100 State Legislators Tell NFL: Back Off on Pressuring States to Abandon Religious Liberty

By Dustin Siggins Published on April 14, 2016

A coalition of 100 state legislators from more than 10 states are urging the NFL to reconsider its boycott of states with religious liberty laws in an open letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“We write to you today because you recently issued statements against religious liberty legislation in various states,” wrote the legislators. “Giving you the benefit of the doubt, we understand that you may have been misinformed and misguided into a position of condoning and promoting government use of force of law against people of faith in America.”

Last month, a NFL spokesperson said that a Georgia bill aimed at protecting people with religious objections to redefining marriage could cost Atlanta the ability to host the Super Bowl.

“NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement at the time. “Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community are consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites.”

According to the legislators, however, it is Goodell and the NFL that is acting in a discriminatory and intolerant fashion.

Please ask yourselves this question: “Do we really want to live in a society where our government may, under the penalty of law, force its citizens to engage in the promotion or solemnization of an act that they find contrary to their conscience and their religious beliefs?” Your efforts are indeed forging a path that contradicts and undermines the principles and concepts that our Founders incorporated as the building blocks of this Constitutional Republic. We, the undersigned, hereby encourage you to reconsider your recent public threats.

Human dignity requires that a person be free to exercise his or her religious faith; and that no government entity will discriminate or oppress a person based on the person’s thoughts or beliefs.

Jeremy Dys, Senior Counsel for the legal group First Liberty, told The Stream that the NFL is acting hypocritically. “Although Americans may disagree on many issues, we can all agree that protecting religious freedom is good for a diverse society, good for inclusive businesses, and good for all tolerant Americans. It would be a sad irony if the NFL’s right to do business according to its values were not applied to all Americans.”

“The NFL should stop using its deep pockets to bully American values. Religious liberty is not for sale,” said Dys, who also said that “America was founded on the principle of religious freedom.”

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