Religious Liberty - Freedom oc Conscience or Freedom of Choice?

It is a great honor to be invited to deliver the Leary Lecture, and a great pleasure to be back in Utah among so many good friends. My visits to Utah have taught me a good deal about politics. Politics here are unlike politics anywhere else I know. As someone who studies and teaches political philosophy, it strikes me that Utah politics are ripe for political philosophy.

Please do not take that the wrong way. I don't mean that Utah needs political philosophy more than other states need political philosophy. I 'mean Utah politics are ripe for political philosophy in the sense that there are current state issues that have given rise to some of the great works of modern political thought, issues concerning the respective claims of church and state. The debate has been a staple of political philosophy for centuries.

To some extent, this debate as a live concern has faded throughout much of the country. So I don't mean it just facetiously when I say that Utah is suggestive for political philosophy in a way that very few places-in this country anyhow-continue to be.