Threats to religious freedom do not come only from those who oppose religion or who value other rights above the right of religious exercise; religious people and faith-based organizations can undermine religious freedom, too.

One example: commentators who note that the religious freedom problems encountered in the US are minor compared to the beheadings, torture, loss of jobs, mob violence, etc., that Christians (and others) undergo in many other countries–and then say, or imply, that Christians should just stop “whining” about the tiny irritations they are suffering.

A more common example: the many faith-based organizations that pay little attention to the negative religious freedom developments around them, or don’t pay enough attention to see that the separate incidents reveal a serious negative trend. Because this is a land that broadly respects religion and religious freedom, it is easy enough to regard alarming stories as aberrations, rare exceptions that need cause little concern.

Both views are inadequate. There are real and serious negative trends as our society becomes more religiously diverse, government is increasingly active, new rights are pressed, more and more people become skeptical about the goodness of religion. These trends do not amount to the persecution and terror visited on religious people and organizations in many countries, and yet the negative trends do undermine faith-based services, they do hamper people of faith who desire to conduct their businesses to bring honor to God, they do make it more difficult for people of deep convictions not only to believe but also to act in accordance with their convictions.

In the United States we are heirs of a splendid legacy of respect for religion and for religious freedom. But religious freedom cannot defend itself. Those who know its value, whether they be religious or secular, need to be good stewards of it, teaching its value, alert and active when it is eroded, vigilant not to cave-in when government would casually demand that persons and organizations violate their religious convictions.

Believers persecuted in other lands will hardly be helped if Americans allow our own religious freedom legacy to fade away. Faith-based services and companies of conviction will find it ever more difficult to flourish while they maintain their religious identity and practices if we don’t become more active to protect and enlarge our nation’s commitment to religious freedom.