Garnett, Inazu, and McConnell on Protecting Faith-Based Service Organizations

The bill known as the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), designed to protect adherents of traditional-marriage views from being penalized by the federal government in various contexts, has of course sparked a lot of controversy. There are likely to be amendments, or amended versions introduced. Rick Garnett, John Inazu, and Michael McConnell now have a powerful piece online at Christianity Today on (1) why some form of this legislation is needed now and (2) why its protections should focus (more so than the current version) on nonprofit religious organizations providing social services and education of great value to the common good. These organizations

give food, clothing, shelter, counsel, and comfort to millions of Americans in need. They offer some of the most important and desperately needed health, educational, and social services in the country. And they provide billions of dollars and thousands of full-time workers for international relief aid that serves vulnerable migrants, refugees, and persecuted minorities. The work of religious organizations has long been and continues to be central both to religious believers’ lives and to the welfare of others. Our communities—and, indeed, communities around the globe—would be much worse off without these organizations and their faith-informed good works.

 

Despite the crucial role that religious organizations and individuals have long played in our country, some voices now suggest that they and their work are somehow tainted because of their beliefs about marriage and sexuality. Some argue that the time has come to push religious believers out of the public square and confine them to the quiet, private realm of personal prayer and worship. This despite the Supreme Court's recent decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which not only required states to legally recognize same-sex marriages but also said, “the First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths.”

Read the whole thing.