Religious-Liberty-Annual-Report

I – The Role of the Committee

T he U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USC CB) is the assembly of the Catholic bishops of the United States, and the vehicle by which they act col laboratively on vital issues confronting the Church and society. The USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty works to strengthen and sustain religious freedom by assisting the U.S. bishops, individually and collectively, to teach about religious freedom to the faithful and the broader public, and to promote and defend religious freedom in law and policy. Resources on numerous as pects of the committee’s work can be found at www. usccb.org/committees/religious-liberty. This committee focuses on religious liberty issues that fall within certain parameters, which also define the scope of this report. First, the committee works on religious liberty here in the United States. This does not reflect a lack of con cern by the bishops for religious liberty abroad — rath er, international religious liberty issues fall under the purview of the Committee on International Justice and Peace. And the state of religious liberty in many oth er countries is indeed dire. While religious liberty has come under increasing pressure in the United States in recent years, Americans remain blessed by our coun try’s tradition of honoring this natural right. The work of the Committee for Religious Liberty on domestic is sues helps to ensure that the United States continues to be an example for other governments. Second, the committee addresses religious liberty issues at the federal, or national, level. Primarily, this consists of federal legislation, actions of the federal executive branch, and decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court. The committee also addresses matters occurring at the state or local level when they represent national trends or are matters of national importance. State and local religious liberty issues, and religious liberty court cases that have not yet reached the Supreme Court, are generally outside the scope of the committee’s work.

This report will thus omit discussion of many lower court rulings on religious liberty in 2023. Third, the committee actively upholds and pro tects religious liberty for all faiths, but the committee naturally has a special role, expertise, and interest in protecting the free exercise of Catholicism. So, while this report includes discussion of religious liberty is sues affecting other faiths, it is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment of all challenges to religious lib erty in the United States. Last, when a government infringes on the religious liberty of Catholics, it is typically in furtherance of a worldview or policy priority that is itself contrary to, or to degrees at variance with, Catholic social teach ing. But governments also often advance such objec tionable policies in ways that do not infringe our re ligious liberty — take, for example, recently proposed federal regulations that restrict states’ ability to enforce their laws that protect preborn children from abortion. Those proposed regulations are wrong and harmful, but they do not pressure people of faith to violate their beliefs. On matters of this sort, other committees of the bishops’ conference take the lead with the consultation and support of the Committee for Religious Liberty as necessary. The USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty works to strengthen and sustain religious freedom by assisting the U.S. bishops, individually and collectively, to teach about religious freedom to the faithful and the broader public, and to promote and defend religious freedom in law and policy.

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