Distorting religious freedom will put people in danger (opinion)

Editor’s Note: Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is a fellow with the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at the Center for American Progress. He falsely claimed that “for most healthy Americans, the risks that the coronavirus poses remains very low” and thanked religious leaders for “ forward back into the exercise of your faith.” In addition, CNN reported the day prior that the Trump administration will not implement any of the guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on reopening, in part, because of a “religious freedom” concern about placing any restrictions on churches. Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons Orlando Suazo/Center for American Progress “The liberties enshrined in the Constitution still apply to every American, even in the middle of a national emergency,” Pence said on a conservative radio program last week, in reference to a religious freedom lawsuit in Virginia challenging the state’s stay-at-home order. “President Trump and our entire administration have championed religious liberty.” From a wider perspective, the Covid-19 crisis also reveals a new dimension to how some conservatives have distorted our treasured American value of religious freedom. Meanwhile, his office is leading the Trump administration’s efforts to deny women and LGBTQ people health care in the name of “religious freedom.” It’s all a part of the same agenda.