Joel Gehrke writes here about a panel discussion sponsored by the ironically titled Center for American Progress in which panelists seek to crush religious freedom by casting believers — particularly the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — as haters who discriminate against others.
“People [are] using the term ‘liberty’ when they really mean ‘my liberty, your slavery,'” the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, said during the discussion. He made the statement while arguing that liberals’ view of religious liberty springs from a true, originalist reading of the Constitution that was once universally understood. Unfortunately, he said, the American people have become “confused” about this question because of misleading claims made by the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops.
“You have the Catholic bishops advocating for ‘religious freedom,’ which doesn’t look anything like what religious freedom is in the Constitution,” Gaddy said. “Unless we do those kind of dramatic actions [such as the ACLU suing the USCCB] in order to get us back to what the foundation of religious freedom has been all the time, it’s going to get worse and worse, with people using the term ‘liberty’ when they really mean ‘my liberty, your slavery.'”
The insulting narrative being advanced by liberals should make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, for it portends the discrimination to come against believers.
