The Study Corner

347 – Grudge Match Between Sexual Orientation and Religious Freedom

I hear this all the time, how does homosexual marriage impact your marriage. This platitude has a small grain of truth, but it only works if you ignore the rest of reality. It’s not that recognizing other marriages changes your own, but how allowance morphs into coercion and then extortion.

For almost a dozen years there’s been a feud between the State of New York’s Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and New Hope Family Services (New Hope). New Hope was granted a perpetual corporate authorization as an adoption agency by OCFS. However, between January 2011 and November 2013, OCFS created policies and rules that would require that New Hope place children with couple that would violate their religious beliefs. The suit New Hope filed in December of 2018 has been through ups and downs. With the latest court orders, it appears New Hope is currently enjoying the protection of their religious liberty. Will it be challenged again?

346 – The Cost of Constitutional Illiteracy

Here at the Constitution Study, we spend a lot of time discussing the legal and societal cost of ignoring the Constitution. Have you considered the financial costs though? Sure, we all complain about the size of government, usually around tax season. But of the trillions of dollars spent every year, how much of it is spent on unconstitutional government agencies and programs? Let’s take some time and look at the 2023 budget for the government of the United States, see how much is being spent on these agencies that do not legally exist, and consider the costs of our lack of constitutional literacy.

345 – The Respect for Marriage Act?

There is legislation working its way through Congress called the Respect for Marriage Act. But does this act truly respect marriage? Let’s face it, the definition of marriage has been changing for centuries. Marriages used to include polygamy and other relationships that are no longer legal. But does this act respect the institution of marriage, change it to make it better, or merely open the door to its degradation. Does Congress even have the legal authority to pass such legislation.

344 – Father of The Bill of Rights

While writing my last two articles about the Virginia Bill of Rights, I became more and more impressed by the person who had written them. I decided to do some research on this little know but extremely important Founding Father, and what I found did not diminish my opinion of him. So today, let’s take a closer look at George Mason, the man known as the Father of the Bill of Rights.

343 – The Virginia Declaration of Rights (2)

Last week we looked at the first eight sections of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. This predecessor to the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights not only gives us some ideas about what Thomas Jefferson was thinking when he wrote the Declaration, but why George Mason refused to sign the Constitution when the other framers did. Let’s finish the job by going through the last eight sections.

342 – The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1)

Prior to the Declaration of Independence being adopted, Virginia adopted their Declaration of Rights.

A Declaration of Rights
Is made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free convention which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government.

George Mason wrote this declaration, but its impact goes far beyond the Commonwealth of Virginia. We can see the influence of this document on Thomas Jefferson in the opening paragraphs of the Declaration. Let’s take some time and look at this predecessor of our Declaration of Independence.

PRESS RELEASE: The Save Our Children from Medical Experimentation Act

NASHVILLE, TN – October 31, 2022 [The Constitution Study] — The Constitution Study is proud to announce the release of draft legislation designed to help states protect our children from medical experimentation, especially when promoted by the federal bureaucracy.

341 – Save Our Children from Medical Experimentation Act

In the latest example of government bureaucrats attempting to take over our lives, the CDC has added an experimental treatment to their “Vaccine for Kids” program. This program provides eligible children free vaccines. What makes this decision truly awful is the vote to add these treatments to the children’s vaccine schedule. Many schools and other children’s programs require children to receive the vaccines on the CDC’s schedule in order to attend. All of this under the guise of a medical emergency that does not exist.