Measure 3 Deals with Religious Liberty - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Measure 3 Deals with Religious Liberty

Religious liberty is addressed this election day in constitutional measure three.
The measure states that government may not burden a person's religious liberty.
Jennifer Thorgramson weighs the pros and cons of measure three in tonight's primary election preview.

A yes vote for Measure 3 will reinstate the Compelling Interest Test which is defined as a method for determining the constitutionality of a statute that restricts the practice of a fundamental right or distinguishes between people due to a suspect classification.
In other words, stand two people next to each other, same age, same ethnicity, same race, color and sex - then change one feature of one of these two people, say, their age.
If the statute discriminates against or favors the younger or older of the two people, it is subject to the compelling interest test.
A yes vote for Measure 3 will restore the compelling interest test, and a heightened level of religious liberty in the state of North Dakota.
(Tom Freier, ND Family Alliance Executive Director) "The First Amendment does guarantee the right of freedom of religion and more, they can't prohibit the free exercise there of. But the important part here is the 1990 Supreme Court ruling removed something called the compelling interest test and what that did really was lowered the level that the government had to prove to burden our religious freedom."
Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota representative Timothy Hathaway says a common fear of the groups opposing Measure 3 is that the measure won't add protection beyond the first amendment and could elongate the time line for getting individuals out of abusive situations.
(Timothy Hathaway, Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota) "By opening this door for potential abusers just to say this is my religious belief, it really does set up a barrier to children and their families who have experienced abuse and who are seeking relief from that. It really does create a difficult standard.
In Minot, Jennifer Thorgramson, KX News.

There are currently 27 other states in the U.S. that have similar measures.