Given his yarmulke, and perhaps his conservative leanings, most of Ben Shapiro’s views on religion will not surprise anyone. Now an Orthodox Jew, Ben is a staunch defender of religious freedoms and objects to most attempts by the government tor regulate religiously motivated behavior. As we’ll get to, that position has generated plenty of controversy given recent supreme court cases as well as its importance in the country’s constitution.
Ben’s Views on Religion
Ben Shapiro grew up in a household that was originally Jewish conservative, only to become an Orthodox Jew when his family transitioned. For those that are not aware, conservative Judaism is in-between reform Judaism (the most casual of observing Jews) and Orthodox Jews (the most religious).
Though he’s been critical of atheism, and its tenets, he has stated that he believes the only intellectually defensible position on religion is that of agnosticism. Agnosticism is the view that simply “one doesn’t know” whether God exists or not. Perhaps one does wonder why he doesn’t accept agnosticism if the most intellectually defensible position is that of agnosticism, but that will have to be tackled at another time.
Ben Shapiro on the Hobby Lobby Case
The Hobby Lobby case was a highly publicized supreme court ruling involving the question over whether healthcare plans provided by a company have to cover contraception. It was the position of Hobby Lobby, a massive American chain owned and run by religious Christians, that it was against their religion to provide contraceptive as part of their healthcare policy. Ben opined that employees are entering into a voluntary relationship with their employer.
Employees’ freedom is not infringed upon when they enter into a consensual relationship with an employer that includes certain types of healthcare.
For those wondering, the official decision held by the supreme court was as follows:
As applied to closely held for-profit corporations, the Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations imposing the contraceptive mandate violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). HHS's contraceptive mandate substantially burdens the exercise of religion under the RFRA. The Court assumes that guaranteeing cost-free access to the four challenged contraceptive methods is a compelling governmental interest, but the Government has failed to show that the mandate is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest.
Ben Shapiro on Secularism
In a wonderful Sunday Special, Ben Shapiro debated noted atheist, skeptic and Secular Humanist Michael Shermer about the limits of secular humanism. Since we have the ability, we'll embed the full video here which is well worth the watch. We will be updating this page periodically as needed, but Ben has been fairly consistent on his views on Religion thus far.Corrections Policy
Should we become aware that a thinker has changed their position, or if new evidence shows we have misconstrued their views, we will make the correction, note it here, and explain how we missed it. Report an error →