IRFA President Stanley Carlson-Thies on April 25 delivered the 2013 Kuyper Lecture at Calvin College.

He defended the religious freedom of faith-based service organizations in the context of the contraceptives mandate and other threats to their religious identities and practices. The Kuyper Lecture is an annual event organized by the Center for Public Justice, where Dr. Carlson-Thies is a Senior Fellow. The text and a video recording are now available.

For the video recording go here. For a PDF of the lecture, click here.

The Kuyper Lecture honors Abraham Kuyper, the outstanding Dutch Reformed political, social,and religious leader of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Kuyper is known for promoting and developing the Reformed concept of “sphere sovereignty,” which is similar to the Catholic doctrine of subsidiarity; both stress that the government should protect the distinctive capabilities and roles of non-governmental organizations such as churches, faith-based service organizations, schools, secular nonprofits, and businesses. Read more about the Kuyper Lecture and past lecturers here.