News From The Week Of November 11 – 15, 2019

Friend:

Yesterday, Americans United led religious and civil rights allies in filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the justices to protect religious freedom by affirming that Montana taxpayers cannot be forced to pay for religious education.

Under the state’s private school voucher program, which the Montana Supreme Court struck down, 94 percent of vouchers issued funded private religious education. You'll be hearing a lot more from us about this case when the justices hear oral arguments in January. A bad ruling could significantly undermine church-state separation across the country. Click here to read more about it in my statement: [link removed]

Here’s some good news: The administration’s attempt to use religion to discriminate against patients was dealt another blow this week. Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced the Put Patients First Act, which would block Trump’s Denial of Care Rule entirely.

I’m encouraged to see Congress taking steps to implement important additional safeguards to protect our rights and our health at the same time as not one, but two federal judges have stopped this rule from going into effect next week.

Click here to see the video we released this week on the potential impact of the Denial of Care Rule: [link removed]

Thanks to your lasting support, Americans United is leading the movement to prevent the misuse of religious freedom to cause harm to others and protect the separation of religion and government in the courts and on Capitol Hill. We will not stop fighting until we reclaim religious freedom as a principle that protects all people, not just some.

In solidarity,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO

Surprise! The Trump Administration’s Justification For Its Denial Of Care Rule Was Based On Lies:
There are many problems with the Denial of Care Rule; one that has come to light since the court rulings striking down the rule is that the Trump administration’s entire justification for the rule was built on lies.
READ MORE » [link removed]

Moscow (The One In Idaho) Targeted For Takeover By Fundamentalist Church:
Pastor Doug Wilson wants to impose his narrow, fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity on the community. Not only would non-Christians object to this plan, but there likely are plenty of Christians who don’t agree with his plan either.
READ MORE » [link removed]

It’s Time To Fix An Important Religious Freedom Law:
Although the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is still sometimes used in ways that genuinely protect religious minorities, it is now too often exploited to justify discrimination and other harms to others.
READ MORE » [link removed]

Impeachment Hearings Begin This Week. America’s Christian Nationalists Are Not Impressed:
About a third of Trump’s Religious Right base has said they won’t drop support for him no matter what he does. At the same time, leading Christian nationalist leaders are hard at work promoting the GOP’s line that Trump did nothing wrong and the whole impeachment thing is a set-up.
READ MORE » [link removed]

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Americans United for Separation of Church and State
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