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current events conversation

Teenage comments in response to our recent writing prompts, and an invitation to join the ongoing conversation.

This week on The Learning Network, we asked teenagers about the role that religion plays in their lives. We also wanted to hear about the traits or quirks they inherited from their parents, and, inspired by athletes like Tom Brady who have "un-retired," we asked them their thoughts on comeback stories.

Thank you to all those who joined the conversation this week, including teenagers from Ames, Iowa; Baldwinsville, N.Y. and Tennessee.
Please note: Student comments have been lightly edited for length, but otherwise appear as they were originally submitted.

Religion is a rich part of many students' lives, and, as the seasons of Easter, Ramadan and Passover began, we asked them about the role religion played in their childhoods - and how much it is a part of their lives now.

Some teenagers told us about an unwavering belief in the benefits of faith. Others had a more a complicated relationship with religion. Some examined the role of religion in providing social capital, while others pointed out that religion has sometimes been "weaponized" as a tool of hatred and oppression. Here are the themes that came up over and over:

My family is religious and I did grow up with being involved in the church. My mom went to church every Sunday so now so does my family at the same church she went to in the village. For a while it seemed that we were just going through the actions of attending mass and weren't getting much out of it. Since I have started going to a different church for youth group I feel like I have been learning a lot. I believe that God already has our lives planned out for us and we are just following the path that he has created for us. Our faith greatly affects who we are, the values we hold, and the morals we find valuable.

Religion has played a huge role in my life due to the fact we had to go to church every Sunday, but no matter what religion is a major part of my life because whenever you feel down or want to give up on life you always know there is someone who is always there for you. Not only that but I consider religion a part of me because every day I wake up and religion is always with me and part of me

- Christoper, Julia.R. Masterman in Philadelphia, PA

Religion is probably the most important thing in my life. I go to a PCA church, which is a conservative, reformed denomination. I have gone to church regularly since I was born and during the pandemic, we watched a live stream our church set up during COVID. I enjoy talking about theology with my dad and plan to keep going to church when I am an adult, even though I'm not a fan of getting up early.

Whenever I have had problems or struggled I was able to get through them because I knew that I have a God who loves me and that my life is in His control. My religion helps me when I am scared, sad, or confused. It is who I am. I don't agree with all the identity stuff going on right now and I don't think emotion or personality is the real determiner of who I am. Every day before school when my dad drops me off he tells me, "remember whose you are." Who's I am is who I am, and I am the child of a loving Father, God Himself. That is all I need to know.

Religion, formative as it is, has also instilled deep guilt and shame in me. The church, in my experience, is a community of people that are called to live by the same code and principles, to become very involved in each other's lives, and to admonish and urge each other to follow in the way of God, all the while called to never judge each other. This combination often makes for a culture that tolerates subtle manipulation and control of individuals through the power of guilt and shame, as long as it advances the interests of the church.

My position on my religious upbringing is complicated and clouded by the validation I still seek from the leaders in my church. I think that with time more shortcomings of my religion will become clear, but I know that the foundational principles of Christianity will always stick with me, if only in the back of my mind.

I see religion as a good thing because it's nice to have hope in something or feel like you always have someone who cares and wants to be with you. But I also see very bad things in it. I am not very religious and I don't believe in some of the stuff that people who are religious believe in. They say that being LGBTQ+ is wrong and that if a woman shows off her body even a little she is a whore and a temptress. And other sexist, homophobic things. But I believe that every person deserves to be able to believe in what they want without judgment ... And I am not saying that every person who is religious, believes these things or acts this way, but I see most people blaming their hate on their religion. I know many very kind and non judgmental Christians and Catholics, so I am very aware that not every person who is religious is like this.

- Ava, Backer High School

Is religion beneficial? This is a question I've been pondering for what feels like my whole life, but the only answer I found for myself is: maybe. I grew up in a Jewish family, and that has been an experience full of highs and lows. I love my family's culture; every prayer, holiday, and food can do something for someone, whether it's joy, comfort, or closure. However, hate is ingrained in our society, and with every generation there are more hate crimes and cases of persecution. This is the case for so many, if not every religion. It can be a source of comfort and a way to connect to yourself or your family, but many use it as a weapon against others, which is when it loses its worth.

- Anna, J.R. Masterman Philadelphia, PA

I can't say that I've ever felt benefited by Christianity- most of the actual interactions I've had with church members have been being thrown pocket bibles on the walk to school, or getting into internet fights with people who tell me I'm going to hell. I'm aware these people don't constitute the entire Christian population of the US, but I can't say I'm impressed with the effect Christianity has on my life.

- Meghan, Glenbard West High School

I do not think religion is beneficial for most people if you can't recognize yourself out of it, and you have no morals without it. Most people, like myself, grew up with a religious upbringing where most of our fundamentals in life come from a thousand year book, where they condemn us if we don't follow every rule. However, for the most part I was raised with fluidity where I had the option to defer from my religion, or just chose to not heavily associate myself with it. But I've learned that a lot of people in my religious community have absolutely no morals, regard, or respect for people/things that are not incorporated with their religion or unless it's in their religion too. An example is a lot of people in the religion I grew up with, have very homophobic and hateful ideologies, even though those in the LGBTQ+ community don't bother them, and it's simply not their business what they do, a lot of religious people go out of their way to make that concern them, simply because their thousand year old religion told them to. And that's where I feel like it's not beneficial, nothing should ever make you go out of your way and shun a group of people or spew hate just because they aren't ordinary to you and your traditions. If a religion or old book written by people who claimed their God was "speaking" to them is making you act like that, not only are you contradicting your religion, but your religion isn't benefiting you in terms of you being a good person.

- Lariah, Maury High School

I was raised and still am in a Mormon home that has shaped who I am as a human being and who I am at school. Mormonism places a huge emphasis on education and in this I find myself trying harder in my classes. I agree with the majority of this article because my grades have gotten better after my testimony grew, I found myself caring about my education and realizing that what I know is all up to me. I have found comfort in being able to know I have my religious background to draw strength from or to fall back on. I have seen that effect on my life and in the ways I have studied, lived, and carried myself. I have not only felt better about my grades but coming to school. Ever since it dawned on me that school is a gift I have been more excited and haven't complained as much about school.

My religion has provided me with a sense of community, especially when I go to church. Going to church provides me with a sense of community because I see a large group of people who come together to pray and worship the same thing. It makes me feel like I have a community to fall back on. I also have a lot of adult role models at my church. All of the doctors, lawyers, volunteers, and ushers are role models to me. Seeing a whole bunch of people that have different jobs shows me all the options I can choose from. Even though they are all different people with different jobs and different incomes they are all happy and treat each other the same. My religion is also the reason why I do many sports or have connections to different groups. Through my religion, I have been able to have new experiences that I have never had before.

Fortunately, although I do not follow a select religion, I still have a web of support. These people include my family (immediate and extended, for the most part), all of my close friends, a few neighbors, a few teachers, and sports coaches and teammates that I have known for years. These are the people who support me daily and who make me want to succeed in life. These people support me by helping me when I'm stuck on a particularly tricky assignment, when I desperately need some good advice, and by just simply being there. I am completely happy with my social capital/web of support - it could not be better.

Having my own web of support makes me understand Dr. Horwitz's findings much better. Religion gives you a sense of community - you have a wide network of people to help you if times get hard.

- Charlotte, J.R. Masterman in Philadelphia, PA

Religions' ability to tap into much needed "social capital" when it comes to the working class is not hard to understand, given the disparity in access to such capital from other means in Dr. Horwitz's analysis. In the absence of secular support such as that of the state, religion appears as an accessible, conventional, and unstigmatized force to restore hope and offer guidance. This reflects the lack of state support in these people's lives and questions whether the state is really serving the tenet of equality it claims.

