Transcript Lobbying for Civil Society

Defending Civil Society:
Religious Advocacy in America
Allen D. Hertzke
Religion and Civil Society
The Changing Faces of ‘Religion’ and ‘Secularity’
7th-8th June 2012
University of Navarra and Harvard University Law School
Why it Matters:
Historic Moment of Promise and Peril
• Global validation of the centrality of religious
freedom to civil society, democracy, and peace
• Worldwide crisis of repression
• Unique American role in upholding religious
freedom and independent civil society
• If we lose the battle at home we undermine our
ability to promote it abroad
Correlation of Religious Freedom with Other
Freedoms and Well-being within Countries
Empirical Model:
Interaction of Social Forces and Government Laws
Religious Violence Cycle
Social Restriction
of Religious Freedom
Religious Freedom Cycle
Religious Freedom
Violence
related to Religion
Governmental Restriction
of Religious Freedom
Positive Contributions
of Religion to Society
Broader Religious
Participation
Price of Freedom Denied, Grim & Finke, 2011
Threats to Religious Civil Society
• 2006: Catholic Charities of Boston shuts down historic adoption program
• 2006: Morristown, NY begins code enforcement against Amish
homebuilders
• 2007: Texas City of Leon Valley zones churches out of retail quarter
(overturned in circuit court in 2012)
• 2009: U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission rules that Belmont
Abbey College in NC violated discrimination laws in heath plan coverage
• 2010: Catholic Charities of D.C. shuts down foster care program
• 2011: Three Illinois Diocesan foster care and adoption programs shut down
• 2011: Univ. of California Law School bars Christian group, followed by San
Diego State and Vanderbilt Universities in 2012
• 2011: Dept. of Health and Human Services ends contract with U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops for services to human trafficking victims
• 2012: New York City Board of Education orders end of church rental of
school buildings
• 2012: Twelve lawsuits filed on behalf of 43 Catholic dioceses and
organizations against the HHS Health Mandate
Growing Advocacy Infrastructure to
Defend Religious Civil Society
Lobbying for the Faithful
Religious Advocacy Groups
in Washington, D.C.
November 21, 2011
Significance of Religious Advocacy
• Large Enterprise
$350 Million in annual advocacy spending
• Institutionalized
215 groups with offices in the nation’s capital
• Sophisticated
At least 1,000 professional staff employ high
tech lobby strategies
• Representative
Linked to vast constituencies
Global Explanation
• God’s Century, Toft, Philpott, Shah
• P. 49: “argument is that major religious actors throughout the world enjoy
greater capacity for political influence today than at any time in modern
history – and perhaps ever.”
• Because of greater institutional independence – out of the box, freed from
state
• Because of activist political theologies – prophetic critique, humanitarian
• Because of globalization they operate on transnational basis
• P. 83: More and more religious actors take initiative, act with boldness,
mobilize local and national populations, operate with extraordinary
flexibility, and command transnational loyalty, global networks, and
resources. …Religious leaders and organizations are acting, while states
are being acted upon”
Explanations for Growth
 Push-back against secular threats
(Casanova)
 Value-and-identity-based politics of
postindustrial era (Ingelhart)
• Immigrant and emergent groups seek a
place at the civic table
• Growth in the size, reach, and
intrusiveness of government
Breakdown of Major Christian Traditions
20
18
Number of Groups
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Catholic
Membership-based
Evangelical
Institutions
Mainline Protestant
including Peace Churches and P.N.B.C.
Denominational or Inter-denominational
Precedents of Religious Lobby Power
• Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA),
1993, still applies to federal law and actions
• Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act (RLUIPA), 2000
• State Level RFRAs passed in at least 13 states
since Boerne decision in 1997
Select Religious Freedom Advocates
Organization
Advocacy Spending
Year Arrived in D.C.
