Sessions announces Religious Liberty Task Force

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday the creation of a Religious Liberty Task Force to ensure the Department of Justice implements the Trump administration’s approach to religious liberty: “that every American has a right to believe, worship, and exercise their faith in the public square.” He added, according to his prepared remarks for the DOJ’s Religious Liberty Summit in Washington, “A dangerous movement, undetected by many, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom. … It must be confronted and defeated.” Sessions said the task force will ensure the department upholds the 20 “fundamental principles” he issued last fall to ensure the government accommodates people of faith. He also cited the department’s participation in religious liberty cases, including those involving the contraceptive and abortifacient mandate, arson and other attacks against houses of worship (including mosques), and Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado. “The federal government is not just reacting—we are actively seeking, carefully, thoughtfully and lawfully, to accommodate people of faith,” he said. “Religious Americans are no longer an afterthought.”