New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) finds itself in an awkward position because of the stand the ministry will be forced to take now that the New York State Legislature is back in session. NYCF is committed to defending religious freedom, but a bill, A9235, introduced by Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver (D – New York City), that claims to protect religious freedom would actually sharply curtail the free exercise of religion in New York State.

The bill is loosely based on the federal “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA), passed in 1993 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. A 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision (City of Boerne v. Flores, 117 S. Ct. 2157) found that RFRA was invalid as it pertained to state and local laws. The court’s position was that the U.S. Constitution’s fourteenth amendment does not grant the federal government sufficient authority to supersede state and local laws in these matters.

While the intention of RFRA was to preserve religious freedom at the federal level, the U.S. Supreme Court decision highlighted the need for each individual state to codify religious protections. Speaker Silver’s A9235 claims to do that, but the reality is quite different.

The bill does borrow from RFRA when it mandates “government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship” and allows government entities to only infringe upon those rights when the state demonstrates that the burden to the individual’s free exercise of religion “furthers a compelling governmental interest” and “is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.” The problem arises, however, in a significant addition to Speaker Silver’s bill that is noticeably absent from RFRA. Speaker Silver’s bill declares that there is no defense against a citizen’s right to the exercise of free religion being infringed upon when those infringements relate to prohibiting “discrimination” or that “assure access to health care”.

In legislative lingo, “discrimination” is most often used to refer to any attempt to deny special protections for the homosexual community, and “access to health care” is understood to be the unfettered right to an abortion. This bill would severely limit pro-life doctors and hospitals that refuse to perform abortions, and churches that, because of moral convictions, refuse to allow their property to be used for services that would glorify the homosexual lifestyle. If Speaker Silver’s bill is ever signed into law, New York State will be one step closer to restricting a pastor’s ability to preach against the sins of homosexuality or the taking of an unborn child’s life.