We Stand for Religious Freedom

The Temple of Understanding has long championed the freedom of religion and the separation of Church and State, as declared in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Religious freedom also means freedom from the imposition of religion.

We stand with multiple interfaith colleagues and organizations, including Religions for Peace-USA, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Interfaith Alliance, Greenfaith, and more, in our concern about encroachments on religious freedom directly resulting from the recent Supreme Court decision and states’ subsequent actions on reproductive rights. Religious freedom includes personal bodily integrity and requires the respect for and right of individuals to consult their innermost selves, their moral dictates, their religion (or lack thereof), their doctors and clergy rather than having a person’s bodily decisions determined by any level of government.

We support the efforts of our board member Rabbi Barry Silver towards the rights of all to practice their religion freely and to follow their moral and religious dictates on personal bodily decisions without fear of criminalization.

You may be interested to read statements of our interfaith colleagues; for your convenience, the links are included below.

Interfaith Alliance

https://interfaithalliance.org/cms/assets/uploads/2021/09/Interfaith-Alliance-Statement-of-Policy-Reproductive-Freedom.pdf

https://interfaithalliance.org/interfaith-alliance-interim-president-offers-testimony-on-the-threat-to-religious-freedom-post-roe/

Parliament of the World’s Religions

https://parliamentofreligions.org/global-ethic/parliament-statement-on-the-recent-u-s-supreme-court-decision/

https://parliamentofreligions.org/womens-dignity/statement-by-the-womens-task-force-of-the-parliament-of-the-worlds-religions-on-dobbs-decision-overturning-roe-v-wade/

Religions for Peace- USA

https://rfpusa.org/statement-by-executive-director-of-religions-for-peace-usa/