Land urges passage of workplace religion bill

By Tom Strode - Nov 30, 2005

Richard Land told members of Congress at a recent hearing a new law is needed to restore protection for the religious rights of employees.

Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told a House of Representatives subcommittee the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA) should be passed in order to reinstate free exercise rights undermined by court action. Land joined Richard Foltin, legislative director of the American Jewish Committee, in testifying on behalf of a diverse coalition supporting WRFA.

WRFA, H.R. 1445 in the House and S. 677 in the Senate, would act to correct a narrow interpretation of the requirement upon employers to accommodate the religious rights of their workers. Congress amended the Civil Rights Act in 1972 to require employers to accommodate their employees’ religious rights unless it would place an “undue hardship” upon the employer. The Supreme Court, however, ruled in a 1977 decision the hardship need only be minimal, not substantial, and effectively negated the law.

The coalition is united in its belief an “employee’s religious needs should be accommodated at work” as long as they do not “adversely affect third parties,” whether the third party is the employer, a fellow employee, or a customer or client, Land said.

The coalition—which includes evangelical Christians, Jews, Roman Catholics, Muslims, mainline Protestants, Sikhs and others—is united on “the simple principle that we will not prejudice particular faiths or practices,” Land said. “[W]e all have challenges to our religious observances, and this is truly one of those situations where we protect our own by protecting everyone.”

America’s founders considered religious freedom to be the right to practice faith not just believe it, Land said. “This is reflected in the historical record of the debates about the First Amendment which show that the Framers rejected a proposed First Amendment text which would have protected freedom ‘of conscience’ for a text that protects ‘free exercise,’” he said.

The hearing was held Nov. 10 before the Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

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