This year marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the 25th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). These bipartisan pieces of legislation, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, have been integral to preserving religious liberty protections at home and abroad for the past three decades. Event Overview: This …
Public Bioethics & the Failure of Expressive Individualism
How we understand the human person shapes our social mores, institutions, and laws. DOWNLOAD THE PDF There is a clear correlation between the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies and the attention given to bioethics. Bioethics—the study of defining what is moral with regards to science, medicine, and technology—must have, at its base, a working definition of …
RFI Joins Letter Urging GOP Senators to Oppose ‘Respect for Marriage Act’
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges imposed same-sex marriage throughout the United States. Seven years later, the matter of marriage has surged back into the center of public debate, this time prompted by House passage of the “Respect for Marriage Act.” The Senate is expected to act in the coming days. On Tuesday, I joined more than 80 …
The Fight for Religious Freedom Begins at Home
By Samuel Rodriguez
Not only has the 2016 presidential election polarized America on almost every major issue, it has also served as a source of hysteria. Each party—and those unaffiliated—views the opposing candidate’s win as disaster. If Hillary wins, it’s the end of American Christianity; if Trump wins, all Muslims will be excommunicated. It is in this moment, then, that I want to invite everyone to pause and just take a deep breath.
If Policy Makers Cared About Data, They’d Care About Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB)
By: Brian Grim
“In God we trust, all others bring data.”—W. Edwards Deming
“We are drowning in information and starving for knowledge.”—Rutherford D. Roger
In the following paragraphs, I’ll apply these two provocative quotes, both from the preface of The Elements of Statistical Learning, to freedom of religion or belief with Deming’s goal for statistical data squarely in view: to provide “a rational basis for action.”