Conservative Lawmakers and Faith Groups Seek Exemptions After Same-Sex Ruling - The New York Times →

June 27, 2015

Let's cut to the chase.

In a telephone news conference on Friday, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, the chairman of the religious liberty committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion made “a nod in the direction of religious liberty, but not enough of one.”

“Of course we retain the right to think what we want and say what we want and preach what we want about marriage,” he said.

“But the free exercise of religion means we have the right,” he continued, “to operate our ministries and to live our lives according to the truth about marriage without fear of being silenced or penalized or losing our tax exemption or losing our ability to serve the common good.”

Asimov on Humanity

December 26, 2013

“...Dr. Seldon, you disturb the peace of the Emperor’s realm. None of the quadrillions living now among all the stars of the Galaxy will be living a century from now. Why, then, should we concern ourselves with events of three centuries distance?”
“I shall not be alive half a decade hence,” said Seldon, “and yet it is of overpowering concern to me. Call it idealism. Call it an identification of myself with that mystical generalization to which we refer by the term, ‘humanity.’ ”

I'm re-reading "Foundation" and as when I was much younger, I'm struck by this brief exchange (from 1942, loosely based on the "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" writings) that defines our inability to look to and plan for the future.

Vital projects that range from fixing public school education, to rebuilding public infrastructure, to planetary science and outward exploration are suffering and setting our country and entire species back. Will we ever look forward? Will we ever truly set the stage for our grandchildren to chart the stars from an intimate seat amongst the vast depths of space?