The promise of religious freedom did not extend to Black and Indigenous people at America’s founding. The white Christian nationalists used religion to justify slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic racism. When laws align with one religious belief system, these laws breach the separation of church and state. Without the separation of church and state, such laws advance systemic racism and unduly harm people of color.
White Christian nationalists are an increasing threat to religious freedom and racial equity. Trump’s now-defunct travel ban targeted people from African nations and Muslim-majority countries. And Black churches remain targeted by white Christian nationalists who continue to use religion as an instrument of white supremacy.
In addition to outright discrimination practiced by some private schools, voucher programs have a sordid past rooted in racism. Vouchers were first created after Brown v. Board of Education to help fund segregation academies designed to keep Black and white students apart.
Prominent Christian nationalist groups have joined forces with a host of other far-right groups to push voter suppression laws in dozens of states. These laws are clearly designed to suppress minority votes and keep power in the hands of conservatives.
When religion is used to carve out exemptions from civil rights and other laws, it often disproportionately harms people of color. For example, LGBTQ people of color are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to say they've been discriminated against when applying for jobs because they are LGBTQ.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State joined 29 religious freedom organizations in filing an amicus brief that explained how anti-discrimination laws like Colorado’s protect religious minorities as well as LGBTQ people and customers with other protected characteristics, such as race, sex, age and ability.
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