Last week, U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) as well as U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) re-introduced the Do No Harm Act. This crucial legislation clarifies that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) cannot be used to harm others, while maintaining the RFRA’s authority to safeguard religious freedom.
Congress passed RFRA in 1993 in response to a Supreme Court case that many worried weakened constitutional protections for religious freedom. RFRA was designed to provide strong, but not absolute, protections for religious exercise. Born with good intentions, RFRA held broad support among a diverse coalition, including legal experts, civil liberties advocates, organizations representing various faiths and denominations and AU itself.
The law was intended to protect people’s right to practice their religion by limiting government actions that significantly burden religious exercise. The government can only impose such burdens if it has a very important reason and there isn’t a less restrictive way to achieve its goal. Unfortunately, in the three decades that followed, the misuse of RFRA has pushed the law far beyond its original intent.
RFRA was never intended to be a license to use religion to harm others. Misusing RFRA harms vulnerable groups – such as LGBTQ+ individuals, women, religious minorities, and nonreligious people – undermining the principles of fairness and equality. For instance, federally funded child welfare agencies in South Carolina were allowed to discriminate against Catholic, Jewish and LGBTQ+ folks, making it harder for children to find loving homes. Under RFRA, corporations are attempting to refuse employees insurance coverage for contraceptives, PrEP, and HIV treatments based on religious objections, restricting access to vital healthcare.
We must restore RFRA to its original purpose and ensure the law is never used to exempt anyone from rules that protect others’ basic civil rights.
That’s where the Do No Harm Act comes in. This bill would ensure that RFRA is used as it was originally intended: to protect religious freedom without infringing on the rights of others. The Do No Harm Act would stop RFRA from being used to undermine nondiscrimination laws, deny healthcare, block workplace protections, or refuse government-funded services. It directly addresses real-world examples where RFRA has been misused to harm others.
Religious freedom was always meant to serve as a shield for the people rather than a sword to be used against our neighbor. Given what’s happening in Washington, we know the Do No Harm Act won’t pass this time around. But the issues that prompted it are still a very real threat to the American people. Moreover, legislation can take years to pass, and we must continue to push for this bill and educate lawmakers and the public. Change happens when we persist, even in overwhelmed moments when our nation feels out of our control.
Imagine a world where our laws ensure religious freedom is respected, and that religion cannot be misused to harm or exploit vulnerable groups. A world where laws protect people from discrimination while advocating for equal rights. The Do No Harm Act is an important way to achieve this promise. It’s a world where we move closer to the vision of a truly more perfect union – let’s realize that vision.
Our first step is you. Reach out to your Representative and Senators and ask them to co-sponsor the Do No Harm Act. Your voice matters in our fight for change!
