Buddhist Teachings
Questions where Buddhist precepts, the Dhammapada, and the sutras are brought to bear.
73 questions · Read on Access to Insight
- Immigration & Border SecurityWhat the Bible Says About Immigrants and ForeignersThe Bible commands love and just treatment of immigrants and foreigners more frequently than nearly any other obligation.
- Immigration & Border SecurityDoes the Constitution Give Due Process to All Immigrants?The Constitution explicitly protects "persons" rather than "citizens" — a deliberate textual choice in both the 5th and 14th Amendments.
- Immigration & Border SecurityRights of Asylum Seekers and Refugees Under U.S. and International LawProtection of refugees is among the most deeply rooted moral obligations across religious traditions — Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad were all refugees, and each…
- Immigration & Border SecurityBirthright Citizenship: The 14th Amendment and Religious BelongingReligious traditions consistently teach that belonging — particularly the standing of children — is not contingent on circumstances of birth they cannot…
- Immigration & Border SecurityOrdo Amoris: Vance, Pope Francis, and the Christian Order of LoveThe Vice President invoked Christian theology to defend mass deportation. The Pope of the Vice President's own church publicly rejected the reading.
- Voting Rights & ElectionsWhat the Constitution Says About the Right to VoteReligious traditions affirm the equal moral standing of all people — the premise on which any case for broad voting rights rests.
- Voting Rights & ElectionsHow Secure Is Mail-In Voting? What the Evidence SaysReligious traditions are unanimous: truth matters more than politically useful narratives.
- Voting Rights & ElectionsWhich Election Policies Best Reflect Equal Citizenship?Religious traditions affirm the equal moral standing of every person — the foundation of any concept of equal citizenship.
- Voting Rights & ElectionsBetting on Elections: Prediction Markets and the MidtermsGambling on election outcomes: what the Quran, Torah, Gospels, and Buddhist teaching say about betting, and what the Constitution and federal law say about markets that price democracy.
- Democracy & Constitutional OrderMercy vs. Justice: Pardons for Political ViolenceReligious traditions across the world distinguish sharply between mercy (which requires acknowledgment, repentance, and protection of future victims) and…
- Democracy & Constitutional OrderEmergency Powers: Lawful Necessity or End-Run Around Democracy?Religious traditions distinguish sharply between genuine emergencies that justify exceptional measures and manufactured emergencies used to bypass legitimate…
- Democracy & Constitutional OrderPresidential Immunity and Accountability for LeadersReligious traditions across the world treat the notion of any human ruler above the law as the definition of tyranny.
- Democracy & Constitutional OrderFederal Force Against ProtestersThe right to peacefully protest is among the most explicitly protected rights in the Constitution.
- Democracy & Constitutional OrderHow to Measure Democratic BackslidingReligious traditions identified the markers of illegitimate authority thousands of years ago — concentration of power, suppression of truthful witness…
- Reproductive RightsWhere Religions Stand on Abortion When the Mother's Life Is at RiskOn the specific question of abortion to save the mother's life, religious traditions show much more agreement than the political debate suggests: Judaism…
- Reproductive RightsWhere Religions Stand on Abortion in Cases of Rape or IncestReligious views on abortion in cases of rape or incest are more varied than political rhetoric suggests.
- Reproductive RightsDo Religions Require Judging Women Who Have Abortions?No major religious tradition teaches an obligation to judge or shame women who have had abortions — and several (most notably Christianity through Jesus's…
- Reproductive RightsDo Religions See Judging Others as a Sin?Every major religious tradition identifies judging others as a moral wrong — Jesus's "judge not lest you be judged," Pirkei Avot's "do not judge your fellow…
- Religion & JudgmentIs Imposing Beliefs on Others Anti-Religious?Religious traditions across the world distinguish sharing faith (welcomed) from imposing it through judgment, shame, or coercion (condemned by every major…
- Religion & JudgmentIs Mocking Atheists or Other Religions Anti-Religious?Every major religious tradition explicitly forbids mocking or judging those of different beliefs — often more forcefully than it addresses the unbelief…
- Religion & JudgmentThe Core Teaching Across Religions: Lift Others UpReligious traditions that disagree about almost everything else agree on the moral center: lift others up, do not tear them down.
- Religion & JudgmentDoes Judging the 'Other Side' Besmirch Your Own Faith?Every major religious tradition commands its adherents to treat opponents — including enemies — with dignity.
- Technology & AI EthicsAI and Algorithmic Bias: Religious and Constitutional PrinciplesReligious traditions across the world treat each person as having inherent worth that cannot be reduced to demographic categories — the premise underlying…
- Technology & AI EthicsDeepfakes and AI Misinformation: What Religions Teach About TruthThe prohibition on deception — particularly fabricated witness about other people — is among the most universal teachings across religious traditions.
