The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was enacted in 1993 to protect individuals from government actions that substantially burden their religious practices. While the intention was noble, RFRA has seen an increasing trend of being misused to justify discrimination and to bypass federal protection laws.
This is why The Do No Harm Act is so essential. It clarifies that the RFRA is meant to safeguard religious freedom without allowing it to be used to harm or discriminate against others.
The Do No Harm Act is crucial to protect people from the misuse of RFRA. It would amend RFRA to ensure that it does not circumvent the laws that support measures such as civil rights, employment nondiscrimination, access to healthcare, and many other critical measures that have been created to provide protection to marginalized individuals on the grounds of race, sex, gender, or any other aspect that an individual should not be shamed or discriminated against.
While some implicitly endorse this misinterpretation of RFRA by supporting religious exemptions that allow discrimination, others argue that such laws are unconstitutional because they contravene established civil rights principles codified in laws like the Civil Rights Act and Justice Roberts himself wrote in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case "It is a general rule that religious objections do not allow business owners...to violate laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or sexual orientation".
The Do No Harm Act ensures that RFRA cannot be misused for purposes of discrimination or allow businesses and individuals to infringe on the rights of other people under the guise of religious freedom. Moreover, it restores the essence of RFRA, which initially aimed to provide safeguards for a person's individual religious practices without inflicting harm on other individuals.
The religious freedom we uphold as a nation is one that must be balanced with the protection and respect of individuals' fundamental human rights. This is what the Do No Harm Act will achieve. By amending RFRA to align with this principle, it would protect religious freedom while preventing individuals from harming others - who could be able to engage in everyday life and get access to essential services without facing discrimination.
Since the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, we have made significant progress in ensuring that everyone has access to equal opportunities and rights, but if we do not amend RFRA to accommodate these changes and continue to allow any form of discrimination, our constitution will permit the promotion of harmful values. We must ensure that the US government protects marginalized communities, and enshrines in law the protection of their human rights.
