Iowa lawmakers debate religious freedom

DES MOINES - Religious leaders and state lawmakers tried Monday to navigate the area between religious freedom and individual civil liberties.

Supporters of religious freedom spoke Monday at a ceremony in the Capitol, praising Iowa for allowing for religious expression of varied faiths.

Speakers also acknowledged the national discussion over the issue as new laws in Indiana and Arkansas have been praised for protecting religious freedom and criticized for serving as legal shields for discrimination.

'It is a hallmark of a civil society ... that our freedoms will be limited in some way when they harm others,” said Sarai Rice, executive director of the Des Moines Area Religious Council. 'What is not limited is our freedom to believe and to think and to speak in public.”

Iowa Sens. Jake Chapman, R-Adel, and Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, sponsored and spoke at the event.

Chapman said Monday's event was purely about celebrating Iowans' right to practice religion. It originally was scheduled for Jan. 16, Religious Freedom Day in Iowa as proclaimed by Gov. Terry Branstad.

But Branstad's inauguration was held Jan. 16, so the religious freedom event was rescheduled to coincide with the birth date of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the original Virginia statute on religious freedom.

That caused Monday's event to overlap with a national dialogue on religious freedom laws, a debate that spilled Monday into the Iowa House.

Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, spoke on the House floor in favor of religious freedom and business owners' ability to refuse services to activities - such as same-sex marriages - that go against their beliefs.

Holt said requiring businesses to perform such services 'places people of faith in a position of violating their religious principles.”

Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines, asked Holt whether he would deem it acceptable if a business owner refused on religious grounds to serve a biracial couple. Holt said he would not.

'In the state of Iowa, if you do public business, you must do business with the public, and you cannot discriminate based on sexual (orientation),” Hunter said. 'That is the law in the state of Iowa.”

Rep. Deborah Berry, D-Waterloo, said religious freedom laws remind her of the civil rights movement for black Americans. Berry said she and other black state lawmakers had just come from a meeting in which they discussed with Des Moines Register editors issues facing black people in Iowa Iowans.

'Leaving that meeting, from a group of individuals who were proactive and excited about addressing an issue of disproportionality in our criminal justice system, looking at ways to build better relationships among people of color, and to leave that meeting and then come here and After coming from a meeting in which she and other black lawmakers discussed issues facing black Iowans, Berry said the debate about religious freedom 'and businesses being able to determine who they can serve and not serve, it took me back to the '50s and '60s, long before I was born.”

hear the words spoken this afternoon about religious freedom and businesses being able to determine who they can serve and not serve, it took me back to the '50s and '60s, long before I was born,” Berry said. 'I'm sure people back then stood in a chamber somewhere in this country and fought hard against the abolishment of slavery,” Berry added. 'To hear those words today, basically doing the same thing … it's wrong.”