The role religion plays in my life at first glance is one of absence. My mother left a Communist country that officially disdained religion, and my father grew up in an era when Jewish families like his strove to assimilate and soften the edges of their differences from the 'mainstream.' Our family believes in kindness, and in humanism, but not in a particular religious faith. In some ways, though, the absence of religion is itself a presence in my life. I find it jarring that people are assumed to have religious beliefs, as if that's the only way to have a creed. Surveys often show that people are more against their children marrying an atheist than someone from an 'unpopular' religion like Islam. Every politician takes great pains to display his or her faith, and many have claimed that the Bible is their favorite book, even while the number of Americans who do not affiliate themselves with a particular religion is increasing. Being biased against those who have no religion should be just as unacceptable as being biased against those who don't share your particular faith.

- Aria, The Athenian School

We asked students to read the Opinion essay " The Challenge of Raising a Kid Who's Just Like You," written by a mother who sees her daughter struggle with many of the things she has struggled with herself. That prompted us to ask students what they feel they have inherited or learned from the adults who raised them, and how they feel about those traits.

I think that it's really funny that this is this week's writing prompt, because not a day goes by where my mom doesn't tell me how much I'm like my dad. She hasn't always talked about it, but lately I think we're all realizing how many of his traits I have. I've always thought my dad was a cool guy and when I was younger I always wanted to spend time with him. He's been my best friend my whole life from dancing in the kitchen, teaching me to cook, talking about boys (he's my #1 person to share drama with), and teaching me about the world around me. He's always let me have my own opinions and styles even if they conflicted with his which looking back on it, I really appreciate. That being said, I can totally see his influence in my everyday actions like the styles of music I like, advice I give to my friends, even down to how I don't take my shoes off when I get home and just wear them until I go to bed. Going back to what I was saying about my mom though, every little witty remark I make or stupid joke I let off makes her laugh and say "I swear you're Dad's twin." It makes me feel good that I'm growing into the person I've always wanted to be like.

Oval-faced, lanky and long-waisted, blue-green mixed eyes, and exceptionally dry hands. My mother and I are nearly identical, our biggest separating factor being that of age. Although one look at an old photograph of her as a child is self-explanatory, my older relatives relish in telling me "you look exactly like your mom when she was your age," at any given family function. It's not just appearance, as I get older I feel myself falling into her habits as well. Whether it's from her raising me right or simply the human nature of adopting the habits of those you surround yourself with, I'm totally turning into my Mom. Similarly, my older sister is exactly like my Dad, sarcastic, lacking in energy, and extremely nihilistic when it comes to the world and society. Interestingly with both of us, I find we have inherited certain traits that could be deemed as negative rather than a majority of positive traits. Maybe their unhealthy coping mechanisms influenced us to develop our own strange habits or maybe toxicity can be passed down through generations. Whatever the case, we are products of our parents, for better or worse.

When I was young, I despised order and routine. When my dad tried to make plans or establish rules I would find it very annoying and unnecessary. My brother and I would tease him for his constant use of the word "efficiency." However, as I have grown older, I've come to the terrifying realization that I have inherited these traits. I write a daily to-do list, I go to bed and wake up early, and I find myself doing things my younger self would see as uptight. I am not as go-with-the-flow as I used to be, and yet, I am completely content with my newfound organization. As boring as it may seem, giving myself these parameters has helped me make the most of my days. Despite all of my past teasing, my dad has turned out to be a huge influence on my character, whether I like it or not.

- Ava, Glenbard West Highschool

The other day I was sitting on my computer doing homework like I am doing now, and suddenly I spaced off into the mirror in front of where I am sitting. At that moment looking at myself I realize that I have the same concentration face my father has when I see him sitting behind the screen doing conference calls. A very weird facial expression and quite funny too. After those moments, I start to question whether I have had these traits for a long time, but had not noticed?

I have become increasingly aware in the past few years just how similar my mother and I are, from our outside appearance to our inner personalities. Both of us are perceived as scholarly and transparent people, which are true. We are also unconventional, we enjoy trying new things, and we share an amazing sense of humor. Mostly, I am proud of the parallels in our personalities; they show that we have a lot in common while maintaining our individuality. Although - unlike the author Ms. Grose's distress - I don't feel extreme negative feelings about our similarities, sometimes I am frustrated by how much certain traits of mine mirror my mother's. In the midst of giving directions to my younger sibling I've caught myself using the same commanding tone as my mother, for instance. We are also both impatient, which causes us to butt heads. Even so, I don't think my mother is a parent who would "catastrophize about [their] children's experiences and assume that what [their child] experiences will be as bad as what [they] have felt in [their] own lives" based on our shared traits, as those traits are not self-destructive. After all, as my mother says, "try to take the good from people, not the bad."

- Nathalia, Kenwood Academy - Chicago, IL

I look back at when I was younger and I find myself remembering the harshness of the raised-by-immigrants lifestyle. The pressure to meet expectations and do better in school. There were many things that I had to learn due to my surroundings that affected my parents. Since they were separated, it was even harder for me being so young. I notice sometimes that I have my dad's anger issues and I lash out to the people I love even though I don't mean to and five minutes later, I feel better or over the smallest things I get upset. I feel terrible and never want to be like my parents, but that's the environment I grew up in. Now I find myself trying to leave the house as much as I can because of the things my mom doesn't hide from me. Terrible partners and still trying to act twenty. That's why I think I've picked the wrong people as well but that's why many people don't deserve kids but all kids deserve a parent.

In terms of what I have in common with my parents I feel that I do have a bit of similarities from each of them but not as much as people think. I think that a lot of our similarities are very much surface level like the same music taste, how we are very open and silly around the people we love but can also be shy around people we don't know. This is to say that I think there are a lot of differences between us fundamentals like the different perspectives on how we see the world, religion, or even things like the value of family.

- Melinda, Polytechnic high school

When I was younger, my mom was the person who I strived to be: strong and beautiful, kind with a warm smile. She's who I knew I'd grow up to be. Who I wanted to be. As I've gotten older, it's changed. Not a lot, but enough. I don't want to be her, I want to be like her. Have her good qualities and a caring heart. When people meet my mom and me for the first time, or it's their first time seeing us together, they'll say things like "Oh my gosh, you look so much like your mom!" or "You and your mom look like sisters." Even though I don't see it at all, it makes me feel weird. Do I just look like my mom, or do I act similarly as well. If I'm aiming to be her clone, I'm not giving myself space to grow and be my own person. So I guess I'm saying that as I grow up, I want to keep the amazing characteristics I got from my mother while still letting myself be who I am without feeling like I have to be exactly like her.

- Minya, J.R. Masterman School

Personally, I don't have much in common with the adults that raised me. I may share aspects of their lingo and maybe physical characteristics, despite those aspects and characteristics, I am very different from my parents. My mother and I often have conversations about how much we differ and it's strange because we share interests; however, we can't talk about those interests because we have differing opinions and opposing stances even on the interests we share ... Although I didn't inherit much from my mother, I did inherit my anxieties from her and so did all my siblings ... My mother and father both love being around people and so do I. My mother likes to perform and that's something we have bonded over but we clash heads there sometimes too because we like it for different reasons. To many we seem very similar but we both think we are very different.

- Kaileigh, Maury High School- Norfolk V

I am and always have been an extremely outspoken individual prone to calling out a person's bluff and any discrepancies in instructions or arguments. This I attribute to sitting down at 5:30 every night for years to watch the evening news with my grandma. We would yell at politicians on the TV when we saw an injustice or a law we didn't agree with. My grandma taught me how to collect my thoughts, often encouraging me to write to legislators as an exercise in expressing my thoughts. Now, I argue with almost everyone. Maybe it's not through yelling like I do at home, but asking the same question enough times until you finally get an answer is a pretty effective way to upset a science teacher and pointing out systematic failures and only partially thought through plans is a good way to direct the narrative at robotics meetings.

