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Supreme Court Advocate To Address Religious Freedom at Cedarville

by Rich Stratton, Assistant Director of Public Relations – September 17, 2025

Randall Wenger, a nationally recognized constitutional attorney and religious liberty advocate, will visit Cedarville University Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. to deliver a lecture titled “Why Is Religious Liberty Important?”

Randall Wenger, a nationally recognized constitutional attorney and religious liberty advocate, will visit  Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. to deliver a lecture titled “Why Is Religious Liberty Important?”  

The event, hosted by the university’s , will be held in the Scharnberg Business and Communication Center room 103 and is free and open to the public. 

Wenger serves as chief counsel and director of the legal defense foundation at the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a nonprofit organization that advances pro-family and religious freedom policies. With more than two decades of courtroom and policy experience, he has played a leading role in several major legal battles over religious rights in America. 

Perhaps most notably, Wenger served as co-counsel in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell, one of two cases — including Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores — that reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014. The cases challenged the federal contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act on the grounds of religious liberty. The court ruled in favor of Wenger’s client, Conestoga and Hobby Lobby, holding that closely held for-profit corporations could be exempt from government regulations that violate their owners’ sincerely held religious beliefs. 

In 2023, Wenger again stood before the nation’s highest court, this time representing Gerald Groff in Groff v. DeJoy. Groff, a rural postal worker from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, lost his job after refusing to work Sundays due to his religious convictions. Though Groff willingly covered holidays, Saturdays and extra shifts to support coworkers, he was disciplined and eventually forced out. The case sought to strengthen protections for religious employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, challenging decades-old precedent that limited employers’ obligation to accommodate religious observance. 

“Many Americans have no problem working on Sundays,” Wenger wrote in a World Magazine op-ed ahead of the Supreme Court hearing. “But to force Groff to work on the Lord’s Day would force him to violate his conscience. Surely, a nation dedicated to liberty can protect those at large employers like the Post Office when their conscience requires them to stay home on their Sabbath.” 

The Court ultimately ruled in Groff’s favor, reinforcing the need for meaningful religious accommodation in the workplace and setting a new standard that requires employers to demonstrate substantial hardship before denying such requests. 

Wenger’s advocacy stretches beyond the courtroom. In Pennsylvania, he currently advises school boards on policies that aim to preserve competitive fairness in girls’ sports and protect student privacy in locker rooms — topics that have drawn both support and criticism in the public sphere. He is also engaged in a pending legal matter involving a military chaplain who was dismissed after preaching on biblical sexuality during a mandatory training. 

Throughout his career, Wenger has worked closely with national religious liberty organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom and First Liberty Institute. His work often centers on the belief that faith should not be left at the door — whether at work, in public life or in school policy. 

Wenger draws historical and moral parallels between today’s religious liberty challenges and stories like that of Eric Liddell, the 1924 Scottish Olympic runner portrayed in the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire.” In a recent opinion piece, Wenger recounted how Liddell refused to run a race scheduled on a Sunday, despite pressure from the British royal family.  

"We should never ask people like Liddell to sacrifice their faith,” wrote Wenger. “In a free society, we should not pressure compliance, but we should provide accommodation for religious convictions.” 

, chair of the department at Cedarville, said Wenger’s visit is timely. “Religious freedom is not just a legal issue — it’s a cultural one. Bringing someone like Randall Wenger to campus gives students an inside look at the legal battles shaping these freedoms,” said Duerr. 

Cedarville University, an evangelical Christian institution in southwest Ohio, offers undergraduate and graduate programs across arts, sciences, and professional fields. With 6,384 students, it ranks among Ohio's largest private universities and is recognized by The Wall Street Journal as being among the nation’s top three evangelical universities. Cedarville is also known for its vibrant Christian community, challenging academics, and high graduation and retention rates. Learn more at cedarville.edu.