Christian attorney warns 'tearing down' religious freedom in US is 'spirit of the age'
An attorney dedicated to upholding religious freedom said he’s “greatly disturbed” by the “growing hostility” toward the exercise of religion in the public square, particularly in Michigan.
An attorney dedicated to upholding religious freedom stated that he is “greatly disturbed” to see what Michigan has become, warning of a “growing hostility” in the state toward the exercise of religion in the public square.
Louis Brown, a lawyer and the executive director of the Catholic healthcare nonprofit Christ Medicus Foundation, spoke during an Oct. 25 webinar discussing the Napa Legal Institute’s release of its 2024 Faith and Freedom Index.
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The report ranked states based on religious and regulatory freedom, finding that various parts of the country “over-burden and are even hostile” toward faith-based nonprofits.
According to the index, Michigan, Washington, Massachusetts and West Virginia are some of the worst states for religious freedom. Michigan received a religious freedom score of 22% and a regulatory freedom score of 49%, earning an overall score of 32%.
Washington state earned a combined score of 35%, while Massachusetts and West Virginia each had an overall score of 38%.
States that received the highest overall rankings for protecting religious freedom and creating an environment for faith-based nonprofits to thrive included Alabama (72%), Indiana (68%), Texas (64%) and Kansas (64%).
“The Faith and Freedom Index is a natural and important extension of Napa Legal’s work,” Napa Legal Counsel Frank DeVito, who also spoke during the webinar, said in a statement provided to The Christian Post.
“By analyzing the laws that affect faith-based nonprofits and publishing the results, Napa Legal can better educate nonprofits, lawyers and state policymakers on the state laws that affect religious organizations,” he added. “This education leads to better awareness and compliance for faith-based nonprofits, better legal training for the lawyers who serve those organizations and the possibility of state lawmakers passing better laws to help faith-based nonprofits thrive.”
For Brown, Michigan’s ranking was not surprising, but he still expressed dismay over what his former home state had become. The lawyer remembered with fondness the Michigan he grew up in during the '80s and '90s, noting that the protection of religious exercise at the time “advanced [his] growth and development as a child.”
Brown’s mother taught at a Catholic high school that served students from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. The attorney also attended Catholic schools throughout his childhood, and the neighborhood where he lived was also home to what he described as a “vibrant” Orthodox Jewish community. According to Brown, two of his Orthodox neighbors became his “surrogate grandparents.”
“At the time in Metro Detroit, you had a backbone of that larger community that was significantly made up of a beautiful tapestry of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities,” he said. “African Americans, Hispanics and European Americans who shared a common belief in God-given human dignity and the beauty of religious faith.”
“Unfortunately, however, over the last several years, I have been greatly disturbed by the local and state policies that have been passed by state legislatures, and in some cases, local elected leaders at the municipal level in Michigan that have failed to respect and protect religious freedom, the sanctity of life and human dignity.”
“There seems to be generally a growing hostility in Michigan towards the exercise of religion in the public square,” Brown stated. “A discouragement not only in rhetoric but also in law and policy, of Michiganders exercising their religious faith to love and care for God’s people in the public square.”
Highlighting the index, Brown urged spiritual leaders, elected officials, university presidents and attorneys general to study the report and understand their state’s ranking.
Brown also advised churches and faith-based nonprofits to structure themselves “in a manner that provides maximum protections for their religious mission under state and federal law.” Lastly, he urged community leaders and state policymakers to support changes to state law that more “robustly” protect the exercise of religion.
“Religious freedom is vital to human dignity, to all other civil rights in America and to a healthy civil society,” Brown said. “What we’re seeing, and particularly in the states that rank towards the bottom of this index, is a spirit of the age in our country that is tearing down the very foundations of the human freedoms that we enjoy.”
“The challenge we have today is to defend our human dignity and our human freedom, not just as a tribal community, we’re not here as a tribe but we're here as people of faith to love, care, serve and uplift God’s people so that they can thrive, live life fully alive and fully enjoy the freedom that God intended for His people,” Brown stated.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
