President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission convened for its sixth meeting last week, turning its attention to health care and taxpayer-funded social services. Once again, the commission’s one-sided discussion fell short of capturing the real harms to religious liberty. This was particularly clear during a discussion on foster care where the commission ignored blatant examples of religious discrimination that exist within the system.
Here’s the thing: Religious freedom is meant to protect individuals’ rights to hold and practice their beliefs without interference. It is not meant to be used as a tool to cause harm or deny kids in foster care a loving home that treats them with dignity. Nor is it a tool to discriminate on the basis of religion, only allowing people who are the “right” religion to serve as foster parents.
Unfortunately, as we highlighted in our letter to the commission, that is exactly what is happening.
Consider the story of AU clients Liz and Gabe Rutan-Ram, a Jewish couple in Tennessee who set out to foster and adopt a child. In early 2021, Liz and Gabe were excited to welcome a child into their home. All they needed to move forward was to complete foster-parent training and receive certification.
When they reached out to Holston Home, a child-placing agency funded by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services with taxpayer dollars, the agency initially said it would work with them. But on the very day their training was set to begin, Holston reversed course — explaining that they would not serve them because they are Jewish. Again, services funded by taxpayers were denied to a Jewish couple because of their religion.
The impact was immediate and devastating. Liz felt like she had “been punched in the gut.” That decision rendered Liz and Gabe unable to move forward with fostering or adopting the child they had hoped to care for.
The unfortunate reality is that their experience is not unique.
Aimee Maddonna, a devout Catholic and mother of three, grew up in a family deeply connected to foster care. Inspired by her father, who had been in the foster system, Aimee wanted to open her home to children in need. When she contacted Miracle Hill Ministries — a foster care agency that got state and federal funding — she was initially told her family would be a great fit.
Yet after learning more about her religious beliefs, the agency rejected her because Aimee could not agree to its evangelical Christian statement of faith; she was barred from participating. A publicly funded organization imposed a religious litmus test on who could help children — and denied Aimee the opportunity to provide a loving home to a child in need because she was the “wrong” kind of Christian.
And there’s more.
Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin, a married couple in Texas, faced a similar barrier when they sought to foster refugee children. After confirming they are a same-sex couple, they were turned away by a taxpayer-funded agency that cited its religious beliefs to exclude LGBTQ+ people from participating in the program.
These stories illustrate a pattern that should concern us all: taxpayer-funded organizations denying people the opportunity to care for children based on religious criteria. The consequences are not abstract; they are deeply human. Having religious tests to access taxpayer social services means limiting the number of people in need, including children, who can access these services.
If religious liberty means anything, it must protect everyone, religious and nonreligious alike. It cannot be invoked to justify discrimination, privilege certain people or groups, or restrict access to public services. A truly inclusive vision of religious freedom ensures that personal beliefs are protected — without allowing those beliefs to be used to harm others.
Until policymakers can fully grapple with this truth, the promise of religious liberty will remain incomplete — and too many people will continue to be left out and left behind.
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Photo: President Donald Trump prays with, from left, Pastor Paula White-Cain from the White House Faith Office; Texas Lt. Gov. and Religious Liberty Commissioner Chairman Dan Patrick; and Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Museum of the Bible during a September meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission. Photo Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images
