Ryan Anderson, president of Ethics and Public Policy Center, visits campus.

Progressive secular groups have gradually restricted religious liberty through government mandates, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center Ryan Anderson said in his speech “Illiberal Liberalism: On Religious Liberty, Gay Marriage, and Gender Ideology,” on Wednesday, April 5 in Christ Chapel.

“For the past several decades, progressive, secular groups have advanced the sexual revolution through progressive government mandates,” Anderson said. “This should be a familiar story of a movement that claims merely one personal freedom. First, it repeals laws that it claims limits their freedom. Then, it uses the government to subsidize their preferred choices. Then, it uses the government to mandate that other people subsidize those choices. And then finally, it uses the government to punish anyone who dares to disagree.”

Anderson’s talk was the inaugural speech of the lecture series from the Larry and Christine Kieft Endowment for Religious Freedom, Christian Expression, and Dialogue.

He addressed some of the concerns America faces regarding hot-topic political and societal issues such as why religious freedom matters and the current threats to freedom. Anderson discussed necessary actions needed to prevent the left from taking away religious freedom rights. 

Anderson said James Madison viewed religion as a matter of conviction, not to be imposed by force. 

Professor of Philosophy Nathan Schleuter said Anderson has been a key defender of traditional marriage and religious liberty. 

“For over a decade Ryan Anderson has been on the front line of what I think is the most important battle of our time, that between advocates for Progressive Puritan Sexual Ideology and defenders of the truth about human sexuality, marriage, and religious liberty,” Schleuter said. “He is a model for every Hillsdale student of how to make a principled and patriotic defense of moral truth with courage, clarity, and civility.”

Anderson said Christians need to remember religious liberty is not the only political battle that needs to be fought. He said the students who are in the public school system also need to be protected from radical ideologies. 

Graduate student Josiah Lippincott said the view of the left as relativistic is false.

“There is no one more moralistic in America today than a liberal or someone on the left,” Lippincott said. “These people are not relativists when it comes to saying whether or not trans-women are women.”

Anderson said we have a generation of kids who don’t even recognize themselves as boys or girls. 

“We’ve shifted conceptually from a regime in which you have to justify the regulation, to a regime in which you have to justify for exemption from the regulation,” Anderson said. “That is a radically different form of understanding of what self-government is.”

Senior Gabriel Powell said he appreciated how Anderson handled such a large issue.

 “I think it was a very great talk addressing the multi-faceted threats that Christians and public life face today,” junior Gabriel Powell said. “It’s a very big issue and he was able to address a lot of the different angles.”

Anderson believes the future for religious freedom is brighter than it was ten years ago. He said he is hopeful because students are having conversations about these pertinent topics.

“Religious liberty is important because it creates a space for all of us to fulfill our duties to God,” said Anderson.