Posted 12:05 PM by magnu231
1st Amendment & Religion

Surprisingly, this is not about cartoons again. Nor is this about my newfound ability to link to things without having to put in the whole URL. This is, however, about blood-sucking and circumcision. Apparently this is an ongoing problem between some Hasidic Jews in New York and the authorities. The post on prawfsblog is here, referencing an earlier post by volokh, and a piece by Jeffrey Rosen. I for one am very interested to see how deferential Alito and Roberts will be on religious questions. I would probably be one who would be deferential on free exercise questions. I certainly believe the government should be tolerant of religious practices. But I think it's absurd (as some are arguing) that that means getting rid of many of the freedoms it holds dear, by censoring the press. Freedom of religion should mean freedom to critique, even harshly religion. Personally, I think my own religion can handle it. It has for some time. And I think Jack Straw (and some state department officials as well) are idiots for suggesting otherwise. (Hmm, I guess this became a cartoon topic after all).

0 comments