By Jeff Brumley / Baptist News Global
This is an abbreviated version of the story. For the full story, click here.
The number of religious freedom bills across the United States may give the impression that using the law to protect faith is a purely conservative pursuit.
Well, it isn’t, says Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, based in Washington.
“Progressives and conservatives both care about religious liberty — particularly when it’s their own,” he said.
Still, it’s understandable why Americans may get the impression that Christian conservatives alone attempt, often successfully, to work the legal system to their political, social and religious benefit. …
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There are plenty of existing, legitimate routes congregations and individuals take when they feel their religious rights are being compromised by government and other organizations, Walker said.
They include the RLUIPA defense being used by the Unitarian Universalist church in Massachusetts, and the RFRA defense.
The BJC has supported religious liberty cases involving the religious beliefs and practices of prison inmates and retail employees — including the Muslim woman denied employment because she wears an hijab, he said. …
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