Congress cleared a narrower version of legislation (S. 2869) designed to protect the religious liberty of individuals on July 27. Both the House and Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent, sending it to the President.
An earlier version of the legislation (H.R. 1691) that passed the House last year would have prohibited state and local governments from enforcing laws that would “substantially burden” an individual’s free exercise of religion unless the government could demonstrate a “compelling interest” in enforcing the law (see The Source, 7/16/99). However, bill sponsors—Rep. Charles Canady (R-FL) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)—negotiated a narrower version that would apply solely to land use regulations.
The earlier bill had drawn criticism from many advocates who contended that the measure would have the unintended consequence of superseding civil rights laws by allowing an individual to invoke the religious right to discriminate against another individual based on sexual orientation, disability, and marital and parental status.