As someone who is adopted I've never been able to visibly share traits with my parents. All this said, I've noticed similarities in my personality. By no means are my parents perfect but I think they did a good job raising two children despite their circumstances. I've noticed I am fast to anger; just like my father. I also have my father's same sense of humor so we always have a good laugh. I also share traits with my mother. Both my listening skills and my organization skills take after my mother. Finally, I would say everyone in my family cares deeply for humanity's personal morals, which is a shared trait that makes me grateful to have parents that have made me care so much about what's around me.

- Ella, Glenbard West, High School

Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl in February 2021 as quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Credit... Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

In " They Just Can't Quit: Athletes Who Un-Retire," Remy Tumin profiles players who have chosen to return to their sports careers. We asked students for their thoughts on comeback stories - both in and outside the world of sports.

Students shared their favorite comeback stories, and speculated on why a top athlete might struggle to make a definitive break from a sport. Here's what they had to say:

I love comeback stories. My favorite was when Simone Biles took herself out of the 2021 Olympics and then she came back a few days later for the beam event finals. Shes always been one of my favorite gymnasts, so seeing her come back and fight for a title and overcome her struggles, inspired me to come back to the things I love and showed me that you can always come back to something when you're ready to and you don't have to stay away from something forever.

- Brianna, Baldwinsville

Yes, I love comeback stories whether it be someone coming from the bottom to the top or a sports team coming back from a lead that seemed impossible to overtake. Although I will say something that these stories do sometimes get repetitive especially in the film making industry, usually when it comes to superhero movies. The superhero always wins no matter the circumstances, these movies are often a little predictable as you know the character will never lose. But when it comes to sports, man is it thrilling, I get excited over seeing it on the TV but in person the roar of the crowd has to be unreal, almost euphoric.

I love comebacks because thanks to them sports are more entertaining, given that there are so many kinds of comebacks like someone getting back of a retirement or when it seems impossible to come back [in] a difficult match. My favourite comeback is Barcelona vs PSG when they traced a 4-0, the emotions that I felt were amazing. I think it's so difficult to say goodbye to the sport that helped you when you were going through difficult moments and the effort you made to reach your goals is the most difficult thing and decision you can make in your life. That's the reason I think that Tom Brady, Johan Cruyff and most of the athletes that come back since they regret to retire.

- Oscar, Catalonia, Spain

I love a comeback story. The thrill and excitement of a player coming back from a scary injury, retirement, or maybe even from suspension or a mental break, is fun to watch. It is fun to see them come back regardless, It makes everyone excited and the energy levels go off the roof of the stadium and even better the best part of the comeback is seeing how well the player has improved. For example: We have the comeback story of NFL's Former Chiefs Safety Eric Berry. In 2014 Eric Berry was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma and was hospitalized ... When I heard about Eric Berry's cancer situation, I never thought he would play football again. When his remission was announced, was completely blown away and happy for his return ... He performed phenomenally in his comeback season: 14 Interceptions, 374 Yards, 5 Touchdowns. During his comeback season he managed to win the NFL's "Comeback Player of The Year'' award. His story motivates me, a true symbol of strength. I believe because of that comeback, people if they work hard enough they can make that what seems impossible, possible.

The most interesting comeback story was the one about Michael Jordan because it was surprising to learn he played baseball. I think many professional players struggle to say goodbye to their respective sports because of their fans and teammates. I like comeback stories, I enjoy when people return, especially when the player used to be more popular or highly ranked and proceeds to return even better. One of these instances was recently when Do-hyeon "Pine" Kim made his return to Overwatch League. I have found it hard to say goodbye of many things, such as habits and people. These stories of athletes that return teach us that it's hard to give up the things we love.

Kim Clijsters' comeback story stood out to me most simply due to her reasoning for coming back to her sport. In her interview she stated, "I want to test myself again." and I think that was the perfect response/reasoning that most athletes can abide by. To the public eye, athletes come back for the money because it was nice in the short run, but I believe they truly come back for the personal gains and reconstruction of themselves. It's hard to say goodbye to something you love, just like saying goodbye to cousins that live in a different state than you, or saying goodbye to a sport that has had you in love since you were young. Ties to the heart cannot be broken easily and the feeling of that return is beyond refreshing. Seeing yourself get back into that mindset you were in, and just getting that feeling of adrenaline that kept you yearning for it. Once you find something you love and want to dedicate yourself to, there is no chance that you can leave without going back because it has become a piece of your heart forever.

- Anthony, Chicago, Illinois

I think a comeback is a testament to one's true passion for whatever it is they may be doing. Truthfully, it does take some of one's pride to be able to say, "my decision was premature; I'm not ready to leave/retire." As seen in the case with Tom Brady, I do not think he had realized the implications of retiring from something he had been a part of for twenty two years. I definitely do not consider myself a Tom Brady "fan," but I can respect his acknowledgment that he was just not ready. He was not ready to leave the sport that was able to grant him untouchable athletic status, the title of "GOAT," and perhaps a sense of fulfillment that he discovered he could not find elsewhere.

I think that comebacks are great for people such as Tom Brady. I think that athletes retire from their career but then soon realize that they miss what they did for so long and were good at. They then make a comeback and that draws their fans to them and it's almost like they never retired.

I feel that athletes overall are extremely competitive people in every aspect of their life. I know that professional athletes spend hundreds, even thousands, of hours per year perfecting their craft. It starts to become the only thing in their life that's truly been there for them through it all. Athletes can't say goodbye to their sport because they want to be better, no matter how good they already are ... It becomes a sort of addictive feeling for athletes. Putting up personal best times, winning another title, another match, another game, another race. Winning goes from something fun to something necessary for a lot of athletes. They know that they can keep winning, they know that if they really, truly test themselves, and push their limits again, they could make a comeback. Truly, athletes are most competitive with their own minds. Their body, age, or even other people say, "You can't do it anymore." Athletes' minds are trained to say, "Watch this." Defying odds, competing, and winning, are 3 things that athletes can't say no to.

A reason why so many athletes come out of retirement could be they just don't know what else to do. A lot of these professional athletes train their whole lives to get into the big leagues and put their all into staying there. I could imagine for many of these athletes ... they don't know what else to do. So they just come back because they likely feel at home doing what they know.

- Mycah, Metro Heights Academy

I think so many athletes such as Tom Brady can't say goodbye to their sports because it's no longer a game to them, it's a lifestyle. Getting into a major league sport requires skill, dedication and perseverance; why throw that journey away if you´re not content with what you´ve done? That's probably how many athletes feel when giving away a sport they've put time into, no matter the level of mastery they're at. The phrase ‟eat, sleep and breathe" a sport is actually reality for many of these players. They adjust their diet, exercise and possibly even social life to conform to their sport. Putting your entire self into a task is one of the most honorable things a person can do, and sports players that come out of their retirement are simply not ready to give their dream up.

- Destiny, Valley Stream North High School

Learn more about Current Events Conversation here and find all of our posts in this column.

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What Students Are Saying About the Role of Religion in Their Lives, Similarities With Parents and Comeback Stories

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current events conversation Teenage comments in response to our recent writing prompts, and an invitation to join the ongoing conversation. This week on The Learning Network, we asked teenagers about the role that religion plays in their lives.

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Many Americans see religious discrimination in U.S. – especially against Muslims

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Most American adults say there is at least some discrimination against Muslims in the U.S. today, and about two-thirds say the same about Jews.

