R&P – Religious Conservatives Won the Legal Battle Over COVID-19, But Not the War

„To understand how COVID-19 has created both a boon and a problem for religious conservatives, it is important to understand a few things about the legal landscape leading up to the year 2020. As I have explained elsewhere, the past few decades have been a time of instability where the Constitution’s religion clauses are concerned, particularly the clause safeguarding the free exercise of religion. This instability has sown confusion about what specific kinds of actions are, and are not, protected by the free exercise clause. Does the free exercise clause protect the use of an illegal drug if done so within a religious context? Does it protect a business owner’s refusal to serve people of a particular sexual orientation or gender identity? Does it protect an individual’s decision to forego a publicly beneficial vaccine?”

Religious Conservatives Won the Legal Battle Over COVID-19, But Not the War