Donald Carson, communications director for the Diocese of Birmingham, applauded the governor’s action.
“Catholics in the Diocese of Birmingham, which covers central and northern Alabama, are blessed to live and work in this state with such strong affirmation of religious freedom,” Carson told CNA.
Religious Liberty in the States, a database on freedom of religion in the U.S. maintained by the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, ranked Alabama as the 12th best for religious freedom in 2022. One of the determining factors in the organization’s measure was the existence of Alabama’s religious freedom amendment.
Twenty-three states have passed state religious freedom amendments since the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was found unconstitutional in application to states by a federal court in 1997.
According to Becket, a religious liberty law firm, state RFRAs “level the playing field in court for people of deeply held religious convictions.”
RFRAs are designed to protect all religious minorities, Becket states on its website. The act itself was originally created, Becket points out, after Oregon state denied unemployment benefits to Native American counselors who were fired for using peyote in their religious ceremonies.
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