Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination

In recent years public debates have raged about whether the right to religious liberty includes the right to discriminate against others. From a county clerk in Kentucky who refused to sign same sex marriage certificates, to private companies whose religious owners refuse to cover the cost of contraceptives to employees per the Affordable Care Act, this seemingly intractable question showcases the deep legal, cultural, and philosophical divides in America.

Most Americans support religious liberty, and most oppose discrimination. But how do we handle the hard questions that arise when exercises of religious liberty seem to discriminate unjustly? How do we promote the common good while respecting conscience in a diverse society?

This point-counterpoint book brings together leading voices in the culture wars to debate such questions: John Corvino, a longtime LGBT-rights advocate, opposite Ryan T. Anderson and Sherif Girgis, prominent young defenders of the traditional view of marriage.

Many such questions have arisen in response to same-sex marriage: How should we treat county clerks who do not wish to authorize such marriages, for example; or bakers, florists, and photographers who do not wish to service same-sex weddings? But the conflicts are not limited to the LGBT-rights arena. And they implicate age-old questions about ethics, law, and public policy.

The differences between Corvino and Girgis/Anderson are nuanced, they run deep, and they implicate perennial questions about the value of religion, the role of government, and the challenges of living in a diverse and free society. The debate developed by both sides illustrates why religious liberty is important and what respecting it requires.

John Corvino, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is the co-author (with Maggie Gallagher) of Debating Same-Sex Marriage (June 2012) and the author of What's Wrong with Homosexuality? (January 2013), both from Oxford University Press.

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., is William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He is author of Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom (Regnery, 2015), co-author of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense (Encounter, 2012) and co-editor of A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism (University of Notre Dame Press, 2017).

Sherif Girgis, J.D., is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at Princeton and lead author (with Ryan T. Anderson and Robert P. George) of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense (Encounter Books, 2012). He earned a law degree from Yale and a B.Phil. (M.Phil.) in philosophy from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.