The Religious Freedom Institute, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., has created a new committee that provides political candidates, regardless of affiliation, the backing they need to fully support free religious exercise from the local to the national level.
Religious Freedom Institute President Tom Farr said the National Committee for Religious Freedom will "play a critically important role in the fight against the relentless assault on free exercise of religion in America today." While National Committee for Religious Freedom Chair Sam Brownback said in a statement it will "uphold" religious freedom and "protect" the First Amendment through the candidates they will support.
"Religious freedom is a cornerstone of America's constitutional democracy and was at the heart of America's founding. We are creating the National Committee for Religious Freedom to uphold this fundamental right, so revered by our Founders, by providing a critically needed political response to the ongoing attacks, in law and culture, on America's First Freedom," Brownback explained.
"We will support candidates of all faiths, or no faith, who support laws and policies that protect everyone's First Amendment right to peacefully practice their faith according to the dictates of their conscience," he added.
Brownback pointed out the need to be vigilant against the threats to religious freedom in an interview with CBS News. A former United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Brownback raised this need following the declaration of President Joe Biden last week on Religious Freedom Day.
During the interview, Brownback stressed the importance of one's right of religious freedom, which he said comes from God. He underscored that the very nature of the right of religious freedom disqualifies governments to meddle with it.
"It was one of the rights that God gave us. He gave us religious freedom. He gave us the right to do with our own soul what we choose and no government has the right to interfere with that," he said.
Brownback went on to discuss the roles and plans of the National Committee for Religious Freedom. He said the Committee will create chapters in each state to ensure the fulfillment of its goal, which is to help political candidates standing for religious freedom be elected regardless of their affiliation or party. As such, he hopes everyone--Democrats and Republicans alike--will support the committee.
"There'll be a Virginians for Religious Freedom, a Kansans for Religious Freedom, Californians for Religious Freedom, and we'll ask those local state affiliates to determine the major issues in their state and local governance that they want to look at," he revealed.
"My hope is that we can start pulling together here and saying, this is a fundamental right that you cannot have a diverse culture without having these protections for people of faith," Brownback added.
The National Committee for Religious Freedom was launched online on Tuesday through the Religious Freedom Institute's Facebook page, YouTube channel, and website. Brownback hosted the 30-minute event that he himself announced in his Twitter account. Brownback also disclosed in his said social media account that he is "honored to be a part of this effort and hope" that the public will join them "in defense of religious liberty."
Biden proclaimed last Friday that Religious Freedom Day 2022 be celebrated every January 16 in line with the Founding Fathers' enshrinement of this principle in the First Amendment that made America a sought-after country by people fleeing from oppression.
"Today, America remains a religiously diverse Nation-a land uniquely strengthened by the routine and extraordinary commingling of faiths and belief systems. On Religious Freedom Day, we recommit ourselves to the protection and advancement of this vital aspect of our American character-and to protecting the freedom of people of all faiths and none, both across our Nation and around the world," Biden said.
