Pissing on Religious Freedom

Jewish Week Editorial 3/18/05: A Bad Bill

You know a bill affecting religious institutions is bad when Jewish groups as diverse as the Orthodox Union and the Union for Reform Judaism — normally strong adversaries in church-state matters — unite to oppose the measure. That’s exactly what the ill-named Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), has done. This mischievous legislation, built on a foundation of distortion and falsehoods, threatens to ensnare churches, synagogues and mosques in bitter partisanship and the sleaze of political fundraising....