Defending Civil Society:Religious Advocacy in America

Allen D. Hertzke

Religion and Civil SocietyThe Changing Faces of ‘Religion’ and ‘Secularity’

7th-8th June 2012University of Navarra and Harvard University Law School

Why it Matters:Historic Moment of Promise and Peril

• Global validation of the centrality of religious freedom to civil society, democracy, and peace

• Worldwide crisis of repression

• Unique American role in upholding religious freedom and independent civil society

• If we lose the battle at home we undermine our ability to promote it abroad

Correlation of Religious Freedom with Other Freedoms and Well-being within Countries

Religious Freedom

Broader ReligiousParticipation

Positive Contributions of Religion to Society

Social Restrictionof Religious Freedom

Violencerelated to Religion

Governmental Restrictionof Religious Freedom

Religious Freedom CycleReligious Violence Cycle

Empirical Model:Interaction of Social Forces and Government Laws

Price of Freedom Denied, Grim & Finke, 2011

Threats to Religious Civil Society• 2006: Catholic Charities of Boston shuts down historic adoption program• 2006: Morristown, NY begins code enforcement against Amish homebuilders• 2007: Texas City of Leon Valley zones churches out of retail quarter

(overturned in circuit court in 2012)• 2009: U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission rules that Belmont

Abbey College in NC violated discrimination laws in heath plan coverage• 2010: Catholic Charities of D.C. shuts down foster care program• 2011: Three Illinois Diocesan foster care and adoption programs shut down• 2011: Univ. of California Law School bars Christian group, followed by San

Diego State and Vanderbilt Universities in 2012 • 2011: Dept. of Health and Human Services ends contract with U.S.

Conference of Catholic Bishops for services to human trafficking victims • 2012: New York City Board of Education orders end of church rental of

school buildings • 2012: Twelve lawsuits filed on behalf of 43 Catholic dioceses and

organizations against the HHS Health Mandate

Growing Advocacy Infrastructure to Defend Religious Civil Society

Lobbying for the Faithful

Religious Advocacy Groups in Washington, D.C.

November 21, 2011

Significance of Religious Advocacy

• Large Enterprise$350 Million in annual advocacy spending

• Institutionalized 215 groups with offices in the nation’s capital

• SophisticatedAt least 1,000 professional staff employ high tech lobby strategies

• RepresentativeLinked to vast constituencies

Global Explanation• God’s Century, Toft, Philpott, Shah • P. 49: “argument is that major religious actors throughout the world enjoy

greater capacity for political influence today than at any time in modern history – and perhaps ever.”

• Because of greater institutional independence – out of the box, freed from state• Because of activist political theologies – prophetic critique, humanitarian • Because of globalization they operate on transnational basis

• P. 83: More and more religious actors take initiative, act with boldness, mobilize local and national populations, operate with extraordinary flexibility, and command transnational loyalty, global networks, and resources. …Religious leaders and organizations are acting, while states are being acted upon”

Explanations for Growth

Push-back against secular threats (Casanova)

Value-and-identity-based politics of postindustrial era (Ingelhart)

• Immigrant and emergent groups seek a place at the civic table

• Growth in the size, reach, and intrusiveness of government

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Catholic Evangelical Mainline Protestant

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Membership-based Institutions Denominational or Inter-denominational

including Peace Churches and P.N.B.C.

Breakdown of Major Christian Traditions

Precedents of Religious Lobby Power

• Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 1993, still applies to federal law and actions

• Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 2000

• State Level RFRAs passed in at least 13 states since Boerne decision in 1997

Select Religious Freedom AdvocatesOrganization Advocacy Spending Year Arrived in D.C.

•American Center for Law and Justice

$989,347 2000

•Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

$1,200,000 1946

•Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

$2,281,041 1994

•Christian Legal Society, Center for Law and Religious Freedom

$786,892 1980

•Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance

2008

Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

• Mission Statement• “The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit,

public-interest legal and educational institute that protects the free expression of all faiths. The Becket Fund exists to vindicate a simple but frequently neglected principle: that because the religious impulse is natural to human beings, religious expression is natural to human culture. We advance that principle in three arenas—the courts of law, the court of public opinion, and the academy—both in the United States and abroad.”

Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance

• Mission Statement• “The Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance safeguards the

religious identity and faith-shaped standards and services of faith-based organizations, enabling them to make their distinctive and best contributions to the common good.

• IRFA accepts as its foundational guide the teachings of the Christian Bible as understood in the historical and classical teachings of the Christian Church. IRFA understands those teachings to favor a vigorous but limited government and flourishing civil society institutions, and public policies that treat equitably individuals and organizations of every faith and secular conviction, consistent with the common good.”

Designated Projects on Religious FreedomOrganization Total

Advocacy Spending

Year Arrived in D.C.

Specific Project/year

Ethics and Public Policy Center

$2,750,452 2003 American Religious Freedom Program, 2012

Heritage Foundation $1,743,450 1973 DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, 2004

Seventh-Day Adventist Church

1901 Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department

Southern Baptist Convention

$3,268,327 1993 Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Multi-Million 1919 Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, 2012

Institutional Advocates For Religious Autonomy Organization Advocacy

SpendingArrived in D.C.

Constituency

American Association of Christian Schools 1985 33 associations

Assoc. of Catholic Colleges and Universities 1899 200 universities/colleges

Association of Christian Schools International 1985 5,900 schools

Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities $173,390 1970 28 universities/colleges

Catholic Charities USA $1,535,303 1910 150 agencies

Catholic Heath Association of the US $995,533 1984 600 hospitals

Care Net 1975 1,000 crisis centers

Christian Medical & Dental Association $375,549 1999 15,000 members

Council for Christian Colleges & Universities 1976 116 colleges/universities

Home School Legal Defense Association $11,320,831 1990 80,000 members

Jewish Federations of North America $753,668 1977 450 federations/centers

National Catholic Education Association 1929 200,000 educators

Select Groups that Advocate for Religious Civil Society

• Agudath Israel of America• Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam,

USA• American Islamic Congress

• American Jewish Committee• Anti-Defamation League• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-

day Saints• Concerned Women for America • Family Research Council• Hindu American Foundation

• Institute for Social Policy and Understanding

• Institute on Religion and Democracy

• Liberty Council• Muslim Public Affairs Council• National Association of

Evangelicals• Prison Fellowship• Religious Action Center of

Reform Judaism• Sikh American Legal Defense

and Education Fund• Sikh Coalition• Traditional Values Coalition• Union of Orthodox Jewish

Congregations of America

The Health Mandate Challenge

• State defines religious ministry – unprecedented

• Catalyses formidable infrastructure in response, esp. Catholic institutional leadership and resources

• Lobbying, grassroots mobilization, public awareness campaigns, lawsuits, and potential civil disobedience

Visible Allies on Health Mandate• Agudath Israel of America• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day

Saints• National Association of Evangelicals • Southern Baptist Convention• Union of Orthodox Jewish

Congregations

Questions

• Why Not More Allies for imperiled Catholic Institutions?

• Is the partisan divide on these issues a key factor?

• Is James Davison Hunter right that churches have already lost the culture?

• If so, is political and legal advocacy enough to preserve and advance civil society?

A Portrait of the American Constitutional Heritage in

Religious Freedom

Signing ceremony ending Oregon’s 1923 KKK-backed law against religious attire in public schools, April 1, 2010.