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Nyima Lhamo, the niece of Tibetan religious leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, seeks the truth about her uncle's death in Chinese custody in 2015. For that she and family members were detained and continue to face harassment by authorities.

She is among the survivors of religious persecution who shared their stories at the State Department's second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington. Some risk retribution at home. But they speak out to fight restrictions on religious freedom around the world. "This conference that the Department of State has organized and participated in by many governments gives me hope," Lhamo said.

Jeffrey Meyers, a rabbi at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 congregants were murdered in 2018, said, "It is only through ... compassion, empathy and one-on-one relationships that the artificial fences that we create to exclude anyone not like us will dissolve."

Meet a few others who participated in the conference:

Evangelical Christian pastor Andrew Brunson was detained for two years in Turkey on charges of "membership in an armed terrorist organization." Brunson, an American citizen, had resided in Turkey for more than 23 years before his arrest. After intense international pressure and high-level engagement by the United States, Brunson was allowed to return to the United States.

Mohib Ullah is a survivor of the 2017 ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma. He and others work in the refugee camps, building a tally of killings, rape and arson committed by the Burmese military against Rohingya. Ullah is now the chairperson of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, the largest grassroots human rights organization created by Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Mariam Ibraheem is a Sudanese Christian who was sentenced to death for refusing to recant her faith. In prison, Ibraheem discovered she was pregnant, and her torture and execution were postponed until after the birth of her daughter in 2014. International appeals helped to secure her release shortly after. She eventually moved to the United States with her family. Since her release, Ibraheem has sought to advocate for those who are persecuted for their faith.

Irene Weiss lived through the Holocaust but lost most of her family in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp. She often speaks to groups about her experiences there. "We need to have a government that stands up for freedom of religion for all people," Weiss said at last year's ministerial.

Dr. Farid Ahmed survived the terrorist attack on his mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, but his wife did not. She was gunned down when she returned to her husband, who uses a wheelchair, to help him leave the mosque. Fifty-one people were killed that day during the back-to-back shootings at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Center. At a March 29 memorial service, Ahmed said he forgave the shooter. "I don't want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano. A volcano has anger, fury, rage; it doesn't have peace, it has hatred. ... It burns itself within and it burns the surroundings. I don't want to have a heart like this and I believe no one does."

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Survivors of religious persecution tell powerful stories

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Nyima Lhamo, the niece of Tibetan religious leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, seeks the truth about her uncle's death in Chinese custody in 2015. For that she and family members were detained and continue to face harassment by authorities.

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Victor, Josselin, Samuel, Ilan and Ismael are atheist, agnostic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, in that order. With religious tolerance in mind, the five twenty-something French students, decided to travel across the world from July 2013 to June 2014 for their Interfaith Tour. The goal? To raise awareness of the many interfaith projects already out there making a difference.

Here's a trailer of the project:

In French-language interviews with Global Voices, the group offered details on the project and described their experiences along the way.

Global Voices (GV): After your journey around the world, you have now begun a tour of France to share your experiences. How has the project been received in France so far?

Victor (athée): Notre accueil en France a été très bon. Même meilleur que ce qu'on aurait pu penser. Les gens en France s'intéressent à l'inter-religieux et à la dimension internationale et sociale qu'on lui donne. Beaucoup de personnes viennent nous voir à la fin de nos interventions ou conférences et nous remercient, émus, du travail effectué pendant ce tour du monde et de l'espoir que ça leur donne. L'impact journalistique est également impressionnant. La rédaction d'un grand quotidien français nous a appelé pour nous expliquer que l'article relatant notre voyage sur leur page Facebook avait été le plus partagé et commenté depuis 2 ans, devant ceux sur Barack Obama ou François Hollande.

Victor (atheist): The tour was well received in France, better than we imagined. People in France are interested in inter-religious topics and the international component that we provided. Many people come to see us at the end of our talk to thank us, they were moved by the work we achieved during this tour and the hope it gives them. The impact in the media was also quite impressive. A French daily newspaper called us to tell us that the article about our trip on their Facebook page was the most shared and commented of the past two years, ahead of articles about Barack Obama or François Hollande.

GV: Long trips and close quarters with others often lead to self-introspection and additional personal changes. Has your view of your faith evolved during the trip? If so, how?

Josselin (agnostique): Ma foi n'a pas évolué, même si elle a été remise en question, parfois. Ma situation particulière d'agnostique dans le projet a fait souvent croire aux gens que j'étais en recherche d'une religion mais ce n'était pas du tout cela. J'ai été renforcé dans mon agnosticisme, puisque je crois en Dieu, où en tout cas à ce que j'appelle Dieu, sans me reconnaître dans aucune religion, ni pratiques confessionnelles particulières. Après ce voyage je suis d'autant plus convaincu que nous avons tous le même Dieu et que Chrétiens et Musulmans, par exemple, empruntent simplement un chemin différent pour atteindre Dieu.

Josselin (agnostic): My faith has not changed, although it has been questioned at times. Because of my particular belief, agnostic, within the scope of the project, people often believed that I was looking for a religion to adopt, but it was not like that at all. The tour, in fact, strengthened my agnosticism because I believe in God, or in this case the being I call God, without seeing myself belonging to any religion or current religious practices. After this trip, I am even more convinced that we all have the same God and that for instance, Christians and Muslims simply take different paths to reach God.

Samuel (chrétien): Ma foi chrétienne est intrinsèquement en mouvement puisque elle est une relation. Elle bouge, se meut, évolue. Un déplacement autour du monde est forcément l'occasion d'un déplacement intérieur. Je n'ai pas trop souffert de remises en questions radicales à l'exception des trois mois en Asie de décembre à février, de Bombay à Jakarta en passant par Tokyo, Pékin et Kuala Lumpur. Cette région du monde est un désert des communautés chrétiennes et il peut s'avérer difficile de ne pas se sentir seul. Ce sont des grands moments de pauvreté qui m'ont permis d'enraciner ma foi dans la bonne terre, celle qui n'a pas besoin d'un contexte favorable pour porter du fruit.

Samuel (Christian): My Christian faith is always evolving because it is a relationship. It changes, mutates, evolves. Traveling around the world is always an opportunity for internal change. I have not been subjected to too much radical questioning with the exception of three months in Asia from December to February, from Mumbai to Jakarta to Tokyo, Beijing and Kuala Lumpur. This region is a desert of Christian communities and it can be difficult not to feel alone. These are great moments of poverty that allowed me to root my faith in the good soil, which does not require a favorable context to bear fruit.

Ilan (juif): Dans la Torah, il est dit VéAhavta IreHa KamoHa (Tu aimeras ton prochain comme toi-même). Ce commandement, base de la vie en société, a guidé mon tour du monde. Constant aller-retour entre l'Entre-soi et l'Autre, qui s'alimente au gré des expériences de vie. A travers la rencontre avec l'Autre, j'ai renforcé mon appartenance au peuple juif, à son histoire singulière et à ses valeurs universelles. Le voyage a fini de me " convertir " à la fraternité sans pour autant oublier, à aucun moment, qui je suis et d'où je viens. Ce postulat - questionnement de soi et approfondissement de son identité - me semble être fondamental quand on se projette dans des rencontres, aussi belles et enrichissantes soient-elles.

Ilan (Jewish): The Torah says "VéAhavta IreHa KamoHa" (Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself). This command is the foundation of life in society and it has guided me throughout the tour. The constant back and forth between our inner-selves and others has fed my life experiences. Through encounters with the Other, I reinforced my sense of belonging to the Jewish community, its unique history and its universal values. The trip has definitely "converted" me to this brotherhood but I never forgot who I am and where I come from. This dual action - self-doubt and identity reinforcement - seems fundamental to me when we project ourselves when we meet other people. This action is independent of how beautiful and rewarding the meetings with others are.

