Thousands of Christian communicators from across the nation and around the world gathered recently for Proclaim 17, the National Religious Broadcasters’ International Christian Media Convention. This year's impressive lineup of speakers included two Heritage Foundation experts.
During a lunchtime discussion, “The Fight for Religious Freedom and the Future of the Courts,”
Ryan Anderson, Heritage’s William E. Simon fellow in American principles and public policy, and Roger Severino, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, detailed how religious liberty suffered under President Barack Obama’s administration.
Anderson echoed the sentiment that religious liberty has been under attack for the last eight years during Obama’s presidency.
“We’re only having that discussion now in such a high-profile way in the United States because for the past eight years, religious liberty has been under assault in an unprecedented way,” he said.
“By and large, faithful Orthodox Jews, Roman Catholics, evangelical Christians, and Latter-day Saints have been on the losing end of a number of mandates that came out of the federal government or out of various state governments,” Anderson said.
Anderson cited several instances where bakers, photographers, and florists were penalized under sexual orientation and gender identity laws because they believe marriage is limited to a man and a woman.
For example, Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein experienced this kind of penalty when they were fined $135,000 for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because it went against their religious beliefs.
Anderson said President Donald Trump could provide relief by issuing an executive order that will protect religious freedom.
“No one knows what he’s going to do,” Anderson said. “I know what he should do. He should issue the executive order, because it would take nothing away from anyone while it would provide real protections to lots of Americans. “
Severino suggested that Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, provides hope for the future of religious liberty.
“President Trump promised to appoint someone in the mold of Justice Scalia and he has kept that promise in Neil Gorsuch,” Severino said.
NRB’s Proclaim 17 is just one of the many conferences that Heritage Foundation experts attend as speakers, educating audiences on matters concerning the most pressing public policy issues affecting America.
