}

Religious liberty is a bedrock value and a foundational principle of a democratic society. As Christian leaders from evangelical, Catholic, mainline Protestant, Mormon and other traditions, we stand together committed to finding a path that affirms everyone’s right to follow the teachings of their faith while treating others as we would like to be treated.

​We affirm respect for religious conscience and also protect the human rights of all people. Today, some of our fellow Americans—from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to Muslims—are not being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve as children of God. Our faith calls us to speak out against this injustice.

Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves and our families and neighbors include LGBT people. While we hold different theological beliefs about the definition of marriage, we are united in our firm conviction that LGBT people should be treated fairly and equally. Religious freedom should never be used as a justification for discrimination.

We are all God’s children and that includes our Muslim neighbors who are often demonized in the media, the streets and the halls of power. As Christians, we must defend the religious liberty of all people, not just those who pray the same way we do. We are committed to defusing a toxic political and cultural climate that leaves religious minorities living in a state of fear.

As our nation becomes more diverse, some of our fellow Christians embrace a rhetoric of persecution and claim that people of faith are under attack. The First Amendment of the Constitution firmly protects our freedom of religion. While Christians in the Middle East and other volatile areas often confront violent persecution because of their beliefs, we are blessed to live our faith openly and freely. In the United States, legal and policy debates over religious freedom are real and often complex, but to claim that Christians in our country are under attack dishonors the lives of Christians around the world who face true persecution.

We urge fellow Christian leaders, elected officials and all citizens of goodwill to refrain from politicizing religious liberty and to help reclaim it as a shared value and principle.