• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan elevates the chalice during a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City Dec. 8, 2021. Cardinal Dolan is the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee for Religious Liberty. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Institute launches national committee aiming to protect religious freedom

January 19, 2022
By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Religious Freedom, World News

Prominent leaders of the religious freedom movement introduced an organization they say will work to defend religious liberty and support political candidates at all levels of government who back the free practice of religion.

Charging that religious practice is increasingly threatened by legal maneuvering and public actions that seek to limit the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious rights, speakers during an online launch of the organization Jan. 18 called on Americans to join the effort.

Tom Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute, said the new organization will be known as the National Committee for Religious Freedom. It is being established as a separate nonprofit organization under the institute.

The arrangement calls for the committee to fall under the Internal Revenue Code as a 501(c)4 social welfare group rather than a nonprofit organization established for religious, charitable, scientific or educational purposes. Contributions to the new organization will not be tax deductible and the committee will not be required to publicly identify donors.

“If religious freedom is diminished and damaged in America, our beloved country will be grievously harmed, but so too will the rest of the world,” Farr said during the launch event. “Our nation has built a system of religious freedom that, while never perfect, is unparalleled in the history of mankind. It stands as a guiding light for a world sorely in need of religious freedom.”

The idea for the committee originated with Sam Brownback, a Catholic who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom from 2018 to 2021, Farr said.

Sam Brownback, then U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington June 10, 2020. (CNS photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool via Reuters)

Brownback described religious freedom as being “at the heart of America’s founding” and that it deserves to be protected for everyone. He said the United States has welcomed people of different faith traditions throughout its history, leading to prosperity and strength through diversity.

“Out of this guaranteed freedom, society flourished. The faithful built schools and hospitals. Great social movements were advanced to feed the poor, provide clean water in destitute places around the world, and combat crimes like slavery and human trafficking,” he said.

However, Brownback expressed concern that religious freedom in the U.S. is eroding, sending a warning sign around the world to political leaders who would take steps to restrict religious practice elsewhere.

“America is the cornerstone nation for this foundational human right. Any loss of religious freedom here has an exponential effect overseas,” he said.

Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders joined the online event through in-person presentations at the institute’s Washington offices and in recorded statements submitted for the announcement. They warned of cultural and political forces for driving the rise of “secular laicism.”

Among those, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, said in a prerecorded message that at times it appears that religious freedom, which he described as “the first freedom” written into the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, has become “one of the very last freedoms” as it continues to be challenged.

“Religious freedom belongs to everybody,” the cardinal said. “It’s a right that everyone of us possesses in full measure. This organization is rightly dedicated to vibrant religious freedom for everybody.”

One of two women who joined the program, Neydy Casilla, vice president of international affairs at Concerned Women for America, said it was “dangerous” to remain silent as religious liberty declines. The government has an obligation, she said to protect religious practice in all its forms.

“It is time for us to restore religious freedom as a fundamental right,” she said.

Echoing such concerns, Frank Wolf, a former member of Congress, said religious freedom goes beyond being a cultural or “political good.”

“Religious freedom protects all other freedoms. It guards against misuse of authority by the state or restrictions demanded by aggressive or vocal minorities or majorities. Religious liberty was hard won in the past and can get easily lost,” Wolf said.

The committee’s early efforts will focus on forming chapters in all 50 states, explained Shawn Woo, who has been named its executive director.

The campaign also is asking supporters to sign a pledge committing to protect religious freedom. The pledge is on the committee website at www.thencrf.org.

Read More Religious Freedom

‘Bear witness to the truth’ on Religious Freedom Day, cardinal says

Biden cites faith, proclaiming U.S. must ‘preserve, protect’ religious freedom

U.S. religious liberty expert ‘disappointed’ in Vatican-China deal

Federal judge rules Baltimore-based CRS must pay health benefits for spouse of gay employee

Principal calls vandalism at Catholic school in Washington ‘a hate crime’

Archbishop Lori among bishops saying HHS proposal violates religious freedom and ‘is bad medicine’

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Dennis Sadowski

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • All are welcome: Finding a home at Mount St. Joseph
  • Priest who offered up cancer for clerical abuse victims says he was healed at Lourdes
  • Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck acquitted of federal charges
  • Pope clarifies remarks about homosexuality and sin
  • New translation tweaks to sacrament of penance take effect this Lent

| Latest Local News |

Clarksville school shapes educators in faith formation

From robotics to hip-hop: Elementary schools offer wide range of clubs

Tuition at Catholic high schools in Baltimore archdiocese significantly lower than other area private schools

| Latest World News |

Affordable child care key component of post-Roe response, advocates say

Ukraine’s embattled religious orders keep faith and hope alive amid war

Speakers address how local churches can protect lives of mothers, unborn children from domestic violence

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • What does it taste like?
  • 4 tips for building a media-smart family
  • Affordable child care key component of post-Roe response, advocates say
  • Movie Review: ’80 for Brady’
  • Ukraine’s embattled religious orders keep faith and hope alive amid war
  • Here is the simplest way to share faith with kids
  • Speakers address how local churches can protect lives of mothers, unborn children from domestic violence
  • Clarksville school shapes educators in faith formation
  • Papal farm, gardens will be home to new center promoting sustainability

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED