IFI Forum on Religious Liberty - Illinois Family Institute

Religious liberty is often called our “first freedom,” as all other human rights stem from it. It is an unalienable right given to us by Almighty God, who expects us to be good stewards of this gift, not only for ourselves but for posterity and as an example for the world and all those who yearn for true liberty.

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We fully recognize that religious liberty is under attack here at home and around the world. The rights to pray, worship freely, and take our religiously informed views into the public square without fear of persecution or harassment are being diminished.

Join IFI as we host a special forum featuring Ambassador Sam Brownback, who serves as co-chair of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit and chairman of the National Committee for Religious Freedom. He will report on the international situation in countries like China, Nicaragua, and Nigeria, as well as domestic attempts to eradicate religiously informed conscience rights for medical professionals and those working at pregnancy centers.

We will also be joined by Arielle Del Turco, Family Research Council’s Director of the Center for Religious Liberty and co-author of the organization’s “Hostility Against Churches” report. This new report “indicates that criminal acts against churches have been steadily on the rise for the past several years… The first three months of 2023 saw approximately 3x the number of acts of hostility perpetrated against churches in the same timeframe last year.”

What: IFI Special Forum on Religious Liberty
Where: Jubilee Church in Medinah
When: Thursday, June 1st at 7 PM
Why: Religious liberty is the bedrock of all human rights
Cost: Free – invite your like-minded friends

UPDATE: We are pleased to announce that former state legislator Peter Breen has been added to our line-up of speakers for the IFI Special Forum on Religious Liberty. In addition to being a pro-life hero, Peter leads the Thomas More Society’s Legal Team in service of its Life, Family, and Religious Liberty missions.

Background
In the aftermath of the BLM riots and COVID lockdowns in 2020, churches across America have been increasingly under attack. While the riots and looting leveled off (with some notable, recent exceptions in Chicago and some other big cities), the attacks on churches continue to escalate.

The violence manifests in a variety of ways, including acts of arson, graffiti of satanic messages, rocks and bricks thrown through windows, statues destroyed (often with heads cut off), and illegal disruptions of church services.

According to a report from June 2022, the Department of Homeland Security privately warned the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops of “credible threats” against Catholic churches and clergy after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

In the wake of an arson attack against Wisconsin Family Action, FBI agents reached out to IFI and other pro-life organizations with a warning: “The threat environment [will] become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets,” including “faith-based institutions” and “houses of worship”.

As our culture drifts away from God, the Bible, and Christian mores, the concept of religious freedom is quickly being sacrificed to the religion of woke-ism. There are good reasons why the Apostle Paul tells us to “walk circumspectly” or look carefully at how we live, “not as fools but as wise…because the days are evil,” and to “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17).

The Christian faith must offer truth to a dark and decaying culture. If religious liberty is diminished further, we will have a harder and harder time challenging the corrupting lies that are being sold to our culture.

The Christian message must be able to freely expose false beliefs and practices while illuminating God’s way (Psalm 119:15). The free exercise of religious liberty is the best way to point the world to the eternal hope found only in Jesus (Matthew 11:28).

Arielle Del Turco, in an article from April 2021, made this point:

Religious freedom will not endure by laws alone, although the law should include robust protections for religious freedom. Religious freedom also relies on cultural support.

By consistently living out our faith in the public square, we can foster a culture that respects religious freedom. So, pray in public, share your faith, and do not compromise your beliefs. Your constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of religion protects your ability to live according to your convictions. So, use it. Live according to your faith and defend the rights of others to do the same.

We do not yet face the kind of violent persecution experienced by many people of faith around the world. Praise God we still have an amazing degree of religious liberty and the political tools to preserve the blessings of this Constitutional Republic. Upholding religious liberty is the first step in preserving God’s gift of self-government.

Religious liberty requires our vigilance because its degradation affects the exercise of every other constitutional right. We would do well to make it a priority.

“[T]hat the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain
the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy,
which at once destroys all religious liberty.” ~Thomas Jefferson, 1779.