1 Timothy 2:1-3 (MSG) 1 The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. 2 Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. 3 This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.

Recently,the Supreme Court of the United States in a vote of 5 to 4 struck down the portion of the Affordable Care Act that covered mandated preventative coverage as it applied to certain forms of contraception when it conflicted with their religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby asserted that since what is referred to as “emergency contraception” caused an abortion of the fetus, to fund it would be in violation of their faith and conscience. Of course conservatives and more specifically right leaning conservative religious groups see this as a victory for religious freedom.

If you think the Supreme Court Justices got it all wrong on this one you may want to throw your computer or device against the wall at what I am about to say; but I hope you will take a deep breath and hear me out. I believe this decision in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby stores represents a victory for every American’s civil liberty.

For what it’s worth, I was opposed to the agenda of the so-called “Moral Majority” a few years ago. While I hold men like Pat Robertson, James Dobson and the late Jerry Falwell in high regard, I believe if they had succeeded in their goals America would be a theocracy. I don’t want a theocracy until “Theo” is here to run it. (Theos: Latin for God.) I don’t trust humans implicitly, even if they are professing Christians. I’ll repeat the Martin Luther quote I used recently; “I would rather be ruled by a wise Turk than a stupid Christian.” The Puritans of New England long ago gave us a foretaste of a human led theocracy and it was cruel and unjust. I am a big fan of the covenant document that we call the Constitution because it protected the “free expression of religion,” not religions free reign.

I am concerned that some of the next generation, in the quest for utopia, don’t understand the value of civil liberty or understand the awesome experiment of a democratic republic. I had the privilege this past spring of having lunch with the great thinker Os Guinness. Yes, his grandfather is the famous Brewer from Ireland. Os gave me this phrase that I love, “soul liberty.” Soul liberty is the state of civility maintained between those of different spiritual convictions. This must have been what Supreme Court Justice Alito was thinking about last Monday for he wrote in his decision, “There is no limit to religious requirements and restrictions in our land of a thousand faiths.”

A tremendous example of “soul liberty” comes to us from a philosophically liberal Rabbi named “Elyse Wechterman”. She is the head of Agudas Achim, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Attleboro. Recently, when a conservative Christian Church informed a Boy Scout troop in Attleboro that they would need to find a new venue for their meetings, after a ruling to open the scouts to openly gay boys, the local newspaper wrote a scathing article against the church and challenged the mayor to speak out against that church. Rabbi Wechterman wrote a rebuttal to the Newspaper editor in which she defended the conservative Christian church that she actually disagreed with.”

“Mr. Kirby expressed dismay that our elected mayor has not spoken up in response to a local church’s decision to no longer host a Boy Scout troop it had for many years. He also called the church “hypocritical” and said that its decision reflected poorly on Attleboro. I believe Mr. Kirby’s comments are wrongheaded and dangerous to the rich, open, diverse and tolerant environment of the Attleboro area.

The Boy Scout troop met with and considered a number of local alternatives, including Congregation Agudas Achim, which welcomed them. In fact, for some of those organizations, the very policy change which motivated the church to rethink its relationship was the deciding factor for some of the new organizations that opened their doors. The synagogue would not have considered hosting a Boy Scout troop under their earlier policies, which we believe to be discriminatory. We had a right to our opinion then as the church does now.”

Now I realize that some will have great difficulty feeling anything but horror for any decision that touches negatively on a woman’s “reproductive rights,” but I urge you to be careful that you don’t let an ideology that could empower the executive branch of government with powers that you may in fact be victimized by at a another time.

In 1993, Bill Clinton signed into law the “Restoration of Religious Freedom Act, which reinstated the Sherbert Test mandating that strict scrutiny be used when determining whether the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing religious freedom, has been violated. In the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Congress states in its findings that a religiously neutral law can burden a religion just as much as one that was intended to interfere with religion; therefore, the Act states that the “Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.” This was most pertinent to Native American religions that are burdened by increasing expansion of government projects onto sacred land. Often the particular ceremonies can only take place in certain locations because these locations have special significance to the American Indians. This was supported by both the ACLU and the National Association of Evangelicals and was voted in by the US Senate 97 to 3.

Yes, I think I am prepared to serve God under a government that oppresses us, but according to 1 Timothy 2:1-3 I am to pray for a government that protects my decision to worship God as I see fit. I believe everybody wins when religious freedom wins. I say in the words of Martin Luther King, “Let freedom ring.”