Fight For Your Right, Pt.2
The Second Meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission
On September 8th, the Federal Religious Liberty Commission, chaired by Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, met for the second time at the Museum of the Bible to discuss religious liberty in K–12 education. Much like the first meeting, the commission’s discussions centered on the religious rights of primarily conservative factions of America’s Abrahamic faiths—offering, perhaps unintentionally, ideas that more liberal faith communities might also affirm.
Missed our first article on the Religious Liberty Commission? Find it here:
While the first hearing focused on constitutional experts and the religious thought of the founding fathers, the second convening drew testimony primarily from school children and parents, as well as featuring a visit and statement from President Donald Trump. The session opened with remarks from those who had missed the initial meeting. Eric Metaxas and Cardinal Timothy Dolan offered statements on religious liberty, while Reverend Franklin Graham simply shared a personal testimony of faith.
Turning to substance, the panels began with stories from three students who described being denied their religious liberties as Christians in public schools. Subsequent panels followed a similar pattern. A key refrain throughout the hearing was that public schools should not be “bastions of atheism” but rather of pluralism.
Dr. Ryan Anderson spoke passionately about the need for students of all faiths—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and others—to have the freedom to express their beliefs openly in public schools. He argued that such speech should not only be permitted but encouraged and celebrated. On this point, many progressives could readily agree. Encouraging young people to speak authentically about their personal faith and its impact on their lives is not inherently problematic. If each child were invited to share their perspective not to proselytize, but to foster understanding and dialogue, our society might grow closer to true religious freedom and mutual respect. Teaching students how to discuss matters of faith tactfully, personally, and inclusively could be a worthy educational goal. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be what the members of the commission envision.
As in the first hearing, issues of gender, sexuality, and transgender identity became central to the discussion. Many of the parents and children who testified expressed religious objections to what they called “morally objectionable content” related to gender identity.
Here, the commission appears to miss the deeper truth expressed by Mark Rienzi in the first hearing: that they “were not called to this commission to serve a cheap counterfeit of liberty.” True religious liberty is not a one-sided dinner platter but a coin—one that must be engraved on both faces.
In asserting that gender is God-given, immutable, and fixed at birth, and that they should not be “subjected” to differing interpretations, these speakers overlook the other face of that coin: faith traditions that understand gender as more complex, dynamic, and participatory in the divine act of creation. Many denominations teach that human beings are co-creators with God, shaping everything from food and art to the very roots of selfhood, including gender identity.
Just this summer, on August 1st, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved the first round of revisions to Human Sexuality: Gift & Trust, affirming new understandings of sex, gender, and relationships in light of the 2019 ELCA social statement Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Call to Action, which explicitly affirms gender-nonconforming people.
In 2019, the United Church of Christ (UCC) passed a General Synod resolution calling for the inclusion of nonbinary gender language in its bylaws.
In 2018, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirmed the full inclusion of transgender and nonbinary people.
In 2022, the Episcopal Church adopted Resolution D030, calling for the creation of liturgical, pastoral, and educational resources to support transgender and nonbinary people and their families.
In May 2024, the United Methodist Church added gender identity to the list of human rights affirmed by the denomination.
And these are not isolated examples. Similar affirmations have come from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Swedenborgian Church of North America, the Union for Reform Judaism, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, Seventh-day Adventists, and others.
In the words of Jewish American singer-songwriter Pink, “What about us?”
Dave Cortman, Senior Counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, offered what was perhaps the quote of the day in discussing violations of the Establishment Clause.
Cortman noted that the primary test of the Establishment Clause is whether a person is compelled or coerced into doing something they find morally objectionable—such as being forced to pray against their faith.
Panelists at the second hearing argued that exposure to what they termed “gender ideology” constitutes such coercion. While that point is debatable, so too is its inverse: many ELCA Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, UCC members, and Reform Jews believe that discussions of gender identity are integral to their religious exercise.
What happens when two faith perspectives clash with equal conviction? As the old saying goes, “Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins.” In other words, freedom of exercise for me cannot mean denying freedom of exercise for you.
The very foundation of religious freedom demands that, on questions of gender identity and transgender inclusion, no single ideology can dominate. The only faithful path forward is one of mutual respect and compromise.
Ultimately, as long as the Religious Liberty Commission continues to seek one-sided, “dinner-platter” solutions, it will fail its true mandate: to see both faces of the coin and to protect the full, sometimes conflicting, spectrum of religious belief in the United States.
Our next installment will follow the third hearing of the commission with discussion surrounding religious liberty in higher education. The fourth meeting of the commission has been postponed due to the government shutdown.