In recent rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that speech about religion is entitled to the same protection against content and viewpoint discrimination as speech about other topics, as well as has urged that the Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment should work in tandem to protect religious speech. In the view of some, in so doing the Supreme Court has downplayed the role of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause and has undervalued the importance of other societal interests. Others, however, find the Court's approach unremarkable, if not essential to protecting freedom of religion as a crucial constitutional value. Whatever one's view, this trend has broad implications for how governments handle religious speech and raises potential conflict between religious beliefs and laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. This panel explores these timely and important issues.
VIDEO
Is Religious Speech Free Speech?
Sarah Goetz, Holly Hollman, Daniel Mach, Michael W. McConnell, and Stephen J Wermiel