Tag: religious freedom

A North Carolina home repair company that advertises as “Grandmother Approved” has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by two employees who were fired for refusing to participate in daily Christian prayers.

Religious freedom is priceless to Fereshteh Momeni. An Iranian Baha’i now living in Medical Lake, she lived through the Iranian revolution in 1979 and her country’s transition into the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is why she appreciates the information in the 2023 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report that identifies countries with the worst religious freedoms.

Different faith communities came together on Tuesday to promote religious freedom and tolerance at an inaugural interfaith event organized by leaders of the Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and two Salvation Army volunteers.

State-sponsored persecution of Baha'is in Iran inspire two new bills in Congress.

Christianity is normalized in U.S., making other religions less tolerated

Business concerns aside, the question raised by this spate of recent legislation is: where does religious liberty end and the liberty of those affected by religious liberty begin?

In newly independent America, there was a crazy quilt of state laws regarding religion. In Massachusetts, only Christians were allowed to hold public office, and Catholics were allowed to do so only after renouncing papal authority. In 1777, New York State’s constitution banned Catholics from public office (and would do so until 1806). In Maryland, Catholics had full civil rights, but Jews did not. Delaware required an oath affirming belief in the Trinity. Several states, including Massachusetts and South Carolina, had official, state-supported churches.