Resources for Government Leaders

Nationwide Legislative Tracking

• Baptist Joint Committee: http://bjconline.org/staterfratracker/
• National Conference of State Legislatures: http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/2017-religious-freedom-restoration-act-legislation.aspx

Congressional Testimony

• U.S. House of Representatives, Judiciary Committee Hearing on Religious Liberty, June 10, 2014, Testimony of Kim Colby, Director, Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom. To read her testimony instead of watching the hearing, use the following link. http://clsnet.org/document.doc?id=773.
  • Video Links:
    • Part I – http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/48633118 After clicking the “play” arrow, move the slider on the bottom gray bar to 1:30:45 because the hearing was delayed for an hour and a half.
    • Part II – http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/48637459

Denominational Documents

• “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: 20 years of protecting our first freedom,” Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, http://bjconline.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/RFRA-Book-FINAL.pdf.

  The Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains in its brief, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty,” what is at stake. www.usccb.org/issuesandaction/religiousliberty/upload/Our_First_Most_Cherished_Liberty.pdf.

Helpful Articles

• Kim Colby, “A Perpetual Haven: Why the Religious Freedom Restoration Act Matters,” Public Discourse, June 30, 2014, http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/06/13391/.
• Sean Davis, “How RFRA Works, Explained in One Chart,” The Federalist, April 1, 2015, http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/01/how-rfra-works-explained-in-one-chart/.
• David Masci, Pew Research, “The Hobby Lobby Decision and the Future of Religious Liberty Rights,” June 30, 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/30/the-hobby-lobby-decision-and-the-future-of-religious-liberty-rights/.
• Wesley J. Smith, “Will Doctors Be Forced to Kill?” First Things, July 25, 2014, http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/07/will-doctors-be-forced-to-kill?utm_source=First+Things+Subscribers&utm_campaign=babef21d74-7_25_147_25_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28bf775c26-babef21d74-172564633.
• Brian J. Grim, Greg Clark, and Robert Edward Snyder, “Is Religious Freedom Good for Business?: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis,” 10 Interdisciplinary J. of Research on Religion, article 4, 2014, ISSN 1556-3723.) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lF_q9fIzysZkuA2mfWkJ9LkyHkdhHn70/view?usp=sharing