Abortions, anti-ICE and AI: five ways leftists are invoking ‘religious freedom’ for social justice

Progressive faith communities are increasingly leveraging religious freedom laws to protect civil liberties across the USA defining image of resistance in Donald Trump’s second term is a pastor recoiling as he is shot with pepper balls outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.Religious activism has also played out in court, with interfaith organizers launching a flurry of lawsuits against Trump-era policies that they say violate their beliefs, from abortion access to sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. While social conservatives have actively used “religious liberty” to limit LGBTQ+ rights and contraceptive coverage – in high-profile cases that have reached the US supreme court – progressive faith communities are increasingly leveraging religious freedom laws to fight for racial and social justice causes, too. Continue reading…