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Pacific Union Conference Department of Public Affairs & Religious Liberty |
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| August
25, 1999
LEGISLATIVE
ALERT!!! #1 (Click
here for Alert #2)
On July 15, House Resolution 1691, better known as the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA), passed by a vote of 306 to 118 in the United States House of Representatives. Representative Charles Canady (R-Fla.), the bill's sponsor, said that the bill was designed to "ensure" that Americans are "free to practice their religion without interference from the heavy hand of government." This bill is supported by a broad coalition of religious groups, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is urgently needed to shore up protection for religious freedom. As this bill now goes to the U.S. Senate where it may be heard as early as September, we are urging all to both write and call their Senators, urging them to vote in favor of the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA), and to keep the bill clean from any civil rights exemptions that would undermine religious freedom as a fundamental right. [SEE DISCUSSION BELOW] Our sincere thanks for your active support, prayer, and circulation of this memo to everyone you can. ARIZONA Senator
John McCain ( R )
Senator
Jon L. Kyl ( R )
E-mail:
CALIFORNIA Dianne
Feinstein (D)
Barbara
Boxer (D)
E-mail:
HAWAII Daniel
K. Inouye (D)
Daniel
K. Akaka (D)
E-mail:
NEVADA Harry
Reid (D)
Richard
H. Bryan (D)
E-mail:
UTAH Orrin
G. Hatch ( R )
Robert
Bennett ( R )
E-mail:
For those in areas outside of the Pacific Union Conference you may find
your Senators at: U. S.
Senate
DISCUSSION: The bill now goes to the United States Senate, where opposition from the gay community and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) centers on an exemption amendment -- defeated earlier in the House -- that purportedly protects them from discrimination by the religious community. Such fears arose when landlords in three states were charged with marital status discrimination for refusing, on the basis of religious belief, to rent to unmarried couples. We believe this amendment fails to recognize that there are situations in which people of faith, and religious institutions, are entitled to discriminate. For example, while the state may properly require the church to pay women equally with men, the state may not require the church to confer ordination on women, since this is purely an ecclesiastical question. Yet the exemption sought by the ACLU fails to recognize such distinctions, or limitations, on the power of the state to impose political correctness on the church. The Religious Liberty Protection Act is designed to restore protection for the free exercise of religion as a fundamental right. Fundamental rights have historically been protected by a constitutional standard known as "strict scrutiny", which requires government to demonstrate a "compelling interest" to justify infringing on religious conduct. The Supreme Court abandoned this standard for free exercise of religion claims in a controversial 1990 decision, Employment Division v. Smith. Justice Antonin Scalia argued that the facts of the case did not warrant making "the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land." To do so, he said, would in effect be permitting "every citizen to become a law unto himself." Such a "luxury," he said, could no longer be afforded. A large coalition of religious and civil rights groups, including Seventh-day Adventists, vigorously supported the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which was enacted in 1993, to restore the "compelling interest" test. But in a 1997 case, the Supreme Court held this act was an unconstitutional usurpation of state sovereignty under the 14th Amendment. The Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA) avoids the constitutional problems of RFRA by relying on an array of constitutional authority to impose the compelling interest test on the states. ========================================================= The Religious Liberty Newsflash and Legislative Alerts are occasional publications of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Department of Public Affairs & Religious Liberty. If you are receiving this by mistake, or otherwise wish to be taken off the list, please send notice to parl@dock.net. You are encouraged to forward this to those who may be interested. Please do not post on the world wide web without prior permission. Director, Alan J. Reinach, Esq., areinach@compuserve.com; 805-497-9457 ext.398. Associate Director, Lowell Bock, 74617.3673@compuserve.com; For assistance with a religious liberty problem, contact any of the above persons. [We serve five western states, including Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii. For problems outside our area, we can refer to someone more local.] More information about religious liberty issues can be found at our web address, www.freedomsring.com. If you have questions about this list, send e-mail to churchstate-owner@tagnet.org. |
