{"id":24865,"date":"2016-08-12T05:55:42","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T09:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=24865"},"modified":"2016-08-11T12:30:04","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T16:30:04","slug":"what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/","title":{"rendered":"What Clinton thinks religious liberty is"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In a play to capitalize on Mormon\u2019s dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton wrote an op-ed piece in the LDS-owned Deseret News\u00a0<\/em>in which she emphasizes her commitment to religious liberty. \u00a0But notice what she thinks religious liberty is<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read what she says and my analysis after the jump.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From\u00a0Exclusive: Hillary Clinton: What I have in common with Utah Leaders\u2013religious freedom and the Constitution, Deseret News:\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m running for president to make sure our country continues to live up to our founding principles. Those timeless ideas teach us that we\u2019re stronger together when we work in unison to solve our problems, no matter what we look like, where we come from or how we pray.<\/p>\n

\n

That last one is important. As Americans, we hold fast to the belief that everyone has the right to worship however he or she sees fit.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been fighting to defend religious freedom for years. As secretary of state, I made it a cornerstone of our foreign policy to protect the rights of religious minorities around the world \u2014 from Coptic Christians in Egypt to Buddhists in Tibet. And along with Jon Huntsman, our then-ambassador in Beijing, I stood in solidarity with Chinese Christians facing persecution from their government.<\/p>\n

We stood up for these oppressed communities because Americans know that democracy ceases to exist when a leader or ruling faction can impose a particular faith on everyone else.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p>\n

Her whole essay is worth parsing for what it says about her understanding of being faithful to the Constitution.<\/p>\n

As for religious liberty, notice how she first describes it as having to do with \u201chow we pray.\u201d \u201cEveryone has the right to worship however he or she sees fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

So religious freedom is not about what we believe, but how we worship. \u00a0Most of the threats to\u00a0religious freedom both here and around the world are not about what happens within the walls of a house of worship, but whether or not what is taught there may be believed and acted upon outside those walls.<\/p>\n

But then she touches on this: \u00a0\u201cdemocracy ceases to exist when a leader or ruling faction can impose a particular faith on everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Set aside the extent to which her State Department stood up against the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities, with many saying the administration should have done much more. \u00a0Clinton believes that religious freedom is a matter of not imposing \u201ca particular faith on everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is part of it, to be sure. \u00a0But by this measure, Russia\u2019s new anti-evangelism law would be an example of religious liberty. \u00a0(Although since it benefits the Russian Orthodox Church, I suppose it could also be an example of \u201cimposing\u201d religion.)<\/p>\n

But framing the issue this way means that the current assaults on religious liberty are actually examples of religious liberty. \u00a0A pro-life employer must pay for his employees\u2019 abortions because he doesn\u2019t have the right to impose his religion on them. \u00a0This takes away the \u201cfree exercise\u201d of his religion (the Constitution\u2019s definition) for the higher claim of \u201cnot imposing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This novel interpretation applies to just about every one of today\u2019s\u00a0religious liberty controversies, from discrimination exemptions to religious expressions in public. \u00a0Liberals can thus squelch religious liberty while claiming they are advancing religious liberty!<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a play to capitalize on Mormon\u2019s dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton wrote an op-ed piece in the LDS-owned Deseret News\u00a0in which she emphasizes her commitment to religious liberty. \u00a0But notice what she thinks religious liberty is. Read what she says and my analysis after the jump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,25,26,39],"tags":[1019,1870],"class_list":["post-24865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-language","category-law","category-religions","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-religious-liberty"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Clinton thinks religious liberty is<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a play to capitalize on Mormon's dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton wrote an op-ed piece in the LDS-owned Deseret News\u00a0in which she\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Clinton thinks religious liberty is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a play to capitalize on Mormon's dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton wrote an op-ed piece in the LDS-owned Deseret News\u00a0in which she\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-12T09:55:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-11T16:30:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/\",\"name\":\"What Clinton thinks religious liberty is\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-12T09:55:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-11T16:30:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"In a play to capitalize on Mormon's dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton wrote an op-ed piece in the LDS-owned Deseret News\u00a0in which she\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/08\/what-clinton-thinks-religious-liberty-is\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Clinton thinks religious liberty is\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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