Opinion | American Diplomacy Abandons Religious Freedom

Americans have never agreed that one religion is true and good, but we’ve accepted the Founders’ view that all people must have the freedom to exercise religion and that this freedom is so sacrosanct it deserves special protection in our Constitution.

But that consensus has faded. According to the prevailing moral orthodoxy, religious practice not only isn’t celebrated; it’s increasingly intolerable. Those who affirm traditional beliefs about human life and nature—from abortion to marriage, to distinctions between the sexes—are cast as dangerous to democracy. Especially troubling is that such calls often come from the government, whose duty is to defend religious rights. Take the Equality Act—pending in Congress and supported by the Biden administration—which would vastly expand antidiscrimination laws and expressly bar religious exemptions. The effect would be to subject dissenters from secular orthodoxy to ruinous lawsuits.