We are experiencing ‘the greatest assault on religious freedom’
By: My Faith Votes
Freedom of religion and religious liberty have been greatly threatened lately. More so than at any other time in American history. In recent years there has been a direct connection between blue city mayors, blue state governors, and blue party Presidents and a crack down on the practice of belief and expressions of faith. The bi coastal secular progressive elites desire to limit the religious liberty of believers and our freedom exercise there of rights grows daily.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
We are experiencing ‘the greatest assault on religious freedom’
Religious freedom supporters hold a rally to praise the Supreme Court's decision in the Hobby Lobby, contraception coverage requirement case on June 30, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois. Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby, which operates a chain of arts-and-craft stores, challenged the provision and the high court ruled 5-4 that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. | Scott Olson/Getty Images My Faith Votes recently sat down with Brad Dacus to discuss his views on the troubles we currently face in America.
Brad is the Founder and President of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a legal defense organization providing representation in matters involving the exercise of religion and other civil liberties. Mr. Dacus received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas, School of Law, and has served to protect religious freedoms and parental rights for over 25 years.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. You can watch the full conversation at My Faith Votes here .
These days, religious freedom is in jeopardy. What is PJI facing in this realm?
Over the past year, we have seen the greatest assault on religious freedom in my lifetime. It was unthinkable to conceive of a time when churches all across the nation were being told they couldn’t open their doors for service. Yet, this was the reality.
Immediately, we stepped in and provided Zoom counsel to pastors, church executives and private schools across the nation on how they could open their doors much faster. We made a lot of progress despite the mandates of some of the blue-state governors who wanted to keep them closed for much longer, and unfairly so.
In a very strategic case filed against California Governor Gavin Newsom, we filed a complaint in federal court arguing that churches must be treated equally to the other venues that were allowed to be open. The federal court ended up ruling against our clients and us. Unsurprisingly, so too did the 9th Circuit court when we appealed the initial ruling. Our last option was to file an emergency injunction appeal to the United States Supreme Court. It's not easy to get this kind of injunction granted. Just getting the Supreme Court to hear your case is like a Hail Mary pass to a stadium across town. But, by the grace of God, that's what happened. We filed this appeal and the Supreme Court granted our emergency injunction in just three days, sending ripples across the nation to other governors like Gavin Newsom.
Along with legal advice, you also offer resources for people who wish to challenge laws independently, like the federal COVID vaccine mandates. What is your hope in providing these resources?
We live in a world different from anything I ever imagined. No one could have dreamed that in the United States of America, our vaccination status would potentially limit what we’re able to buy and sell or where we can travel. It's a radical liberty issue, and we want to educate people on what they can do where they are and empower them to stand up to this.
This movement has awoken many Americans, churches, and pastors to the growing threats of assault on our freedom and liberty. Being involved is no longer just a hobby or a personal interest. It's a matter of survival and preserving our ability to follow the calling of God in the United States of America.
Even with this re-awakening of Christians, we still have people of faith saying they won’t participate in elections. What is your response to those people?
If people are wanting to save America and to have a spiritual revival, voting is not at the top of the list of priorities, because, at the end of the day, Jesus Christ is a savior. Only changing the hearts of people throughout America is what's going to change this nation. It's a spiritual warzone.
But, as to why people should vote, I have a few reasons. First, Romans Chapter 13 commands — not suggests, but commands — us to be good citizens. It's indisputable that good citizenship involves voting and voting responsibly.
Second, and even more important than voting, is living out our testimony. If the church is filled with the love of Jesus, people are going to care about people outside their church walls. They're going to care about the preborn and the sick. And voting is an obvious manifestation of having a genuine love of Christ and being concerned for others. It's an inherent part of our testimony in the free world. That testimony is crucial for the light and love of Christ to shine through us.
If you have a Christian biblical worldview, the massive amount of abortions in the country is itself a compelling reason for all of us to register to vote.
My Faith Votes is a nonpartisan movement that motivates, equips and activates Christians in America to vote in every election, transforming our communities and influencing our nation with biblical truth. By partnering with national faith leaders, My Faith Votes provides resources to help Christians Pray, Think, and Act to create an America where God is honored in the public square. Learn more at MyFaithVotes.org .
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Where? How? Because health insurance pays for contraceptives? You know that no religious conservatives are being forced to buy contraceptives or forced to get abortions. How exactly are anyone's religious freedoms being attacked? I read the seed and they do not give a single specific as to how any religious person is being forced to do anything against their will or conscience.
These tired weak 'Boy who cried wolf' seeds just show how spineless and whiny some right wing Christian conservatives have become. Their main complaint seems to be that people don't respect them and validate their beliefs as much as they used to. Awwww, poor babies.
Playing the victim is a standard fascist propaganda technique. Mussolini employed it as a tactic to gain power, as did Hitler. Trump's entire campaign and presidency was based on grievance disinformation, which continues to this time. Their phony claim of religious oppression opens the pathway for extremists to engage in the exact same type of oppression they falsely claim to be victims of at such time as they may gain power.
Is there any doubt that the reactionary extremists engaged in this propagandistic fakery would impose ruthless oppression against anyone not a member their ideological sect should they gain the authoritarian command they seek? None whatsoever.
... is on full display in the lies contained in Comment 3.1.1.
What crack down? No person in this country is being preventing from believing how they want to believe or expressing their faith, as long it doesn't violate some generally applicable law, like "no human sacrifice" or something.
Right. But it wasn't "all across the nation" and it was not because of religious belief. It was because of Covid. It had nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with trying to stop the spread of a dangerous, highly contagious disease. At least be honest about the situation.
Yeah, but only on the point of whether or not it was necessary to shut down churches completely.
Any time a religious right is infringed by government, it is subject to Strict Scrutiny by the Court. To survive review, the law must address a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest using the least restrictive means. Laws usually fail under such scrutiny.
Controlling Covid is undoubtedly a compelling government interest, but the steps California had taken were not narrowly tailored to address that problem.
The Court still permitted the state to impose limits defined as a percentage of building capacity and to restrict indoor singing, as these limits went directly to the need to protect public health. The state's previous actions in this case had lacked any kind of rational discretion and went to an irrational extreme. But again, it was about the pandemic, not some kind of crack down on religious practice. At worst, government failed to prioritize keeping churches open as much as possible.
And in California, when the numbers of infections and deaths plummeted (after vaccines but before the Delta variant) all of those restrictions were removed. And at the state level, even though numbers went back up, the restrictions did not return.
Sure they could. Vaccines are old technology and they have been required for all sorts of things for a long time. None of that has any connection to religion, though.
In my opinion, any church or pastor with common sense and a spine recognizes that our religious freedom is just fine. We live in the best country in the world for religious freedom.
The religious people I have been around for the last almost two years have recognized that there is a public health crisis, and that as Christians - not to mention just being decent people - we have a responsibility to do what we can to help. Sometimes that means fewer people inside a church building.
No. No it isn't. That's dumb. The survival of religious people is not at risk from the government. And no one is being prohibited from following God. Holy Cow! That's ridiculous.
It also involves doing everything you can to not spread deadly diseases. No mention of that, I notice.
How can the same people declare "America is the greatest country in the world" one day and then turn around and claim they are victims of religious oppression by the government on the next day? It makes no sense. At all.
I guess if America is "experiencing the greatest assault on religious freedom", I should be happier to be living in China where my wife and her extended family have no concern about being openly devout Buddhists. LOL.
“RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.”
This was the Republican platform of 2020. L'etat, c'es moi.
As for religious liberty, you obviously have forgotten Muslims. Of course, most of the evangelical right does, except to denigrate.