Speaking at the South Carolina Freedom Summit on Saturday, Gov. Bobby Jindal continued his strong advocacy for marriage and religious liberty. He contrasted his views with President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others on the left, whom he accused of attempting to restrict religious liberty to apply only to activities which occur inside churches:
There was a time when the left believed in the First Amendment. There was a time when the left really understood that religious liberty is the foundation of our freedom of speech, and freedom of association…without religious liberty, there are no other freedoms like freedom of speech, and freedom of association, and freedom of the press.
And make no mistake about it this isn’t just about marriage, though, unlike President Obama and Secretary Clinton, my views on marriage are not evolving with the polls. I continue to believe in traditional marriage between a man and a woman. This debate is much, much bigger than that. It is bigger than marriage. This is about the power of the state to to close or fine Christian business owners, this is about the left trying to silence us and telling us we don’t have a right to live our lives according to our sincerely held beliefs. When Secretary Clinton, when President Obama say, ‘you’ve got the freedom of religious expression,’ to them, that just means you get to go to church and say what you want inside church. That’s not religious liberty. Religious liberty is the ability to live our lives according to our faith 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Jindal’s speech can be viewed in its entirety here.
Paul Dupont is a legislative assistant for American Principles in Action.
