Religious Freedom as Freedom to Discriminate?
Removing religious exemptions will not promote tolerance or inclusiveness. It will forcibly strip religious organizations of their ability to operate as religious organizations.
Houses of worship and religious organizations need the freedom to undertake their religious mission as it relates to worship, education, and other charitable activities. The ideal way to ensure such freedom is with a robust account of religious freedom that respects the religious identity and integrity of a religious community as it performs its religious mission.
Part of this will require certain legal exemptions for religious organizations to enable them to preserve their unique ethos and identity. However, in the wake of the redefinition of marriage, and in tandem with other voices calling for a marginalization of religion in the public square, some are calling the legitimacy of those exemptions into question.
Recent developments in the United States and in my native country of Australia illustrate the deep divisions that underlie this debate, and the serious negative consequences that will occur if religious freedom is further curtailed in the years to come.
The Rise of Secular Fundamentalism in the United States
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