The Ethics and Public Policy Center's American Religious Freedom Program is devoted to protecting and enhancing the inherent religious rights and freedoms that belong to each American. ARFP works in coalition with individuals and organizations of all faiths, regardless of ideology or political affiliation, that are committed to protecting the inherent religious rights and freedoms to which all persons are entitled.
Through its exemplary history of affording robust religious freedoms to all persons, America has preserved national unity and avoided the religious divisions and violent religious conflicts that have plagued peoples and nations throughout the ages and across the globe. An increasingly diverse America continues to avoid such conflicts and to thrive. It does so due in no small part to our religious and other First Amendment rights and freedoms. These provide the framework within which all Americans, regardless of religion, may work out their differences in a peaceful and orderly manner - through public discourse and persuasion rather than through coercion.
That healthy framework is increasingly being called into question. Spurred by activists and litigants, some government officials seek to expunge evidence of America's religious heritage from all public places. Others have sought to suppress individuals' speech about religion, even words uttered as part of burial services. And U.S. officials are increasingly entertaining the demands of authoritarian governments who use religious dogma as a tool of oppression in their own countries - and want the United States to follow their lead.
ARFP's own research shows that Americans remain deeply committed to extensive religious rights and freedoms. But Americans are often unaware of the dire implications for religious freedom posed by novel government policies, rights, and mandates.
ARFP works with its diverse partners and allies to raise widespread awareness of these negative implications for America's remarkable religious freedoms.
ARFP Objectives:
We work beyond barriers - including religious, racial, economic, political, and ideological barriers - to ensure that religious freedom is protected and enhanced for every person of every faith and for every religious organization in America.
We work with individuals and organizations of all faiths, regardless of ideological or political affiliation, to promote sound understandings of America's remarkable religious freedoms among members of the public and the media, government officials, and the legal and academic communities.
We equip Americans who want to join the fight for religious freedom with the research and information, action steps, and support networks they need in order to make a difference.
We highlight the challenges and conflicts that threaten religious freedom; present thorough, well-reasoned research and analysis of those challenges and their implications; and recommend sound policies and other solutions that will maintain the inviolability of America's robust First Amendment rights and freedoms.
We work with Congress and state legislatures to highlight the mounting hostility and hindrances to religious freedom and to provide additional statutory protections for all persons of faith.
We host major conferences in key cities of the nation's leading religious-freedom scholars, experts, and advocates. We ensure that those conferences are relevant to the issues of the day and highly accessible to the media.
We make the foremost religious-freedom scholars and experts available for conferences, speeches, debates, and radio and television appearances.
