Commentary: The shifting sands of religious liberty

Faith » From Catholicism to Mormonism to Islam and more, America’s growing diversity is changing the debate.

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John Whitehead has as good a bird’s eye view on this as anyone. When he launched a career as a religious-freedom lawyer in the late 1970s, he and the American Civil Liberties Union were practically the only people in the business. A conservative evangelical, Whitehead had a portfolio largely consisting of defending anti-abortion protesters tossed off sidewalks.

Today, his Rutherford Institute in Charlottesville, Va., is considered the model for half a dozen religious-freedom firms — and business is jumping.

Whitehead has made a living off the subject but has come to this conclusion: "You can get 10 different groups in the room, and they will disagree about what religious liberty is."

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