Ismael (musulman): Je ne sais pas si on peut parler d'évolution dans ma foi mais une chose est sûre c'est que ce voyage m'a ouvert au monde, bien plus que je le pensais. On a souvent parlé d'inter-religieux pendant ce tour et durant les deux ans de mon adhésion à Coexister et en tant que musulman j'étais toujours ravi de travailler avec des personnes de confessions différentes mais pour ce qui est des personnes de ma communauté, j'entends par là les musulmans d'autres obédiences que les sunnites, je n'étais pas fermé mais très méfiant. Et pendant ce tour j'ai eu l'occasion de voir à quel point la communauté musulmane mondiale était divisée et à quel point il était urgent pour moi de m'impliquer autant dans l'intra-religieux que dans l'inter-religieux mais je garde espoir car je me souviendrais toute ma vie ou après la prière du vendredi dans la grande mosquées de Mascate en Oman j'ai pu sans le savoir au début de la prière, prier avec un ibadite et un chi'ite à mes côtés et donc me conforter dans l'idée que lorsqu' on veut créer du vivre ensemble on peut toujours trouver des personnes prêtes à nous aider.

Ismael (Muslim): I am not sure if I'd say that my faith has evolved, but one thing is for sure: This trip has opened my world much more than I thought. We often talked about inter-religious themes during this tour and during my two years as a member of the Coexist Association. As a Muslim, I was always happy to work with people of different faiths. However, with people in my own community, and by that I mean Muslims from other denominations than Sunnis, I was not as open and a bit suspicious. During this tour, I had the opportunity to see how the global Muslim community was divided and how urgent it was for me to get involved in both the intra-religious and the inter-religious aspect of our work. But I have hope that we can do better because I will always remember that day after a Friday prayer at the great mosques of Muscat in Oman when I unknowingly prayed next to an Ibadi and a Shiite by my side. That day reinforced my belief that when we want to live together, we can always find people willing to help us in that endeavor.

Victor: J'ai été renforcé dans mon approche du monde, mais aussi dans la conviction qu'il est nécessaire de dialoguer non pas simplement entre croyants, mais aussi avec les non croyants, humanistes et finalement l'ensemble de la population. En France il y a un tiers de croyants, un tiers de non croyants et un tiers d'agnostiques, dès lors, puisque l'inter-religieux est pour nous un outil de cohésion sociale, il faut dialoguer avec tous. Je suis renforcé dans mon approche du monde au contact de celle des autres. C'est ce que nous appelons l'effet miroir. Par ailleurs nous avons réussi entre nous a trouver la frontière entre affirmation de son identité et réceptivité à l'altérité, ce que nous appelons la Coexistence Active et qui est au cœur du message de l'association COEXISTER.

Victor: I was strengthened in my vision of the world, but also in the belief that it is necessary to start a conversation not just between believers, but also with non-believers, humanists and eventually, the whole world. In France, one-third of the population are believers, one-third are non-believers and the final one-third are agnostics. Therefore, inter-religious conversation is our tool for social cohesion and we need to discuss with everyone. I am reinforced in my approach to the world when I am in contact with others. This is what we call the mirror effect. Furthermore, we have managed to identify the line between affirming our identity and being open to otherness. This is what we call Active Coexistence and it is at the heart of the message of the COEXIST association.

GV: Five different denominations but no woman in the group. Was it a deliberate choice or simply how things turned out?

Victor: Il y avait une jeune juive dans l'équipe initiale, Raffaëla, qui a travaillé de longs mois avec nous sur le projet mais l'a malheureusement quitté un mois avant de partir par peur et il faut le dire, avec de la pression familiale. Ce n'est pas un choix délibéré, nous avons subi le fait de n'être simplement que des hommes dans l'équipe et nous avons essayé du mieux que nous avons pu de palier à cette situation en invitant à cinq reprises des jeunes femmes de notre association française Coexister de confessions différentes (une athée à Berlin, des chrétiennes en Turquie, une bouddhiste en Inde, une musulmane à Singapour et Jakarta).

Victor: The original team had a young Jewish woman named Raffaëla. She worked with us for a few months on preparing the project but unfortunately she left a month before we begun the tour out of fear and, it must be said, because of family pressure. Having no women in the team is not a deliberate choice, it was just something that happened and we tried as best we could to remedy this situation by inviting young women from the CoExist association of different faiths (an atheistic in Berlin, a Christian in Turkey, a Buddhist in India, a Muslim in Singapore and Jakarta).

GV: During the trip, you had the opportunity to meet with Pope Francis, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo and top level politicians including Laurent Fabius, the French minister of foreign affairs. In total, several hundred people, religious leaders and local figures of inter-religious dialogue. Which one had an important impact on you?

Victor: La rencontre avec le Pape est évidemment l'un des moments marquants de ce tour, même pour des athées ou agnostiques. Rencontrer pendant une dizaine de minute l'homme le plus médiatisé du monde, l'autorité ultime d'une des plus grandes religions sur Terre, est forcément impressionnant et même émouvant. Rencontrer ces leaders religieux ou politiques est extrêmement important pour nous évidemment pour savoir notamment ce qu'ils pensent de l'inter-religieux et dans quelle mesure ils sont prêts à s'engager dans cette voie là, mais il faut bien comprendre également que la majorité des personnes ciblées et rencontrées pendant ce voyage étaient de parfaits inconnus qui malgré tout travaillent depuis des années dans la paix et la réconciliation entre les communautés.

Victor: The meeting with the Pope was obviously one of the highlights of this tour, even for the atheists or agnostics. Meeting for 10 minutes the man with the most media coverage worldwide and the top authority in one of the largest religions is necessarily very impressive and emotional. Meeting religious and political leaders is extremely important for us to know what they think regarding some inter-religious topics and to what extent they are willing to engage in this topic. Still, it should also be clear that the people we really wanted to meet during this trip were common folks who nonetheless worked for years towards peace and reconciliation between communities.

GV: What region has had the most significant impact on the project?

Victor: Des dizaines de régions du monde ont été marquantes pendant ce tour du monde, et ce n'est forcément pas aisé d'en choisir une en particulier mais le Burkina Faso reste l'un des pays les plus marquants selon moi. Alors que ses voisins comme le Nigéria, ou le Mali connaissent de vives tensions communautaires ou ethniques, le Burkina Faso fait exception dans cette zone d'Afrique de l'Ouest en ce qui concerne la cohésion sociale et le vivre ensemble. Chrétiens, musulmans et animistes vivent en parfaite harmonie notamment grâce à une tradition centenaire de " parenté à plaisanterie ". Cette tradition se résument à créer du lien social par le mariage inter-ethnique et donc souvent inter-religieux et en désamorçant les tensions sociales par le rire. Des ethnies qui plaisantent sont des ethnies liées par des mariages. Dans la même famille au Burkina Faso, vous pouvez trouver plusieurs religions qui coexistent et cohabitent sereinement. Plaisanter signifie également institutionnaliser les clichés sur l'autre à l'oral, pour se dire tout ce qu'on pense, et ne pas retrouver des tensions ou des frustrations dans des couches de populations.

