Today, a group Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders have released a statement in defense of the religious freedom of private colleges and universities in California. Current legislation pending in the California State Senate threatens to strip some private colleges and universities of an exemption that protects them from lawsuits and allows them to function as faith-based organizations. The effort, spearheaded by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, includes signatures from 145 religious leaders.
Here is the full text of the statement along with a list of leaders who have signed the statement. You can also add your name to the document here.
The California Assembly has proposed legislation that is harmful to the free exercise of religion in higher education. In particular, the legislation disadvantages low-income minority students who want an education at private religious colleges. Though it purports to eliminate discrimination, Senate Bill 1146 results in its own form of discrimination by stigmatizing and coercively punishing religious beliefs that disagree on contested matters related to human sexuality. If SB 1146 were to pass, it would deny students’ ability to participate in state grant programs—programs that exist to help low-income students, and which are overwhelmingly used by racial minorities—at schools that are found in violation of the bill. Moreover, it would severely restrict the ability of religious education institutions to set expectations of belief and conduct that align with the institution’s religious tenets. While we do not all agree on religious matters, we all agree that the government has no place in discriminating against poor religious minorities or in pitting a religious education institution’s faith-based identity against its American identity. This legislation puts into principle that majoritarian beliefs are more deserving of legal protection, and that minority viewpoints are deserving of government harassment. Legislation of this nature threatens the integrity not only of religious institutions, but of any viewpoint wishing to exercise basic American freedoms, not least of which is the freedom of conscience.
We, the undersigned, do not necessarily agree with one another’s religious views, but we agree on the necessity of the liberty to exercise these views. At the root of the American experiment is the idea that conscience and religious conviction come before the demands of the state. Some of us disagree with the sexual ethics of orthodox Jews, Christians, and Muslims giving rise to this legislation, but we are unified in our resistance to the government setting up its own system of orthodoxy. As the American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin once said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” No less is this true than on matters of religious liberty. Where the state can encroach on one religion’s free exercise, it can just as easily trample on any other religion’s free exercise. We therefore join in solidarity across religious lines to speak against Senate Bill 1146.
We call on the California Assembly to abandon Senate Bill 1146. To ensure the future of the free exercise of religion in higher education in California and across America, we respectfully call on the supporters of Senate Bill 1146 to immediately withdraw their support of this bill, with the commitment to disavow similar intrusions in the future. Opposition to this bill is not grounded in the protection of religious liberty only, nor for the special pleading of one religion in particular, but for the protection of American society and American democracy. Such protection requires a civil society welcoming of religious diversity.
The future of a free America requires the full participation of religion in public life. Religious higher education cultivates both the mind and the soul. Senate Bill 1146 endangers the integrity of religious education institutions and discourages them from acting according to their conscience for fear of government retribution. As Americans with a rich legacy of freedoms afforded to us by the laws of nature and of nature’s God, and enshrined in the Constitution, we can do better. As we renew our commitment to religious pluralism in the public square, we should embrace debate, welcome dissent, and encourage civility as we work together for the sake of the common good and of a country we are all unreservedly blessed to call our home.
*Please note that the title and institution listed for each signatory is used for identification purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an official endorsement by the institution.
Russell Moore
President
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Barry Corey
President
Biola University
Rick Warren
Pastor and Founder
Saddleback Church
Douglas Laycock
Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Virginia
Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
Princeton University
Hamza Yusuf Hanson
President
Zaytuna College
Richard Stearns
President
World Vision U.S.
