How Progressive Faith Groups Are Using Religious Freedom Laws to Push Back on Immigration and Abortion Policies

Key points

• Interfaith organisers have filed multiple lawsuits in the US arguing that Trump-era immigration and abortion policies violate their religious beliefs.
• A pastor was shot with pepper balls outside an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) facility in one of the most visible moments of faith-based resistance in 2025.
• Progressive congregations are using the same religious liberty legal arguments that conservative groups previously used in Supreme Court cases over LGBTQ+ rights and contraception.
• Religious freedom law doesn't belong exclusively to one side of the political debate, and courts are now being asked to test that idea.

Religious freedom used to feel like a conservative talking point. Think of the bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, or the employers who fought contraceptive coverage mandates all the way to the Supreme Court. My faith, my rules.

Now progressive faith communities are making the same legal argument, just pointing it in a different direction.

As first reported by The Guardian, interfaith organisers across the United States have launched a wave of lawsuits against policies from the Trump administration's second term. Their claim: policies restricting abortion access and ramping up immigration enforcement force them to act against sincerely held religious beliefs, which is exactly the kind of harm religious freedom law is designed to prevent.

What does this actually look like in practice?

One image that circulated widely in early 2025 showed a pastor recoiling as he was hit by pepper balls outside an ICE facility. That's faith-based civil disobedience in a very physical form.

In court it looks different. Clergy and congregations argue that sheltering undocumented immigrants is a religious duty, not a political act. Some faith traditions hold that life begins at a different point than current abortion bans do, meaning those bans force believers to violate their own theology.

If the law says a pharmacist can refuse to fill a prescription on religious grounds, a congregation is now asking whether it can refuse to hand over an undocumented parishioner on the same basis. Lawyers are pushing that question into federal courts right now.

Does this have a realistic chance of working?

It's genuinely untested at scale. Conservative groups spent decades building legal infrastructure around religious liberty claims, winning significant Supreme Court victories along the way. Progressive faith groups are, in many ways, borrowing that infrastructure.

The legal theory is credible. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by Congress in 1993, says the government can't substantially burden a person's religious practice without a compelling reason. That cuts both ways, and courts are only beginning to find out how far.

Some claims will be dismissed quickly. Others could climb high enough to force a real reckoning with how broadly religious freedom protections apply.

What does this mean for ordinary people?

We covered the cross-party coalitions that form when communities feel overlooked by government in our 23 July story on conservatives and liberals blocking AI data centers. This is a different fight, but the same pattern: people reaching for whatever legal lever fits their hand.

If you attend a progressive church, mosque or synagogue that's quietly supporting immigrants or providing abortion-related guidance, your congregation may already be part of this legal moment, whether you knew it or not. The phrase "religious freedom" is no longer a reliable shorthand for one political position. That alone changes how these arguments land in court.

Common questions

Can a church legally shelter undocumented immigrants?

The legal answer is still being worked out. Some faith communities argue their religious duty to offer sanctuary is protected under federal religious freedom law, but no definitive ruling has confirmed that yet.

Does religious freedom law apply equally to all faiths?

In principle, yes. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to sincere religious beliefs regardless of denomination or tradition, which is exactly why both conservative and progressive groups can use it.