Debate by University of Chicago Faculty Blog on the appropriate scope of religious-liberty exemptions

On April 26th, the Chicago Tribune published an article on Illinois' proposed Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act. The author, University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone, asks, "How does the legal recognition of civil unions threaten the religious liberty of those who oppose the legislation?" This article gave rise last week to a debate on the proper scope of religious-liberty exemptions, not just with respect to Illinois' civil-unions legislation, but more generally with respect to legalization of same-sex marriage. The University of Chicago Faculty blog hosted the debate:

05/03/09 post by Geoffrey Stone:

Civil Unions: Why Illinois Should Enact H.R. 2234

05/04/09 post by Martha Nussbaum:

[Civil Unions] The Same-Sex Marriage Debate: Reason, or Fear of Contamination?

05/05/09 post by Rick Garnett:

[Civil Unions] Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Religious Liberty

05/05/09 post by Douglas Laycock:

Civil Unions: Protecting Gays, Lesbians, and Religious Objectors

05/06/09 post by Geoffrey Stone:

[Civil Unions]: A Reply to Nussbaum

05/06/09 post by Douglas Laycock:

Civil Unions and Religious Liberty: A Response to Stone

05/07/09 post by Rick Garnett:

More on Civil Unions and Religious Liberty

05/08/09 post by Geoffrey Stone:

[Civil Unions]: When Reasonable Isn't Reasonable

05/10/09 post by Douglas Laycock:

Civil Unions: Making Religious Exemptions Work

(In this post, Laycock notes that his "[a]fterword in Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty explores exemptions in greater depth and makes the case for separating legal and religious marriage. He says that "[c]leanly separating [the legal and religious relationships of marriage] would be an elementary application of separation of church and state, and it would take a good bit of the emotional heat out of the same-sex marriage debate.")