CHARLESTON — A religious freedom bill drew passionate response during a Friday afternoon public hearing at the Legislature.
Most speakers, almost 40, contended House Bill 3042, “Relating to forbidding government limitations on exercise of religion,” would open the door to curtailed rights for gay and transgender people and even for religious minorities.
Some speakers, about 15, spoke in favor of the bill, saying it would assure that the government would not encroach on individual religious beliefs.
“We, the people of faith of this great state, want the same benefits of equal protections, just like those who oppose this bill,” said Pastor Dan Stevens, of Wood County. “We want to live out our firmly held religious beliefs and convictions about marriage, the family human sexuality, the value of human life from conception to the grave without fear.
“This bill was designed not as a tool of discrimination used by the people of faith but to protect the people of faith against discrimination from those who are opposed to our beliefs and our lifestyle. This bill simply provides a check against unfair government action on religious beliefs.”
House Bill 3042 is only a little more than a page, but its concepts are broad.
It says no state action may substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion unless it’s essential to a compelling government interest or is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling government interest.
If the bill were to become law, a person whose exercise of religion has been burdened may go to court over the situation. There’s a caveat that nothing in the policy could create a cause of action by an employee against a nongovernmental employer. The bill specifies that it would apply to all state and local laws.
Similar concepts were laid out in a 1988 West Virginia Supreme Court case that focused on members of the Universal Life Church who contended a standard serological test for a marriage license violated their rights of religious freedom.
The current bill being debated is a version of a concept called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was a contentious issue at West Virginia’s Legislature in 2016. That year the bill passed the House of Delegates before the state Senate amended it and then voted it down.
This time around, the bill has passed through the House Judiciary Committee and could pass the full House early next week.
Eli Baumwell, advocacy director of ACLU West Virginia, said the key to the bill is how it would actually be applied. He pointed toward state and local human rights acts as the most likely to be challenged by the religious freedom act.
“Now don’t get me wrong — the ACLU supports religious freedom. That’s why we supported the 1993 federal RFRA. That was designed to protect people, especially religious minorities, from laws that impacted their ability to engage in personal practices of their faith,” he said.
“Unfortunately, people have seized on a good idea and turned a shield into a sword. RFRAs today are promoted by organizations and ideologies that aren’t concerned about individual religious observances. They’re focused on circumventing laws that require fair and equal treatment.”
Rusty Williams, an advocate for marijuana legalization, turned the bill on its head by focusing his remarks on a presumably made-up church. Williams said he embraces the religious freedom bill and thanked lawmakers for their consideration.
“Whether you pray to Jesus, Muhammed, Buddha, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Foghorn Leghorn, Iron Mike or Satan himself, the West Virginia First Church of Cannabis welcomes you with open arms and blunts rolled so beautifully, you will swear they were created by divine hands,” Williams said.
He welcomed everyone to the congregation and encouraged the accompanying use of religious freedom.
“I’d like to extend another heartfelt thank you to the sponsor and everyone supporting this piece of justice-restoring woke legislation,” he said. “And I look forward to adding your names to the list of the founders of the first West Virginia Church of cannabis.”
