The Montana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (MRFRA) or Senate Bill 215 was signed into law by Montana governor Greg Gianforte in April, establishing more legal protections for religious freedom among its citizens.
The measure now gives citizens the power to challenge government regulations if and when they see that such regulations trample on their religious beliefs. The legislation was written by Republican Sen. Carl Glimm and now requires the government to have a "compelling reason to violate a person's constitutional right to freedom of religion" and to achieve its objectives in the "least restrictive way possible."
According to the Associated Press, laws like the MRFRA or SB 215 have been used to defend a Native American who was charged for illegally possessing eagle feathers despite it being used for religious purposes. Such laws were also used to defend students' rights to mention their religious faith during graduation speeches.
Opponents, however, believe that the new law signed by the Montana government will enable businesses and other entities to challenge legislation in cities where discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is protected.
"Citizens should not be left defenseless when their government attempts to burden their ability to live and worship according to their faith," religious freedom group Alliance Defending Freedom said in a statement, as reported by The Christian Institute.
"This law provides a sensible balancing test for courts to use when reviewing government policies that infringe upon the religious freedom rights of Montanans."
According to International Christian Concern, Montana rounds up a total of 22 states in the U.S. that have established legal protections for religious freedom through legislation in the past 30 years. The RFRA laws have resulted from the landmark 1990 Supreme Court case called Employment Division v. Smith (Smith) that established religious freedom as a second-class right.
In the case, Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion separated religious freedom from other First Amendment rights, which receive the highest level of legal protection under "strict scrutiny," which makes it almost impossible for the U.S. government to infringe on the rights of its citizens.
However, the result of the case caused religious freedom to no longer be treated the same way and has been given the lowest standard of legal protection under the "rational basis" balance test. This caused conservative legislators to come up with RFRA laws for their respective states.
The Independent Record reported that Democrats and other opponents denounced the new law providing more legal protections for religious freedom in Montana, as they were worried it would embolden others to discriminate against the LGBT community on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. More than 250 companies co-signed a letter opposing the new law.
House Minority Leader Kim Abbott called it a "Republican attack on freedom" that uses "religion as an excuse to discriminate against Montanans."
Republicans on the other hand defended the new law, with Great Falls Republican Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick arguing that SB 215 "does not apply to individuals' actions, only government interferences."
