Liz Hayes
Associate Vice President of Communications
[email protected]
"Religious freedom is not a right to risk other people’s lives during a global pandemic that has already killed nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. These orders are in line with more than a century of court decisions that make clear the Constitution does not mandate religious exemptions from vaccination requirements," said AU CEO Rachel Laser.
“Today’s oral arguments in Carson v. Makin revealed that the Court’s conservative justices may be poised to turn America’s foundational principle of religious freedom on its head. That principle has never been understood as requiring the government to fund religious education, but several justices seem prepared to reinterpret it to mandate exactly that," said AU CEO Rachel Laser.
“Rescinding these damaging Trump waivers is a critical first step. The Department of Health and Human Services should never allow taxpayer-funded foster care agencies to apply a religious litmus test to discriminate against Catholic, Jewish, LGBTQ and other families who want to help children who are in foster care. This includes people like our client Aimee Maddonna – a Catholic mother of three who was rejected by a federally funded foster care agency in South Carolina because she’s the ‘wrong’ religion," said AU President and CEO Rachel Laser.
“We applaud the Biden administration for rescinding this harmful Trump-era policy, which allowed for-profit federal contractors to use government dollars to discriminate against workers in the name of religion. The Trump rule made it easier for federal contractors to discriminate against LGBTQ people, women, religious minorities and the nonreligious," said Americans United CEO Rachel Laser.
“The Supreme Court’s order upholds our country’s constitutional principle of church-state separation, which protects religious freedom for everyone and ensures we are all treated equally under the law. Religious freedom is not a right to risk other people’s lives, especially during a global pandemic that has already killed more than 700,000 people in the U.S.," said Americans United President and CEO Rachel Laser.
"One of the core reasons our country’s founders enshrined church-state separation in the Constitution was to ensure that taxpayers are not forced to pay for the private religious education of others,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “If the Supreme Court requires Maine to fund religious instruction, it will be the first time the court mandates that taxpayers explicitly pay for religious activities – shamelessly undermining our country’s founding promise.”
"Religious freedom doesn’t provide immunity from life-threatening diseases or from laws that are meant to protect everyone equally. The court should let Maine’s vaccination requirements stand because they protect health care workers and the vulnerable patients they serve," said Alex J. Luchenitser, AU's associate vice president and associate legal director.
“The foundational American principle of church-state separation promises freedom without favor and equality without exception for everyone. The federal government is reneging on that constitutional promise by allowing a taxpayer-funded agency to discriminate against Kelly Easter because she doesn’t live according to its religious beliefs," said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United.
“Religious freedom doesn’t provide immunity from life-threatening diseases or from laws that are meant to protect everyone equally. The court should uphold New York’s vaccination requirements because they protect health care workers and the vulnerable patients they serve," said Alex J. Luchenitser, associate vice president and associate legal director of Americans United.
"The Supreme Court should not force the City of Boston to fly a Christian flag at city hall," said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. "It was bad enough when the Court ignored church-state separation by allowing a towering Christian cross to remain on public land in Bladensburg, Maryland. But to force any American city to erect new religious displays would not only undermine the foundational principle of church-state separation, it would play right into the hands of Christian nationalists who want the government to force everyone to live by their beliefs."
The Do No Harm Act will help ensure that our laws are a shield to protect religious freedom and not used as a sword to harm others by undermining civil rights laws and denying access to health care.
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