How to Determine If Your Religious
Liberty Is Being Threatened
| Column A | Column B |
|---|---|
| I am not allowed to go to a religious service of my own choosing. | Others are allowed to go to religious services of their own choosing. |
| I am not allowed to marry the person I love legally, even though my religious community blesses my marriage. | Some states refuse to enforce my own particular religious beliefs on marriage on those two guys in line down at the courthouse. |
| I am being forced to use birth control. | I am unable to force others to not use birth control. |
| I am not allowed to pray privately. | I am not allowed to force others to pray the prayers of my faith publicly. |
| Being a member of my faith means that I can be bullied without legal recourse. | I am no longer allowed to use my faith to bully gay kids with impunity. |
| I am not allowed to purchase, read or possess religious books or material. | Others are allowed to have access to books, movies and websites that I do not like. |
| My religious group is not allowed equal protection under the establishment clause. | My religious group is not allowed to use public funds, buildings and resources as we would like, for whatever purposes we might like. |
| Another religious group has been declared the official faith of my country. | My own religious group is not given status as the official faith of my country. |
| My religious community is not allowed to build a house of worship in my community. | A religious community I do not like wants to build a house of worship in my community. |
| I am not allowed to teach my children the creation stories of our faith at home. | Public school science classes are teaching science. |
If you answered "yes" to any of the questions in column A, perhaps your religious liberty is indeed at stake. You and your faith group have every right to now advocate for equal protection under the law. But just remember this one little, constitutional, concept: this means you can fight for your equality- not your superiority.
If you answered "yes" to any of the questions in column B, then not only is your religious liberty not at stake, but there is a strong chance that you are oppressing the religious liberties of others. Please review the tenets of your faith, especially the ones about your neighbors.
Rev. Emily C. Heath
Clergy, United Church of Christ
Categories: Church and State, First Amendment, Religion
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