The Obama administration may be “the least friendly to religious freedom concerns in history.”

Archbishop Chaput Reflects on Roots, Nature, Future of Religious Freedom
CNA/EWTN News

The Archbishop of Philadelphia says the Obama administration may be “the least friendly to religious freedom concerns in history.”

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia warned Tuesday that the United States will face increasing pressure to abandon its traditionally broad protections for religious liberty, though he encouraged Christians never to give up hope in God’s love.

Religious liberty, he said, “means much more than the freedom to believe whatever you like at home, and pray however you like in your church.”

“It means the right to preach, teach and worship in public and in private,” he said March 17. “It means a parent’s right to protect his or her children from harmful teaching. It means the right to engage the public square with moral debate and works of social ministry. It means the freedom to do all of this without negative interference from the government, direct or indirect, except within the limits of ‘just public order’.”

The archbishop’s remarks came in his speech to Philadelphia’s St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he discussed Dignitatis humanae, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on religious freedom.

Archbishop Chaput evaluated the religious freedom situation in the U.S. as “good” compared to “almost anywhere else in the world.”

“Religious believers played a very big role in founding and building the country. Until recently, our laws have reflected that. In many ways they still do.”

He noted that a “large majority” of Americans believe in God and identify as Christian, while religious practice is high.

“But that’s changing. And the pace will quicken. More young people are disaffiliated from religion now than at any time in our country’s past. More stay away as they age. And many have no sense of the role that religious freedom has played in our nation’s life and culture.”

The archbishop said the current administration may be “the least friendly to religious freedom concerns in history.” This trend will continue in areas like gay rights, contraception and abortion services, and public religious witness, as well as in the application of “so-called ‘anti-discrimination’ laws,” he said.

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