in the same book of ecclisiastes, king solomon wrote the passages telling us that's for everything there is a season. and he puts those passages in pairs, right? so there's a time to build and a time to tear down. et cetera. and perhaps -- perhaps that message -- one of the messages in that is that things that are valuable in life come in situations where sometimes you take steps forward and sometimes you take steps back. sometimes you are in a creative mode and sometimes unfortunately, we're confronting a challenging or even a destructive mode. but there's a creative tension that is natural to life that has to bring us forward. and we have to also realize that there is -- anything in life and in the world we cannot take for granted because even if we're in a time of building, king solomon instructs us there's likely going to be a time that we're going to be tearing down. it might be the case that for too long many of us in america have taken an expansive view, an expansive privilege of religious liberty for granted. these threats, these dark clouds on the horizon of religious liberty ha

king solomon famously wrote, there's nothing new under the sun and i suppose i'm here to counter the thesis of our title, unprecedented threat that for better or for worse, the threat to liberty that we face, and i'm here to tell you that they're not unprecedented. but i'm not saying that to comfort you. they are not unprecedented, but they have the current controversies, the recent controversies have given them more visibility. what do i mean? i am an attorney by training. the other confession that i'm make, catholics present, is that my day job is as a lobbiest. i know that's a dirty word, but that's what i do on behalf of the community and the issues we care about. that gives me a perspective on what's been going on in the trenches, particularly in the legislative arena, which i think is instructive in setting the context for the threats that we face today through religious liberty. and i want to take us back to 1990 when the supreme court handed down handed down its decision in employment division versus smith. and that opinion by justice scalia, the court threw out the notion of

king solomon famously wrote "there is nothing new under the sun." i suppose i am here to counter the thesis of our title, unprecedented threats to religious liberty that we face. i am here to tell you that they are not unprecedented. i am not saying that to comfort you. they are not unprecedented but they have -- recent controversies have given them more visibility. what do i mean? i am an attorney by training. the other confession i will make is i have a day job as a lobbyist. it is what i do on behalf of the community. that gives me a perspective of what has been going on in the trenches and the legislative arena which i think is instructive in setting the context for the threats that we face today in religious liberty. i want to take us back to 1990 when the supreme court handed down a decision. in the opinion, the court threw out the notion of free exercise and religion, that free religion advocates fought prevailed for many, many years. before then, in order for a government law that was generally neutral, not targeted at religion, but a neutra

in the same book of ecclesiastes, king solomon famously wrote the passage is telling us for everything there is a season any post those passages and payers. so there is a time to build a time to tear down, et cetera. and perhaps -- perhaps one of the messages and that is that things that are valuable in life come in situations where sometimes you take steps forward and sometimes you take steps that. sometimes you're in a creative mode and sometimes unfortunately we are confronting a challenging or destructive note. but it is the creative tension natural to life that has to bring us forward and we have to also realize that there's anything in life and in the world we cannot take for granted because they been up for in a time of tilting, king solomon is likely going to be a timer going to be tearing down. it might be a case that for too long many of us in america have taken the next interview and expansive privilege for granted. these threats, these dark clouds on the horizon and religious liberty have been building for some time and now perhaps it has increase visibility and discussion

king solomon had -- i will say this slowly -- 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines.ng that tony perkins does not know because it is hidden every where called the old testament. the profit mohammed had several wives and polygamy is still practiced today and legal in some islamic countries. and, in possibly the hippest place on earth, tibet, there were even some instances of women marrying many men from medieval times right up to the 20th century. and if, as tony perkins and mitt romney insist marriage has always been one man and one woman, why did the federal government find it necessary to outlaw polygamy twice, once in 1862 with a moral anti-bigamy act and then again in 1882 with the edmonds anti-polygamy act. if they insist it was one man and one woman, why was utah required to outlaw polygamy in order to become a state. and if marriage has always been the union of one man and one woman, why was mitt romney ever forced to answer a question about polygamy? >> i can't imagine anything more awful than polygamy. >> and that's from a man whose great grandfather had five

king solomon also famously wrote the passages telling us that for everything there is a season. he put those passages in pairs. there's a time to build and a time to tear down, etc. and perhaps that message -- one of the messages in that is that things that are valuable in life come in situations where sometimes you take steps forward and sometimes you take steps back. sometimes you're in a creative mode, and sometimes, unfortunately, we're confronting a challenging or even a destructive mode. but it's a creative tension that is natural to life that has to bring up forward. we have to realize anything in life and in the world we cannot take for granted. even if we're in a time of rebuilding, there's likely going to be a time that we're going to be tearing down. many of us in america have taken an ex-papsive view, an expansive view of religious liberty for granted. these threats, these dark clouds on the horizon of religious liberty have been building for some time. now perhaps this increases the ability and increased discussion and has increased debate and activism in support of

king solomon famously wrote "there is nothing new under the sun." i suppose i am here to counter the thesis of our title, unprecedented threats to religious liberty that we face. i am here to tell you that they are not unprecedented. i am not saying that to comfort u. they are not unprecedented but they have -- recent controversies have given them more visibility. what do i mean? i am an attorney by training. the other confession i will make is i have a day job as a lobbyist. it is what i do on behalf of the community. that gives me a perspective of what has been going on in the trenches and the legislative arena which i think is instructive in setting the context for the threats that we face today in religious liberty. i want to take us back to 1990 when the supreme court handed down a decision. in the opinion, the court threw out the notion of free exercise and religion, that free religion advocates fought prevailed for many, many years. before then, in order for a government law that was generally neutral, not targeted at religion, but a neutral

solomon. we consider the wisest man ever lived. >> yeah. >> bill: 700 wives. >> anybody that has 700 wives cannot be considered the wisest man alive. >> bill: i'm just saying. king least there are seven of his wives are named in the bible. so don't give me this bible crap about in the bible about monogamy. it doesn't work. but politically, it was a blockbuster decision yesterday. isaac is the deputy white house editor for politico joining us our news line this morning. isaac, good to have you with us. >> bill: did the president intend to make this announcement as early as he did? >> the story that the white house is telling is that the president had planned to make an announcement but probably the timing would have been closer to the run up to the convention and the end of the summer. this was a time line accelerated by the vice president on sunday speaking -- it seems like somewhat out of school in a way that he may not have been anticipating certainly that the president's staff wasn't anticipating. >> bill: but before that, you had one cabinet secretary, shaun donovan come out and right after the day after joe biden you had arne duncan who is very close to the