Os Guinness on Religious Freedom Here and Abroad

Author Os Guinness, a co-signatory of the recent statement "Evangelicals and Catholics Together on Law," has a new book out on religious freedom in "the global public square."  He gives Christianity Today an interview with a bunch of worthwhile thoughts that make me want to read the book, including this:

Religious freedom is a foundational human right that should be guaranteed and protected simply for its own sake. But over and above that, numerous studies show that when religious freedom is respected, there are many social and political benefits, such as civility in public life, harmony in society as a whole, and vitality in the entrepreneurial sectors of civil society. Violations of religious freedom, such as the recent health care mandates hitting Catholic hospitals and other religious employers, are therefore not only wrong, but blind. As such requirements spread, they will cramp, if not kill the goose that lays the golden egg. One day our brave new government officials will go out in the morning and find there is no golden egg—and therefore they must spend more, and grow government even larger, to cover the gap created by the diminishing of the faith-based organizations.

I would keep making explicit (as I've detailed here) that the loss of "vitality in civil society" may well include a loss of the effective, distinctive service to the needy that religious organizations provide--a loss that those on the "secular progressive" side (and not just government officials) should worry about.  Overall, amen to Os!