Victor: Dozens of regions in the world have been outstanding in our opinion during this world tour, and it is not easy to choose a specific one, but Burkina Faso remains one of the most striking countries in my view. While its neighbors such as Nigeria and Mali are experiencing religious or ethnic tensions, Burkina Faso is an exception in West Africa regarding social cohesion and togetherness. Christians, Muslims and animists live in perfect harmony thanks to a century-old tradition of "humorous relationship". In short, this tradition strives to create social bonds through inter-ethnic and inter-religious marriage and defusing social tensions through laughter. People who tell ethnic jokes to one another are also linked through ethnic marriages. In the same family in Burkina Faso, you can find several religions that coexist and live together peacefully. Humor also means expressing stereotypes about each other vocally, to say what we think and in doing so, defuse tensions or frustrations throughout all the layers of the populations.

GV: Pope Francis brings a fairly modern vision of Catholicism. According to you, who are the religious leaders of other monotheistic religions also offering a modern vision of their faith?

Victor: Le grand imam d'Al-Azhar va également dans ce sens et appelle les musulmans à coexister activement avec les autres religions. Mais des leaders religieux moins connus comme le Grand Rabbin de Pologne ou le Patriarche Maronite du Liban sont acteurs du dialogue et de l'action inter-religieuse.

Victor: The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar also provides a similar view of Islam and he urges Muslims to actively coexist with other religions. But lesser known leaders such as the Chief Rabbi of Poland or the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon are leading figures in inter-religious dialogue and action.

GV: What happens next with the project? Is another tour planned?

Victor: Oui, ce n'est qu'un projet pilote, nous espérons créer un mouvement InterFaith Tour avec une nouvelle équipe qui partirait chaque année pour découvrir de nouvelles zones du monde ou approfondir le travail dans certains pays où ne nous sommes pas restés assez longtemps.

Victor: Yes, this is only a pilot project. We hope to create a movement based on the InterFaith Tour. A new team would go on tour every year to discover new regions of the world or continue the work we started in countries where we did not stay long enough.

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What Happens When a Muslim, Jew, Christian, Atheist and Agnostic Travel the World Together?

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Victor, Josselin, Samuel, Ilan and Ismael are atheist, agnostic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, in that order. With religious tolerance in mind, the five twenty-something French students, decided to travel across the world from July 2013 to June 2014 for their Interfaith Tour. The goal?

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One Earth, Many Religions | Zaki Cooper | TEDxJohnLyonSchool

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Survivors of Religious Persecution Declare Religious Freedom a Fundamental Human Right

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Dalai Lama on Tibetans’ quest for religious freedom

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The Dalai Lama is interviewed by NBC’s Ann Curry during his October 2012 visit to New York. In the interview he discusses the more than 50 Tibetans who have set fire to themselves in search of religious freedom.

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The World

Get a fresh perspective of people, events and trends that shape our world. A mix of news, features, interviews and music from around the world presents an engaging portrait of the global community.

What is the historical context for establishing freedom of religion in the U.S. Constitution?

What is the historical context for establishing freedom of religion in the U.S. Constitution? And how exactly is freedom of religion protected under the First Amendment? Join Constitutional Law expert Gloria J. Browne-Marshall as we explore all this and more!
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

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Get a fresh perspective of people, events and trends that shape our world. A mix of news, features, interviews and music from around the world presents an engaging portrait of the global community. What is the historical context for establishing freedom of religion in the U.S. Constitution?

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America’s True History of Religious Tolerance

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The idea that the United States has always been a bastion of religious freedom is reassuring—and utterly at odds with the historical record

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Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project

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More than 55 years after the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling striking down school-sponsored prayer, Americans continue to fight over the place of

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Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. Join our movement today.

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Religious freedom is important for everyone, everywhere. Why? Because religion is important for everyone, everywhere. Human beings are innately religious. Our nature impels us to seek answers to profound questions about ultimate things. If we are not free to pursue those answers, and to live according to the truths we discover, we cannot live a fully human life.

Religious freedom is therefore the right of all persons to believe, speak, and act - individually and in community with others, in private and in public - in accord with their understanding of ultimate truth.
The American Founding to the Present
The American Founders understood the importance of religion for human, social, and political flourishing. That's why they styled religious freedom - that is, the freedom of all to exercise religion - as the first freedom. They were convinced religious freedom was necessary for the well-being of citizens, for the common good, and for public virtue without which they believed the new Republic would fail. Their view might be accurately called free exercise equality.

Until a few years ago, the vast majority of Americans supported the Founders' understanding of religious liberty. Consider, for example, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and International Religious Freedom Act. During the 1990s both passed with overwhelming, bipartisan support in Congress and were signed by President Clinton. Americans would sometimes disagree over how to apply religious freedom in particular cases, but they generally understood it to be our first freedom. With the Founders, they believed it to be a building block for all other fundamental freedoms, indispensable to the common good, and a source of protection for everyone.

Those days are gone.

In 2016 the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, created by Congress to protect the civil rights of all Americans, issued the following statement[1]: "[t]he phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' [are...] code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, [and] Christian supremacy...."

This dangerous view, which continues to spread, is highly destructive of the American commitment to freedom and equality and demands a sustained effort to recover the true meaning and value of religious freedom. In other words, it demands nothing short of the recovery and realization of free exercise equality, a core feature of the American constitutional settlement.
What is Religion?
Religion is, first and foremost, the human search for a greater-than-human source of being and ultimate meaning. " Religion is the effort of individuals and communities to understand, to express, and to seek harmony with a transcendent reality of such importance that they feel compelled to organize their lives around their understanding of it..." Most people by their nature seek answers to questions that seem to be in our DNA. For example, is there something or someone to which or to whom I owe my being? If so, how should I order my life in light of that discovery? Why is there suffering? Is there life after death? If so, does my behavior in this life affect my fate after death?

Second, most people who believe they have discovered religious truths join with others of like mind and spirit. Accordingly, although it is deeply personal, religion is also an organized, shared set of beliefs and practices that define a religious community, and which are lived and expressed in the public life of the society in which that community is situated.
What is Religious Freedom? A Fundamental Right
Religious freedom is a fundamental right that is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It is the equal right of all human beings and all religious communities to the free exercise of religion. Given its profound importance to the founding of America, and to human flourishing, it is a capacious right - i.e. universal, broad, and deep - though it is not absolute. The United States Constitution, and the legal foundation of any rightly ordered political community, carries a presumption in favor of religious freedom, and the government must bear the burden of overcoming that presumption.
An Individual Right
Religious liberty includes the right to believe, or not to believe, in religious truths. There is no hint of coercion in the American understanding of religious freedom, i.e. that one must believe. Coercion is alien to the American treatment of religion. If one does not believe, one's rights are fully protected under the Constitution's guarantee of free speech, expression, and assembly.

But if one does believe, such a person has the right to order his or her life in accord with religious truths, without undue coercion from any human agent, especially government, and to do so in community with others.
An Institutional Right
Religious liberty therefore includes the rights of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other houses of worship not only to exist, but also to flourish. Given the importance of religion in the founding, houses of worship have historically been given privileges, such as tax exemptions, that encourage their building and their growth.

Religious freedom also includes the right of individuals and communities to create and operate religious institutions such as homes for the poor, the aged, and the dying; medical clinics and hospitals; primary and secondary schools; colleges and universities; services for immigrants; soup kitchens; food pantries; adoption and foster care agencies; drug rehabilitation centers, and the like. Without such private religious institutions, which generally provide services for all of us, American civil society would be a mere shadow of what it is today.

Religious liberty also includes the rights of faith-based businesses to operate according to the fundamental beliefs of their owners. For-profit businesses are also subject to regulation by governments, and in recent years conflicts have arisen between the rights of customers and those of faith-based business owners.

