Religious leaders urge allowance of faith-based hiring

Religious leaders urge allowance of faith-based hiring

WASHINGTON — Seventy supporters of religion-based hiring discrimination urged President Barack Obama on Sept. 10 to continue to permit government-funded faith groups to employ people with like beliefs. Their request comes less than a month after a coalition of religious and secular organizations sent Obama a letter saying the current policy will tarnish his legacy of fair and equal treatment for all Americans.

“Religious staffing by religious organizations is protected in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is not illegal discrimination,” they said. “This right is not somehow waived or otherwise lost simply by the receipt of government funds.”

Signatories included National Association of Evangelicals President Leith Anderson, evangelist Franklin Graham and Archbishop William Lori, who leads the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.

(RNS)