Quotes About Religious freedom

Let us recognize that we can no longer tolerate violent oppression of women in the name of religion and culture any more than we would tolerate violent oppression espoused by any other bully in the name of a twisted rationale.

We Americans can be rightly proud of the fact that the right to the free and unfettered exercise of religion is a primary principle in the vision and founding of our country. It defines us as a people, and has uniquely contributed to making this nation great.

Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion? { Letter to Thomas Jefferson , May 19, 1821 }

People who change their religion should face the death penalty.

In probably the first law of its kind anywhere in the world, Genghis Khan decreed complete and total religious freedom for everyone.

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the President -- should he be Catholic -- how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference, and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him, or the people who might elect him.

It's long been a point of mine that the freedom of religion, which this country alleges to support, works two ways. We're not only free to practice the religion of our choice, we should be free from having someone else's religion practiced on us.

Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States, is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect.

Whenever equality rights and religious rights collide, equality rights trump.

The ACLU has been able to harass out of existence public expressions of faith.

People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, and the heart, and the soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive.

And it's one thing to give people freedom and something else to deny the rights of Christians to assert their faith in order to keep Hindus from feeling upset.

The great thing about America is you can live according to your faith. If you're faith says don't use birth control then you don't use it.

To be sentenced to jail because of your faith in God is to let you know the degree of darkness in that particular society

I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion that won't let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.

Jesus Christ is my savior, not the government.

No religious doctrine shall be established by law.

Thomas Jefferson famously said: "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god." In other words, government has no business interfering with our beliefs, but legitimately protects us from each other.

Despite its many virtues and its enduring presence, though, a good deal of religious conduct cannot be tolerated by enlightened societies. Herein lies the problem – some religious conduct deserves freedom and some requires limitation. Ridding society of religion is no answer, and therefore we must grapple with religion at its worst and its best.

Likewise, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries lost its bid to avoid sales taxes,4 Native American believers had no right to direct how the federal government develops federal land,5 Jewish merchants could not force the weekly day of no retail sales to coincide with their Sabbath,6 and a Native American family could not refuse to obtain a Social Security number for their 2-year-old daughter as a precondition to getting federal welfare.

I will endorse the Supreme Court's unfairly maligned opinion in Employment Div. v. Smith, and I will argue that there is no constitutional right to harm others simply because the conduct is religiously motivated. The Court's First Amendment doctrine is wise. Legislatures can exempt the religious from some laws, but only where legislators and prosecutors ask the hard questions and where the religious entities have borne the burden of proving that exempting them renders significant harm.

Pennsylvania's Religious Freedom Protection Act of 2002 (RFPA), removed a number of categories from its reach, including criminal offenses; motor vehicles; licensing of health professionals; the health or safety of individuals in facilities operated under the public welfare code; the safe construction and operation of health-care facilities; health and safety in construction; and mandatory reporting of child abuse.30

Under the RFRA of 1993, a religious believer could ignore every law in the country unless it served a "compelling interest," which is a state interest of surpassing importance, and the law served that end in the "least restrictive" way for this one religious believer. In layman's terms, believers could build a moat around their particular religious beliefs that would deny access to the law.