Michael McConnell
Director
Stanford Constitutional Law Center
Jim Daly
President
Focus on the Family
Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
Director Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought
Yeshiva University
Shirley V. Hoogstra
President
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Frank R. Wolf
Former Member of U.S. Congress
Distinguished Senior Fellow, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative
Jerry and Susie Wilson Chair in Religious Freedom, Baylor University
R. Albert Mohler Jr.
President
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Yuval Levin
Fellow
The Ethics and Public Policy Center
Leith Anderson
President
National Association of Evangelicals
Alan E. Sears
President, CEO, General Counsel
Alliance Defending Freedom
Helen Alvare
Professor of Law
Scalia Law School at George Mason University
John Inazu
Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion
Washington University in St. Louis
Samuel Rodriguez
President
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Steven D. Smith
Warren Distinguished Professor of Law
University of San Diego
Ron Sider
Senior Distinguished Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry and Public Policy
Palmer Seminary at Eastern University
Jo Anne Lyon
General Superintendent Emerita
The Wesleyan Church
Faizul Khan
Imam and Founder
Islamic Society of Washington Area
Michael Wear
Founder
Public Square Strategies
Paul Ague
President
San Diego Christian College
Daniel L. Akin
President
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Anthony W. Allen
President
Hannibal-LaGrange University
Jason K. Allen
President
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and College
Ryan T. Anderson
William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow
The Heritage Foundation
Bruce Riley Ashford
Provost, Professor of Theology and Culture
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
John Ashmen
President
Association of Gospel Rescue Missions
David Azerrad
Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics and AWC Family Foundation Fellow
The Heritage Foundation
Mark L. Bailey
President, Senior Professor of Bible Exposition
Dallas Theological Seminary
Gregory S. Baylor
Director
Center for Religious Schools Alliance Defending Freedom
Michael J. Beals
President
Vanguard University
Jim Belcher
President
Providence Christian College
Phillip Bethancourt
Executive Vice President
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
David Blankenhorn
President
Better Angels
Dan Boone
President
Trevecca Nazarene University
John C. Bowling
President
Olivet Nazarene University
John F. Bradosky
Presiding Bishop
North American Lutheran Church
Rick Brewer
President
Louisiana College
Bob Brower
President
Point Loma Nazarene University
Jennifer S. Bryson
Independent Scholar
Galen Carey
Vice President of Government Relations
National Association of Evangelicals
Stanley Carlson-Thies
Founder and Senior Director
Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance
Matt Carter
Pastor of Preaching and Vision
The Austin Stone Community Church
Derry Connolly
President
John Paul the Great Catholic University
Barry Creamer
President
Criswell College
Michael Cromartie
Vice President
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Kevin A. Culbertson
Professor of Business; Chair of Business Department; MBA Program Chair
John Paul the Great Catholic University
Jerry C. Davis
President
College of the Ozarks
Mark DeMoss
President
DeMoss Public Relations
David S. Dockery
President
Trinity International University/Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Jason G. Duesing
Provost
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and College
Ronald L. Ellis
President
California Baptist Seminary
Erick-Woods Erickson
Editor
The Resurgent
Kevin Ezell
President
North American Mission Board
William Edmund Fahey
President and Fellow
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
Thomas F. Farr
President Religious Freedom Institute and Director, Religious Freedom Project
Georgetown University
Matthew J. Franck
Director
Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution Witherspoon Institute
David French
Staff Writer
National Review
Richard W. Garnett
Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame
Timothy George
Dean
Beeson Divinity School of Samford University
Tim Goeglein
Vice President
Focus on the Family
Sandra C. Gray
President
Asbury University
Thomas P. Harmon
Professor of Theology and Culture
John Paul the Great Catholic University
George A. Harne
President
Northeast Catholic College
Jack W. Haye
President
Patrick Henry College
Jairy C. Hunter, Jr.
