Berg: Religious Liberty Doesn’t Have To Make Polarization Worse

Christianity Today Op-Ed:  Religious Liberty Doesn’t Have to Make Polarization Worse, by Thomas C. Berg (St. Thomas-MN; Author, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion July 2023)):

Americans support religious liberty—in general. But they are deeply polarized about how far the natural and constitutional right of individuals to respond to their conceptions of the divine should extend. And unfortunately, Americans tend to be reluctant to extend religious liberty broadly to views they find unsympathetic.

I think that’s sad. Religious liberty is for everyone and should be cherished by all. It’s also ironic, as I argue in my new book, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age, because historically, the central social purpose of religious liberty was to reduce the fear and anger people feel when they’re threatened with penalties for living according to their religious commitments.

Americans support religious liberty—in general. But they are deeply polarized about how far the natural and constitutional right of individuals to respond to their conceptions of the divine should extend. And unfortunately, Americans tend to be reluctant to extend religious liberty broadly to views they find unsympathetic.

I think that’s sad. Religious liberty is for everyone and should be cherished by all. It’s also ironic, as I argue in my new book, Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age, because historically, the central social purpose of religious liberty was to reduce the fear and anger people feel when they’re threatened with penalties for living according to their religious commitments.

Fear and anger produced cycles of violent retaliation in 16th and 17th century Europe among Protestants and between Catholics and Protestants. In response, Americans embraced principles of religious liberty. The founding father James Madison called it the “true remedy” for the “disease” of religious conflicts and their threat to “the health and prosperity” of the nation.

Today’s conflicts between progressives and conservatives are, thankfully, less violent. Yet we also see cycles of coercion, fear, resentment, and retaliation. We also live in an age when people’s response to “ultimate concerns” vary greatly and are often understood in opposition to each other. Progressives sometimes seek to compel conservative religious people or groups to support same-sex marriages or transgender procedures, in violation of their consciences. Conservative Christians sometimes seek to secure privileges for Christianity, forcing acknowledgements from those who aren’t Christian. And minority religions, notably Islam and Native American faiths, often find their religious practices sharply curtailed, surveilled, and treated with suspicion.

Religious liberty can be an answer to the polarization that pushes people further and further into opposing, hostile camps. It can counter cycles of fear and retaliation in a society where people believe different things. ...

The last year has seen two encouraging cases of religious-liberty bipartisanship. ... Second, a unanimous Supreme Court held this June that federal law requires employers to accommodate workers’ religious practices unless the accommodation causes “substantial” costs or disruption to employer operations. The decision, Groff v. Dejoy, rejected a much weaker standard that many courts had articulated for decades. Groff will strengthen protection for all faiths: Christians or Jews objecting to Sabbath work, Muslims seeking reasonable breaks to perform daily prayers, Sikhs or others seeking to wear beards or religious headdress. The case involved a Christian, but the holding will effectively protect the religious practice of many, many people, including those from the faiths most marginal in society. It’s exactly the kind of ruling that enables us to live together, though we have significant differences. ...

Nondiscrimination rules with significant religious exemptions can protect both sides in our polarized debates and reduce their sense of threat. The Respect for Marriage Act teaches that I’m more likely to achieve protection for my side’s claims if I also make room for the other side’s. Conservatives can support equal treatment of LGBT people in many contexts (employment, housing, commercial services) without agreeing with the behavior. Progressives can support religious freedom in many contexts without agreeing with conservative views.

Transgender-equality laws are complicated by other issues: effects on women’s sports and domestic-violence shelters, as well as medical interventions before adulthood. But religious-freedom concerns need not block the enactment of core nondiscrimination laws—if, and only if, there are significant religious exemptions.

In this and other ways, religious liberty can again serve its historic purpose of reducing suffering, fear, resentment, and conflict.

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