Matt Bush, FISM News
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Kristen Waggoner, the new President and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), identified what she believes to be the three biggest threats to religious freedom in America during a recent interview with The Christian Post.
According to their website, ADF is “the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and parental rights.” The prominent law firm has successfully argued many religious liberty cases including 14 victories in the Supreme Court since 2011.
When asked to name some of the biggest threats to religious liberty in America, Waggoner replied, “Three come to mind immediately, the three that I would say we’re most involved in, at this moment.”
The first, she said, is the threat by some government officials to redefine the notion of what it means to be a man or a woman, sometimes removing the distinctions altogether. Waggoner said that these types of cases can involve athletics, healthcare, or even issues of perceived fairness when a biological male or female “identifies” as the other gender.
The second is the right to speak freely, a foundational right to the ADF. These cases can include the rights of students on campus or the rights of artists like 303 Creative, a web design group currently challenging a Colorado law that would require the company to make wedding websites for same-sex couples.
The third area mentioned by Waggoner is parental rights:
We’re seeing government officials more and more try to replace the role of parents and the right to be able to direct the upbringing of your children, to teach them and to raise them consistent with your beliefs, is being threatened, and we intend to protect the rights of all parents to be able to raise their families consistent with their beliefs.
The Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal public policy research and activist organization, recently put out a similar article describing what it sees as the biggest threat to religious liberty in America, and the conclusions were very different.
According to its website, CAP is “an independent, nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.”
The CAP article names Christian Nationalism, “the notion that America is a nation by and for Christians alone,” as the biggest threat to religious freedom. The article claims that “at its core, this idea threatens the principle of the separation of church and state and undermines the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. It also leads to discrimination, and at times violence, against religious minorities and the nonreligious.”
While the two sides disagree profoundly on the major threats to religious liberty, they agree that the threat is real and growing.
Religious freedom, according to the Heritage Foundation, is more than just the freedom to attend worship services at your local church, mosque, or synagogue. The Heritage Foundation website states that “religious freedom protects people’s right to live, speak, and act according to their beliefs peacefully and publicly. It protects their ability to be themselves at work, in class, and at social activities.”
The first amendment to the constitution protects religious liberty, and there is a reason for that. In fact, many of the people who first came to America did so to flee religious persecution and control.
“Efforts to repress religious freedom is not just an attack on individual liberty and human dignity, but on the very foundation that has made America strong,” as stated by the Heritage Foundation, and all Americans should stand together to stop it.