The promulgation of the Equality Act has created a conscience crisis in America. It has revealed a failure a failure to fulfill the promise of ensuring equal protection of rights and freedoms of all Americans. This study discusses the failure to provide equal protection to LGBTQ rights and religious freedom. Equal protection is the fundamental principle of American civilization. A failure to realize this principle poses an existential threat to the survival of American civilization. This is what constitutes the conscience crisis that we face today. The study explores the reasons for the failure. Following a brief overview of the history of the Equality Act the study provides a critical examination of the Equality Act. The angle that the examination takes focuses on the conflation of human rights and civil rights. The examination shows that the inadequate differentiation of human rights and civil rights has created confusion that led to tensions and conflicts. The study uses two documents to substantiate its analysis: the American Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 by the United Nations. The conflation of human rights and civil rights is the main source of the current conscience crisis. The study also outlines a possible path toward the resolution of the conscience crisis.