Religious liberty in Iowa

Religious liberty or “Right of Conscience” has become a front-and-center national issue with the recent events unfolding in states like Indiana and Arkansas.

In Iowa, we have had our own encounter with this matter in recent years with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission closing down a retired couple’s wedding catering service and imposing a $5,000 civil penalty because they refused service to a homosexual couple based on their religious convictions.

Even more recently and more directly impacting members of the House of Representatives, was the recent invitation extended to a Wiccan priestess to deliver the opening invocation last week in the House Chamber.

While I respect the First Amendment right of the “free exercise of religion” spelled out in our U.S. Constitution, I would assert that this same amendment also protects citizens from being compelled to participate in any religious practice that violates their conscience.

Since I was one of many House members who chose not to participate in the Wiccan prayer that morning — but instead opted to gather with other like-minded individuals in an alternate location to pray and seek God’s wisdom and humility in the decisions that would be put before us that day — I have been asked by several media outlets if my abstention was some form of protest or if I was trying to set some kind of precedent. On the contrary, I was merely exercising my Christian religion according to my convictions.

This did, however, give me the opportunity to point out the fact that what I (and others) have done is not anything new. There is at least one member of the Senate and one member of the House who choose not to participate in the opening Christian prayers offered in their respective chambers each day.

Another House member chooses not to participate in the opening prayer time when a Jewish rabbi is leading the invocation.

Why is it that the press seems uninterested in covering these instances of legislators abstaining from corporate prayer due to their beliefs? Apparently, it is only newsworthy when Christians abstain from certain religious practices.

I have made no effort to hide my belief that our unalienable rights come from the God of the Bible and that I believe it is one of the primary functions of government to preserve and protect those rights.

My abstention on Thursday morning should therefore have come as no surprise and was hardly newsworthy.

One of the principles this country was founded on was that of religious liberty and tolerance.

Unfortunately, those who have been preaching “tolerance” these last few years have emerged as some of the most intolerant of our society and are currently at the forefront of dismantling what semblance of religious freedoms we have left in this country.

The issue of Religious Liberty and Right of Conscience is going to become more prevalent in the days to come. We are foolish to think that by choosing to ignore the issue, it will somehow go away.

Representative Greg Heartsill (R-Columbia) represents Iowa House District 28.