — perhaps they’re better founded than mere rumor, but that’s how I’ve been encountering the idea — that the Supreme Court of the United States will issue a ruling on President Trump’s proposed travel ban very shortly.  So here’s an item that may or may not be prophetic of how that ruling will go:

“Trump’s Travel Ban Is in Trouble at the Supreme Court: Justice Kennedy’s ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case suggests the court’s next big decision might go badly for the president.”

For the record, and for those who may be unaware of it, nineteen scholars of Mormonism filed an amici curiae brief with the United States Supreme Court in connection with this case.  I was one of those nineteen signatories.  You can read the brief, and inspect the list of signers, here:

“Mormon history scholars’ court filing on travel ban”

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I’ve written a couple of time before about my admiration for the keynote address given by Elder L. Whitney Clayton, the senior president of the Quorums of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on 20 June 2018 at the fourth Religious Freedom Annual Review, sponsored and hosted by the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.  The text of Elder Clayton’s remarks is now available for reading online:

““In the Marrow of Their Bones”: The Latter-day Saint Experience of Religion as Identity”

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Here’s another item filed from Provo, Utah, by a non-LDS participant in the 2018 Religious Freedom Annual Review.  It has relatively little to do with the actual meeting, but is interesting nonetheless:

“Friday Five: BYU conference, Border separation, McCarrick scandal, Chris Pratt on MTV and more”

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This report is about the conference itself:

“Trump’s ‘era of fracture’ threatens to splinter religions, too, says The Atlantic‘s Emma Green at BYU conference”

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Granted, it’s Canada.  But I find this recent decision of Canada’s Supreme Court troubling, and even a bit horrifying:

“Canada’s Supreme Court Rejects Country’s Only Christian Law School: Trinity Western University’s loss over its LGBT stance is seen as a blow to religious freedom.”

“Trinity Western loses fight for Christian law school as court rules limits on religious freedom ‘reasonable’: Supreme Court of Canada says 7-2 decision will ensure open access for LGBT students”

You can read Trinity Western University’s “Community Covenant Agreement” here”

“Community Covenant Agreement: Our Pledge to One Another”

In the relevant areas, TWU’s Community Covenant isn’t significantly different from Brigham Young University’s “Honor Code.”  (I actually prefer the title “Community Covenant,” myself.)  Is the fate of Trinity Western University’s proposed law school a harbinger of things to come in the United States?  I fear that it may be.