As a lawyer who has dedicated his entire career to the cause of religious liberty, the state of religious liberty in America has never been stronger. In my nearly four decades of fighting for religious liberty, I could not have envisioned the victories that have recently occurred. Naturally, I was thrilled to see President Donald Trump’s recent compilation of 250 religious liberty victories for the public.
The White House’s compilation deserves our applause and our attention — not simply as a list of administration accomplishments, but as a window into an important question: What does religious liberty look like when it moves out of the courtroom and into people’s everyday lives?
After all, the First Amendment does not merely protect the right to believe. That would be what we call a “parchment promise,” and it would only be as good as the paper on which it is written. Rather, the First Amendment protects the right to live according to one’s faith, conscience, and convictions in every sphere of life. It protects religious liberty in houses of worship and religious ministries. It protects religious liberty in schools and workplaces. And it protects people from government discrimination because of what they believe.
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Several of the actions the White House highlights speak directly to that broader understanding.
The administration points first to the creation of a White House faith office and faith liaisons placed throughout federal agencies and the establishment of a first-of-its-kind religious liberty commission, on which I am very honored to serve. It also highlights Justice Department guidance directing agencies to account for religious liberty in their policies and practices.
The significance of these measures is not purely bureaucratic. Religious liberty can be weakened without Congress ever passing a law explicitly restricting religion. It can happen through regulations, grant conditions, agency policies, employment decisions, or enforcement choices. A government committed to protecting religious liberty must therefore consider religious freedom throughout all of its operations. The same principle also applies to conscience rights.
The White House list identifies federal actions concerning healthcare providers, employees, pharmacists, and others who object on religious or moral grounds to particular practices. It also points to efforts to protect religious accommodations in employment and to expand participation by faith-based organizations in federally supported programs.
That is important because religious liberty means little if people must choose between following their deepest convictions and participating fully in society.
A second theme is the protection of religious institutions themselves. The White House points to Justice Department actions involving houses of worship, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, funding opportunities for religious organizations, and security assistance for houses of worship and nonprofit groups.
These protections recognize an important constitutional reality: Religious freedom belongs not only to individuals but also to communities. Churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, and ministries are made up of people exercising their freedoms together.
The administration’s emphasis on free speech is similarly relevant. It highlights efforts concerning federal censorship, religious and political expression, and alleged religious discrimination in employment and financial services.
Religious freedom and free speech are inseparable. Faith necessarily involves expression — preaching, teaching, writing, gathering, persuading, and bearing witness. A legal regime that protects religious belief but makes religious expression increasingly costly would provide an incomplete freedom.
There is also a particularly significant place in the list for antisemitism and the protection of Jews. The White House cites federal investigations, enforcement actions, and educational initiatives addressing antisemitic discrimination and harassment.
That belongs within the larger religious liberty conversation. Religious freedom cannot mean protecting only the beliefs with which we agree. Its deepest test comes when the protected belief belongs to someone else.
That is why religious liberty must remain a principle rather than a partisan possession.
People of every faith, and people of no faith, benefit when government recognizes that it does not own the human conscience. The Constitution’s protection of religious exercise is not a favor granted by whoever occupies the White House. It is a limitation on government power.
The 250 actions identified by the White House cover a wide range of issues, including some on which people disagree deeply. Those policy debates will continue, and reasonable people will continue to debate both their substance and their implementation.
But there is a larger principle beneath them: People should be free to live peacefully according to their convictions without being punished, censored, or targeted by their government because of those convictions.
That principle is older than any administration. It is older than any political party. And it is worth defending regardless of who holds power.
As America enters its 250th year, perhaps that is the most important lesson. Religious liberty is not merely a promise written on parchment. It is measured by whether an ordinary person can go to work, raise a family, educate a child, operate a ministry, practice a profession, speak publicly, and worship God without surrendering conscience at the door.
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That is the standard by which every administration should ultimately be measured.
And it is a standard worth preserving for the next 250 years.
Kelly Shackelford is president, CEO, and chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all. Learn more at firstliberty.org.