The Seventh-day Adventist Church State Council has been leading the battle to preserve meaningful protection for the free exercise of religion in California. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court devastated the free exercise right in its infamous peyote decision. Congress responded with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, attempting to restore vigorous free exercise protection. When the Supreme Court struck down “RFRA” in 1997, the battle shifted to the states to protect free exercise under state constitutions.

Since 1997, the Seventh-day Adventist Church State Council has played a lead role in a broad interfaith effort, first to pass a California state “RFRA,” and also in the courts. Our coalition-sponsored “RFRA” passed the legislature in 1998, only to be vetoed by Gov. Pete Wilson. Since then, we have co-authored two key friend-of-the-court briefs, representing our broad interfaith coalition, inviting the California Supreme Court to extend vigorous constitutional protection to religious freedom.

In both cases, the court declined to decide whether the California free exercise clause will follow the Federal constitution in minimizing religious freedom, or provide an independent basis for protecting religious freedom. The latest effort was in the Catholic Charities case.

The battle continues. So far, Arizona is the only state in the Pacific Union to adopt a “RFRA” bill, sponsored by the Church State Council. Similar measures have been introduced in Hawaii, and work continues on state RFRA bills for Nevada and Utah. With your faithful encouragement, support and participation, the Seventh-day Adventist Church State Council can continue to lead the way in the battle for religious freedom.