(Radio Iowa) – It’s Religious Freedom Day in Iowa. The Iowa Catholic Conference, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Des Moines Area Religious Council co-sponsored an early morning event at the Iowa Capitol. Keynote speaker Micah Fries of the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network told the crowd the only way to ensure religious freedom is to insist that it be applied to all.
“Now in my community, my particular religious tribe, this is not necessarily all that popular right now. There are some Christians who want to enshrine our particular religious convictions at a federal level,” Fries said. “History has seen this happen before and it has always — 100% of the time — it has always ended badly.” Fries, who describes himself as a conservative evangelical Baptist, says Baptists — for example — were persecuted by the Puritans in the 16-hundreds and he cited the public flogging of a Baptist minister in Boston. According to Fries, societies thrive when all have the freedom to practice their own religion or none at all.
“Those in the majority have a particular moral and ethical obligation to advocate for the minority,” he said. “Here in America that means my community, the Christian community, has to insist on defending and protecting the religious freedoms of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Sikhs, Scientologists, Baha’is, those who have no belief in God or the afterlife and others that I haven’t even begun to mention.”
Tom Chapman, executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, says it’s been a blessing that the U.S. Constitution guarantees no one religion should be established in the U.S. “A culture that embraces the divine gift of freedom will respect the dignity of all people,” Chapman said, “and make as much space as possible for persons to participate in society in accord with their own religious convictions.”
Susan Sims, regional communications director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says Brigham Young found peace and kindness in Iowa as he led settlers out of Nauvoo, Illinois, onto what is now known as the Mormon Trail. “This is something that we celebrate on Iowa Religious Freedom Day and we’re grateful for, for all those who follow faith and for all those who choose not to follow a traditional faith, but have a different world view and a different path,” Sims said.
Governor Kim Reynolds was the event’s closing speaker. “Iowans believe that our liberties are more secure when religious belief is both strong and free,” Reynolds said, “when people of faith can openly participate in public debate and when government respects the creator on whom all authority depends.”
In 2024, Reynolds signed the Iowa Religious Freedom Act into law. She says it doubled down on the promise that Iowa will not establish a state religion or prohibit people from freely practicing their own religion.
