The battle for religious liberties in the US has become a huge concern for all religious organizations. All brought to the forefront in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic, and the shutting down and restrictions on churches, synagogues, and mosques. I'll have more on that later in this program. And I'll also cover why there needs to be religious freedoms for the societal good.

The first amendment to the United States constitution begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" 250 years later religious freedom is one of the most hotly debated issues today. You may be asking exactly what comprises religious freedom? It's more than just the freedom to worship. It also means that people shouldn't have to betray their core values and beliefs, in order to conform to culture or government.

Religious freedom gives US people the right to speak, act, and live based on their core beliefs when done publicly and peacefully. Whether at school, work, or social activities, religious freedom preserves their ability to live lives according to their values. That sounds wonderful, but does such freedom give people the right to do whatever they want? Not really. The Supreme Court said in rulings that the government may limit religious freedom...but "only when it has a compelling interest to protect the common good and limit people's ability to harm others."

In recent years we've seen religious freedoms under attack through the charge of discrimination. You may remember the cases involving bakers, photographers, and florists being forced to provide their services to same-sex weddings and celebrations that violated their religious values. The question came down to should these businesses be compelled to provide their services? The courts have said that they shouldn't. There are many of bakers, photographers, and florists that provide the identical services for same-sex weddings. They've said in these instances a person or group being denied a service is not because of "who they are," but because of the specific service they're requesting. Therefore, there hasn't been a compelling interest for the government to interfere.

So you may be wondering if religious freedom means that religious people should get special rights? The response to that should be no. Religious freedom stops the majority from using the power of the government to impose their beliefs on others. This applies to everyone, both religious and nonreligious, from the state becoming so powerful that it can tell people how they should act and think.

No better example of the attack on religious freedom has been the governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. John Whitehead of the Charlottesville, Virginia "Rutherford Institute" says "at no time in our history has the government ever attempted to impose onerous restrictions on the rights of religious individuals as we are seeing play out in response to the COVID-19 pandemic." Marci Hamilton though of the University of Pennsylvania says "government officials assert a compelling interest in protecting health and life." Some say that closing churches, restricting attendees, and social distancing is perfectly fine to combat the disease.

To protest the restrictions on churches during COVID-19, many churches in several states have filed lawsuits to defend religious liberty from government intrusion. They feel that churches and individuals have a fundamental right to freely practice their faith. Luke Goodrich of the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty said that "the government had a very strong argument for limiting large gatherings of people. But that the government must do so uniformly and can't target or single out religious gatherings." Many church leaders are frustrated by capacity restrictions, even though many "critical businesses" are exempt including many "box" stores, primary- 12 public schools, and private education. Anytime church capacity restrictions are violated for worship services, churches in a state like Colorado face possible criminal penalties.

Whenever individuals and faith-based organization are forced to choose between living out their faith or submitting for the community good, it actually harms communities. Houses of worship run schools, soup kitchens, pregnancy resource centers, counseling programs, and adoption agencies. An estimated 70 million Americans are served each year by religious organizations, with the value of their services at over a trillion dollars annually. Religious freedom is a lot more than you think, and in the end everyone benefits.