The News
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| Thursday, 17 September 2009 | |
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For Immediate Release Read more
Interfaith Alliance and Others Call on Attorney General to Review and Withdraw Memo That Threatens Crucial Religious Freedom Protections Washington, DC - Interfaith Alliance, along with 57 other religious, education, civil rights, labor and health organizations, today wrote U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. to request that he direct the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to review and ultimately withdraw a 2007 memorandum that threatens crucial religious freedom protections. Rescission of this memo is vital for the protection of religious liberty and civil rights. The undersigned organizations are deeply concerned by the memo’s interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993, which prohibits any federal law that would substantially burden religious exercise without a compelling reason, achieved through the least restrictive means. “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was enacted to protect religion and those who wish to freely exercise it,” said Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy. “Unfortunately, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memo instead turned RFRA into an enabler of religious discrimination. Interfaith Alliance has long worked to protect religious freedom, a central principle of the U.S. Constitution, and today I join my colleagues in calling upon Attorney General Holder to ensure that religion is never used as a means for an organization to implement discriminatory hiring decisions. Today, the battle to protect religious freedom is hard enough without the government, which should be defending the Constitution, making it more difficult. I look forward to the day when this harmful and constitutionally suspect memo is rescinded.”
A copy of the letter follows. REQUEST FOR REVIEW AND WITHDRAWAL OF
JUNE 29, 2007 OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL MEMORANDUM RE: RFRA September 17, 2009 The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr. Attorney General of the United States United States Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 Dear Mr. Attorney General: The undersigned religious, education, civil rights, labor, and health organizations are committed to protecting religious liberty, and working to do so at all levels of the government. We write today to request that you direct the Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) to review and withdraw its June 29, 2007 Memorandum (“OLC Memo”).1 The OLC Memo’s interpretation that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 19932 (“RFRA”) provides for a blanket override of statutory nondiscrimination provisions is erroneous and threatens core civil rights and religious freedom protections. Some of us were leaders in the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion, which led the effort to persuade Congress to enact remedial legislation after the United States Supreme Court sharply curtailed Free Exercise Clause protections in Employment Div. v. Smith in 1990.3 This effort culminated in 1993, when then-President William J. Clinton signed RFRA into law.4 In essence, RFRA was intended to provide robust protection of free exercise rights, restoring a standard of strict scrutiny to federal laws that substantially burden religion. 5 Many of us also are members of the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD), which formed in the mid-1990s specifically to oppose insertion of the legislative proposal commonly known as “charitable choice” into authorizing legislation for federal social service programs. Upon taking office, the Bush Administration sought to impose “charitable choice” on nearly every federal social service program. Stymied in its legislative efforts to do so,6 the Administration instead issued Executive Orders and federal regulations to allow religious organizations to participate directly in federal grant programs without the traditional safeguards that protect civil rights and religious liberty. Not all statutory provisions barring religious discrimination in the workplace could be obviated by Executive Order,7 and the Bush Administration’s attempts to repeal them in Congress were repeatedly rejected. Failing in its attempts to repeal these laws in Congress, the Administration then developed and promoted the far-fetched assertion, memorialized in the OLC Memo, that RFRA provides religious organizations a blanket exemption to these binding anti-discrimination laws. The OLC Memo wrongly asserts that RFRA is “reasonably construed” to require that a federal agency categorically exempt a religious organization from an explicit federal nondiscrimination provision tied to a grant program. Although the OLC Memo’s conclusion is focused on one Justice Department program, its overly-broad and questionable interpretation of RFRA has been cited by other Federal agencies and extended to other programs and grants. The guidance in the OLC Memo is not justified under applicable legal standards and threatens to tilt policy toward an unwarranted end that would damage civil rights and religious liberty. When President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13498, amending former President George W. Bush’s Executive Order 13199 (Establishment of White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives), he underlined the importance of ensuring that partnerships between government and faith-based institutions can be created and maintained effectively while “preserving our fundamental constitutional commitments.” The OLC Memo, however, stands as one of the most notable examples of the Bush Administration’s attempt to impose a constitutionally questionable and unwise policy—RFRA should not be interpreted or employed as a tool for broadly overriding statutory protections against religious discrimination or to create a broad free exercise right to receive government grants without complying with applicable regulations that protect taxpayers. We accordingly request that the Obama Administration publicly announce its intention to review the OLC Memo, and that at the end of that review, withdraw the OLC Memo and expressly disavow its erroneous interpretation of RFRA, the most significant free exercise protection of the post-Smith era. Thank you in advance for your consideration of our views. Respectfully, African American Ministers in Action (AAMIA) American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee American Association of University Women Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) American Civil Liberties Union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO American Humanist Association American Jewish Committee Americans for Religious Liberty Americans United for Separation of Church and State Anti-Defamation League Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law B’nai B’rith International Center for Inquiry Central Conference of American Rabbis Disciples Justice Action Network Equal Partners in Faith Friends Committee on National Legislation Interfaith Alliance Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America Hindu American Foundation Human Rights Campaign Japanese American Citizens League Jewish Council for Public Affairs Lambda Legal Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Legal Momentum NAACP NA’AMAT USA National Center for Lesbian Rights National Community Action Foundation National Council of Jewish Women National Council of La Raza National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Education Association National Employment Lawyers Association National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA National Organization for Women National Partnership for Women and Families National Women’s Law Center OMB Watch People For the American Way The Rabbinical Assembly Rainbow PUSH Coalition Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Secular Coalition for America Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) Sikh Council on Religion and Education Texas Faith Network Texas Freedom Network Union for Reform Judaism Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society Women of Reform Judaism Women’s Law Project cc: The Honorable Gregory B. Craig, White House Counsel 1 Memorandum for the General Counsel, Office of Justice Programs, from John P. Elwood, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, Re: Application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to the Award of a Grant Pursuant to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (June 29, 2007). 2 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb et seq.(2000). 3 494 U.S. 872 (1990). 4 The Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion, chaired by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, also led the effort to enact the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-2(4) (2000). 5 Although RFRA, as enacted, reached both federal and state law, the Court held in City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), that application of RFRA to state and local laws was unconstitutional. The Boerne decision, however, did not render RFRA per se unconstitutional and subsequent cases demonstrate that, as applied to the federal government, RFRA remains good law. See Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal et al., 546 U.S. 418, 424 (2006). 6 In 2001, the Bush Administration strongly promoted legislation (H.R. 7) which would have expanded “charitable choice” to nearly all federal social service programs. The measure failed in Congress, in large part, because of the civil rights and religious liberty concerns CARD raised. 7 Many programs – including Head Start, AmeriCorps, and those created by the Workforce Investment Act – contain specific statutory provisions barring religious discrimination that cannot be superseded by Executive Order. # # # The Interfaith Alliance celebrates
religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that
protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge
extremism. Founded in 1994, the Interfaith Alliance has 185,000 members across the country
from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition. For more
information visit www.interfaithalliance.org. |
| Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy Responds to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s Attack on Interfaith Alliance |
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| Wednesday, 02 September 2009 | |
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For Immediate Release Governor Jindal's response does not answer the important question regarding his use of state funds for speaking engagements in houses of worship. Why the governor should not repay or reimburse the state with $45,000 and apologize to citizens for politicizing religion is still in need of an answer. # # # The Interfaith Alliance celebrates
religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that
protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge
extremism. Founded in 1994, the Interfaith Alliance has 185,000 members across the country
from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition. For more
information visit www.interfaithalliance.org. |
| Rev. Gaddy's Letter to Gov. Jindal on the use of taxpayer funds to travel to church services |
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| Wednesday, 02 September 2009 | |
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For Immediate Release The following is Rev. Gaddy's letter to Governor Jindal regarding the use of taxpayer funds to travel to church services.
# # # The Interfaith Alliance celebrates
religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that
protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge
extremism. Founded in 1994, the Interfaith Alliance has 185,000 members across the country
from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition. For more
information visit www.interfaithalliance.org. |
| Interfaith Alliance Statement On the Passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy |
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| Wednesday, 26 August 2009 | |
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For Immediate Release August 26, 2009 Interfaith Alliance Statement
On the Passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Washington, DC – Interfaith Alliance President, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, issued the following statement today following the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). Our nation has lost a visionary patriot, Interfaith Alliance has lost a courageous colleague, and the poorest and weakest people in this land have lost a vigorous advocate. Senator Kennedy has been a true leader and passionate advocate for legislation aimed at strengthening individual rights and assuring individual freedom. It has been a pleasure to work with him on a wide range of issues including the passage of comprehensive hate crimes legislation. My first association with Senator Kennedy came in the early 1970’s when I worked with him on early initiatives to secure national health care. At the time he was a young, well-prepared, eloquently articulate and influentially activist Senator. As his tenure in the U.S. Senate increased, his work was marked by even greater passion, wisdom and sound strategic initiatives. Ted Kennedy will be missed by all who long for our nation to more fully live up to the promise of the United States Constitution and maximize the wisdom of “We the people.” I grieve his death and give thanks for his life. Interfaith Alliance celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism. Founded in 1994, Interfaith Alliance has 185,000 members across the country from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition. For more information visit www.interfaithalliance.org. # # # The Interfaith Alliance celebrates
religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that
protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge
extremism. Founded in 1994, the Interfaith Alliance has 185,000 members across the country
from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition. For more
information visit www.interfaithalliance.org. |
More Articles...
- Interfaith Alliance and Interfaith Alliance Of Iowa Criticize DART For Pulling an Ad Placed by an Atheist Group and Calls on Governor Culver to Clarify His Response
- Interfaith Alliance Releases Paper On Same-Gender Marriage & Religious Freedom
- Interfaith Alliance Statement On the Senate Passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act
- Interfaith Alliance Statement on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
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