- Technology & AI EthicsPrivacy and Surveillance: Religious and Constitutional PrinciplesReligious traditions across the world treat privacy as a moral category — protecting the inner space for conscience, family, and personal life that the…
- Technology & AI EthicsThe Right to Repair DebateReligious traditions across the world endorse stewardship of material goods and treat wasteful disposal of repairable items as a moral failing.
- Economic JusticeWhat Religious Teachings Say About Wealth InequalityEvery major religious tradition treats wealth as a serious moral concern and concentrated wealth as a particular danger — Jesus on the eye of the needle, the…
- Economic JusticePrinciples Behind the Student Loan Forgiveness DebateReligious traditions across the world support debt relief — and Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teaching specifically endorse periodic structural debt…
- Economic JusticeWorkers' Rights in Religious and Constitutional TeachingThe protection of workers — particularly timely payment of wages and protection from exploitation — is one of the most consistent ethical teachings across…
- Economic JusticeTaxation and the Common GoodReligious traditions converge on a clear answer: wealth carries communal obligations, and structured systems to fulfill those obligations are morally…
- Environment & ClimateWhat Religious Teachings Say About Environmental StewardshipReligious traditions across the world treat the natural world as a moral trust — humans as stewards, not owners.
- Environment & ClimateClimate Change and Intergenerational JusticeReligious traditions are unusually unified on intergenerational obligation — the Indigenous Seventh Generation, Jewish l'dor v'dor , Islamic amanah …
- Free Speech & MediaSection 230 and Social Media RegulationReligious traditions take seriously both the duty of truthfulness and the danger of suppressing dissent — the values at the heart of the Section 230 debate.
- Free Speech & MediaCancel Culture and AccountabilityReligious traditions support accountability and restoration over destruction — Christian gentleness in restoration, Jewish teshuvah , Islamic tawbah …
- Free Speech & MediaBook Bans in SchoolsReligious traditions generally favor access to challenging texts — Jewish textual debate, Christian commitment to direct reading, Islamic "Iqra," Buddhist…
- Free Speech & MediaDefunding Public Broadcasting: The End of CPBReligious traditions across the world have built educational and informational infrastructure for centuries, on the principle that accessible knowledge is a…
- Free Speech & MediaThe Prairieland Nine: Protest, Terrorism Charges, and NSPM-7Proportionate punishment and guilt by association: what scripture and the Constitution say about the Prairieland sentences and the NSPM-7 crackdown.
- Free Speech & MediaFiring the Editors of Stars and StripesThe Pentagon's firing of Stars and Stripes journalists after critical reporting: what scripture says about truth-tellers before power and what the First Amendment protects.
- Criminal JusticeThe Death Penalty in Religious and Constitutional TeachingReligious traditions are divided, but most major traditions — Jewish practice, contemporary Catholic teaching, mainline Protestantism, Buddhism, much of…
- Criminal JusticePolicing and Use of ForceReligious traditions affirm both the legitimacy of public order and the obligation to limit the violence used to maintain it.
- Criminal JusticeIncarceration and RehabilitationReligious traditions across the world insist on the dignity of the incarcerated and the possibility of change — Jesus identified himself with prisoners…
- Criminal JusticeEnhanced Interrogation and Guantanamo DetentionThe consensus among religious traditions on torture is unusually complete — Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu teachings converge on…
- Healthcare & WelfareIs Healthcare a Right or a Responsibility?Religious traditions across the world converge on healthcare as a communal moral obligation — Jesus's healing ministry and the first Christian hospitals…
- Healthcare & WelfareWhat Religious Teachings Say About Social Safety NetsReligious traditions treat provision for the poor as obligation, not optional charity — Jewish gleaning laws and tzedakah , Christian early-church…
- Healthcare & WelfareMental Health and AddictionReligious traditions across the world treat mental health and addiction as conditions deserving compassion and care, not moral failures deserving judgment …
- Healthcare & WelfareReplacing the CDC Vaccine Advisory CommitteeMost religious traditions support vaccination as consistent with the obligation to protect life and health, while affirming substantial parental authority…
- LGBTQ+ RightsThe Dignity of LGBTQ+ People in Religious TeachingReligious traditions divide substantively on LGBTQ+ questions but converge on the underlying principle of inherent human dignity — every tradition teaches…
- LGBTQ+ RightsUnited States v. Skrmetti and the Transgender Military BanReligious traditions divide on the substantive questions of gender identity. They are more unified on parental authority over medical decisions, the dignity…
- EducationSchool Choice and Religious SchoolsReligious traditions universally value education and have built extensive religious educational institutions across history.
