View this email in your browser ([link removed])
It’s been a busy week for the arcane, bureaucratic process of submitting official comments about official proposals full of bad ideas involving the federal government and religion. First we submitted our official comments ([link removed]) to the Religious Liberty Commission concerning its draft final report ([link removed]) .

The Commission recently concluded its year-long mission to attack the separation of church and state by issuing this 200-page report that supports the chairman’s opinion, which he stated in the last of seven Commission hearings, that “The separation of church and state is the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding.”

The commission was stacked with conservative Christians, plus Dr. Phil, so the findings in the report are no real surprise. The summary finds that “The law protects the religious expression of Americans, but government officials and employers often use fear tactics to silence individuals into believing that they don’t have the right to publicly express their faith.” But the report ignores the problem of government officials and employers inflicting their particular faith on those who don’t need or want it.

The report lists 12 “opportunities to strengthen religious liberty.” The first instructs the Department of Justice to issue guidance clarifying the proper understanding of the First Amendment and separation of church and state, as though this Justice Department has the credibility to weigh in on important topics. Other “opportunities” include posting people’s religious rights in schools and workplaces, as those rights are determined by the Commission, and the creation of hotlines where people can report perceived violations of their rights to the government.

The second set of comments we submitted went to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) which has officially proposed sweeping changes ([link removed]) in the way hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants are awarded. The overall goal is to give political appointees new control over grant award decisions, making sure that they are in line with “the President’s priorities.”

This includes who gets the grant awards and whether the grants will be rescinded once they are being carried out. The will of Congress, which established the grant programs and provided the money, and the agency grant administrators who know how the process should work would be diminished. Our specific concerns are:
* A new paragraph barring discrimination against faith-based organizations which seems to claim that a funded organization is eligible for religious exemptions any time it wishes to engage in religious activities.
* A new paragraph that says “Engaging in activities or initiatives that are inconsistent with religious liberty laws” is a risk grant decisionmakers must consider when evaluating grant applications. The proposed language provides no definition of “religious liberty laws” so this could be leveraged in many ways to deny funding for whatever the government deems to be anti-religious.
* The proposal removes references to sex discrimination and replaces them with language barring the use of funds for DEI, “gender ideology,” and gender transition. The preamble wrongly claims that protections against sex discrimination “infringe[d] on fundamental religious liberties.”

You can read the comments we submitted to OMB here ([link removed]) . Back to less arcane stuff next week.


**
------------------------------------------------------------

Scott MacConomy, Director of Policy ad Government Affairs at the Secular Coalition for America, wears a blue suit and stands with his arms crossed over his chest in front of the United States Capitol Building.

Your advocate,

Scott MacConomy
Director of Policy and Government Affairs
Secular Coalition for America
[email protected]
Did someone forward this to you? You can sign up at secular.org ([link removed]) with your email and zip code.

The Secular Coalition for America works every day to defend the separation of religion and government and to fight anti-democratic ideologies like Christian nationalism. Your support for this work is vital.

Donate to protect equal rights for nonreligious Americans! ([link removed])

P.S. Please consider leaving a legacy gift to the Secular Coalition for America ([link removed]) . The protection of our secular values requires eternal vigilance.

============================================================

** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])

Copyright © 2026 Secular Coalition for America, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you requested to receive updates from the Secular Coalition for America.

Our mailing address is:
Secular Coalition for America
1012 14th St, NW
Suite 205
Washington, DC xxxxxx
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.

If you have any thoughts about this week's Heretic on the Hill you can email ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])