Americans United, Others Drop Support For Religious Liberty Bill.Americans United and several other organizations have dropped their support of the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA RLPA Religious Liberty Protection Act RLPA Rugby League Professionals Association RLPA Replacement Level Players Association RLPA Rotating Log Periodic Antenna ), legislation intended to enhance religious freedom protections placed in jeopardy by a nine-year-old Supreme Court ruling. As originally conceived, the RLPA was seen as a bipartisan attempt to make certain that federal, state and local governments refrain from infringing on religious liberty. The legislation was a response to a 1990 Supreme Court ruling, Employment Division v. Smith, that reduced free exercise safeguards, making it harder for religious people to win in court when their needs conflict with state policy. An earlier effort to address the problem, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (, also known as RFRA) is a 1993 United States federal law aimed at preventing laws which substantially burden a person's free exercise of their religion. , passed Congress and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993. However, it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1997. Some participants in the coalition that drafted RLPA, including Americans United, believe the new legislation will meet the same fate if it becomes law. They point to a trio of decisions handed down by the high court earlier this year in cases that limited the federal government's power to regulate state and local governments. Americans United also had concerns over the bill's potential impact on civil rights and charged that some of the conservative groups in the coalition were claiming that the legislation would offer new protections and rights to religious people that AU believes border on discrimination. Barry W. Lynn Reverend Barry W. Lynn (born 1948 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) has been the Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State since 1992.[1] , Americans United executive director, said the organization still believes the Smith case was wrongly decided but no longer believes the RLPA is an appropriate remedy. Other organizations that have also dropped support for the RLPA include the National Council of Churches, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism Reform Judaism Religious movement that has modified or abandoned many traditional Jewish beliefs and practices in an effort to adapt Judaism to the modern world. It originated in Germany in 1809 and spread to the U.S. , People For the American Way People For the American Way (PFAW) is a progressive advocacy organization in the United States. Under U.S. tax code, PFAW is organized as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. The current president of PFAW is Ralph Neas. , the United Church of Christ United Church of Christ, American Protestant denomination formed in 1957 by a merger of the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches (see Congregationalism) and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. and the Anti-Defamation League Anti-Defamation League B’nai B’rith organization which fights anti-Semitism. [Am. Hist.: Wigoder, 33] See : Anti-Semitism . The RLPA passed the House of Representatives on a vote of 306 to 118 last July. It is pending in the Senate. |
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