October Forester Lecture to feature Obamacare vs. religious freedom
Huntington University has announced that Dr. Vincent “Phillip” Munoz will present a Forester Lecture on Obamacare vs. Religious Freedom: Hobby Lobby’s & Notre Dame’s Fight Against the HHS Mandate. The lecture will take place on Tuesday, October 11, at 7:00 p.m. in the Zurcher Auditorium of the Merillat Centre for the Arts. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Why did Hobby Lobby and Notre Dame sue the Obama administration over the HHS contraception mandate? And what does the future hold for religious liberty? This lecture, which is meant for a general audience, will address the legal and political dimensions of Hobby Lobby’s and Notre Dame’s lawsuits, as well as the history of the Supreme Court’s protection of religious free exercise.
“A growing number of Americans believe that religious liberties are under attack in the United States and Obamacare is for many the chief example. Dr. Munoz is a well-respected expert on the relationship between religion and politics and constitutional law. Given the upcoming elections, his lecture could not be more timely,” stated Dr. David Alexander, associate professor of philosophy / Forester Lecture Series coordinator.
Dr. Muñoz is the Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at The University of Notre Dame. He also serves as Director of Notre Dame’s Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and Public Life and the Potenziani Program in Constitutional Studies. He also writes and teaches across the fields of political philosophy, constitutional studies and American politics. His research has focused on the theme of religious liberty and the American Constitution. His first book, God and the Founders: Madison, Washington, and Jefferson, won the Hubert Morken Award from the American Political Science Association for the best publication on religion and politics in 2009 and 2010. His First Amendment church-state casebook, Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court: The Essential Cases and Documents, was published in 2013 and is being used at Notre Dame and other leading universities.
Dr. Muñoz’s media appearances include commentary on Voice of America Radio, Fox News Channel and Turkish Public Television. He has testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on the matter of “Hostility to Religious Expression in the Public Square.”
Huntington University presents the Forester Lecture Series each semester. The lectures are designed to bring interesting topics and persons to the attention of students and the regional community.
