Republican Sen. Dan Swecker of Rochester proposed the bill, and both he and Pastor Paul Jones of Reality Church in downtown Olympia testified in favor of the bill on Jan. 17 before the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee.
“Interestingly they were going to bring in their own baptismal,’’ Swecker said in testimony. “They were denied this because it was a religious service. I felt that was a selective [decision] … My own daughter was married in the park and it was a Jewish service. What about a prayer to open our legislative sessions?”
Jones testified that he shared many of Swecker’s concerns and that he sees ambiguity about what constitutes free speech. “We would like to be able to have the exercise of our free religion,” Jones said.
After the permit was denied for the baptism portion of the event, Reality Church moved its entire event to another location.
Initially, the church had consulted with a legal advocacy group about its rights. It had held barbecues in the state-owned park next to Capitol Lake previously.
Before today’s vote, committee staffer Sam Thompson cited a 1979 federal appeals court precedent that allowed a Mass to take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Sen. Swecker later said there are many other precedents.
The vote came shortly before the controversial same-sex marriage bill came up for a vote in the same committee and also passed.
Swecker opposed the marriage bill, but said he was pleased to get the religious freedom measure passed out of committee. Swecker said he learned of the permit denial by reading the paper and offered his bill before ever meeting Jones.
“I’m fairly confident I can keep enough of a majority to get it through and get it passed,” Swecker said.
Sen. Pridemore, who chairs the committee and worked with Swecker on scheduling today’s votes, said the religious freedom bill is important. “We need clarity in our laws for what is allowed,” he said after the vote.
Pridemore said he believes the bill would give sufficient guidance to Enterprise Services that it is the Legislature’s intent that an event like the baptism could proceed. But he cautioned there is an ongoing national debate in the courts over the separation of state and church that also comes into play.
