Whose Conscience is It? Most people who object to the SCOTUS ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, including some of the Justices, argue either that the baker used his freedom of conscience as a cloak for bigotry, or that he conscience was misguided and irrational. Justice Neil Gorsuch responded to these arguments in his concurring opinion joined by Justice Samuel Alito[1]. As a side note, this is my first encounter […]
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On the Dignity of the Person: Freedom of Conscience
Tertullian was a prominent Latin Church Father of the second and third century, probably a jurisconsult in Rome, and one of the best legal minds in the history of Western Civilization. Among his writings are the earliest and most coherent formulations of legal principles now commonly known as “freedom of conscience” and “consent of the governed”. In more than one ways, these principles are corollaries of Judeo-Christian morality. First, the […]
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