Much of America’s pilgrims came to the new world as an escape from
religious persecution, They sought refuge in a country to practice their
religion in freedom. Today, many of the ideas of religious freedom are
being challenged. Luke Goodrich, author
of the book Free to Believe: The Battle Over Religious Liberty in
America offers his book to educate and inform his readers of the
religious changes in America and the courts. I gratefully received this book as
an advanced uncorrected copy from Waterbrook & Multnomah as a member of the
launch team for an honest review.
Goodrich
is a lawyer with Becket Law, a non profit legal institute that represents
religious cases of various faiths. Goodrich has presented cases in both the
Circuit and Supreme Court level. “Goodrich was part of the Becket legal team
that won four major Supreme Court cases in four years: Little
Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell, which protected nuns from being forced to
violate their faith, Holt v.
Hobbs, which protected the right of a Muslim to practice his faith in prison;
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which protected family
business owners from being forced to violate their faith; and Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, which protected the
right of churches to select their ministers. The Wall Street Journal called Hosanna-Tabor
one of “the most important religious liberty cases in a half century”(Luke). https://www.becketlaw.org/staff/luke-goodrich-2/
Goodrich’s definition of religious freedom follows: “religious freedom
means the government, within reasonable limits, leaves religion alone as much
as possible.” After defining religious freedom, Goodrich begins to discuss some
of the most threatening topics to that freedom, he includes abortion rights,
gay rights, the Muslim religion and religious representation in public areas.
Goodrich illustrates his topics with thought provoking questions. The
reader is challenged to explore how the change in our culture is affecting the
freedoms of the religious institutions.
As a Christian myself, I acknowledge how easy it is to become complacent
about the freedoms we enjoy in America. Though not an easy read due to the
detailed information and depth of the topics presented, I do think it is a
powerful tool to examine the current political and governmental climate and the
effect on religious freedoms.
“Luke
Goodrich.” Becket, 23 Oct. 2019,
https://www.becketlaw.org/staff/luke-goodrich-2/.
