Issue Position: Religious Liberty

Issue Position

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that "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." The religious freedom recognized and protected by the First Amendment includes the right to religious belief and expression and a guarantee that the government neither prefers religion over non-religion nor favors particular faiths over others.

That said, however, unlike all of the 2016 GOP presidential I didn't think ?the Kim Davis situation involved a "violation of religious liberty." If she believes it is a sin to facilitate gay marriages, then she should have resigned. How does she have the right, in the name of religious liberty, to keep a job if she's unwilling to do what that job requires? Am I missing something? I think the power of judges to lock people up indefinitely for contempt is very problematic, and I also believe marriage as a crucial social institution can survive without the coercive power of the state and that government ought to get out of the marriage business entirely; those, however, are separate issues. I just don't see this issue as one involving religious liberty.

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