Outside the Beltway

Pope Francis’s new encyclical isn’t exactly being received positively by American conservatives, because they seem to be missing the point.

Marijuana is legal in Colorado, but it’s illegal under Federal Law. Because of that, the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed a claim by resident who was fired when he tested positive for pot.

A new Michigan law allows religious-affiliated adoption agencies to turn away parents for religious reasons, and it seems fairly obvious what the target is in this case.

The head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resigned in the wake of criminal charges for covering up sexual abuse of children.

A new North Carolina law allows government employees to decline to perform their jobs by claiming it violates their “religious liberty.”

Americans are growing more tolerant of gays and gay marriage, with irrelevant exceptions.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been charged criminally for its role in covering up sexual abuse of children by Priests.

A new poll shows that Americans have moved to the left on a wide variety of social issues.

The agency that runs Washington D.C.’s mass transit has banned all political ads after Pamela Gellar attempted to run an advertisement featuring a drawing of Mohammed.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who was refused a job because of her hijab.

Marco Rubio seems to be in lockstep with the extreme social conservatives when it comes to same-sex marriage.

A woman discharged from the Marine Corps for violating multiple direct orders is fighting to the highest military court.

A new survey shows that Americans are becoming less Christian, and less religious overall.

Congressman Darrell Issa says that America’s poor are generally better off than the poor in the rest of the world. While he’s correct, he’s also incredibly tone deaf.

Unlike most world leaders, Pope Francis is wiling to call a genocide a genocide.

A new poll suggests that the American public does not support laws that give religious exemptions to businesses that want to discriminate based on sexual orientation.

A bill pending in Louisiana seems likely to become the next national focus in the debate between marriage equality and claims of ‘religious freedom.’

Indiana’s RFRA will be amended to address most of the concerns of its opponents. That counts as a victory.

Rand Paul has been cozying up to social conservatives lately, but he risks alienating the people most likely to support his campaign for the White House.

Ben Carson doesn’t seem to know much about foreign policy or history. And he doesn’t belong on anyone’s list of serious Presidential candidates.

Elton John is leading a boycott against Dolce & Gabbana.

Pope Francis says he expects to serve only a short period and plans to follow his predecessor’s example of retiring rather than waiting to die in office.

Freedom of speech means freedom for all speech, even when it is racially offensive.

The Atlantic has a fascinating cover story by Graeme Wood titled “What ISIS Really Wants.”

Yet another attack on religious freedom in Europe.

In the end, there is no difference between Roy Moore resisting a Federal Court Order related to same-sex marriage and George Wallace’s efforts to block desegregation.

The same-sex marriage battle is on in Alabama

Pressure is building on the Administration to send military aid to Ukraine, but it would be a very bad idea.

Pope Francis continues his world tour and has issued a paradox from his private jet.

Pope Francis has earned a reputation as a liberal in comparison to recent predecessors but he’s no liberal.

Their editor and nine colleagues dead, their offices destroyed, the newspaper is not missing a beat.

The men responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre are dead, but the problems for France, and the rest of Europe, may just be at the beginning.

Bill Donohue rightly condemns insulting Muslims—but goes way too far.

At least 11 are dead and 10 wounded in an attack on free expression.

The Supreme Court is set to decide if the state can deny a license plate with the Confederate flag design because it is “offensive.”

Vatican politics is older than American politics, and can be just as entertaining.

Pope Francis restates something the Catholic Church has taught for a long time and, again, the American media thinks its something new and revolutionary.

The City of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho will not force two Christian ministers to open their wedding chapel business to same-sex wedding ceremonies.

A collision between marriage equality and religious liberty, but it seems clear that religious liberty should win this one.

A not surprising outcome to a move that have had motives entirely unconnected to litigation.

Someone needs to remind the City of Houston that the First Amendment applies to them.

A fired Oklahoma worker beheaded a woman and was attacking another when he was shot. Workplace violence? Or terrorism.