After a year of court rulings that strengthened and weakened religious freedom protections for individuals and businesses, debate over those protections is expected to shift to state capitols in 2015.
Lawmakers in Georgia, Michigan and Ohio have readied state-level versions of the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA. Other states may also join their ranks.
"We anticipate an uptick in state legislation this year regarding state RFRAs," said Jonathan Griffin, a policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. "There's been greater attention paid to the topic this year in light of the (Supreme Court's) Hobby Lobby decision, and that would be my guess as to why."
Along with the Hobby Lobby ruling, which expanded religious freedom protections to business owners, state laws and federal court decisions legalizing same-sex marriage and cultural clashes over a variety of faith practices are also propelling a RFRA resurgence. Keep reading
No comments:
Post a Comment