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    2010-06-18 FINAL CARD Letter To Nadler 2

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    The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD) is requesting that the House Judiciary Subcommittee hold an oversight hearing to examine the Obama Administration's implementation of reforms to the Faith-Based Initiative. Specifically, CARD calls for examination of (1) efforts to reform religious liberty provisions and implement recommendations from the President's Advisory Council, and (2) review of policies around federally-funded religious discrimination in hiring. CARD is concerned that 18 months after taking office, insufficient protections and reforms have been enacted. The letter provides background on issues with the Faith-Based Initiative and urges oversight of the Administration's progress and plans on religious liberty and nondiscrimination.

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    2010-06-18 FINAL CARD Letter To Nadler 2

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    Anonymous HiNeTxLM
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    The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD) is requesting that the House Judiciary Subcommittee hold an oversight hearing to examine the Obama Administration's implementation of reforms to the Faith-Based Initiative. Specifically, CARD calls for examination of (1) efforts to reform religious liberty provisions and implement recommendations from the President's Advisory Council, and (2) review of policies around federally-funded religious discrimination in hiring. CARD is concerned that 18 months after taking office, insufficient protections and reforms have been enacted. The letter provides background on issues with the Faith-Based Initiative and urges oversight of the Administration's progress and plans on religious liberty and nondiscrimination.

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    2010-06-18 FINAL CARD Letter to Nadler 2

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    The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD) is requesting that the House Judiciary Subcommittee hold an oversight hearing to examine the Obama Administration's implementation of reforms to the Faith-Based Initiative. Specifically, CARD calls for examination of (1) efforts to reform religious liberty provisions and implement recommendations from the President's Advisory Council, and (2) review of policies around federally-funded religious discrimination in hiring. CARD is concerned that 18 months after taking office, insufficient protections and reforms have been enacted. The letter provides background on issues with the Faith-Based Initiative and urges oversight of the Administration's progress and plans on religious liberty and nondiscrimination.

    Copyright:

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    109 views4 pages

    2010-06-18 FINAL CARD Letter To Nadler 2

    Uploaded by

    Anonymous HiNeTxLM
    The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD) is requesting that the House Judiciary Subcommittee hold an oversight hearing to examine the Obama Administration's implementation of reforms to the Faith-Based Initiative. Specifically, CARD calls for examination of (1) efforts to reform religious liberty provisions and implement recommendations from the President's Advisory Council, and (2) review of policies around federally-funded religious discrimination in hiring. CARD is concerned that 18 months after taking office, insufficient protections and reforms have been enacted. The letter provides background on issues with the Faith-Based Initiative and urges oversight of the Administration's progress and plans on religious liberty and nondiscrimination.

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    Coalition Against Religious Discrimination

    June 18, 2010

    The Honorable Jerrold Nadler


    Chairman, Subcommittee on the Constitution,
    Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
    Committee on the Judiciary
    United States House of Representatives
    2138 Rayburn House Office Building
    Washington, DC 20515

    Dear Chairman Nadler:

    We, the undersigned members of the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD), write
    to request that you hold an oversight hearing in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the
    Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties to examine the current status of the Faith-Based
    Initiative.

    As a candidate, President Obama promised to reinstate constitutionally required religious liberty


    protections and end federally funded religious discrimination in the Faith-Based Initiative. Yet,
    eighteen months after President Obama’s inauguration, the White House and all the federal
    agencies are still operating under the same inadequate safeguards against proselytizing and
    insufficient constitutional protections imposed by the previous Administration.

    During the Bush Administration, Mr. Chairman, you helped lead the successful congressional
    opposition to the insertion of statutory “charitable choice” provisions, the codification of the
    Bush Administration’s Faith-Based Initiative, and other efforts to further entrench these
    provisions. We now request that your Subcommittee examine the current Administration’s
    implementation of the Faith-Based Initiative and its failure to date to implement critically needed
    reforms. We recommend that a hearing examine (1) the Administration’s efforts to reform the
    religious liberty provisions of the Faith-Based Initiative; and (2) the Administration’s policy on
    federally funded religious discrimination, including efforts, if any, to review and repeal the
    flawed June 29, 2007, Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) Memorandum interpreting the Religious
    Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA).

