Over the past seven years, in various documents, the White House has been replacing the words “freedom of religion” with a different phrase, “freedom of worship.” One of those documents is the test immigrants take to become U.S. citizens. In it, “freedom of worship” is listed as a basic constitutional right along with “freedom of speech.”

There’s a difference between these two terms that has major consequences for the rights of people of faith, especially in light of the current challenges to the religious liberties of Christian businesses, charities, members of the military, athletes, celebrities, and teachers.

U.S. Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma noticed the change in the citizenship test last June and complained to Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, calling on DHS to correct the error.

In his letter to the DHS Secretary, Senator Lankford explained, “The freedom of religion is much more than just the freedom of worship. Worship confines you to a location. The freedom of religion is the right to exercise your religious beliefs — it is the ability for Americans to live out their faith or to choose to have no faith at all.”

Senator Lankford kept up the pressure for ten months and just days ago, he got his wish. The Department of Homeland Security announced plans to replace the term “freedom of worship” on all naturalization materials with “freedom of religion.”

Senator Lankford told the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal, “It’s one of those small, incremental victories, and we’ll take every one of those we can get right now.”
On the day the DHS announced the new policy, Senator Lankford spoke in Washington DC to a group of supporters of the Family Research Council. He told them he was pleased the DHS listened to his concerns. He said the First Amendment provides Americans, not just freedom of worship, but the free exercise of religion. It’s not just the right to worship as we choose inside our churches. The right is freedom of religion. So we can live it. Senator Lankford further explained by comparing freedom of worship to a hobby, something you do on the weekend.

In his remarks to the FRC group, Senator Lankford, a former Baptist minister and youth camp director, gave several examples where government is opposing Americans who are simply living out their faith in daily life. They include a Marine who was punished for displaying a Bible verse at her workstation and a football coach fired for praying on the field after football games. Senator Lankford says government is acting in fear of people of faith, as if they see people of faith as an impediment to a growing nation.

Nearly five million citizenship tests have been administered since 2009. For many immigrants, this course is their first introduction to American civics. The vocabulary victory this young senator won will help new immigrants understand their right to live out their faith.