Written by Don Byrd
January 16 is National Religious Freedom Day, commemorating the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, adopted by the state’s General Assembly in 1786. The statute became the basis for the Establishment Clause.
In a blog post today co-written with Eric Treene marking the occasion, White House Director of Neighborhood and Faith-Based Partnerships, Melissa Rogers emphasized the importance of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
One way that the federal government seeks to ensure that these principles are put into practice is through enforcement of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Passed by unanimous consent in 2000 with the support of a religiously and ideologically diverse coalition of groups, RLUIPA seeks to ensure religious freedom in two important areas: the ability of religious communities to build places of worship and other religious institutions, and the ability of prisoners and other persons confined to institutions to continue to practice their faiths.
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The values embodied in RLUIPA are universal ideals. Department of Justice attorneys have provided technical assistance on issues involving construction of places of worship to government officials in Spain, Indonesia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and other countries wrestling with these same issues. In 2012, the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tennessee won the right to move into its new mosque with the help of a RLUIPA suit brought by the Department of Justice. On the day of the court decision, the mosque’s Imam, Sheikh Ossama Bahloul, remarked that America’s dedication to religious freedom can serve as a model for others around the world, and added: “I think this is an opportunity for us all to celebrate the freedom and liberty that, in fact, exist in America and to teach our young people to believe even more in the U.S. Constitution.”
President Obama announced that “Today, America embraces people of all faiths and of no faith” in his National Religious Freedom Day proclamation.
