Yet the executive branch in Washington is acting as though religions — particularly Christianity, Judaism and Islam — are the enemy of decent people everywhere.

The word “bigots” is frequently employed.

Just this month the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — the agency, ironically, tasked with protecting religious freedom — issued a report claiming “religious freedom” and “religious liberty” are “code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia (and) Christian supremacy.”

No room for equivocation there.

The Constitution’s First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”

The Civil Rights Commission instead recommends protecting “religious beliefs,” but not religious “conduct.” It is willing to protect private religious thoughts, but not actions. All it takes is for the Supreme Court to agree for this to become the law of the land.

The executive branch’s position on religious liberty has changed dramatically, and quickly. In 1993, two of Congress’ leading liberals, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and then-Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). It passed overwhelmingly and was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton.

RFRA says simply: If the federal government wishes to restrict religious rights, it can do it only for important reasons and if there is no other practical way to meet its objective…. read more here