AUM Holds Religious Liberties Debate

It’s an issue we’ve seen in the headlines a lot over the past few years– gay and lesbian equal rights versus religious liberties.

Guest debater Adam MacLeod says the religious laws are there to protect those who practice their faith.

“Most religious liberty laws simply require the state if it wants to burden someones religious exercise, it has to offer a compelling reason for doing so. If the state has a compelling reason, for example, to avoid racial discrimination, that reason is sufficient. But if the state does not have a compelling reason, the state has to respect the religious exercise or the conscience of the religious person,” said MacLeod, Assistant Professor at Faulkner University Thomas Jones School of Law.
But where do you draw the line and where does it infringe on another person’s rights?
Guest Debater Eva Kendrick says there are bills in the Alabama state legislature right now that she believes are unjust.

“HB 24, the Alabama Child Placing Inclusion Act, offers religious exemptions to religious affiliated state licensed foster placing agencies and refusing to place persons with whom they have a religious dispute even if that is replacing the child with the family of origin. Say a grandparent that is a person of a different faith, an aunt or uncle who is a LGBTQ person, that agency could forgo best practice and deny that child in order to follow their religious discrimination,” said Kendrick, AL Human Rights Campaign Director.

Both sides respectfully argued their points giving the audience time to think and ask questions in the end.

“The goal for this debate is to help create a context where really contentious, important hot button issues can be discussed in a way that’s civil but also genuinely tough minded and serious,” said AUM Honors Program Director Matthew Jordan.

Jordan says there are plans to do more debates like this in the future. They are free and open to the public.