Courts across the country are setting dangerous precedents when it comes to rulings on religious freedom. These rulings take the view that religious freedom is beliefs rather than actions.
States can rectify this by passing what are called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, but Arkansas is one of a handful of states without a Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Here is just one example of why states need to affirm everyone’s right to religious freedom:
Just last week the New Mexico State Supreme Court told photographer Elaine Huguenin that she has no right to refuse to photograph same-sex weddings. Huguenin, the owner of Elaine Photography in Albuquerque, said photographing such a wedding would violate her religious convictions. Justice Richard Boson said that it is “the price of citizenship.” Huguenin was ordered to pay legal fees of $6,637 to the couple she refused to photograph.
Those of us who believe the Biblical mandate to “go into all the world and spread the gospel” know that “faith without works is dead” and that religious freedom is as much about what we do as what we believe.
