Justice Department updates religious liberty protections for executive agencies

The Department of Justice revised the executive branch’s religious liberty guidelines with expanded protections, according to a Thursday release. It’s essential for federal agencies to protect Americans’ ability to live out their faith in daily life, even when interacting with the government, according to a statement from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The new guidelines reflected precedents from Supreme Court rulings on the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and Title VII issued since the DOJ’s last revision in 2017. The revised guidelines specifically underscored how religious exercise extended beyond belief and into daily conduct, meaning employees can and should receive reasonable religious accommodations under the law.

What kind of additions have been made? The guidelines directly identified religious liberty as a fundamental and federally protected right that allowed individuals to act or abstain from acting according to their religious beliefs. The guidelines directly stated that religious freedom extended to people acting through an organization, and that one may not lose his or her religious rights when working in the public sector or the government.

The government may not interfere with the autonomy of religious organizations, according to the updated protections, meaning the government can't force a religious group to hire an employee who disagrees with the group’s religious mission. The updates also barred the government from enforcing federal nondiscrimination statutes by legally requiring churches to ordain female clergy.

Other policy points worth noting:

• The government may not interfere with a parent’s right to direct his or her children’s religious upbringing.

• The government may not weaponize the enforcement of basic laws as a vehicle for religious discrimination.

• Federal protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act applied to individuals along with organizations, associations, and some for-profit organizations.

• Federal officials must treat all religious groups equally, and may not require religious groups to change religious character in order to receive funding or contracts.

The guidelines help protect individual practitioners and religious organizations from discriminatory federal actions, according to Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Office of Legal Policy Dan Burrows. The legal policy office will continue working with agencies to review proposed actions to ensure compliance with the new religious‑liberty protections, Burrows added.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s story on the previous report issued by the DOJ’s religious liberty task force.