Defending the American Dream means protecting religious liberty

Nov 15, 2024 by Casey Mattox

Most of my career as a constitutional attorney has been spent defending First Amendment rights in the courts – especially religious liberty. As we head toward Thanksgiving, it’s a good time to remember just how fundamental religious liberty is to the American Dream.

Indeed, America began in large part as an experiment in religious liberty.

In the 16^th century, King Henry VIII established the Church of England as the official state religion, and those who did not conform were punished – often harshly. Many of the early American colonists were fleeing religious persecution and hoped to find, in the New World, the ability to practice their faith freely and without fear.

The Puritans who arrived in New England came under the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, with its twin goals of sending profits back to the King and other shareholders and creating a “City on a Hill” – an example of religious freedom and model of faith.

Both the successes and failures of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in protecting religious freedom informed our founding fathers, who steadfastly believed that the government should neither intrude upon a person’s faith nor establish any government-sponsored religion.

In 1785, James Madison – known as the Father of the Constitution – wrote the “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,” arguing against government-compelled religious exercise. He not only succeeded in defeating state-mandated support for Virginia churches, but also set the stage the following year for Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia – the precursor to the First Amendment.

Of course, the promises of our Constitution have not always met with reality on the ground – and that’s also true of religious freedom.

But 400 years or so after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and nearly 250 years after the Declaration of Independence, religious freedom is better protected in America than it has been in any society in all of human history.

In recent decades, we’ve seen a remarkable string of victories that solidified and expanded religious freedom in this country.

This is no accident.

It’s the result of the tireless efforts of organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom, The Becket Fund, First Liberty, and our own Americans for Prosperity Foundation.

While there are victories still to be won, Supreme Court precedent now firmly establishes several principles that should have been obvious but required a lot of work by the groups above and many Americans to make real:

Government can’t force religious people to say what they don’t believe (West Virginia v. Barnette, Wooley v. Maynard, NIFLA v. Harris). It can’t discriminate against religious student groups on university campuses (Widmar v. Vincent, Rosenberger v. UVA). Government can’t unnecessarily burden peoples’ religious practices (Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Church of the Lukumi v. City of Hialeah, Little Sisters of the Poor). It can’t exclude faith-based schools and institutions from programs serving their communities (Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, Espinoza v. Montana Dept of Revenue, Fulton v. Philadelphia). And government can’t force people of faith to choose between participating in the marketplace and their faith (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Scardina, 303 Creative v. Elenis).

That is an extraordinary string of successes on some critically important questions.

It’s because of victories like these that we can be thankful that America is a place where people of all faiths can bring their talents and succeed while serving others. And we can do it without compromising what we believe.

In America, the government cannot stand between a person and their God. This is the promise of the First Amendment, and it is increasingly a reality.

And not only does religious liberty empower people to live authentic lives of meaning, it also empowers people of faith to lead and contribute to their communities.

I mentioned the More in Common “Promising Revelations: Undoing the False Impressions of America’s Faithful” report in the last newsletter, which found that several myths exist about people of faith in America, including the myth that faith is all about politics.

The truth is that Americans of faith see moral values such as kindness and respect for human dignity as the most important values, not political opinion or party affiliation.

We see this play out with the way religious communities are serving every day.

Religious communities provide an estimated $1.2 trillion in essential services each year – from hospital beds, to homeless shelters, to disaster relief.

One example I find particularly meaningful is CarePortal, a child assistance app that connects families in crisis with local faith communities and individuals who can provide resources and relationship support. This innovative app already has served more than 200,000 children and families, keeping families together and kids out of foster care by meeting practical needs.

Protecting and strengthening religious liberty ensures such vital contributions are possible – that religious communities are able to step in to solve a problem that government has not solved and never will be able to solve on its own.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving this year, we have so much to be thankful for, including America’s commitment to religious freedom. It may have taken us a while, but the hopes of the Mayflower and James Madison are more and more true in our own time. And that’s worth celebrating this year.

And while your Christmas music should wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving, you can absolutely enjoy your favorite Thanksgiving music now! I even made a playlist of all the best songs about thankfulness, food, family, fall, and football just for you.