NEWS STORY: Witnesses tell Congress religious freedom under siege

c. 1998 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Rich Hamlin, pastor of Evangelical Reformed Church, Tacoma, Wash., feels besieged. Local prosecutors and the courts, he told members of Congress, are threatening him with jail because he refuses to tell law enforcement officials the contents of a confession he heard from a young suspect. Hamlin said he […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Rich Hamlin, pastor of Evangelical Reformed Church, Tacoma, Wash., feels besieged. Local prosecutors and the courts, he told members of Congress, are threatening him with jail because he refuses to tell law enforcement officials the contents of a confession he heard from a young suspect.

Hamlin said he was ordered to give a deposition in the case but”respectfully refused to answer … believing that as a minister of Christ’s church I could not reveal the statements this young man entrusted to me.”My responsibilities as a pastor would be seriously undermined if the confidential nature of confession could be destroyed by the government wielding a subpoena,”Hamlin said.


As a result, he said, he was threatened with jail.

Hamlin was one of a parade of witnesses Thursday (Feb. 26) before a House Judiciary subcommittee who told the panel that their free exercise of religion has been under attack since the 1997 Supreme Court ruling striking down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

RFRA, as the law is known, was enacted in 1993 and made it more difficult for government officials to interfere with religious practices by requiring they show their actions serve a”compelling state interest”and that there was no less invasive means of achieving that interest.

When enacted in 1993, RFRA had the support of one this nation’s broadest coalitions of religious groups ever. It included the nation’s major Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and other religious institutions.”America was founded upon the notion that the government should not interfere with the religious practices of its citizens,”Rep. Charles T. Canady, R-Fla., chairman of the subcommittee, said in opening the hearing.”Constitutional protection for the free exercise of religion is at the core of the American experiment in democracy.” Canady said the Supreme Court ruling, which struck down RFRA on the grounds it was not a valid exercise of Congress’ power, was an unfortunate decision and”we in Congress should work to restore protection”for the free exercise of religion.

The cases of alleged government harassment spelled out for the lawmakers by the nearly one dozen witnesses Thursday ranged from cases involving zoning issues to the refusal to rent to unmarried couples on religious grounds.

Zari Wigall, a student at the Sacramento City College in 1994, recalled how she declined to sign an”oath of allegiance”when she applied for two jobs at the publicly funded college, one serving as a tour guide, the other working in a theater. As a Jehovah’s Witness, she believes she can pledge allegiance to no one but God.”I just didn’t think this would be such an issue and that, because of my religious beliefs, I would have two jobs taken away from,”she told the committee.

Rabbi Chaim Baruch Rubin of Congregation Etz Chaim in Los Angeles, testified that local zoning laws”are being used as a latter-day restrictive covenant making it essentially impossible for many Orthodox Jews to live.”His congregation, he said, was refused permission to build a synagogue in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles.”One of the most fundamental practices of an Orthodox Jew is the strict observance of the Sabbath,”Rubin said.”Refraining from using any mechanized modes of transportation is a basic tenet of our observance. Consequently, wherever one sees Orthodox Jewish life anywhere in the world, homes and houses of worship exist in close proximity to one another.” Nevertheless, he said, the city has taken the position it will not allow any house of worship in a six-square-mile area of Hancock Park.

Such a position, Rubin said, while not posing a threat or burden to the practice of any other religion,”effectively locks the Orthodox community out of the neighborhood or places an unfair burden on many of those who chose to live there.” Canady and other supporters of RFRA are still seeking the best approach to respond to the Supreme Court ruling and no legislation has been drafted or introduced that would put new standards into place to restrict government interference with religious practices.


DEAEND ANDERSON

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