Baptist religious liberty agency applauds workplace legislation

March 17, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The freedom to practice one's sincerely held religious beliefs should not stop when the workweek starts, says a Baptist religious liberty organization.

The Baptist Joint Committee supports the Workplace Religious Freedom Act co-sponsored by Sens. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and John Kerry, D-Mass.

Currently, the law requires employers to accommodate religious practices only if by doing so they incur no more than a de minimis cost or inconvenience. Under the proposed legislation, employers would have to accommodate the religious practices of employees unless they can show that they would incur significant cost or inconvenience in the process.

The Workplace Religious Freedom Act is supported by a diverse coalition of more than 40 religious groups, including the American Jewish Committee, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Union for Reform Judaism, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

"Employees should not have to choose between piety and a paycheck," said BJC General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman.

Hollman said the need to respect religious practices is especially important in the workplace, where most Americans spend much of their lives.

"Employees too often have to choose between the demands of the workplace and the dictates of conscience," Hollman said. "This legislative approach is one that properly recognizes both the needs of the employers and the needs of employees. It provides a sensible way to recognize and respect our religious diversity and the importance of religious liberty."

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