“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”
From our nation’s inception, the United States has championed freedom of religion as a right guaranteed to all American people. As the first liberty granted in the Bill of Rights, our founding fathers knew that keeping the government out of religious affairs was essential for a free country.
Until very recently, we saw bipartisan support for maintaining this freedom. The 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act – intended to further safeguard free religion in the aftermath of Employment Division v. Smith – passed the House unanimously and cleared the Senate 97 to 3.
But somewhere along the way, the tables turned. Calls to repeal RFRA grew over recent years, and the Democrat-led Equality Act – now sitting in the hands of the Senate – would cripple the religious protections reaffirmed by RFRA.
As religious freedom has morphed into a right-versus-left issue rather than a universally supported ideal, many Americans no longer see religious freedom as a priority at all. Like Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said in 2020, “in certain quarters, religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right.” Religion is shrinking in the U.S., and left-leaning politicians care more about advancing their agendas than they do about preserving this Constitutional right.
Perhaps worst of all, according to research done by Andrew R. Lewis of the University of Cincinnati, individual views on religious freedom are influenced not only by views of popular political figures, but also by the groups perceived to be benefitting from religious freedom:
“In a survey conducted in October, I showed people a general statement supporting religious freedom, but randomized whether the statement was attributed to Joe Biden or Donald Trump. When it was attached to Trump, respondents’ support declined more than when it was said to come from Biden, and the responses were especially polarizing across party lines. If people believed that the statement was Trump’s, they were also more likely to assume that white Christians would benefit from the religious freedom in question.
Similarly, people seem to alter their opinions when religious freedom is linked to non-Christian groups. In other surveys I conducted, when people were exposed to non-Christian groups advocating for religious freedom—such as Muslim truck drivers arguing for a religious accommodation not to deliver alcohol—polarization of the issue decreases. The perception of who benefits from religious freedom matters for political support.”
Somehow, religious freedom has become a polarizing issue, and some Americans have allowed their opinions of different groups to dictate their view on a liberty that our founding fathers declared an inalienable right.
From We The People’s perspective, that signals something is going seriously wrong in American society.
Religious freedom is not a one-sided issue. We believe it doesn’t matter what political party, religion, race, age, or any other demographic group you belong to– religious freedom should be a right we all fight to protect. Everyone benefits from the right to freely exercise religion, whether that means you’re gathering at Church every Sunday or not practicing any religion at all.
Thankfully, this is not an issue without hope. Under Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court has become much more likely to rule in favor of religious freedom, rising to an 81% success rate for religious cases. And Conservatives are not backing down when it comes to standing up for our first amendment rights.
In a modern world where religious freedom is facing unexpected challenges, it’s more important than ever before that Americans like you continue to stand up for religious freedom. If you want to help We The People fight for our Constitutional rights, consider DONATING today, and be sure to follow our journey on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.