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Dear Friend of TOS, I’m writing to ask for your support in defense of your values. As TOS wraps up its eighth year of fighting for a culture of reason and freedom, we are proud to reflect on our accomplishments—and eager to dwarf them in the months and years to…

Today, a Colorado court demanded that Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Bakeshop, bake wedding cakes for gay couples or face fines, the Associated Press reports. But Phillips—who disapproves of gay marriage and says he’ll close his shop rather than bake cakes for gay weddings—has a moral right to refuse to…

Today Congressman Jared Polis of Boulder lambasted the Colorado Oil and Gas Association for seeking to legally protect its members’ rights to produce energy in the face of fracking bans approved by voters in two Colorado cities. (The Denver Post reports the details of the legal battle.) The timing of…

Examples of sticker shock among former and current supporters of ObamaCare—once they find their insurance rates going up—keep piling up. (See also my previous posts.) Nurse Cathy Wagner “championed Obamacare, until she received a letter from her insurance company saying it was canceling her policy,” Denver’s CBS affiliate reports. “I…

American energy producers have rapidly expanded their output of oil and natural gas in recent years—thanks to the advancing technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). For an indication of the difference these technologies make, consider some figures regarding the Eagle Ford Shale formation in Texas. The energy company…

A recent exchange about gun statistics illustrates the failure of libertarianism to base political freedom on anything other than personal or cultural opinion. In a recent blog post, Bryan Caplan, a libertarian anarchist and an economist at George Mason University (GMU), discusses a recent study linking gun ownership to suicide…

Voters in several Colorado communities recently elected to ban or severely restrict hydraulic fracturing (fracking)—a process by which energy producers have vastly expanded production of natural gas and oil—in their areas. (Of course, these voters continue to power their homes and automobiles using energy produced by fracking.) An editorial in…

SkyView Academy, a government-funded charter school in Colorado, recently cut ties with a religious charity after the American Humanist Association threatened to sue over the charity’s involvement, as the Denver Post reports. As part of a community service project, students helped the Samaritan’s Purse organization send “shoeboxes filled with hygiene…

Employers, employees, and consumers have a moral right to engage in commerce on a holiday.

In this episode of Reason at Large, Craig Biddle answers a question from Kyle: "What is the moral status of homosexuality? Is it moral, immoral or neutral? And why are some people gay? Is sexual orientation inborn or a choice or what?" In answering, Biddle explains that sexual orientation per…

In response to the recently “celebrated” America Recycles Day, the Property and Environment Research Center promoted its 2010 publication, “Recycling Myths Revisited.” The report’s author, Daniel K. Benjamin, does a good job of reporting the history of trash collection and busting a variety of myths about recycling—such as that it…

Carri and Larry Williams recently were sentenced for assaulting their deaf adopted son and killing their adopted daughter, Hana, while obeying their religion’s dictates on child discipline. The Williams followed the commands regarding corporal punishment found in the Bible (e.g., Proverbs 13:24, 22:15) and advocated in Michael and Debi Pearl’s…

Shortly after the United States declared independence from Britain in 1776, British troops occupied New York City and, because of its pivotal location and resources, made it the center of their operations throughout the Revolutionary War. On November 25, 1783, the last remnant of British tyranny in the American colonies—its…

According to Sandra Lee Dixon, the new film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire celebrates violence rather than challenges it. But she entirely misses the point of the work and of the second of a trilogy of novels on which it is based. Yes, the premise of the film is brutal…

In a recent Investor’s Business Daily editorial, Thomas Sowell discusses the political left’s war on achievement. As an example of the kind of achievement he sees as an affront to the left, he describes the accomplishments of “an upbeat young black man who was born without arms.” Sowell cites an…