Trump Admin Installs Religious Freedom Czars In All U.S. Attorneys Offices

[icymist]

...new policy change requires that all U.S. Attorneys’ offices and Department of Justice litigation offices appoint a staff member to monitor any litigation involving religious freedom issues. These “religious freedom” czars would report directly to the Associate Attorney General, Trump political appointee Rachel Brand, before taking any action concerning “religious freedom.”

The new policy guidelines read:

1-15.100 – Background

To the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, Department components and United States Attorneys’ Offices must reasonably accommodate religious observance and practice in all activities, including litigation. See 82 Fed Reg. 49668. As set forth below, the Office of the Associate Attorney General has supervisory responsibility for overseeing the Department’s respect for religious liberty in litigation.

[added January 2018]

1-15.200 – Religious Liberty Litigation Coordinators

Each litigating division should select a member of its front office and each United States Attorney’s Office should assign its Civil Chief, or his/her designee, to coordinate religious liberty litigation issues and to implement this section.

[added January 2018]

...Last month the Trump administration announced a new unit of the federal government: the conscience and religious freedom division of the office for civil rights at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2018/02/trump-admin-installs-religious-freedom-czars-u-s-attorneys-offices/#QLgOgl1UkE0KgosK.99

Well now, this brings us all one step closer to having an evangelical religious police. I would bet that pence and his ilk are licking their chops at the idea of a tRump impeachment. Looks like they're getting all their ducks in a row for a takeover of the country and establishing a theocracy. The real sad part is that this is exactly what Russia wants; our country falling apart while we fight among ourselves.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. Creepy

as with pretty much everything going on right now.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Welcome to Gilead.

[BSdetect]

3. Call them commissars

[Ms. Toad]

4. But State department employees? Who needs them!

So much for minimizing government.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Let me guess

it will only apply to "Christian" religious freedom, and not if you're Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or anything else...

[matt819]

6. This may be a great idea

When Muslims and Jews and Buddhists and Satanists and more feel that their own religious liberties are being threatened, they now have an office to call on to ensure that their religious liberties are not curtailed.

-ish

Of course, and quite rightly, the FFR and atheist groups will contest the religious czar thing, and, eventually, it will go away. And it better damn well go away when the next Democrat is in the WH.

[icymist]

7. I hope you're right.

I just don't feel good that we are now having a religious freedom inspector at at all US attorney offices. This is just another step toward a biblical morality police.