Whose religious freedom is it anyway?
Reproductive rights advocates are breathing a sigh of relief after it appeared the Supreme Court won’t go along with a ruling by a lone federal judge in Texas to limit the availability of mifepristone, long ago approved by the Food and Drug Administration for medication abortions.
The case was designed to continue the assault on basic American freedoms being shepherded through the court by the 6-3 conservative majority. But don’t celebrate too soon because IF the court rejects the case it will likely be on the basis that it should never been brought by this particularly group of plaintiffs in the first place.
And it’s not just reproductive rights being targeted. The court has long been aiming at a broad range of “religious rights.” But their definition of religion is very limited — and could reasonably be argued is in direct violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against any “law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Then again the nation’s founding document only bars Congress, not the courts, from the practice.
The centerpiece of the courts’ assault on religious diversity is focused on a woman’s right to end a pregnancy, often from the moment of conception, a theory known as fetal personhood.
In the view of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker in a case banning in vitro fertilization:
“Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself. Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”
That’s not a view shared by all religions, not even all branches of Christianity. For example, in Judaism, a fetus does not attain the status of personhood until birth.
And Alabama lawmakers quickly legalized IVF in the wake of the outrage over that ruling — although the state’s constitutional declaration of fetal personhood would seem to require repeal of the new law.
Then there’s the question of school prayer, barred by the Supreme Court in 1962.
That didn’t stop former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore (see a pattern here) from erecting a monument to the Ten Commandments in the state court building.
Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade’s limited right to abortion — and decisions declaring people have a religious right to refuse to bake cakes or build websites for LGBTQ people — Christian conservative activists are now turning their attention to putting chaplains in schools.
Yet Jews who wear kippahs and Muslims who wear hijabs in schools — still protected under federal law — are often harassed for exercising their religious beliefs.
And how could I forget the Speaker of the House, when asked about his world view, says “go pick up a bible.”
All this is taking place as a growing number of Americans are declaring “none” when asked for their religious preference. And the size of the evangelical Christian movement that is seen as the foundation of Donald Trump’s base is now being questioned.
Of course that hasn’t stopped the Huckster-in-Chief from exploiting that base by selling the “God Bless the USA Bible” for the low, low price of $59.99. (Available for $5.49 on Amazon.)
“All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” said Mr. Trump, who before entering politics was not overtly religious and who notably stumbled while referencing a book of the Bible during his 2016 campaign. “It’s a lot of people’s favorite book.”
So when a judge or other conservative politician claims they are standing up for religious freedom it would be appropriate to ask, whose religious freedom?