On this episode of American Thought Leaders, Jan Jekielek talks with Kelly Shackelford President and Chief Counsel of First Liberty Institute, America’s largest legal firm focused exclusively on safeguarding religious freedom.
From the Soviet Union to Communist China, one of the first things many authoritarian regimes do is extinguish religious freedom. There is a deeper reason for this, says Kelly Shackelford. And that’s why increasing government restrictions on religion in America are troubling indicators for the future, he argues.
About Kelly Shackelford
Kelly Shackelford is the President and Chief Counsel of First Liberty Institute, America’s largest legal firm focused exclusively on safeguarding religious freedom.
About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans. We believe that every American of any faith—or no faith at all—has a fundamental right to follow their conscience and live according to their beliefs.
Our nation’s Founding Fathers established this right as our First Freedom nearly two and a half centuries ago, and we intend to keep it that way.
Religious freedom is the first freedom outlined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, and for good reason: it is the foundational right that all others are built upon. And if this cornerstone freedom ever falls, all other freedoms would be at risk of tumbling as well. That’s why fighting to preserve it is so important—because to fight for religious freedom is to fight for the future of all freedoms.
