{"id":6728,"date":"2024-11-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2024\/11\/01\/will-the-safety-valve-hold\/"},"modified":"2024-11-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T00:00:00","slug":"will-the-safety-valve-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2024\/11\/01\/will-the-safety-valve-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Safety Valve Hold?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a nation we\u2019re on the cusp of a dark new era of religious persecution\u2014or at least that\u2019s the impression I get when I read fundraising emails sent from various religious liberty advocacy groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur freedoms are on the line!\u201d warns one message. \u201cAre you concerned about the erosion of religious liberty?\u201d asks another. \u201cYour God-given right to live according to truth continues to come under threat\u2014challenging our right to freely live out our faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years these fears seemed to have gained traction within Christian circles. If you spend any time browsing Christian media, you\u2019ll likely encounter ideas that echo those found in Rod Dreher\u2019s 2017 book The Benedict Option<\/i>. Drawing in part from the writings of an early Christian monk, Dreher argues that our culture is headed for \u201cpost-Christian barbarism\u201d and that Christians should prepare to \u201cembrace exile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, we struggle today with real religious liberty problems in both law and policy\u2014that\u2019s why this magazine exists. But does the evidence suggest an impending Dark Age for Christianity? Are our religious freedoms so precarious that exile will soon be our only viable option?<\/p>\n

Well, if you look only at current levels of constitutional protection for religious free exercise in America, then the answer must be a simple no. And if you doubt that, consider these recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions:<\/p>\n

Departing from decades of rulings to the contrary, the Court said in Kennedy v. Bremerton<\/i> (2022) that a public school teacher can kneel and pray publicly at school-sponsored events.<\/p>\n

In a line of cases culminating in Carson v. Makin<\/i> (2022), the Court has upended establishment clause jurisprudence. Now the Court says a state not only may<\/i> directly fund religious schools but that, in some circumstances, the free exercise clause demands it must<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The Court also addressed a key religious freedom concern in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis <\/i>(2023). It held that a small-business owner can\u2019t be compelled by state antidiscrimination laws to speak a message against her deeply held religious convictions.<\/i><\/p>\n

And then, of course, there\u2019s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores<\/i> (2014)\u2014a case that would likely confound those who ratified our Bill of Rights back in 1791. Here the Court held that even a nonhuman\u2014a closely held for-profit corporation\u2014can exercise religious liberty rights.<\/p>\n

Which brings us back to this strange paradox: If, by any objective measure, constitutional protection for religious free exercise in the United States has never been stronger, then why are so many Christians living with fear of imminent religious persecution?<\/p>\n

A True Threat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why. Conservative Christianity, once the uncontested custodian of America\u2019s religious and moral norms, now sees a future in which most Americans don\u2019t count themselves among the faithful. Quite naturally, it now has a well-founded fear of political majorities; a fear of what will be attempted if the \u201cother side\u201d gains unfettered political power. These are not imaginary threats. On the pages of Liberty<\/i> we track examples of political and legal hostility toward conservative religious groups and institutions.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s something we shouldn\u2019t forget. It\u2019s not only conservative Christians who fear political majorities. Those of the opposite end of the spectrum also fear what could happen should conservative Christians gain political control. There\u2019s no mystery about why Project 2025 rocketed to notoriety as a potent political talking point in our recent election season. It fit perfectly with a narrative that many Americans already believe\u2014that some Christians are prepared to take no prisoners in their efforts to remake America in their own image.<\/p>\n

James Madison had a prescient fear of \u201coverbearing majorities.\u201d Writing in Federalist Paper No. 10, he foresaw the dangers of an America in which \u201cthe public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties; and . . . measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, regardless of whether an \u201coverbearing majority\u201d skews politically left or right, the danger remains the same: that, when moral certainty combines with political power, the justice rights of the \u201cminor party\u201d will be swept aside.<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, the frequent battles over LGBTQ nondiscrimination, where voices from both the political left and right try to shrink complex policy questions into a simple binary choice: my way or the highway.<\/p>\n

On one side, we hear some advocates refusing to acknowledge the authenticity of any religious belief that holds to a traditional understanding of human sexuality. These \u201creligious convictions,\u201d we\u2019re told, are always a cover for bigotry and hatred.<\/p>\n

And then, on the other side, we hear some Christians refusing to back down from their view that American law should always perfectly reflect their own religious morality.<\/p>\n

With this kind of zero-sum rhetoric, is it surprising that the stakes around political power in America feel so extraordinarily high?<\/p>\n

Lowering the Pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fortunately, we already have a constitutional safety valve that\u2019s uniquely fitted to meet the challenges of 2024. It\u2019s a valve that can help release some of the pressure that has built up around culture-\u00adwar issues, and it can help protect the justice rights of the \u201cminor party\u201d from an \u201coverbearing majority\u201d of any religious or ideological motivation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, though, it\u2019s also a valve that has been weakened in recent years.<\/p>\n

What is this safety valve? It is the balanced<\/i> operation of the free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment. And the emphasis here is on balanced<\/i> because the real constitutional magic happens only when these two clauses work together. When this happens:<\/p>\n