Big tech, not government overreach, poses biggest threat to religious freedom in 2024 and beyond, legal experts warn
Despite Supreme Court victories, evangelicals face an uncertain post-election future
“It started as just a question. And the lawyer said, 'Well, if you'll just stop praying with the team, everything should be fine.'”
Anyone who's met Coach Joe Kennedy, a Marine whose case sparked a renewed debate about religious freedom in America, knows he's generally a laid-back kind of guy — except when it comes to prayer.
Kennedy, an 18-year Marine veteran and former assistant coach for Bremerton High School's varsity football team in Washington state, made national headlines in 2015 after being suspended and then fired for kneeling in prayer at the 50-yard line after games. His case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in 2022 that his prayers were protected under the First Amendment.
According to Kennedy, his fight for religious freedom began not with a complaint, but with praise from another school district.
“Everything just went sideways in the middle of our eighth year,” he told The Christian Post for the “Politics in the Pews” podcast. “So eight years without anyone batting an eye. And it was something cool.
“Actually, what started the whole controversy was that we had someone from another school district see what we were doing and call our principal and say, 'Hey, I just want to tell you, I went to my first game with you and me. 'Got to tell you what your football program is doing is amazing.' So, of course, they started an investigation into what was amazing.”
When they heard about the team's voluntary, on-field prayers, Kennedy says that's when attorneys got involved.
“Everything goes sideways and then I'm stuck where I have a decision on which way do I choose?” he said. “Do I choose my faith or do I choose my work?”
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in favor of Kennedy affirmed the constitutional right of public school employees to engage in brief, personal prayer, effectively overturning the Supreme Court's 1971 “Lemon Test.” Lemon vs. Kurtzman. The Lemon test allowed government involvement in religion only if it served a secular purpose, did not impede or advance religion, and did not create excessive entanglement between church and state.
While Kennedy v. Bremerton School District likely to be seen as an important case for religious freedom for years to come, it begs the question: what do Americans mean, exactly, by the phrase “religious freedom?”
When Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1800, Baptists across America celebrated Jefferson's victory. Despite not being an orthodox Christian himself, Jefferson was a strong advocate for religious freedom. In celebration, the women of a Baptist church in Cheshire, Massachusetts, where Baptists faced persecution, created a massive gift for him: a giant block of cheese.
Times have changed significantly since Jefferson's “mammoth cheese.” Today, about 63% of Americans identify as Christian, a marked decrease from about 90% in the early 1990s, according to 2022 Pew survey.
This decline in Christianity is particularly felt in states like California, where Pastor Samuel Rodriguez said the government is not only indifferent but actively anti-Christian.
“My religious freedom is constantly under attack. I live in Sacramento. The legislature in Sacramento is a cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs,” he said. “I mean, they have an anti-Christian worldview. It is very secular, totalitarian in their worldview. They cannot stand the fact that we have a general Christian worldview.”
It's not just California – 2024 Pew an inquiry found “governments harassed religious groups” in 183 countries, or the equivalent of 92% of the countries analyzed, up from 178 countries in 2020, the largest number Pew has found since it began its religious freedom surveys.
In a starting address at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in May, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito also sounded the alarm about religious freedom in America.
“Right now, in the world outside this beautiful campus, troubled waters are bumping up against some of our most fundamental principles,” he said. “Support for freedom of speech is dangerously waning, especially where it should find the broadest and broadest acceptance…
“Religious freedom is also threatened. When you go out into the world, you may find yourself in a work, community, or social environment where you will be pressured to espouse ideas you don't believe in or abandon core beliefs. You will have to stand firm.”
Likewise, in 2022 an interview with Sky News, Anglican deacon Calvin Robinson said that Christianity is the “most persecuted religion” in the world.
“Christians are tortured, killed, executed, arrested for no crime, just for having the Christian faith,” Robinson told the British outlet.
Noting the historic levels of Christian persecution in Muslim countries and particularly in Afghanistan, Robinson warned that anti-Christian sentiment was spreading to the West.
“Not only are we being persecuted around the world, intolerance is also growing in the West,” he said. “It is socially acceptable to criticize, persecute, be hostile to Christians in a way that people would never dream of doing to another faith.”
Source: www.christianpost.com