These conflicts have raised several questions, especially whether such business owners should be coerced to provide their services to same-sex couples for their wedding ceremonies. In general, coercion should not be applied in such matters, particularly when the services sought are easily available from other businesses willing to provide them. Unfortunately, some state governments and political groups have sought to coerce such businesses into financial ruin or to demonize them as haters and bigots. Whatever one's views on same-sex marriage, these methods are bad for religious freedom and bad for America.
A Private and Public Right
Finally, religious freedom includes the right of religious individuals, institutions, and communities to express religious truths in their private lives, and to bring those truths into political life through their respective claims about justice, peace, equality, and freedom, and to seek the agreement of their fellow citizens on a basis equal to all others in society. This dimension of religious freedom is captured in the phrase: free exercise equality.
A Capacious but Limited Right
The limits on religious freedom are, as indicated in the discussion of same-sex marriage, a source of growing disagreement in America. But some limits are clear. Religious freedom does not provide any protection for violence or coercion in the name of religion. Nor can any religion seek a monopoly through the law, which is why the Founders prohibited a federal establishment of religion in the First Amendment. State establishments continued to exist, but disappeared by the 1830s as states gradually accepted the Founders' premise: state control of religion, and the coercion of conscience that inevitably results, is bad for religion and therefore bad for America.
Beyond America's Shores: the Stakes Are High
The world is experiencing a growing global crisis of religious freedom. Violent religious persecution, severe government restrictions, and rising social hostilities challenge religious freedom in every region of the world.

The global crisis makes it all the more imperative that the United States retrieve its historic understanding of the importance of religious freedom for the affirmation of human dignity, and for the flourishing of human beings and the societies in which they live. If the precious right of religious freedom is damaged or lost in America, where else can it be retrieved? What country at this point in history will defend the right of religious liberty for everyone, everywhere, if America does not?
Endnote
1 The chairman's statement is found on page 29 of the Commission's report, Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties, September 2016, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/docs/Peaceful-Coexistence-09-07-16.PDF.

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What in the World is Religious Freedom? - Religious Freedom Institute

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Religious freedom is important for everyone, everywhere. Why? Because religion is important for everyone, everywhere. Human beings are innately religious. Our nature impels us to seek answers to profound questions about ultimate things. If we are not free to pursue those answers, and to live according to the truths we discover, we cannot live a fully human life.

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WATCH: Secretary Blinken gives report on religious freedom around the world

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The State Department released its 2021 International Religious Freedom Report on Thursday, which contains data on the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries.

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Freedom of worship-of belief and nonbelief-is an important element of democracy, contributing to social peace, encouraging full political participation, and strengthening pluralism more broadly.

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The US Commission on International Religious Freedom monitors and reports on countries engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

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Two religion stories that deserve more attention: China and India

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(OPINION) A piece about China’s communist government’s fear of Christianity sparks the question– why don’t news outlets cover the government’s fear and distaste of other religions, such as Buddhism and Islam, as well?

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Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project

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A Closer Look at How Religious Restrictions Have Risen Around the World

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Over the decade from 2007 to 2017, government restrictions on religion - laws, policies and actions by state officials that restrict religious beliefs and practices - increased markedly around the world.

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Primary Sources: Freedom of Religion

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...
Freedom of Religion in the First Amendment

Establishment Clause
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing an official state religion or favoring one religion over another.
Rhode Island Charter (1663) - The American colonies often had very different laws regulating religious practices. Rhode Island was the first colony to allow religious freedom. Documents such as the Rhode Island Royal Charter later influenced the First Amendment.

Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments (1785) - "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments" was written by James Madison and presented to the Virginia General Assembly in 1785. It argued for religious liberty according to the dictates of individual conscience, and against government support of religion in any form.

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786) - The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was drafted in 1777 by Thomas Jefferson, though it wasn't passed until 1786. The statute disestablished the Church of England in Virginia and guaranteed freedom of religion to people of all religious faiths, including Christians of all denominations, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus.

County of Allegheny v. ACLU (1989) - This Supreme Court case that decided whether Christmas and Hanukkah displays on government property violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Brochure (c. 2010s) - Many have fought for religious freedom and tolerance in the United States and some have even employed comical strategies to achieve these ends. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is an American satirical religion that uses humor and theatrics to fight for the "separation of church and state."

Free Exercise Clause
The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment guarantees the rights of Americans to hold religious beliefs and engage in religious practices without government interference.
Jefferson Bible (1820) - The "Jefferson Bible" was created by Thomas Jefferson who cut and pasted, with a razor and glue, numerous sections from the New Testament. Jefferson's condensed composition excludes all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural. Jefferson's Bible is a controversial text that sheds light on the religious beliefs of one of the most influential Founding Fathers.

Book of Mormon Manuscript Excerpt (1829) - The First Amendment not only protects religious practice but also protects the freedom to believe in new ideas, which has resulted in the formation of many new religions. One of the most famous religions founded in the United States is Mormonism. Joseph Smith, a farmer from upstate New York, created the Book of Mormon, and today the Mormon church numbers more than 16 million followers worldwide.

Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures (1875) - This seminal book by Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy was selected as one of the "75 Books By Women Whose Words Have Changed The World," by the Women's National Book Association. It is the foundational text of the Christian Science religion. Christian Science is one of the few American religions founded by a woman.

Case Brief: West Virginia State Board of Education et al. vs. Barnett. et al.(1943) - During the height of WWII, the West Virginia State Board of Education required students to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. One student, a Jehovah's Witness, refused, saying it was against his religious beliefs. But was this legal? The Supreme Court weighed in.

American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978) - This law was enacted by the US Congress to return basic civil liberties to Native Americans, Inuit, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians, and allowed them to practice their religions freely.

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ... Freedom of Religion in the First Amendment The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing an official state religion or favoring one religion over another.

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Freedom of religion is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits laws establishing a national religion or impeding the free exercise of religion for its citizens. While the First Amendment enforces the "separation of church and state" it doesn't exclude religion from public life. From the colonial era to present, religion has played a major role in politics in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court over the years has ruled inconsistently on matters of religious freedom, such as the display of religious symbols in government buildings.

Religion In Colonial America

America wasn't always a stronghold of religious freedom. More than half a century before the Pilgrims set sail in the Mayflower, French Protestants (called Huguenots) established a colony at Fort Caroline near modern-day Jacksonville, Florida.

The Spanish, who were largely Catholic and occupied much of Florida at the time, slaughtered the Huguenots at Fort Caroline. The Spanish commander wrote the king that he had hanged the settlers for "scattering the odious Lutheran doctrine in these Provinces."

The Puritans and Pilgrims arrived in New England in the early 1600s after suffering religious persecution in England. However, the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony didn't tolerate any opposing religious views. Catholics, Quakers and other non-Puritans were banned from the colony.

Roger Williams

In 1635 Roger Williams, a Puritan dissident, was banned from Massachusetts. Williams then moved south and founded Rhode Island. Rhode Island became the first colony with no established church and the first to grant religious freedom to everyone, including Quakers and Jews.

As Virginia's governor in 1779, Thomas Jefferson drafted a bill that would guarantee the religious freedoms of Virginians of all faiths-including those with no faith-but the bill did not pass into law.

Religion was mentioned only once in the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution prohibits the use of religious tests as qualification for public office. This broke with European tradition by allowing people of any faith (or no faith) to serve in public office in the United States.

First Amendment

In 1785, Virginia statesman (and future president) James Madison argued against state support of Christian religious instruction. Madison would go on to draft the First Amendment, a part of the Bill of Rights that would provide constitutional protection for certain individual liberties including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the press, and the rights to assemble and petition the government.

The First Amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791. It established a separation of church and state that prohibited the federal government from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion." It also prohibits the government, in most cases, from interfering with a person's religious beliefs or practices.

The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in 1868, extended religious freedom by preventing states from enacting laws that would advance or inhibit any one religion.

