Progressive War on Chicken

[Center for law and Religion St. John’s University] That’s why [government] campaigns like this week’s against Chick-fil-A are so dangerous. Whatever one thinks about same-sex marriage, one can’t allow government to shut people down for expressing views in a public debate. (There’s no evidence that Chick-fil-A in any way discriminates against gays and lesbians, either in The Chick-fil-A corporate leadership supports traditional marriage from religious conviction, so the controversy has implications for religious freedom in America. It’s encouraging to see that Americans understand the value of free religious expression and disapprove of government’s attempts to bully people into silence – even if they disagree with the religious views being expressed. The controversy does reveal something ominous, though. As Robert George and others have written, the coming clash over religious freedom in America will likely involve sexuality: abortion, contraception, pornography, same-sex marriage, and so on. On sexuality, progressives seem increasingly unable even to understand the worldview of traditional religious communities like Muslims, Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, and the Catholic Church. The intuitions are totally different: what traditional religious communities can’t help but see as common sense, progressives can’t help but see as psychological repression and bigotry. Disagreement is profound. Clashes may be very ugly, indeed.