AUGUSTA, Maine - In the midst of a national debate around so-called freedom of religion legislation, Maine now has its own measure before lawmakers. It was a divisive issue a year ago and promises to be the same this session.
A year ago, lawmakers rejected a similar bill, which its sponsor, Sen. David Burns, a Republican from Whiting, says is meant to protect the right to the free exercise of religion in Maine.
Burns says his bill, modeled on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, would guarantee that no Maine law would infringe on a person’s free exercise of religion unless it is needed to further a "compelling state interest."
"When the person’s right to exercise of the religion is substantially burdened, then the government has to have a compelling interest," Burns said. "If they find - if that is determined that they have a compelling interest, they do it in the least restrictive manner."
The Maine ACLU’s public policy counsel, Oamshri Amarasingham, agrees with Burns that an individual’s right to free exercise of his or her religion is protected in the Constitution. But, she says, Burns legislation is overreaching and unnecessary. "This bill, LD 1340, specifically says that somebody who feels that their religion is being burdened by a neutral law would be able to get out of compliance with that law."
She says that would allow a person to ignore anti-discrimination legislation by simply saying it would infringe on their religious beliefs. For example, she says, a baker could refuse to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding, on grounds that same-sex marriage runs against the baker's religion.
Burns disagrees. "It’s absurd. That’s - we have civil rights protection in the state of Maine and this is not in conflict with that whatsoever."
But Elise Johansen, executive director of Equality Maine, says both the federal and state Constitutions already protect religious freedom. And she says the wording of Burn’s bill could have a lot of unintended consequences. "This bill opens up a can of worms. And it could create many lawsuits here in Maine that would cost our state a lot of money. We saw what just happened in Indiana."
She worries that passage of similar legislation here could lead to a significant loss of tourism and have a major economic impact on the state.
Democratic Rep. Barry Hobbins, of Saco, the co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee that will consider the bill, points to states such as Arkansas and Indiana experiencing a backlash from similar bills. "Both, within the executive branches of both states," Hobbins said, "but also among those that believe this is a frontal attack on the social justice issues such as gay rights."
Hobbins says while a similar bill was defeated last year here in Maine, this is a different Legislature. And this time, all three Senate Republican leaders are co-sponsors of the bill.
The proposal has not been scheduled for a public hearing, but Hobbins says he expects a long day of testimony.
