“Getting to Purple: Religious Freedom Arguments to Reach the Persuadable Middle” is the title of a workshop and PowerPoint presentation made by Prof. Tom Berg, University of St. Thomas School of Law, at the Christian Legal Society national conference, on October 3, 2015. Links to the PowerPoint and to an earlier law review article taking up the same themes are available in a Berg blogpost at Mirror of Justice.

Professor Berg points out that, in an atmosphere of skepticism and hostility to many of the religious freedom claims of morally conservative believers, arguments based on tradition, America’s historic principles, or America as a religious country, are losing force. But other arguments may be persuasive to those in the middle. He then discusses civil-liberty arguments (such as how religion is a matter of personal identity to many believers), “civic republican” arguments (such as the great and distinctive contributions made to civil society by religious organizations and individuals), and pragmatic arguments (e.g., that protections LGBT supporters seek may be politically achievable only if they incorporate robust religious protections). He concludes by advising proponents of religious freedom to acknowledge competing interests when seeking support for religious-freedom protections.