- EducationTeaching History and Race in SchoolsReligious traditions place extraordinary value on accurate historical memory — Christian confession requiring honest naming of wrongs, Jewish remembrance of…
- EducationPublic Funding of EducationEvery major religious tradition treats education as a religious value or obligation — Jewish communal schools since the 1st century, Islamic pioneer…
- Gun Rights & ViolenceWhat Religion and the Second Amendment Say About Bearing ArmsReligious traditions support self-defense while consistently warning against weapons becoming the primary response to social problems.
- Gun Rights & ViolenceSanctity of Life and Gun Violence PreventionEvery major religious tradition teaches that protecting life is a paramount duty — and extends the obligation from individuals to communities.
- Separation of Church & StateThe Establishment Clause and Separation of Church and StateThe Founders — many of them deeply religious — deliberately separated church and state through the First Amendment's twin religion clauses.
- Separation of Church & StateWhat Religions Themselves Say About TheocracyReligious traditions and the Founders largely agree on a single proposition: merging faith with state power corrupts both, and separation protects rather…
- Separation of Church & StateLifeWise Academy and Released-Time Religious InstructionReleased-time religious instruction has been constitutionally permitted since Zorach v.
- Separation of Church & StateTexas Bluebonnet Bible-Infused Reading CurriculumThe strongest historical opponents of state-taught religion have not been secularists; they have been believers — Madison, Roger Williams, the Baptists, the…
- Separation of Church & StateTen Commandments in Public School ClassroomsIn 1980 the Supreme Court answered exactly this question — a state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public-school classroom — and…
- Government Transparency & AccountabilityThe Epstein Files: Who Gets Protected?The law required transparency about the powerful and protection for victims. What was delivered was the opposite: victims exposed, enablers shielded.
- Government Transparency & AccountabilityPresidential Profit, Memecoins, and the Emoluments ClausesReligious traditions across the world have warned for thousands of years about rulers who convert sacred trust into personal money.
- Government Efficiency & Federal SpendingDismantling the Department of EducationReligious traditions across the world treat the education of children — and especially the protection of the most vulnerable children — as a moral foundation…
- Tariffs & International TradeEconomic Nationalism and 'Love Your Neighbor'Every major religious tradition teaches that "neighbor" extends beyond borders and that economic relationships should build mutual flourishing.
- Tariffs & International TradeThe 2026 Trade War With CanadaA 50 percent tariff war with Canada, examined through scripture on neighbors and the Constitution's rule that Congress, not the president, holds the taxing power.
- Executive Power & Checks and BalancesHow Religions Say to Treat Political OpponentsEvery major religion commands treating opponents with dignity — even enemies. The Constitution was built on the assumption that political opponents are…
- Executive Power & Checks and BalancesOverturning Humphrey's Executor: Firing Independent Agency HeadsHumphrey's Executor was one of the load-bearing walls of the modern administrative state — the case that let Congress design agencies (the Fed, the FTC, the…
- Executive Power & Checks and BalancesFiring 21 Generals in 15 MonthsReligious traditions warn with extraordinary unanimity about rulers who surround themselves with people who tell them only what they want to hear.
- War Powers & Foreign PolicyDismantling USAID and the Projected Death TollReligious traditions converge with unusual unanimity: the obligation to feed the hungry and heal the sick extends across borders, and the foreseeable…
- Cultural Institutions & Public MemoryRenaming Lake Ontario "Lake America"Erasing a 400-year-old Indigenous place name to punish a trading partner: what religious teachings and the founding framework say about names, memory, and grievance.
- Cultural Institutions & Public MemoryRenaming the USS Doris Miller for a Sitting PresidentReports that the Navy may rename the future USS Doris Miller for the sitting president, examined through scripture on honor and humility and the founders on personal glorification.
- Polarizing Ideologies & MovementsWhat Scripture and the Constitution Say About Christian NationalismOn the substantive religious question, mainstream Christian theology has historically been wary of merging church and state — and many of the most vocal…
- Polarizing Ideologies & Movements'America First' as a Movement and IdeologyReligious traditions affirm that nations have particular obligations to their own people — that part of America First is unobjectionable.
- Polarizing Ideologies & MovementsIdentity Politics Across the Political SpectrumReligious traditions across the world converge on the principle that every person is made in the image of God (or its tradition-specific equivalent) and that…
- Polarizing Ideologies & MovementsPopulism on the Left and the RightReligious traditions contain both populist impulses (Mary's Magnificat, the Hebrew prophets, zakat) and warnings about populism's dangers (the crowd that…