Posted on by Marc O. DeGirolami · 2 Comments

Rakove Reviews Tsesis on the Declaration of Independence

I have not read Alexander Tsesis’s new book about the Declaration of Independence.  From this review by Jack Rakove, though, it appears that Professor Tsesis makes some “powerful moral claims” about the nature and scope of the “self-evident” “truth[]” “that all men are created equal.”  I have always been struck by the powerful religious text grounding the various principles enunciated in the Declaration, but at a quick glance, it does not seem that Professor Tsesis makes very much of this (though perhaps there are portions of the book where this text is discussed).  He does (again, according to Professor Rakove’s review) appear to advance the claim that the Constitution needs to be amended and updated to reflect a core egalitarian creed that he reads into the Declaration.  Professor Rakove has this to say:

In short, Tsesis collapses into the Declaration a host of claims that text and context simply cannot support, assigning to it qualities and purposes it was not originally intended or understood to possess. His most basic misunderstanding goes to the great equality principle that Jefferson condensed into “all men are created equal.” Americans have long read that to mean that we are or should become equal to one another as citizens. That, in effect, is how we have democratized the Constitution since 1776—as Tsesis ably demonstrates. When inequalities are perceived and become objectionable, we cite the Declaration in support of our leveling claims. Often we do that not merely because the inequalities are unjust in themselves, but also because we believe that the Declaration instructs us to oppose them. But the intended meaning of 1776 was never about inequality within American society. It was instead a statement that Americans as a people, as a collective whole, were equally endowed with other peoples with the right to oppose tyranny, to “alter and abolish” unjust governments and establish new governments in their stead. This form of equality means little to us now, but in the revolutionary circumstances of 1776, that was the equality Americans needed to assert.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Tuck on LGBT Equality

Ryan Tuck has posted Parting the Red Sea: The Religious Case for LGBT Equality, on SSRN. The abstract follows.

Much of the LGBT legal equality movement has focused on non-religious arguments. While that has netted gains in a purely legal sense, the broader – and more desirable – goal of social equality will remain elusive if the LGBT movement does not turn the religious argument around. In other words, LGBT proponents need to understand how to utilize religion to forward their causes, rather than ignore how opponents use it on the other side.

Posted on by Marc O. DeGirolami

Equality and (Religious) Liberty

An interesting story in The Guardian about Oxford professor Roger Trigg, whose new book we noted here.  The story discusses Professor Trigg’s views about the state of religious liberty in Great Britain and, in his view, the trumping power of the value of equality, as well as the sorts of inquiries courts are making about religious centrality and sincerity.  Indeed, there seem to be two themes in the story — the need to balance conflicting values and the question of who should be charged to balance them.  A bit from the story:

In his latest book, Equality, Freedom and Religion, Roger Trigg, who runs the Centre for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Kellogg College, argues: “There has been a clear trend for courts in Europe and North America to prioritise equality and non-discrimination above religion, placing the right to religious freedom in danger.”

He cites a number of recent cases, including that of Lillian Ladele, the Islington registrar who refused to conduct civil partnerships because of her religious beliefs. In that case, he says, “the need to respect the right to equality trumped the freedom of religious convictions”.

Read more

Posted on by Marc O. DeGirolami

Trigg, “Equality, Freedom, and Religion”

This looks like a terrific new book, Equality, Freedom, and Religion (OUP 2012) by philosopher Roger Trigg (Warwick).  The conflict of a thick egalitarianism and religious liberty is a constant and ever-increasing force in American legal and cultural life, and this book takes a global perspective on the issue.  The publisher’s description follows.

Is religious freedom being curtailed in pursuit of equality, and the outlawing of discrimination? Is enough effort made to accommodate those motivated by a religious conscience? All rights matter but at times the right to put religious beliefs into practice increasingly takes second place in the law of different countries to the pursuit of other social priorities. The right to freedom of belief and to manifest belief is written into all human rights charters. In the United States religious freedom is sometimes seen as ‘the first freedom’. Yet increasingly in many jurisdictions in Europe and North America, religious freedom can all too easily be ‘trumped’ by other rights.

Roger Trigg looks at the assumptions that lie behind the subordination of religious liberty to other social concerns, especially the pursuit of equality. He gives examples from different Western countries of a steady erosion of freedom of religion. The protection of freedom of worship is often seen as sufficient, and religious practices are separated from the beliefs which inspire them. So far from religion in general, and Christianity in particular, providing a foundation for our beliefs in human dignity and human rights, religion is all too often seen as threat and a source of conflict, to be controlled at all costs. The challenge is whether any freedom can preserved for long, if the basic human right to freedom of religious belief and practice is dismissed as of little account, with no attempt to provide any reasonable accommodation. Given the central role of religion in human life, unnecessary limitations on its expression are attacks on human freedom itself.

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Lecture at Kellogg College (Oxford)

The Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life at Kellogg College (Oxford) will host a lecture and panel discussion, “Equality, Freedom, and Religion,” featuring Professor Roger Trigg, on January 18, 2012. For details, please contact Kellogg College.