Religious Liberty & Discrimination

A new report released by the Center for American Progress this week shows that a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision, state legislators, organizations & for-profit corporations are using religious liberty to infringe upon the rights of women, religious minorities & our LGBT community. The report also makes legal & policy recommendations to protect religious liberty while also preventing harm to third parties by ensuring that the rights & well-being of others are not compromised because of another person’s religious beliefs. Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress stated, “In a pluralistic society such as ours, respecting religious liberty & protecting the general welfare of every citizen requires a balance. The dangerous precedent established by Hobby Lobby has disrupted that balance, protecting a favored few who seek to impose their religion on others. Ironically, the decision condoned the infringement of the religious freedom of Hobby Lobby employees in the name of respecting the religious identity of a for-profit company.” Carolyn J. Davis, Policy Analyst for the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at the Center for American Progress. Laura E. Durso, Director of the LGBT Research & Communications Project at the Center for American Progress concluded, “From Indiana’s controversial super-RFRA to Kim Davis’ refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay & lesbian couples, we’ve seen an overly expansive & harmful view of religious liberty used in an attempt to thwart LGBT equality. But the damage caused by these religious liberty claims is not limited to the LGBT community. Whether in the context of infringing on a woman’s access to health care or abdicating a witness’s obligation to testify in court in a child labor case, the precedent established by Hobby Lobby enables dangerous third-party harm.”
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