Two-thirds of Arkansans Support New Religious Freedom Law

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If you support religious freedom in Arkansas, you are not alone. Nearly two out of three likely voters in Arkansas support the state’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and more than half believe a business-owner (such as a caterer or florist) with religious objections to same-sex marriage “should be allowed to refuse to those services to same-sex couples.”

The findings are the result of a poll commissioned by Talk Business, Hendrix College, and Impact Management Group.

The poll indicates Arkansans strongly support religious liberty; in fact, less than half of Arkansans under 30 expressed that businesses ought to be required to provide “services to same-sex couples.”

What’s striking about the survey are its findings despite its wording. According to the survey’s authors, one key survey question was taken verbatim from a CNN poll conducted last spring. The question reads,

“If a business provides wedding services, such as catering or flowers, should it be allowed to refuse those services to same-sex couples for religious reasons, or be required to provide those services as it would to all other customers?”

The phrases “refuse services to same-sex couples” and “as it would to all other customers” slant the question significantly, missing the point: That this is about the impact of same-sex marriage on religious liberty.

Here is what we mean:

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Open Season on People of Faith in Eureka Springs

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Eureka Springs may be the toughest place in Arkansas for people who want to practice their Christian faith in the public square. Tuesday’s passage of a so-called “anti-discrimination” ordinance has made it a lot harder for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and anyone else of faith to exercise their religious beliefs. Now, it’s open season on people in those groups.

Rather than preventing bias and discrimination, this ordinance makes discrimination the law in Eureka Springs. People of all faiths have always enjoyed religious freedom in Eureka Springs. Under this ordinance, citizens can be forced to choose between obeying their faith and obeying the City of Eureka Springs.

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Congressional Prayer Resolution from 1856

Religious Freedom

The_U.S._Capitol_under_construction,_1860_-_NARA_-_530494It’s hard to imagine Congress these days voting to recognize the significant role “the Gospel of Jesus Christ” has played in American society, but in 1856 and 1857 that’s just what Congress did.

On January 23, 1856, Rep. James Dowdell (D-Alabama) successfully sponsored a Congressional resolution that read,

Whereas the people of these United States, from their earliest history to the present time, have been led by the hand of a kind Providence, and are indebted for the countless blessings of the past and present, and dependent for continued prosperity in the future upon Almighty God; and whereas the great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it eminently becomes the representatives of a people so highly favored, to acknowledge, in the most public manner, their reverence for God: Therefore,

Resolved, first, That the daily sessions of this body be opened with prayer.

Resolved, second, That the ministers of the gospel in this city are hereby requested to attend and alternately perform this solemn duty.

Nearly two years later on December 10, 1857, Congress approved a virtually identical resolution.

In browsing the journals of the Congress from 1857, it appears much of the debate and controversy over these resolutions did not surround their strong, religious language, but whether or not the ministers who opened the Congressional meetings with prayer would receive any compensation for their services.

We have written many times about Congressional and Presidential resolutions recognizing the providence of God and calling for prayer. They were a staple of American government from the days before the American Revolution to the first half of the Twentieth Century. While Congress still opens its meetings with prayer, pausing to recognize prayer’s power and importance the way past lawmakers did might be a good idea–especially given the troubles our nation is facing these days.

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