image of ... [[link removed]]
[[link removed]]
Dear John,
Project 2025 embodies an agenda led by the Heritage Foundation to revise, reorganize and eliminate vast portions of the statutes, rules and norms that were built over decades, and that have guided our democracy and preserved our freedoms during Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Embodied in a 900-page document entitled “Mandate for Leadership – The Conservative Promise,” and developed in collaboration with more than 100 other organizations, Project 2025 would dramatically change both.
It is important to stress that recent changes in the Project’s leadership alter neither the document’s text nor the “Mandate for Leadership” that lies behind it. The president of the Heritage Foundation has made clear that the policy work has been completed as scheduled and their efforts to build a personnel apparatus to carry out this work at all levels of government continues.
All of us, and lawyers in particular, have a role to play in discussing with others the nature of the proposed changes and how they endanger our freedom. To facilitate those discussions, Lawyers Defending American Democracy is publishing a series of “Talking Points” that highlight changes Project 2025 is intent on making and their potential effect.
Each Talking Point will quote directly from a section of the document and explain its impact on our democracy, our freedom, and the rule of law. Please share this information widely with your friends, family, and colleagues in the upcoming months.
Department of Labor and Related Agencies - Education and Vocational Training (Page 595)
“[R]eligious organizations should be encouraged to participate in apprenticeship programs. America has a long history of religious organizations working to advance the dignity of workers and provide them with greater opportunity, from the many prominent Christian and Jewish voices in the early labor movement to the “labor priests” who would appear on picket lines to support their flocks. Today, the role of religion in helping workers has diminished, but a country committed to strengthening civil society must ask more from religious organizations and make sure that their important role is not impeded by regulatory roadblocks or the bureaucratic status quo.”
Why it Matters: Talking Points
Apprenticeship programs sponsored by unions, or as a component of vocational education or otherwise, are an important part of workforce development and deserve governmental support. And it is true that some religious organizations played an important role in the labor movement, particularly in the early 20th century. But those organizations did it on their own, in their own fashion and at their own speed.
Government “encouragement” of their participation risks breeching the wall that separates church and state and risks significant problems should the “encouragement” become a form of coercion, subtle or otherwise. Moreover, limiting the proposal to “Christian and Jewish voices” ignores a broad range of other religious organizations, setting up the kind of state sponsored favoritism the First Amendment was designed to avoid.
Visit our website [[link removed]] for more on our Project 2025 Talking Points Series.
T hank you for your dedication to maintaining our democracy. Please support our efforts by donating [[link removed]] to LDAD and by sharing this email with your networks. As always, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] [[email protected]] if you may be interested in volunteering or if you wish to share your ideas.
Lawyers Defending American Democracy
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] ldad.org [ldad.org] [link removed] [[link removed]]

Lawyers Defending American Democracy
303 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210
United States
If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe: [link removed] .