Constituent Question: Religious Freedom
Full Question: What do you believe about the separation of church and state in this country?
Absolutely! The government must not endorse or force religious practices (or non-practices) upon anyone. When in doubt, the government should make accommodations for individual, family, or community religious practices to the extent that they do not infringe upon the ability of anyone to live freely and participate in an open society.
I want to be clear for those that feel their own religious freedoms (or lives) are under attack: intimidation or inciting violence is never okay.
Freedom of religion in America is inherently tied to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. As an open society, we cannot have one of these freedoms without the others, and that necessarily means that we will all encounter people with beliefs that don’t align with our own. We may not always feel “comfortable” with how others express themselves, and under the right circumstances this can be an opportunity to learn and grow.
We should always feel comfortable “calling out” intolerance, but we need to be aware that without empathy, shouting people down for perceived intolerance (religious or otherwise) can be its own form of intimidation — especially in the echo chamber of social media. Whenever it is physically safe to do so, we should first seek to understand and only then seek to be understood.