A powerful new book published Tuesday examines the ongoing legal, political, and theological war over religious liberty in America.

Luke Goodrich, an attorney who was part of the Becket legal team that won numerous Supreme Court cases, wrote Free to Believe: The Battle over Religious Liberty in America. It's already ranked #1 in the “legal system” category on Amazon.

Religious liberty is often a subject of either disdain or passion, depending on political or theological perspective. As Goodrich explained on a press call Tuesday, he seeks to help “ordinary citizens” understand religious liberty: its origins, battles, and what’s at stake for the country.

Though Goodrich had been fighting for religious liberty as an attorney for 10 years, he didn’t consider the theological and philosophical implications until he was invited to remark on the topic at church in 2010. He pondered the questions, “What does Scripture say, if anything, about religious freedom?" and, "What do Christians need to know?”

Over the years, arguing and winning important religious liberty cases, Goodrich began to observe that people are often very worried about religious liberty but they lack a basic understanding of the concept. Free to Believe tries to address some of these issues. It’s often directed toward Christians, though it’s not exclusively for them, meaning a nonbeliever could read the book and benefit from its philosophical and legal perspective.

However, Goodrich remains a keen observer of Christians and how they react to religious liberty issues. He says they often get it wrong because they approach the issue from an extremist point of view, either as “pilgrims” who believe the concept only originates from the Constitution or as “progressive” Christians who act like “martyrs.” These people believe “Christianity flourishes under persecution,” so maybe religious freedom isn’t all that important.

Goodrich makes a solid case that these views treat religious freedom as a legal and political issue when it is in fact a theological issue. It is true that many Christians believe religious liberty is rooted in the very nature of God’s character, and there are indeed some themes in Scripture that speak to religious freedom, though I’m not sure this would convince the average agnostic, or atheist, or even Muslim on the nobility of the cause.

Goodrich’s remarks on these concepts raise the question about non-Christians. After all, aren’t they the ones who need convincing? Christians aren’t typically the ones violating others’ religious freedom.

One of meatiest and most interesting aspects of the book is Goodrich’s list of impending threats to religious liberty. These are the issues over which churches, schools, bakeries, art shops, and nuns are quarreling. He believes religious liberty arguments will continue to center around these five things:

1. Anti-discrimination laws, as we saw in the recent Supreme Court case, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.



2. Abortion rights, particularly access to abortion and contraception, as we saw in the 2018 Supreme Court case NIFLA v. Becerra and the 2016 Supreme Court case Hobby Lobby v. Burwell.

3. A “rapid advance of gay rights,” in terms of private lawsuits filed against schools, churches, counselors, etc. On the press call, Goodrich had a heartening note: “Gay rights and religious liberty do not have to be in inevitable conflict,” he said, and he believes there are solutions.

4. Attacks on minority religious faiths, especially Islam.

5. Conflicts over religion in the public square such as prayer and religious symbols. This was apparent in the 2019 Supreme Court case American Legion v. American Humanist Association.

At the end of the book, just when readers might be feeling overwhelmed, Goodrich tells them what he thinks people should do when facing this conflict. He believes it’s more important for Christians especially to be faithful to God through conflict than to win. In fact, Goodrich presses Americans to “let go of winning,” as he titles one chapter. He also offers pragmatic, practical tips, but Goodrich’s real strength is to maintain a cheerful, positive outlook.

“I see so much fear, so much gloom and doom,” he said on the call Tuesday, calling it “fundamentally a mistake practically and biblically” while also citing America’s “long heritage of religious freedom.” Goodrich would know: Becket not only enjoys a 90% success rate for their cases overall but is undefeated at the Supreme Court.

Goodrich concludes his book with a task that doubles as encouragement: “Ultimately, though, our calling is not to respond to the religious freedom challenges ahead. Our calling is to respond to Jesus. Sometimes that means we’ll win religious freedom cases, transform the culture, and make society more just. Other times it means we’ll lose religious freedom cases, oppose the culture, and suffer injustice. We’ll have to be prepared for both.”

Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.