A Few Thoughts on Religious Freedom

As I mentioned in this post, discussions about religious freedom can be tricky.  It's hard to know where to draw the line.  Today I read two articles that made me want to stand up and cheer.  These are people that understand what religious freedom is about.  Please read the full articles, not just the quotes I selected to include here.

This piece published in the Star Tribune pretty much sums up how I feel about the religious freedom vs. gay rights debate.

I am a lover religious liberty (it is one of our central tenants), and I would fight tooth and nail to keep the state from forcing people to perform religious practices that are contrary to their faiths. However, religious practice cannot trump the basic legal rights of citizens in this great country. I agree with the LDS Church that we must balance religious freedom with securing the rights of our citizenry. However, it is these basic civil rights that are really being attacked, not religious freedom.   

Rev. Curtis L. Price is pastor of the First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City.

 

And this woman understands what religious freedom is really about. When I grow up, I want to be Katrina Lantos Swett.

She explains that despite the words “religious freedom” in the group’s name, the commission is dedicated to a singular mission: defending human rights.
“We work aggressively on behalf of agnostics and atheists who are being persecuted. We will go anywhere people face punishment for professing their humanist beliefs, or for their lack of belief in a deity,” Swett said. “We defend every person’s right to live life according to the dictates of his or her own conscience.”

...

History, Swett said, has taught her that one person’s fight can lead the way for the rest of the world.
“When we fight for religious freedom or protection from brutal punishment, these are not abstract fights,” she said. “We’re fighting for real men and women suffering real horrors at the hands of brutal and authoritarian forces. We win, one victory at a time.”