President
Charleston Southern University
William H. Jones
President
Columbia International University
Hyepin Im
President and CEO
Korean Churches for Community Development
Jeff Iorg
President
Gateway Seminary
John Jackson
President
William Jessup University
Jeffrey Jeremiah
Stated Clerk
Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Jerry A. Johnson
President and CEO
National Religious Broadcasters
Jeffrey K. Jue
Provost and Executive Vice President
Westminster Theological Seminary
William J. Katip
President
Grace College and Seminary
Jonathan Keller
President
California Family Council
Chuck Kelley
President
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Thomas S. Kidd
Distinguished Professor of History
Baylor University
John A. Kincaid
Professor of Theology and Scripture
John Paul the Great Catholic University
Daniel Kroeze
Professor of Biblical Studies
Kuyper College
R. Alton Lacey
President
Missouri Baptist University
Richard Land
President
Southern Evangelical Seminary
Steve Lemke
Provost & Professor of Philosophy and Ethics
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Stephen D. Livesay
President
Bryan College
Bryan Loritts
Pastor
Abundant Life Christian Fellowship
Erwin W. Lutzer
Pastor Emeritus
The Moody Church, Chicago
Jennifer Marshall
Vice President, Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity
The Heritage Foundation
Brett McCracken
Managing Editor Biola Magazine
Biola University
Gerald R. McDermott
Anglican Chair of Divinity History and Doctrine
Beeson Divinity School
Michael F. McLean
President
Thomas Aquinas College
Steve Miller
University Counsel
Colorado Christian University
Greg Mitchell
CoChair
International Religious Freedom Roundtable
J. P. Moreland
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
Biola University
Richard J. Mouw
Professor of Faith and Public Life
Fuller Theological Seminary
Jeff Myers
President
Summit Ministries
David Nammo
Executive Director and CEO
Christian Legal Society
Marvin Olasky
Editor and Chief
WORLD
Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver
President
Union University
Daniel Patterson
Chief of Staff
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Paige Patterson
President
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Daniel Philpott
Professor of Political Science
University of Notre Dame
Matthew Pinson
President
Welch College
Charles W. Pollard
President
John Brown University
Ramesh Ponnuru
Senior Editor
National Review
Karen Swallow Prior
Professor of English
Liberty University
Dennis Rainey
CEO
FamilyLife
Patrick J. Reilly
President
The Cardinal Newman Society
R. R. Reno
Editor
First Things
Eugene F. Rivers III
Founder and President
Seymour Institute
Alan Robinson
National Director
Brethren in Christ Church, U.S.
Rocky Rocholl
President
Fellowship of Evangelical Churches
Gabriel Salguero
President
National Latino Evangelical Coalition
Richard Samuelson
Associate Professor
California State University, San Bernardino
Christof Sauer
Director
International Institute for Religious Freedom
Thomas Schirrmacher
Moderator of intrafaith and interfaith relations
World Evangelical Alliance
Timothy Samuel Shah
Associate Director Religious Freedom Project
Georgetown University
Robert Sloan
President
Houston Baptist University
Kevin L. Smith
Executive Director
Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware
Timothy L. Smith
President
University of Mobile
Roger L. Spradlin
Senior Pastor
Valley Baptist Church of Bakersfield, Calif.
Randy Stinson
Senior Vice President for Academic Administration and Provost
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
John Stonestreet
President
Colson Center for Christian Worldview
Tony Suarez
Executive Vice President
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
C. Pat Taylor
President
Southwest Baptist University
Justin Taylor
Executive Vice President for Book Publishing
Crossway
Peter W. Teague
President
Lancaster Bible College
Mark Tooley
President
Institute on Religion and Democracy
Jim Towey
President
Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Fla.
A. B. Vines
Bishop
New Seasons Church
Robert K. Vischer
Dean and Mengler Chair in Law
University of St. Thomas School of Law
Kristen K. Waggoner
Senior Vice President of U.S. Legal Advocacy
Alliance Defending Freedom
Andrew T. Walker
Director of Policy Studies
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Jon Wallace
President
Palmer Seminary at Eastern University
Edward Whelan
President
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Evans P. Whitaker
President
Anderson University
Thomas White
President
Cedarville University
David Wesley Whitlock
President
Oklahoma Baptist University
Luder G. Whitlock, Jr.
President Emeritus
Reformed Theological Seminary
Fermin A. Whittaker
Executive Director California Southern Baptist Convention
California Baptist University
William M. Wilson
President
Oral Roberts University
George O. Wood
General Superintendent
Assemblies of God
Adam C. Wright
President
Dallas Baptist University
Ashfin Ziafat
Lead Pastor
Providence Church
