Pennsylvania lawmakers pass religious freedom bill. (AU Bulletin).Pennsylvania is on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of becoming the latest state to pass a "religious freedom" bill that supporters insist is necessary but critics call overly broad and dangerous. The Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives approved the Religious Freedom Protection Act in late November. The measure prohibits the state from enacting laws o that burden religious freedom unless it first demonstrates a "compelling state interest." The state would also have to prove that its law is the "least restrictive means" available. In recent years, nine states have passed similar laws. The measures are a reaction to a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that some observers argue gives the government too much power to regulate religious conduct. A federal version of the law, 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. , was declared unconstitutional by the high court in 1997. Many religious groups in Pennsylvania supported passage of the law, but some legal scholars caution that the legislation is too blunt. "It's a wrong-headed approach," Marci Hamilton Marci Hamilton is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair of Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a widely-regarded scholar in constitutional law. Hamilton received her Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University in 1979. , a law professor at Yeshiva University Yeshiva University, in New York City; mainly coeducational; begun 1886 as Yeshiva Eitz Chaim, a Jewish theological seminary, chartered 1928 as Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Yeshiva College; renamed 1945. in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , told the Associated Press. "If there are religious institutions that need exemptions from particular laws, then that ought to be publicly debated and a decision made about whether they would get out from under that particular law. But this across-the-board assistance for religious entities undermines the public good." |
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