Citizens of North Dakota will be voting today on an amendment to the state’s constitution that supporters say will guarantee religious freedom:
Measure 3 is worded this way: “Government may not burden a person’s or religious organization’s religious liberty.” Its supporters call it the Religious Liberty Restoration amendment; they say it’s needed because of a 22-year-old U.S. Supreme Court decision they believe has put limits on religious freedom.
“What this amendment is attempting to do is to restore that level of protection to what it was pre-1990,” says Tom Freier, who heads the North Dakota Family Alliance. The group led the effort to put the measure on the ballot.
Freier says that making Measure 3 part of the constitution would give it permanence and help prevent attacks on religious freedom.
“So, the analogy would be: We live in Fargo, and most recently in Bismarck and in Minot, you’ve had floods. And you want to prepare for that. You don’t know exactly when or how things are going to happen, but you want to make preparation,” he says. “This measure would really put in place the protection for North Dakota that would make sure that people are protected, and religious organizations are protected, when and if they do need that protection.”
