How should Christians respond when our freedoms of religion are challenged, limited, or taken away—often in the name of tolerance? From private business to campus ministries to health care and churches, religious freedom continues to be debated in America and can no longer be assumed. Listen as Joe La Rue, Legal Counsel with the Alliance for Defending Freedom tells us stories and provides strategies for maintaining freedom of religion in a society increasingly disdaining public expressions of faith.
Joe describes the current state of the church and state: our culture is being subject to a “forced acceptance” of a number of things that violate our conscience. Listen as Neil and Joe unpack a number of aspects of this discussion:
* Senate Bill 1062 and the current backlash in Arizona
* The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law by then-president Bill Clinton – “This law, when it passed, was championed by the ACLU. Christians rights organizations joined hands with the ACLU, the left and the right united. In the House of Representatives, not a single person voted against” it.
* The contraception mandate, along with the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga Wood Company case which is set to come before the Supreme Court this month
* A Christian photographer in New Mexico was sued by a same-sex couple for refusing to take pictures of their commitment ceremony. The Supreme Court heard the case and ruled against her, stating, among other things, “The price of your citizenship is giving up your freedom.”
* How Christians should respond and pray
In Joe’s words, “Any time the law forces you to give up your faith, you have the option to make a religious freedom defense.” We have the right in this country to express our faith, and the law at times violates that freedom. However, the way to change people’s hearts and minds is not to change the laws, but to pray for God to intervene and bring America to repentance.
Image: Flickr
