Rev. Robert J. Pacienza – August 8, 2022
Several years ago, North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby sparked a significant public debate when he said that our “religious liberties are hanging by a thread.”
Are they? Well, U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia have issued similar warnings – and for good reason.
As the president and CEO of D. James Kennedy Ministries, and the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in South Florida, I’m concerned about the curtailing of religious liberty and the negative effects of this trend on all citizens – religious and non-religious alike.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution declares that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Constitution is clear: Religious freedom extends not only to beliefs, but also public actions based on those beliefs.When religious freedom is upheld, the conditions are set for all of society to flourish. Yet, when religious freedom – the freedom to be Christian, atheist, Buddhist, or otherwise – is threatened, every other freedom is threatened as well.
Yet, in spite of religious liberty’s enshrinement in the Constitution, a number of political trends and Supreme Court rulings have diminished its legal stature. Chief among these threats is the effort to redefine religious liberty itself. Progressives have made a concerted effort to reduce the “free exercise” of religion either to private piety or the semi-public worship that takes place within the four walls of a church building.