Mortification of Spin Religious Freedom
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Feb 25, 2026 Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author on religious liberty and bioethics. He discusses the need for a presidential commission on religious freedom. Conversation covers how religious liberty affects diverse faiths, clashes over gender, marriage, and medical conscience, and the legal balancing of liberty with justice and public order.
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PhD Comps Interrupted By Lake Effect Snow
- Ryan Anderson recounts studying for his PhD at Notre Dame amid heavy lake-effect snow.
- He describes shoveling snow during comps week as a vivid memory of that time.
Religious Liberty Became A Partisan Issue
- Religious liberty shifted from bipartisan consensus to partisan battleground in recent decades.
- Ryan Anderson traces the change from unanimous RFRA support in the 1990s to disputes intensifying during the Obama years over contraception and same-sex marriage.
Culture Wars Turned Belief Disputes Into Legal Battles
- Culture-war conflicts over marriage and gender transformed religious liberty disputes into enforcement battles.
- Anderson points to post-Obergefell pressures on bakers, florists, hospitals, and adoption agencies as core examples.
