Sabbath-keepers do not wish to shirk employment responsibilities, but rather want to give both their full time at a job as well as honor their beliefs, said James D. Standish, assistant director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters. He was a half-hour guest on C-SPAN, the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, August 6, discussing the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, or WRFA.

The program aired twice on the cable network, one of the more popular offerings on television in the United States, and it featured Standish’s role as co-chairman of the Coalition for Religious Freedom in the Workplace, an ad hoc group of several organizations involved in religious liberty issues.

On the television program, Standish fieled calls from viewers, both positive and negative, about the proposed legislation. If passed by Congress and signed into law by the president of the United States, the WRFA would override several court decisions that narrowly interpret earlier U.S. civil rights legislation favoring the “reasonable accommodation” of employee’s religious beliefs. Such decisions often are at odds with attempts by Sabbath-keepers and others to successfully balance their faith practices with their work responsibilities.