Free to Believe: The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America

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/.