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The First Amendment: Religious Liberty
The Bill of Rights lists religious liberty, with
its rights of conscience, as the first freedom to be
protected. Religious freedom in the Bill of Rights
protects the right of the people to practice their
faith in their everyday lives. As George Washington
taught, “religion and morality are indispensable
supports” to a free society. Similarly, Thomas
Jefferson declared that “No provision in our
Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that
which protects the rights of conscience against the
enterprises of the civil authority.” Ongoing attempts
to compel individuals, businesses, and institutions
of faith to transgress their beliefs are part of a
misguided effort to undermine religion and drive it
from the public square. As a result, many charitable
religious institutions that have demonstrated
great success in helping the needy have been
barred from receiving government grants and
contracts. Government officials threaten religious
colleges and universities with massive fines and
seek to control their personnel
decisions. Places of worship
for the first time in our history
have reason to fear the loss
of tax-exempt status merely
for espousing and practicing
traditional religious beliefs
that have been held across the
world for thousands of years,
and for almost four centuries
in America. We value the right
of America’s religious leaders
to preach, and Americans to
speak freely, according to their
faith. Republicans believe the
federal government, specifically
the IRS, is constitutionally
prohibited from policing or
censoring speech based on religious convictions
or beliefs, and therefore we urge the repeal of the
Johnson Amendment.
We pledge to defend the religious beliefs
and rights of conscience of all Americans and to
safeguard religious institutions against government
control. We endorse the First Amendment Defense
Act, Republican legislation in the House and Senate
which will bar government discrimination against
individuals and businesses for acting on the belief
that marriage is the union of one man and one
woman. This Act would protect the non-profit
tax status of faith-based adoption agencies, the
accreditation of religious educational institutions,
the grants and contracts of faith-based charities
and small businesses, and the licensing of religious
professions — all of which are under assault by
elements of the Democratic Party. We encourage
every state to pass similar legislation. We likewise
endorse the efforts of Republican state legislators
and governors who have defied intimidation from
corporations and the media in defending religious
liberty. We support laws to confirm the longstanding
American tradition that religious individuals and
institutions can educate young people, receive
government benefits, and participate in public
debates without having to check their religious
beliefs at the door.
Our First Amendment rights are not given to
us by the government but are rights we inherently
possess. The government cannot use subsequent
amendments to limit First Amendment rights. The
Free Exercise Clause is both an individual and a
collective liberty protecting a right to worship God
according to the dictates of conscience. Therefore,
we strongly support the freedom of Americans to
act in accordance with their religious beliefs, not
only in their houses of worship, but also in their
everyday lives.
We support the right of the people to conduct
their businesses in accordance with their religious
beliefs and condemn public officials who have
proposed boycotts against businesses that support
traditional marriage. We pledge to protect those
business owners who have been subjected to hate
campaigns, threats of violence, and other attempts
to deny their civil rights.
We support the public display of the Ten
Commandments as a reflection of our history and
our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage and further
affirm the rights of religious students to engage in
voluntary prayer at public school events and to have
equal access to school facilities. We assert the First
Amendment right of freedom of association for
religious, private, service, and youth organizations
to set their own membership standards.[3]
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Trump on RFRA
