Friend:

Something almost unprecedented happened at the Supreme Court this week: A plaintiff’s “sincerely held religious belief” was called into question. 

I don’t recall this happening in Hobby Lobby. I don’t remember the Masterpiece Cakeshop’s lawyer being put on the spot about it. No one asked the churches suing to hold mass gatherings during a pandemic if their need to worship in person was sincere. And the church-affiliated foster care agency in this year’s Fulton v. City of Philadelphia case wasn’t asked either.

In each of those cases, the “sincerely held religious beliefs” of the cake baker, craft-store chain, churches and taxpayer-funded child placement agency were taken as a given. Proclaim a religious objection to marriage equality for same-sex couples or contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act and the world is your cupcake.

But for John Henry Ramirez, a man on death row in Texas, the request to have a pastor present in the final moments of his life, with his hand touching Ramirez, was met with blatant skepticism by at least three Supreme Court justices—Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas.

“What’s going to happen when the next prisoner says that I have a religious belief that [a minister] should touch my knee... my hand... my head?” asked Alito. “This is a potential huge area of future litigation across a lot of areas—sincerity of religious claims,” mused Kavanagh. “How do we question those? ... It’s a very fraught situation with a lot of potential for issues.”

Only now do these Justices notice that “sincerity of belief” can be a complex question—when the petitioner is requesting a religious accommodation in his final moments of life and it involves his pastor who has driven 300 miles on a monthly basis to pray with him over the last five years? Who can miss that the request here comes not from a religious extremist, but instead from a Hispanic death row inmate? How about worrying about sincerity of belief when a craft store or bakery is seeking to advance a political agenda?  

This is not going to be an easy Supreme Court term, but Americans United will continue to call out the hypocrisies and mobilize secular and faith groups alike to speak up for a religious freedom that shields all and harms none. 

Thank you for your dedication to AU. Thank you for writing back to me last week and sharing how you were doing and your words of encouragement. And thank you for refusing to expect less from this country than freedom without favor and equality without exception.

With hope and gratitude,