    Reform of the Religious Liberty Provisions of the Faith-Based Initiative

    Shortly after President Obama took office, his Administration established the President’s
    Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which, in February 2010,
    presented him with 12 recommendations for reforming the Faith-Based Initiative. The Council
    recommendations identify ways to strengthen constitutional protections against unwelcome
    proselytizing of program beneficiaries, to promote grantee and contractor transparency and
    understanding of church-state separation parameters, and to implement safeguards against
    excessive government entanglement with religious institutions. CARD supports the
    recommendations on which a consensus was reached, and has urged the Administration to
    promptly implement the consensus recommendations through Executive Orders and appropriate
    rulemaking. Inserting these reforms into the four existing statutes containing “charitable choice”
    language, however, would require congressional action.

    We believe that congressional oversight is urgent and necessary in this area because funds are
    being expended every day under rules that lack necessary constitutional protections. CARD
    believes that congressional oversight in this area may well encourage the Administration to more
    promptly implement the Council reforms. We would urge the Subcommittee to examine the
    Administration’s planned implementation of these recommendations, including its timeline.
    Witnesses on a panel examining this issue could include members of the President’s Council;
    White House or Administration officials tasked with implementing the reform recommendations;
    and Executive Director of White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships,
    Joshua Dubois, or a senior official in the Department of Justice.

    Federally Funded Religious Employment Discrimination

    The Obama Administration has neither permitted the issue of federally funded religious
    employment discrimination to be examined and debated by its Faith-based Council, nor, to date,
    have we have seen any indication that the Administration has taken steps to overturn the still-in-
    place Bush Administration policy which permits religious discrimination in government-funded
    projects. Early on, Obama Administration officials asserted that a “case-by-case” analysis would
    be applied to determine whether a religious organization may discriminate with federal funds.
    The Administration, however, has never articulated the principle it applies to determine in which
    cases religious discrimination in a federally funded project is permissible. Moreover, it has not
    revealed whether it has, in fact, ever actually made such a determination, one way or another,
    under its policy.

    Obviously, the use of such a “case-by-case” test would be harmful to the protection of civil
    rights, allowing for religious selectivity in federally funded projects while avoiding transparency
    or accountability. Furthermore, we are concerned that, until the Bush-era Executive Orders and
    federal regulations that officially permit such discrimination are modified they — rather than the
    “case-by-case” test — would actually govern the issue. Accordingly, CARD recommends that
    the Subcommittee question the Administration on the meaning and its implementation of the
    “case-by-case” test, as well as any plans it may have to meet President Obama’s campaign
    promise to end federally funded religious employment discrimination.

    As you know, in September 2009, 58 national civil rights, religious, labor, health, and education
    organizations wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder to urge the Administration to review and
    rescind the OLC’s RFRA Memorandum. 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 result that would
    damage civil rights and religious liberty.

    2
    To date, there is no indication that the Administration has asked OLC to review this unfortunate,
    yet influential, memorandum.

    While we have no desire to interfere with the ability of religious organizations to hire on the
    basis of religion with respect to privately funded positions, we believe that there is an urgent
    need for the Subcommittee to examine the Administration’s position on federally funded
    discrimination in hiring on the basis of religion. We have seen several recent demonstrations
    that religious organizations that want to discriminate with federal funds are further entrenching
    discrimination policies into their programs. For example, World Relief, which receives about
    two-thirds of its funding from state and local governments, claims to have had a longstanding
    policy of hiring only Christians, but admits that such a policy “was never put in writing or
    enforced until this year.” “Charity Defends Christian Only Hiring,” The Tennessean, Bob
    Smietana, Mar. 31, 2010. Now, “[n]ew employees at World Relief have to prove they are
    Christians. They sign a statement of Christian faith and must get a letter of recommendation
    from their minister before being hired.” Id.

    We do not know the extent of this problem. The Subcommittee should ask the Administration
    for a full account of the religious organizations that it knows or has reason to believe are
    currently discriminating in federally funded projects.

    Thank you for considering our request. We very much appreciate all of your hard work on this
    issue over the years and look forward to working with you on the implementation of a hearing.

    Respectfully,

    American Association of University Women


    American Civil Liberties Union
    American Humanist Association
    American Jewish Committee
    Americans United for Separation of Church and State
    Anti-Defamation League
    Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
    B'nai B'rith International
    Catholics for Choice
    Center for Inquiry
    Central Conference of American Rabbis
    Council for Secular Humanism
    Disciples Justice Action Network
    Equal Partners in Faith
    Hindu American Foundation
    Human Rights Campaign
    Interfaith Alliance
    Jewish Council for Public Affairs
    NA'AMAT USA
    National Council of Jewish Women
    National Council of La Raza

    3
    National Education Association
    National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
    OMB Watch
    People For the American Way
    Secular Coalition for America
    Sikh Council on Religion and Education
    Union for Reform Judaism
    United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
    Women of Reform Judaism

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