Religious-Liberty-Annual-Report

VIII – The Five Largest Threats to Religious Liberty in 2024, and Five Ways to Respond 41

about how to support it, sign up for USCCB action alerts at our Action Center. 72 #3 Threats to Catholic Ministries Serving Newcomers Welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, shelter ing the homeless — these fundamental calls to Chris tian service are at the heart of Catholic service to new comers, which is itself a core ministry of the Church. Denying public aid to a religious charity because it heeds this Gospel call is a paradigmatic example of an unconstitutional condition on government funds. While the Secure the Border Act (SBA) is highly unlikely to pass the Senate in the regular course of business, attempts to include problematic provisions from SBA, or SBA in its entirety, as part of must-pass appropriations legislation may be more viable. It is important for elected representatives in Congress to be vigilant against the use of this tactic. Those who claim to defend religious liberty in Congress must also stand against their colleagues’ efforts to intimi date and denigrate religious charities striving to meet newcomers’ basic human needs. How Individuals and Communities Can Respond: Let your representatives in Congress know that you support immigration reform for the common good of all, but not violations of the religious freedom of charities striving to serve newcomers in need. 73 #4 Suppression of Religious Speech Up holding Marriage and Sexual Difference The right to free exercise of religion and the right to free speech often intersect on matters of sexual ori entation and gender identity. In numerous settings — schools, the workplace, health care — individuals are being pressured to conform to the orthodoxy of gen der ideology. In 2024, this pressure may have the force of law via various federal agency actions, including the Title IX regulation and the EEOC’s enforcement of its guidance on workplace harassment. There are few freedoms more basic, or more in herent to the American political and social order, than the right to say what is true and not to be com pelled to profess what is false. People of faith must guard against erosion of this right.

How Individuals and Communities Can Respond: Be an example of how people of faith can voice beliefs about marriage and sexual difference with clarity and compassion. The USCCB initiative “Marriage: Unique for a Reason” is a valuable resource for understanding Church teaching on marriage and how to talk about it; the USCCB Committee on Doctrine’s “Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipula tion of the Human Body” offers an excellent summary of Church teaching on the immutability of sex. 74 #5 The EEOC’s Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Regulations Whereas it is merely possible that the Section 1557 final rule will include an abortion mandate, it is highly likely that the EEOC’s final rule on the Preg nant Workers Fairness Act (PFWA) will retain its re quirement that employers give employees paid leave for the purposes of obtaining an abortion. A federal mandate that private entities be complicit in second- and third-trimester abortions is unprecedented. And while some other proposed regulations from other agencies technically leave the possibility for religious exemptions open, the EEOC’s stated interpretation of Those who claim to defend religious liberty in Congress must also stand against their colleagues’ efforts to intimidate and denigrate religious charities striving to meet newcomers’ basic human needs.

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