alliance defending dom for faith and justice

#ALLIANCE DEFENDING DOM FOR FAITH AND JUSTICE HOW TO#
#ALLIANCE DEFENDING DOM FOR FAITH AND JUSTICE UPDATE#

The Senate should still reject SB 1146 because the scarlet letter provisions continue to illegally target religious colleges and universities for special scrutiny, just because of who they are. After these further amendments, the bill passed the Assembly on August 23, and is now being considered by the California Senate.ĭespite Senator Lara’s retreat, he still has not gone far enough.

He has taken out the anti-privacy provisions (presumably because they violated federal law protecting student privacy) and created a one-year delay before the “scarlet letter” provisions would take affect.

#ALLIANCE DEFENDING DOM FOR FAITH AND JUSTICE UPDATE#

UPDATE 8/29/16: Under severe pressure, Senator Lara has retreated even further.

California legislators should finish the job and let SB 1146 die. These notions are just as wrongheaded as the outrageous idea that California should force poor minority students to give up on their dream of a college education. The scarlet letter provisions also violate constitutional guarantees of equality and freedom of speech because they target only religiously-affiliated colleges and universities.

#ALLIANCE DEFENDING DOM FOR FAITH AND JUSTICE HOW TO#

If the government cannoteven have schoolchildren wear t-shirts that say “Tomorrow’s Leaders,” it certainly cannot tell religious schools how to share sensitive religious beliefs to their own religious communities and to the public they want to serve. Schools like Fresno Pacific University have no objection to sharing their religious beliefs-in fact, that is part of why they exist-but object to having the government dictate how they express their religious beliefs. Similarly, the “scarlet letter” provisions would also force religious schools under a cloud of governmental suspicion by requiring religious colleges to use government-dictated language to communicate their religious beliefs to their students, faculty, and communities.Singling out religious institutions solely because they are religious violates the principle that the government should stay neutral on religious matters. The anti-privacy provisions are also discriminatory, as they target only religious colleges and ignore many other kinds of related institutions, such as military schools, some public schools, and fraternities and sororities.California students don’t need every disciplinary infraction they’ve ever committed reported to the government or posted on the Internet forever. This language makes no provision for preserving the privacy of disciplined students, and may violate federal privacy laws that protect students’ privacy. The anti-privacy provisions would force California’s religiously-affiliated colleges and universities to report four times a year on every expulsion and suspension of a student, and the reasons for the discipline.Mark Rienzi, President of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Catholic Law Alumnus William Haun ’12 Delivers Faith in Action Talk On “Not Lost but Found: Finding Freedom in Submission to God”Īlthough the author of notorious California bill SB 1146 recently backed down and announced amendments to remove the parts of the bill that would have meant that thousands of low-income minority students would be unable to attend college, SB 1146 still includes controversial anti-privacy and “scarlet letter” provisions that would be both bad policy and unconstitutional to boot: Senator Hatch understood that religion is a natural part of human life, and that as Americans we should respect the right of others to peacefully live out their faith-even when we disagree.

His partnership with the late Senator Kennedy to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act-which received nearly unanimous approval in Congress and was signed into law by President Clinton-has provided civil rights protections to faithful Sikhs serving in the military, Native Americans engaging in centuries-old worship traditions, prisoners who turn to their faith while incarcerated, and nuns who care for the elderly sick and dying. Through principled bipartisanship and a commitment to protecting people of all faiths, Senator Hatch brought the country some of its greatest advancements in religious liberty since the First Amendment. Over the course of his Senate tenure, Senator Hatch earned his reputation as the most effective and bipartisan lawmaker of all time, shepherding more than 750 bills into law.Īmerica has lost a giant of religious liberty. Hatch, a model of civil discourse, principled leadership and advancement of religious freedom for all at home and abroad, in and outside of his roles in government. We are honored to remember the life and legacy of a great man, United States Senator Orrin G. Religious freedom was sewn into the very fabric of this country from the beginning, and protecting the right of conscience for every American is essential to the future of our republic.

Alliance defending dom for faith and justice