Collin Slowey, an intern with the Center for Public Justice, and Nicole Kennedy, a former legal fellow with the Center for Public Justice, analyze the vital religious freedom issues at stake in the recent Supreme Court case Dunn v. Ray. They highlight the importance of upholding the First Amendment in capital punishment cases. In addition, they encourage Christians to use cases like Dunn v. Ray to build common support for religious freedom, rather than focusing exclusively on the more divisive topics of sexuality and gender.

In February, the Center for American Progress hosted a presentation on religious freedom by Rep. Ilhan Omar. Andrea Rice and Collin Slowey, both interns with the Center for Public Justice, analyze the presentation’s content. They determine that Omar’s emphasis on the inclusion of individuals at all costs is at odds with a pluralist framework and leaves too little room for institutional religious freedom.

In our current cultural and political moment, religious freedom in the United States is not generally regarded as a contribution to the common good. Nor is it thought of by most of the American public as a vital aspect of our pluralist democracy. Nor is religious freedom discussed as an invitational call, extended to all groups and all peoples throughout our diverse nation.

Yet religious freedom, as an ideal, is all of these. Open to all. Inclusive. A necessary precondition to the positive unfolding of the human condition.

Collin Slowey, an intern for the Center for Public Justice, reflects on the first two chapters of Free to Serve. In the book, authors Stephen V. Monsma and Stanley Carlson-Thies present the case for institutional pluralism in light of what they believe are growing threats to faith-based organizations’ religious freedom. Slowey recounts their compelling examples of First Amendment violations in modern America, takes a closer look at the cultural factors contributing to these violations and speculates on the future of religious freedom for the college-age generation.

Faith-based organizations and congregations often play a vital role in supporting the health and well-being of families, particularly mothers and young children. Many religious organizations believe the family is a foundational institution in society, created by God to serve as a first community for children. Many faith groups recognize the inherent beauty in God’s normative design for women to nurse their babies. By God’s great design, there is evidence-based research that shows how breastfeeding contributes to better whole-person (physical/mental, economic, relational) outcomes for all involved. Although breastfeeding is not always possible or practicable for every mother and child, there is strong evidence that breastfeeding has positive impacts on individual family members and on society.

Along with others who believe in the transcendent, in a greater force that binds and moves humanity, I view everything through the prism of my faith in God. Yet for those of us who seek our Creator, despite different religious beliefs and practices, we perceive a sacred force that is present in every aspect of life.

Religious freedom is the ability for those who believe in a sacred, higher power to express that reality. It is about preserving the ability or space to seek God in everything. It is the freedom to seek God not only in worship, but also, and even especially, in the things that appear the most apart from God: the dirty and the unclean, the daily and the routine, and in the midst of unfathomable tragedy. It is freedom to seek God in every stage of life: in birth, in work and in death.

On the last Saturday of October, a man armed with an AR-15 style rifle and three handguns entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, yelling: “all Jews must die. ” The gunman took the lives of 11 Shabbat service-goers.

This act against God and man is hard to put into words. And even harder is to consider what our response should be – particularly as people of faith who recognize that this act occurred to people of faith. In the wake of this tragic act many questions remain. What is the right response from the Christian church? From those of other diverse faith communities? From individual citizens and family? How should policymakers, advocates and faith-based service providers respond? What about those who hold strong views on violence prevention or racial justice?

We are here to support the good work you are already doing in your community, and provide the framework, resources and collaboration you can use to grow. Faith-based organizations face a variety of organizational, political, legal and cultural challenges, and we have developed a 3-part program to guide you through these complex issues. Join us for an informational webinar to find out how Sacred Sector could benefit your organization or network.

Broken families, crippling addictions, and tragic deaths: the opioid epidemic has taken an enormous toll on communities throughout the United States. Opioid addiction has been a serious issue in America since the late 1990s, when doctors started prescribing opioid-based painkillers for patients. Initially, opioid abuse primarily affected rural, small-town communities. In recent years, addiction has spread into suburban and urban areas as well. Now, an average of 142 people die every day from opioid-related causes, and the number of people who die of drug overdose in the U.S. every three weeks is equivalent to the number of people who died on 9/11. The opioid epidemic has also had a devastating effect on children and families.

Christian teaching contains a theology of work. It also affirms the significance of the workplace. Just as workers have a calling, the workplace has a calling as well. Workplaces produce goods and services that benefit customers. When they enlist workers in that creative task, they become the site in which humans live out their vocations. As Michael Naughton, a Catholic scholar of vocation and business, notes, “A community of work is only authentic when it serves those outside it in a way that develops those within it.” A workplace responds to its God-given calling when it treats all of its employees and workers with dignity and respect rather than as mere inputs to a production process.