Three recent precedents have ‘really increased the amount of protection for religious freedom.’ In recent years, the Supreme Court has shown a greater willingness to protect the First Amendment right of free exercise of religion from state and municipal regulation. In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission in 2018, the court decided Colorado had shown an animus toward religion by punishing a baker for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. Related: Foster care and adoption ministries praise ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia And this year, before the Fulton v. Philadelphia foster care decision, the court overturned two state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that restricted church and synagogue gatherings. In cases involving California and New York, the court said 5-4 that the rules violated the First Amendment because they did not apply equally to secular activities. Lori Windham, the Washington, D.C., attorney who argued the Fulton case before the court, said the decision has given religious ministries another level of protection. “We already knew from the Masterpiece Cakeshop case that if government is going to discriminate against you, that violates the free exercise clause,” said Windham, an Abilene Christian University graduate who attends the Fairfax […]
