{"id":35532,"date":"2023-02-28T17:45:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T00:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/west-virginians-clash-over-religious-freedom-bill-at-hearing\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:25:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:25:30","slug":"west-virginians-clash-over-religious-freedom-bill-at-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/west-virginians-clash-over-religious-freedom-bill-at-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"West Virginians clash over religious freedom bill at hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Catherine
Catherine Jones watches people speak during a public hearing Feb. 24 in the House of Delegates Chamber in Charleston for a bill that would codify the right of West Virginia residents to challenge government regulations that interfere with their religious beliefs. (Perry Bennett\/WV Legislative Photography)<\/span>Perry Bennett<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CHARLESTON, W.Va. \u2013 Some people said West Virginia needs a law to codify the right of residents to challenge government regulations that interfere with their religious beliefs because of growing threats to their constitutional freedoms.<\/p>\n

Others who spoke during a public hearing at the state Capitol Friday said they are worried the proposal advancing in the Legislature will be used as a tool to discriminate against LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cExercising your religion does not mean discriminating or condemning people because they do not have same beliefs as you,\u201d said Jessica Eplin, who said she is worried about how the proposed law could affect her as an atheist and her child, who is transgender.<\/p>\n

The bill, which passed the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week and is now before the full House of Delegates, would require a government entity to have a compelling reason to burden someone\u2019s constitutional right to freedom of religion and to meet its goals in the least restrictive way possible.<\/p>\n

A similar bill failed in 2016 after lawmakers voiced concerns about how it could affect LGBTQ residents. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael wiped away tears on the Senate floor as he spoke in support of Democratic-proposed amendment that would bar the legislation from being used to discriminate against LGBTQ people.<\/p>\n

The bill also dictates that the proposed law could not be used to permit access to abortion, which was banned by West Virginia lawmakers last year. The provision was included as abortion rights groups are challenging abortion bans in some states by arguing the bans \u2013 supported by certain religious principles \u2013 violate the religious rights of people with different beliefs.<\/p>\n

Republican sponsors say the bill has good intentions. Del. Chris Pritt of Kanawha County, who is a Christian, said the bill would make West Virginia attractive to economic development. He said it\u2019s not just about protecting Christians, but religious minorities in the state, too.<\/p>\n

But Catherine Jones, a gay woman, said the bill would do nothing but \u201clegalize discrimination against already marginalized communities.\u201d She said she fears the bill could allow businesses to challenge city ordinances prohibiting discrimination in housing or employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should not be afraid of not being served at a restaurant because I have a different relationship than you do,\u201d she told lawmakers. \u201cThis bill will do nothing but spread hate and violence across our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least 23 other states have religious freedom restoration acts. The laws are similar to the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, which allows federal regulations that interfere with religious beliefs to be challenged.<\/p>\n

Eli Baumwell, advocacy director and the Interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, said the 1993 federal law was designed to designed to protect people, especially religious minorities, from laws that affected their ability to engage in personal practices of their faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, people have seized upon a good idea and turn it a shield into a sword,\u201d said Baumwell, who spoke in opposition to the bill. \u201cRFRAs today are promoted by organizations and ideologies and aren\u2019t concerned about individual religious observances. They\u2019re focused on circumventing laws that require fair and equal treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

People who spoke in support of the bill said they were concerned about the government imposing vaccination requirements against people\u2019s religious beliefs and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic that limited in-person worship in states across the U.S.<\/p>\n

Monica Ballard Booth said she supports the bill because she wants to see equal protection for people of all faiths. \u201cSince some have questioned why this was necessary, I\u2019ll tell you why it\u2019s necessary: Christians are the most persecuted group in the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pastor Bo Burgess of West Virginia Baptists for Biblical Values said he doesn\u2019t believe the bill could be used to discriminate against anyone \u2013 it\u2019s about protecting people from discrimination, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation doesn\u2019t allow me or a business to go around and attack other people groups,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no people group language in the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baptist Pastor Dan Stevens of Wood County said people like him want the same benefits of equal protection as people who oppose the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live out our firmly held religious beliefs and convictions about marriage, the family, human sexuality, the value of human life from conception to the grave without fear,\u201d he said. \u201cThis bill designed not as a tool of discrimination used by people of faith but to protect the people of faith against discrimination for those who are opposed to our beliefs and our lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supporters cite growing threats to constitutional freedoms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[407],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-religion-and-belief"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83007,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35532\/revisions\/83007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35532"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}