Religious Intolerance In the United States

Mormons, led by Joseph Smith, clashed with the Protestant majority in Missouri in 1838. Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs ordered that all Mormons be exterminated or expelled from the state.

At Haun's Mill, Missouri militia members massacred 17 Mormons on October 30, 1838.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the U.S. government subsidized boarding schools to educate and assimilate Native American children. At these schools, Native American children were prohibited from wearing ceremonial clothes or practicing native religions.

While most states followed federal example and abolished religious tests for public office, some states maintained religious tests well into the twentieth century. Maryland, for instance, required "a declaration of belief in God," for all state officeholders until 1961.

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Reynolds v. United States (1878): This Supreme Court case tested the limits of religious liberty by upholding a federal law banning polygamy. The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment forbids government from regulating belief but not from actions such as marriage.

Braunfeld v. Brown (1961): The Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania law requiring stores to close on Sundays, even though Orthodox Jews argued the law was unfair to them since their religion required them to close their stores on Saturdays as well.

Sherbert v. Verner (1963): The Supreme Court ruled that states could not require a person to abandon their religious beliefs in order to receive benefits. In this case, Adell Sherbert, a Seventh-day Adventist, worked in a textile mill. When her employer switched from a five-day to six-day workweek, she was fired for refusing to work on Saturdays. When she applied for unemployment compensation, a South Carolina court denied her claim.

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971): This Supreme Court decision struck down a Pennsylvania law allowing the state to reimburse Catholic schools for the salaries of teachers who taught in those schools. This Supreme Court case established the "Lemon Test" for determining when a state or federal law violates the Establishment Clause-that's the part of the First Amendment that prohibits the government from declaring or financially supporting a state religion.

Ten Commandments Cases (2005): In 2005, the Supreme Court came to seemingly contradictory decisions in two cases involving the display of the Ten Commandments on public property. In the first case, Van Orden v. Perry, the Supreme Court ruled that the display of a six-foot Ten Commandments monument at the Texas State Capital was constitutional. In McCreary County v. ACLU, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that two large, framed copies of the Ten Commandments in Kentucky courthouses violated the First Amendment.

Muslim Travel Bans

In 2017, federal district courts struck down the implementation of a series of travel bans ordered by President Donald J. Trump, citing that the bans-which discriminate against the citizens of several Muslim-majority nations-would violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

Sources

America's True History of Religious Tolerance; Smithsonian.com.
Religious Liberty: Landmark Supreme Court Cases; Bill of Rights Institute.
First Amendment; Legal Information Institute.

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Freedom of religion is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits laws establishing a national religion or impeding the free exercise of religion for its citizens. While the First Amendment enforces the "separation of church and state" it doesn't exclude religion from public life.

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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

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Freedom of Religion: Crash Course Government and Politics #24

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Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

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Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

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Table of Contents

This article was most recently revised and updated by

Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), (1993), U.S. legislation that originally prohibited the federal government and the states from "substantially burden[ing] a person's exercise of religion" unless "application of the burden...is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest" and "is the least restrictive means of furthering that...interest." In response to (1997), in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the RFRA could not be applied to the states, the U.S. Congress amended the law (2000) to limit its applicability to the federal government.

In enacting the RFRA, Congress codified a constitutional rule, the compelling-interest "balancing test," that the Supreme Court had used until 1990 to determine whether generally applicable and religiously neutral laws that incidentally place a substantial burden on a person's religious practices are inconsistent with the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ("Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]"). According to the balancing test, such laws are unconstitutional unless they serve a compelling governmental interest. In 2000 Congress also added a new statute, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which applied the principles of the RFRA to local and state governments.

The RFRA and RLUIPA were the basis of a U.S. Supreme Court case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014), in which the court held that the religious freedom of Hobby Lobby Stores, a for-profit corporation, and its owners had been illegally infringed under the RFRA by the so-called "contraceptive mandate," a regulation pursuant to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010; PPACA) that required businesses employing 50 or more persons to provide health-insurance coverage of all contraceptive methods then approved by the FDA ( Food and Drug Administration).

Brian Duignan.

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Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

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Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), (1993), U.S. legislation that originally prohibited the federal government and the states from "substantially burden[ing] a person's exercise of religion" unless "application of the burden...is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest" and "is the least restrictive means of furthering that...interest." In response to City of Boerne v.

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Working To Secure Religious Freedom For Everyone, EverywhereTHE LATESTMay. 01, 2023 RFI Welcomes Ellen Fischer as Administrative AssistantApr. 28, 2023 Nigerian Atrocities Documentation Project Issues Critical New ReportApr. 28, 2023 RFI Holds First Statesmanship and Religious Freedom Seminar in IraqApr. 28, 2023 Religious Liberty in American Higher EducationApr.

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The first amendment to the United States constitution begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."

Fast forward almost 250 years and religious freedom is one of the most pressing issues in American culture today.

Let's take a look at some of the concerns surrounding this debate.

First of all, what is religious freedom?

Religious freedom is more than the "freedom to worship" at a synagogue, church, or mosque. It means people shouldn't have to go against their core values and beliefs in order to conform to culture or government.

Religious freedom protects people's right to live, speak, and act according to their beliefs peacefully and publicly. It protects their ability to be themselves at work, in class, and at social activities.

Ok, that sounds good, but does such "freedom" allow people to do whatever they want under the cover of religion?

Well, that answer is no. The Supreme Court has said the federal government may limit religious freedom - but only when it has a "compelling interest" to do so in order to protect the common good and limit people's ability to harm others.

Here's how that applies to the most common allegation in religious freedom cases today - charges of discrimination.

Should florists, photographers and bakers be forced to provide their services for same-sex weddings and celebrations that violate their religious beliefs?

Well, let's flip the question. Should a lesbian graphic designer or printer be forced to create a flyer for a religious group's rally opposing same-marriage?

In both cases, the answer should be no.

There are plenty of other bakers that provide cakes for same-sex weddings and there are other graphic artists a religious group can hire. Additionally, in neither example is a person or group being denied a service because of who they are - it's because of the specific service they are requesting. In these cases, there is not a compelling interest for the government to interfere.

That is very different from Jim Crow laws that mandated segregation based on racial supremacy. These laws prevented all individuals and businesses, regardless of their personal beliefs, from opening their doors and providing their services to African Americans. These laws enforced widespread discrimination and denied African Americans basic necessities. The government absolutely had a compelling interest to interfere.

And that's why the answer to this next question is very important...does religious freedom mean religious people get special rights?

No. Religious freedom prevents the cultural majority from using the power of the state to impose their beliefs on others. This protects everyone-religious and nonreligious alike-from the government becoming so powerful that it can tell people what to think and how to act. Conscience has been considered the individual's most sacred right. A government that intrudes on conscience will not hesitate to intrude on our other freedoms.

Additionally, forcing individuals and faith-based organizations to choose between living out their religious beliefs or serving their neighbors actually harms our communities.

Did you know that an estimated 350,000 religious congregations operate schools, pregnancy resource centers, soup kitchens, drug addiction programs, homeless shelters, and adoption agencies?

These efforts serve 70 million Americans each year and the value of their services are estimated at over a trillion dollars annually.

Ultimately, everyone benefits from religious freedom.

It covers all people equally-Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostics, and atheists. Religious freedom preserves America's diversity, where people of different faiths, worldviews, and beliefs can peacefully live together without fear of punishment from the government.

Efforts to repress religious freedom is not just an attack on individual liberty and human dignity, but on the very foundation that has made America strong.
View more of America's Biggest Issues

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Religious Freedom: What's at Stake If We Lose It

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The first amendment to the United States constitution begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." Fast forward almost 250 years and religious freedom is one of the most pressing issues in American culture today.