I recieved this email from Interfaith Alliance this morning:
Take Action: Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission Takes Aim at Church-State Separation
Dear Gabi,
President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission released a draft report that claims to protect religious liberty. It does the opposite. The Commission’s report promotes one narrow version of faith, ignores the harm done by Christian nationalism, and dismisses the constitutional separation of church and state.
The Commission’s draft report recommends rolling back the Johnson Amendment to let houses of worship funnel dark money into political campaigns, allows religious claims to override civil rights protections, expands school voucher programs without safeguards for religious minorities, misuses religious freedom claims to weaken patients’ access to healthcare, and weaponizes the fight against antisemitism to target other communities.
Now the Commission has provided an unusually brief window of 15 days to accept public comments on its draft report.
Use your voice and declare that religious freedom means freedom for everyone.
The deadline to comment is July 11. We need a groundswell of everyday Americans to speak out and tell the Religious Liberty Commission what religious liberty means to you.
In Solidarity,
Interfaith Alliance
P.S. Interfaith Alliance and our partners sued the Commission for violating federal law that requires balanced viewpoints on advisory committees. You can learn more about the case here.
Tell the Religious Liberty Commission: Protect Religious Liberty for Everyone
https://support.interfaithalliance.org/a/tell-relc-protect-religious-liberty-for-everyone
Here is my message to Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission:
Message Recipients
Religious Liberty Commission
PUBLIC COMMENT – Protect Religious Freedom
To Whom It May Concern:
I am submitting this comment to express my opposition to the draft report issued by the Religious Liberty Commission. As someone who believes deeply in the dignity of every person, I urge the Commission to substantially revise its recommendations before finalizing this report.
I understand that this report claims to protect religious liberty, but it does the opposite — it elevates one narrow set of religious viewpoints while disregarding the rights and safety of others. True religious freedom does not mean using one belief system to supersede the civil rights, healthcare access, or educational protections of people who believe differently or who hold no religious belief at all.
I am the daughter of a German Jewish refugee who, during World War Two, escaped Germany to France with his family, and then to England as a high school student. He was interned by the British in Canada as an enemy alien. When he was released, my father moved to the United States where he met my mother and they had me and my two siblings. https://gabiclayton.com/about-me/heritage/
My husband and I are the parents of two sons. Our younger son, Bill, came out as bisexual when he was 14. When he was 17 in 1995 Bill was assaulted in a bashing based on his sexual orientation. “We don’t tolerate fags here!” is what the four young men (teens also) screamed as they beat our son.
Bill survived that assault, but he committed suicide a month later because he believed he would never be safe in this world or in his country — aware of how many people are taught in thier faith communities and homes that LGBTQ people are less than human and are evil. https://gabiclayton.com/bills-story/
As my father’s daughter, as my son Bill’s mother, as a nontheist Quaker, and as an American, my belief system calls me to protect the freedoms and wellbeing of my neighbors. It calls me to create a society here where everyone is treated with equal dignity. I do my best to bring that about and I urge you to do that also.
I urge the Commission to reject recommendations that would enable discrimination in housing, healthcare, education, and employment and ultimately undermine religious liberty itself. This report should reflect genuine religious pluralism, not a single narrow politically driven perspective that would privilege a select few.
Respectfully,
Gabi Clayton
Olympia, WA