As urged by numerous faiths - including a very rare endorsement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the House passed Tuesday a bill to make it tougher for the government to interfere with freedom of religion.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which passed on a voice vote, is designed to overturn a 1990 Supreme Court ruling that allowed laws to interfere with religion if they have rational reasons and do not specifically target any group.Under previous rules, such interference was allowed only if government could prove it had a dire, "compelling" interest, and then used the least restrictive means possible.
Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said without the bill, "The practice of using sacramental wine, wearing a yarmulke, kosher slaughter and many other religious practices all could be jeopardized."
He added that already "unpopular, evangelical store-front churches have been zoned out of even commercial areas, and orthodox Jews and the Hmong people have been subjected to autopsies in violation of their families' religious faith."
Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah, a member of the LDS Church, told the House, "Freedom of religion is one of the most fundamental truths upon which this great nation was established.
"I am a member of a church whose people were once cruelly persecuted, and I remember the anguish of my ancestors, who were driven from their homes because the government of this nation condoned oppression."
Rep. Karen Shepherd, D-Utah, also told the House, "The religious rights of other groups like Native Americans and orthodox Jews continue to be sabotaged in the three years following the Supreme Court's decision. Without quick and decisive action, members of other faiths will face their fate."
For only the third time in its history, the LDS Church had sent a high official to Congress last year to officially seek action by endorsing the bill.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Council of the Twelve, and a former Utah Supreme Court justice, testified in hearings that the early persecution of his church shows the need for strong laws to prevent interference with small groups that may not be popular.
"If past is prologue, the forces of local, state and federal governmental power, now freed from the compelling-interest test, will increasingly interfere with the free exercise of religion," he said.
The Senate is expected to soon vote on a version of the bill sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
However, Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., has warned he may consider a filibuster because he worries the bill could make it easier for prisoners to sue by contending prison practices violate their religion.