Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read and carefully consider the message as the very character of America is at stake.  You will want to read the entire original article.

This is part four in a series on Rising Threats to Religious Freedom, based on a recent conference held in Washington D.C., sponsored by the American Religious Freedom www.religiousfreedom.org  project of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. At this conference faith leaders from across the United States, including Elder L. Whitney Clayton, representing the LDS Church, united to fight the incursions on religious freedom in this country. See  “Rising Threats to American Religious Freedom”,  “Specific Threats to American Religious Freedom” , and  “Religious Freedom Goes to the Movies” .

Make no mistake about it. Those who would like to shrink religious freedom and marginalize churches are on the move. Just last week, for instance, the Secular Coalition of America, a lobbying organization who want “a strong separation of religion and government” sent an announcement that they will be launching chapters in 48 states as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico by the end of 2012.

In the name of “inclusion” or other lofty-sounding aims, law suits continually challenge religious symbols and expression, seeking to strip them from the public square or force churches into activities, like the HHS mandates, that violate their own teachings.

In general, there is a growing sense that religion has to prove its worth, that churches are somehow on the line or that the special place they’ve held for 225 years of American history should now be lost.

It will take a chorus, not a solo of churches working together to defend a right that has always been taken for granted in America—religious freedom—and the American Religious Freedom project, supported by a wide number of churches, is moving to do that.

Tim Schultz, the State Legislative Policy Director, of the project, announced that they will be working together to build religious freedom caucuses, beginning in a dozen states including Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Tennessee, and Utah.

By the end of 2012, they hope to have 25 such caucuses and intend to have all fifty states organized by the end of 2013. The aim is working on the state level and “the good news,” according to Schultz, “is that the American people still believe that this is a core American value that is still to be defended.”

The project hopes to give state legislators expertise in religious freedom issues, train and equip them in a sophisticated manner, provide model legislation and understanding of how political battles have played out in other states.

In fact, 24 state legislators attended the conference, a key group who will help the process moving forward.

Michael Leavitt, former Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and former governor of Utah, spoke at the conference and is a consultant to the group. He said that in addition to the legislative caucuses, the goal is to organize a network in each state of advocates for religious freedom to include faith organizations, think-tanks, and other non-profit organizations who see this as being important.

“The networks will include members from both parties and from many denominations.”

“We will not relent to those who would like to make this a partisan issue,” said Shultz. “It is a core American issue.” He said, “This is not about us, but about protecting this great treasure to make sure it is still available to Americans for generations to come.”

Leavitt said, “These attacks on religious freedom, carried to an extreme, begin to undermine the capacity of churches to carry out their role in society.”

He calls religious freedom “an eroding platform” rather than a “burning platform.”  This isn’t a crisis of the moment, but step by step, particle by particle, religious freedom is receding. He says “this debate is not to be taken casually. The gradual loss of religious freedom would fundamentally change the character of America.”

[....] “There are very few things that government has more obligation to do than to protect conscience.

Leavitt said of this new project, “This is about the faith community recognizing that we may have different doctrines and different views about theology, but we are united in our view that religious freedom is crucial to the American way of life.”