Religious Liberty
by
Christopher Dodson
Executive Director, North Dakota Catholic Conference
May 2010
In
Catholic teaching, religious freedom is a fundamental human
right. Freedom to act privately and publicly according to
one’s conscience and religious beliefs is part of
what it means to be truly human. The dignity of the person
requires that “all men and women should be free from
every constraint in the area of religion.” This right
extends to communities and institutions, which by their
very nature consist of and for individual persons.
The church also teaches that governments must recognize
religious liberty as a fundamental legal right. Do federal
and state laws recognize religious liberty as a fundamental
right?
Before 1990 that question was easy to answer. For most of
our history, government infringement upon sincere religious
belief was subject to the highest level of judicial review.
If a law burdened a person’s religious beliefs, the
government was required to justify the infringement with a
compelling governmental interest and then show that it had
adopted the least restrictive means of advancing that
interest. This standard is called “strict
scrutiny” or the “compelling interest”
standard. It is the highest level of protection our
Constitution provides for the protection of rights.
In 1990, however, the Supreme Court held that this standard
did not apply where a person challenged neutral and
otherwise valid laws of general applicability—that
is, laws that were not intended to restrict religious
freedom. Because most laws that infringe upon religious
liberty do not explicitly target religion, this decision
significantly eroded religious protections in the country.
The Supreme Court, however, left a door open by allowing
Congress and the states to enact greater protections.
Supporters of religious liberty immediately asked for
protection from Congress. Congress passed the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in 1993. The law restored
the strict scrutiny standard and was meant to apply to all
laws federal, state, and local laws. The Supreme Court,
however, later ruled that the way Congress had written the
law made the law applicable only to federal laws, not state
laws.
Congress tried again, but this time made the law applicable
only to some state land use laws and policies affecting
inmates and institutionalized patients (Religious Land Use
and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.) Restoring the
strict scrutiny standard for state laws was left to the
states. About half of the states have restored the strict
scrutiny standard by legislative enactment or court
decisions. Now comes North Dakota’s turn.
Bishop Paul A. Zipfel and Bishop Samuel J. Aquila have
joined a coalition of religious and civic leaders to place
a religious liberty restoration amendment in the North
Dakota state constitution. The amendment would restore the
strict scrutiny standard for laws that burden the exercise
of religious liberty. At a time when religious liberty is
increasingly devalued or attacked, passage of this
amendment is crucial to preserving a fundamental freedom.
To qualify for the November ballot, supporters of religious
liberty must gather 25,688 signatures. You can help by:
Collecting signatures
Volunteering to gathering signatures at your parish
All the materials needed to circulate petitions can be
downloaded at: http://ndcatholic.org/rlra/. Please do what
you can to protect religious liberty in North Dakota.
