Competing Freedoms: Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Sexual and Reproductive Liberty in Pluralistic Societies

Recent events in several states, along with the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, have resulted in a national debate often pitting religious freedom against the civil rights and civil liberties of the LGBT community. This controversy follows closely on the heels of the Supreme Court's decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which set off a firestorm over the balance between reproductive rights and religious freedom. Both conservatives and progressives have raised the level of hysteria. The media has been happy to oblige. Television and radio news programs, newspapers, magazines and the blogosphere are filled daily with reports of discrimination by one or both sides. We have entered a new, and heretofore unparalleled, battle in the culture wars. Of course, the framing of this controversy ignores one central fact: religious freedom and strong civil rights for all can coexist when properly understood. This paper, which is an edited excerpt from my recent book, Freedom's Edge: Religious Freedom, Sexual Freedom, and the Future of America (Cambridge University Press, 2016), addresses elements of the debate and suggests some possible bases for co-existence