•American Center for
Law and Justice
$989,347
2000
•Baptist Joint
Committee for
Religious Liberty
$1,200,000
1946
•Becket Fund for
Religious Liberty
$2,281,041
1994
•Christian Legal
$786,892
Society, Center for Law
and Religious Freedom
1980
•Institutional Religious
Freedom Alliance
2008
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
• Mission Statement
• “The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a nonprofit, public-interest legal and educational institute
that protects the free expression of all faiths. The
Becket Fund exists to vindicate a simple but
frequently neglected principle: that because the
religious impulse is natural to human beings,
religious expression is natural to human culture. We
advance that principle in three arenas—the courts of
law, the court of public opinion, and the academy—
both in the United States and abroad.”
Institutional Religious Freedom
Alliance
• Mission Statement
• “The Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance safeguards
the religious identity and faith-shaped standards and
services of faith-based organizations, enabling them to
make their distinctive and best contributions to the
common good.
• IRFA accepts as its foundational guide the teachings of
the Christian Bible as understood in the historical and
classical teachings of the Christian Church. IRFA
understands those teachings to favor a vigorous but
limited government and flourishing civil society
institutions, and public policies that treat equitably
individuals and organizations of every faith and secular
conviction, consistent with the common good.”
Designated Projects on Religious Freedom
Organization
Total
Advocacy
Spending
Year Arrived in
D.C.
Specific Project/year
Ethics and Public Policy
Center
$2,750,452
2003
American Religious
Freedom Program, 2012
Heritage Foundation
$1,743,450
1973
DeVos Center for
Religion and Civil
Society, 2004
1901
Public Affairs and
Religious Liberty
Department
Seventh-Day Adventist
Church
Southern Baptist
Convention
$3,268,327
1993
Ethics and Religious
Liberty Commission
United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops
Multi-Million
1919
Ad Hoc Committee on
Religious Liberty, 2012
Institutional Advocates For Religious Autonomy
Organization
Advocacy
Spending
Arrived in
D.C.
Constituency
American Association of Christian Schools
1985
33 associations
Assoc. of Catholic Colleges and Universities
1899
200 universities/colleges
Association of Christian Schools International
1985
5,900 schools
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
$173,390
1970
28 universities/colleges
Catholic Charities USA
$1,535,303
1910
150 agencies
Catholic Heath Association of the US
$995,533
1984
600 hospitals
1975
1,000 crisis centers
1999
15,000 members
1976
116 colleges/universities
Care Net
Christian Medical & Dental Association
$375,549
Council for Christian Colleges & Universities
Home School Legal Defense Association
$11,320,831
1990
80,000 members
Jewish Federations of North America
$753,668
1977
450 federations/centers
1929
200,000 educators
National Catholic Education Association
Select Groups that Advocate for
Religious Civil Society
• Agudath Israel of America
• Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam,
USA
• American Islamic Congress
• American Jewish Committee
• Anti-Defamation League
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints
• Concerned Women for America
• Family Research Council
• Hindu American Foundation
• Institute for Social Policy and
Understanding
• Institute on Religion and
Democracy
• Liberty Council
• Muslim Public Affairs Council
• National Association of
Evangelicals
• Prison Fellowship
• Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism
• Sikh American Legal Defense
and Education Fund
• Sikh Coalition
• Traditional Values Coalition
• Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America
The Health Mandate Challenge
• State defines religious ministry –
unprecedented
• Catalyses formidable infrastructure in
response, esp. Catholic institutional leadership
and resources
• Lobbying, grassroots mobilization, public
awareness campaigns, lawsuits, and potential
civil disobedience
Visible Allies on Health Mandate
• Agudath Israel of America
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints
• National Association of Evangelicals
• Southern Baptist Convention
• Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations
Questions
• Why Not More Allies for imperiled Catholic
Institutions?
• Is the partisan divide on these issues a key
factor?
• Is James Davison Hunter right that churches
have already lost the culture?
• If so, is political and legal advocacy enough to
preserve and advance civil society?
A Portrait of the American
Constitutional Heritage in
Religious Freedom
Signing ceremony ending Oregon’s 1923 KKK-backed law against religious attire
in public schools, April 1, 2010.