Written by Don Byrd
Earlier this week, the Baptist Joint Committee and several other religious and civil liberty advocates signed on to a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, requesting the Department of Justice to withdraw a 7-year-old policy (set out in an Office of Legal Counsel Memo) interpreting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) as overriding all non-discrimination laws.
Specifically, the coalition calls Holder’s attention to the interpretation of RFRA as exempting religious entities from certain provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
Here is an excerpt from the letter:
The passage of VAWA included real deliberation over its non-discrimination provision. After significant debate, Congress passed a bill that barred organizations from engaging in employment discrimination with VAWA funds. But, because the OLC Memo remains administration policy, the explicit intent of Congress is being ignored, and the administration is granting exemptions from this non-discrimination provision to religious organizations that wish to use religion as a criterion when hiring employees using taxpayer dollars.
…
The OLC Memo . . . stands as one of the most notable examples of the Bush Administration’s attempt to impose a constitutionally erroneous and deeply harmful 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.
Read the whole thing. Perhaps most importantly, read the diverse members of this coalition, which includes not only the Baptist Joint Committee, but also the Anti-Defamation League, the Interfaith Alliance and many others. These advocates have been urging the Attorney General to review this policy for several years. With the example of the impact on VAWA, it is clear that their concerns are more than speculative. It is time for the DOJ to rectify this mistake.
UPDATE: Religion News Service’s Adelle Banks reports on the coalition’s efforts here.
