Brad and Eugene, How does compellingness analysis work when the government tortures people and kills civilians with drones and invades Iraq, all of which are against my religious beliefs and yet makes me pay for them?
This is a serious question. I’m not a great fan of Smith (nor of RFRA, being more of a balancing kind a guy (not claiming to be balanced)), but how does a society function if there is such a unit veto? Steve -- Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017 Director of International Programs, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice http://iipsj.org Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8567 http://iipsj.com/SDJ/ "The modern trouble is in a low capacity to believe in precepts which restrict and restrain private interests and desires." Walter Lippmann On Nov 26, 2013, at 5:44 PM, Brad Pardee <bp51...@windstream.net> wrote: > Marci, > > I believe that there should be strict scrutiny before a person is compelled > by law to choose between obeying their God and obeying their government. > Anything less gives the government a blank check to command or prohibit > anything it wants to, and if that means you have to do what your God has > prohibited or you cannot do what your God has commanded, that's just too bad. > Either chuck your God or face the consequences. > > Your first example seems like an unlikely hypothetical because I don't know > of any situation where providing equal salary and benfits regardless of > religious beliefs or gender would force a person to act in opposition to the > mandates of their faith. There may be faiths that permit an employer to pay > an employee less based on religion or gender, but I'm not familiar of any > that would require an employer to do so. > > I think that there is a compelling interest in the case of blood transfusions > because that is a matter of life and death. Contraception is not a life and > death issue, and I can't think of any other way in which it would become a > compelling interest. > > Brad >
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