Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks June 9 during the Catholic Health Association's annual assembly in Washington. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Religious leaders from different faith traditions urged President Obama in a letter on Sept. 10 to continue to permit government-funded faith groups to employ people with like beliefs. Their request comes less than a month after a coalition of religious and secular organizations sent the president a letter saying the current policy will tarnish his legacy of fair and equal treatment for all Americans. The latest signatories said the administration’s policy allows equal opportunities for religious groups to work with government in helping the needy. “Making it more difficult for faith-based organizations to join those partnerships would undermine, rather than burnish, your commitment to effective and flourishing ‘all hands’ partnerships,” reads the letter, released by the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance. “Religious staffing by religious organizations is protected in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is not illegal discrimination,” signatories said. “This right is not somehow waived or otherwise lost simply by the receipt of government funds.”

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

As I sit sore and tired, I cannot also help but think that the N.Y.C. Marathon for me is a thin space, a space where I can easily see God’s presence in the world.
Robert McCarthyNovember 04, 2024
Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples has been named as one of the prelates Pope Francis will make a cardinal on December 7th.
“I will not vote for president this year,” Monica Brent writes. “I cannot in good conscience vote for Donald Trump, for many reasons. However, Kamala Harris’s stance on abortion makes her a no-go for me, as well. ”
Our readersNovember 04, 2024
Pope Francis, your encyclical on the Sacred Heart, “Dilexit Nos,” is beautiful and heartwarming. And for Catholics in the United States, the timing was perfect.
Joe Laramie, S.J.November 04, 2024