Thank you for the excellent coverage of the recent Coalition for Liberty & Justice forum on religious liberty (“‘Freedom of’ and ‘Freedom from,’” Vol. XXXV No. 2). The forum—and article—highlight a troubling issue that my organization, the Texas Freedom Network, has been observing for the past several years on the ground in our state: namely, that organizations on the religious right increasingly cast themselves as defenders of “religious liberty,” but they intend something very different by this term than its traditional meaning.

The concept of religious liberty, originally conceived as a means to ensure the free exercise of everyone’s faith, is now more and more used to disguise efforts to enshrine privilege for some majority faith. To pick two recent examples: almost all of the recent attacks on reproductive healthcare (access to birth control and abortion) and LGBTQ rights in Texas have been advanced by groups and elected officials purporting to protect “religious liberty.”

It is particularly poignant for those of us who have dedicated our lives to defending religious freedom to see the term perverted in this way and used to inflict real harm on others.

At the Texas Freedom Network, we are grateful for partners like Catholics for Choice that not only represent our values in the important national policy debates in Washington, but also invest their effort in states (like Texas) where the battles to defend genuine religious liberty can be the most fierce.

RYAN VALENTINE
Deputy Director, Texas Freedom Network
Austin, Texas