Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued government-wide guidance Friday advising federal agencies to adhere to more than a dozen “principles of religious liberty” following President Trump’s May religious liberty executive order that critics worried would lead to discrimination against LGBT people.
In a memo to all executive departments and agencies, Sessions outlined 20 principles of religious liberty, including one permitting religious employers to “employ only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent with the employer’s religious precepts.”
The principles stem from the Justice Department’s interpretation of existing federal laws, including the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“Religious liberty is not merely a right to personal religious beliefs or even to worship in a sacred place,” Sessions said in his memo. “It also encompasses religious observance and practice. Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law. Therefore, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, religious observance and practice should be reasonably accommodated in all government activity, including employment, contracting and programming.”
Sessions’ guidance to government agencies stemmed from an executive order Trump issued in May that aimed to remove regulations that apply to religious organizations, following the president’s commitment from the campaign trail to protect religious liberty.
The executive order directed the IRS to exercise discretion in enforcing the Johnson Amendment, which prevents nonprofit groups such as churches and religious groups from backing political candidates.
Sessions’ memo reiterated that the IRS may not enforce the provision “against a religious nonprofit organization under circumstances in which it would not enforce the amendment against a secular nonprofit organization.”
The guidance also states that the Department of Health and Human Services may not “second-guess the determination of a religious employer that providing contraceptive coverage to its employees would make the employer complicit in wrongdoing in violation of the organization’s religious precepts,” a reference to Obamacare’s contraception mandate, which the Department of Health and Human Services rolled back Friday.
Critics of Trump’s executive order feared it could allow people of faith to ignore anti-discrimination policies protecting LGBT people.
But religious and social conservative groups are cheering the Justice Department’s new guidelines as an affirmation of their First Amendment rights.
“All Americans should have the freedom to peacefully live and work consistent with their faith without fear of government punishment,” sais the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative nonprofit legal group. “The guidance that the Trump administration issued today helps protect that First Amendment freedom.”
According to BuzzFeed, the Justice Department consulted with a number of religious organizations in drafting the guidance, including the Alliance Defending Freedom and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The agency also worked with the American Civil Liberties Union.
