Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
What Apple’s Encryption Fight Has to Do with Religious Freedom
What Apple’s Encryption Fight Has to Do with Religious Freedom
Dec 10, 2025 5:30 AM

The early church father Tertullian once asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” by which he meant “What has Greek thought and philosophy to do with Christianity and its Biblical heritage?”

Today we might ask a similar question, “What has Apple to do with Hobby Lobby?” or “What does the conflict between Apple and the federal government over encryption have to do with Hobby Lobby’s struggle with the government over religious liberty?”

The answer is: More than you might think. As Chelsea Langston argues, the tech giant and the craft store share a defense of constitutional protections for institutions:

The continued media coverage of Apple’s case offers an opportunity for religious freedom advocates. Its example reminds us of the broad importance of protecting organizations—both secular and religious, for-profit and pulsion to act against their most foundational values. parison between the Apple case and the Hobby Lobby case is not exact, but the two are closer than we may realize.

Read more . . .

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Sirico: The Drama and Reality of Choosing a New Pope
In today’s The Detroit News, the Rev. Robert Sirico seeks to set aside some of the rumors, skewered Hollywood depictions, and media predictions that swirl around any papal conclave. Of course, this time is decidedly different, as the cardinals ing together not after the death of a pope, but one’s retirement. There is much talk throughout all the Church as to whom the next pope will be, and as Fr. Sirico points out, “[n]o one, not even the most well-informed...
Rand Paul Knows What We Know: Power Corrupts
After nearly 13 hours of speaking in an attempt to stall the confirmation of CIA Director nominee John Brennan, Sen. Rand Paul ended his filibuster. The filibuster is a grandiose method of legislative stalling, requiring the speaker to hold the floor, talking the entire time and not sitting down. In essence, one tries to talk a bill to death. The most famous fictitious depiction of the filibuster is probably is Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Paul Rand, as...
As You Sow’s Grim Reaping
Religious groups seeking to serve myriad liberal agendas during the 2013 shareholder proxy resolution season look no further than As You Sow, a group dedicated to “large-scale systemic change by establishing sustainable and equitable corporate practices.” AYS will unveil its Proxy Preview on March 7. Trumpeted as the “Bible for socially progressive foundations, religious groups, pension funds, and tax-exempt organizations” by the Chicago Tribune, this year’s preview predictably includes such “issues” as hydraulic fracturing; e-waste recycling; waste disposal; and pushing...
The Gospel and the Church: Turning Criminals into Co-Creators
I’m just back from the republic of Texas and Acton’s Toward a Free and Virtuous Society conference. One of my fellow lecturers was Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Ben Phillips. In between sessions, he showed me a recent Houston television news piece on SWBTS’s Darrington prison extension, where Phillips and other Southwestern profs are bringing prisoners to Christ, with a plan to send graduates of the program to other Texas prisons. Many of these men may grow old and die...
Architecture, Human Flourishing, and Health Care
In a recent issue of Metropolis Magazine, Thomas de Monchaux tells the story of an amazing lesson about innovation that Americans can learn from Rwandans. This is no surprise, but readers will learn that burdensome government regulations stifle innovation and undermine human flourishing. De Monchaux recounts the story of Michael Murphy, executive director and co-founder of the Boston-based MASS Design Group, and Alan Ricks, MASS cofounder and COO, attempting to take what they learned from building health care facilitates and...
Audio: Discussing ‘Becoming Europe’ on African-American Conservatives
Samuel Gregg recently spoke with Marie Stroughter from African-American Conservatives. They discuss Gregg’s new book, ing Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future. Stroughter asked Gregg about the dichotomy between “cuddle capitalism” (the European social model) and a dynamic market economy. Gregg says that Americans are more and more choosing a ‘Europeanized’ economy favoring security over economic liberty. Listen to the full audio here: [Audio: You can purchase the hardcover or eBook version of ing...
Creating a Culture That Lasts: Matthew Lee Anderson on ‘Radical Christianity’
I recently expressed my reservations about David Platt’s approach to “radical Christianity,” noting that, outside of embracing certain Biblical constraints (e.g. tithing), we should be wary of cramming God’s will into our own cookie-cutter molds for how wealth should be carved up and divvied out. In this month’s cover story inChristianity Today, my good friend Matthew Lee Anderson of Mere Orthodoxy does a nice job of summarizing some additional issues surrounding the broader array of “radical Christianity” books and movements....
Jayabalan: Possibility of a Non European Pope
Update: Video Interview with Kishore from Rome. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith As the world awaits the beginning of the conclave, many are looking at non European Cardinals as potentials for the next pope. Channel News Asia points out that “68 per cent of the world’s Catholics currently from Latin America, Africa and Asia, there are increased calls for the next pope to be a non-European.” They asked Kishore Jayabalan, director of Acton’s Rome Office, to offer his thoughts on non Europeans...
Beyond the State and Market
At Fieldnotes Magazine, Matthew Kaemingk has an excellent article on why Christians should care about intermediary institutions: When presented with almost any social problem (education, health care, poverty, family life, and so on), today’s leaders typically point to one of two possible solutions—a freer market or a stronger state. But in opposition to these rather myopic solutions, I think there is a plex and biblical lens through which leaders can consider the social eco-system and the people who move around...
Orthodoxy and Natural Law: A Reappraisal
At Ethika Politika today, I examine the recent critique by David Bentley Hart in the most recent issue ofFirst Things of the use of natural law in public discourse in my article, “Natural Law, Public Policy, and the Uncanny Voice of Conscience.” Ultimately, I offer a measured critique—somewhat agreeing with, but mostly critical of Hart’s position—pointing out Hart’s oversight of the vital role of conscience in classic natural law theory. What I find so bizarre, and have for some time...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved