Interfaith Alliance, a national leader in defending religious freedom and multi-faith democracy, welcomes and supports today’s lawsuit by several Quaker groups suing the Trump administration over its decision to allow federal immigration authorities to arrest migrants in churches and other houses of worship.
The Quaker groups are represented by Democracy Forward, a close partner of Interfaith Alliance. Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman serves as the chair of the policy committee on Interfaith Alliance’s board of directors.
Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, released the following statement:
“As a Baptist minister and president of an organization dedicated to religious freedom, I welcome this lawsuit and urge the federal judiciary to quickly block Trump’s attack on houses of worship.
Nobody should fear for the safety of themselves and their families when going to worship. This order is intrusive government overreach that violates the sanctity of our sanctuaries. Our tradition of religious freedom in the United States demands that the government not inhibit the free exercise of religion.
It’s not just migrants who are at risk of losing their religious freedom rights under the Trump administration, but Christians and people of faith across the United States who are called to care for immigrants. The Trump administration has dangerously put pastors and lay leaders at risk of being prosecuted for simply carrying out their churches’ Matthew 25 obligation to welcome immigrants.
The Trump administration and U.S. Supreme Court often highlight religious freedom as a priority. Today’s lawsuit challenges the sincerity of those beliefs.”
As a national leader in defending religious freedom and multi-faith democracy, Interfaith Alliance is appalled by the recent surge of Islamophobic hate speech and incitement against NYC Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and the broader pattern of extreme hate directed against public officials and vulnerable minorities. This hateful rhetoric seeks to spread polarization and division and wrongly pit diverse American communities against one another.
WASHINGTON, DC – Interfaith Alliance, a national leader in defending religious freedom and multi-faith democracy, is deeply disturbed by the Supreme Court’s ruling today in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor. The decision clears the way for further discrimination against diverse groups and undermines public education. While falsely claiming the mantle of religious freedom, it in fact suppresses diversity and promotes exclusion.
WASHINGTON, DC – Interfaith Alliance, a national leader in defending religious freedom and multi-faith democracy, condemns today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which strips Medicaid recipients of the legal right to seek care from the qualified provider of their choice, including Planned Parenthood.