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BREAKING: The Trump administration just rolled back religious freedom protections for the most vulnerable of us who are seeking social services. 
This is a parting âgiftâ from the lame-duck Trump administration to its Christian nationalist allies, who lobbied hard for these changes.
The new regulations affect nine federal departments and agencies: The U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The rules:
(1) Strip away existing protections that require faith-based providers to offer a referral to an alternate provider if people feel unwelcome or uncomfortable because of the religious affiliation, activities or messages of a faith-based organization.
(1) Strip away existing protections that require faith-based providers to offer a referral to an alternate provider if people feel unwelcome or uncomfortable because of the religious affiliation, activities or messages of a faith-based organization.
(2) Eliminate the requirement that people seeking services be informed of their religious freedom rights that:
they canât be required to pray/participate in religious activities,
they are entitled to be offered a referral to an alternate provider &
they can file a complaint
they canât be required to pray/participate in religious activities,
they are entitled to be offered a referral to an alternate provider &
they can file a complaint
(3) Eliminate the safeguard that ensures that people who use vouchers to get services have at least one secular alternative to faith-based providers to choose from. As a result, taxpayer funds will be used to pay for religious programming without providing people an alternative.
(4) Put the interests of those choosing to be taxpayer-funded religious orgs ahead of those of people seeking government services at every turn. The rules pave the way for providers to refuse to provide key services & open the door to discrimination in taxpayer-funded programs.
The clear target of such exemptions are LGBTQ people. Women, religious minorities and the nonreligious will also bear the burden of these rules.
The Biden-Harris administration must immediately start the process of restoring the consensus religious freedom protections that were implemented just four years ago.
