I'm Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to the latest of our We the People constitutional podcasts.

The National Constitution Center is the only institution in America chartered by Congress to disseminate

information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.

And today we discuss the most hotly contested constitutional question of the week, the debate

over state laws that guarantee religious rights, which has made national headlines in recent

days as two of these laws are in limbo after concerns

about language in the laws that might authorize discrimination against gay and

lesbian people. The governor of Indiana, Mike Pence,

and the governor of Arkansas, Aza Hutchinson,

have asked lawmakers to re-evaluate laws recently passed

in their states that added additional language

to the federal version of the Religious Freedom Restoration

Act.

That's called RFRA and you're going to hear a lot about RFRA in the next few minutes.

Much of this national discussion has focused on politics, but Our We The People Podcasts, of course, are only concerned

about constitutional and legal issues.

And in this podcast, we're going to break down the origins of these RFRA laws, their history in the Supreme Court,

and how the current state laws address or call into question core First Amendment religious

and personal rights.

Joining us to talk about this complex debate

are two of the leading experts in the country on this matter.

And I'm thrilled to say that this podcast is an encore of sorts for an incredible launch

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