A new article by Tara Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin and BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism, highlights her recent interest in the subject of religious exemptions in the law. “Religious Liberty or Religious License? Legal Schizophrenia and the Case against Exemptions,” published in the Journal of Law & Politics, “seeks to demonstrate that religious exemptions are unjustified in theory and corrosive, in practice,” according to the article’s abstract.
In a PragerU video, Dennis Prager claims that if God does not exist, then there is no objective basis for morality. Prager, and those who agree with him, should listen to Objectivist philosopher Onkar Ghate’s talk “Religion and Morality,” in which he argues that it is the belief in God that undermines objective morality. If God is the source of morality, Ghate points out, then murder is good — whenever God says it is.
In trying to make a valid point — that the left has wrongly portrayed Rand as the central intellectual influence on conservatives — Kevin D. Williamson goes a bridge too far, trying to pretend that fondness for Rand’s work is the exception among conservatives rather than the rule.
What is the significance of Donald Trump’s election win? “Can You Love God and Ayn Rand?” What's Behind the Bullying of Vaccine-maker Pfizer? And what does society look like without a wall separating religion and state?
Sam Harris is one of the few intellectuals today willing to speak frankly about the Islamic totalitarian movement. I agree broadly with his account of how the movement is fundamentally animated by religious ideas (rather than primarily political or economic grievances). Moreover, Harris has been courageous and articulate in fighting the smear of “Islamophobia,” a dishonest term intended to silence debate and marginalize dissenting views.
