Law Professor: Indiana Legislature Demoted Religious Freedom

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A Notre Dame law professor says religious liberty in Indiana was set back by the state legislature’s hasty reaction to strong criticism of a law intended to strengthen religious freedom protections.

“The fix is a substantial, and in my judgment, misguided retreat from the original Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and I think it gives away too much of religious liberty,” Professor Gerard V. Bradley said in an April 6 phone conference sponsored by the Federalist Society.

“Those in favor of religious liberty should have opposed the fix, and even have been prepared to repeal the Indiana RFRA if that’s what it took to avoid enacting the fix,” he said.

A better modification to the Indiana law could have focused “strictly upon conduct.” The law could have barred requiring a service provider to participate in an activity contrary to their religious beliefs “so long as reasonable alternatives to that service were available.”

Instead, the enacted amendment “bears all of the signs of a piece of legislation drafted in a hurry, passed in haste and, frankly, not very well thought out,” he said.

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