A year after then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a declaration of genocide about atrocities carried out by the Islamic State militant group, the head of the Knights of Columbus urged prayers for “those who are being persecuted and killed for their faith.”
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York urged President Donald Trump to follow through on a recent call for legislation that funds school choice for disadvantaged youth nationwide.
Catholic Church leaders in a Feb. 16 statement said they were encouraged that President Donald Trump may be considering an executive order to protect religious freedom and said they would be grateful if he would move forward with the pledge that his administration would “do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore have urged the House and Senate to past the Conscience Protection Act of 2017.
Saying “religious freedom in America has suffered years of unprecedented erosion,” the U.S. Catholic bishops have posted an online letter for Catholics to send to President Donald Trump urging him to sign an executive order promoting religious freedom.
The chairmen of two bishops’ committees expressed disappointment Feb. 1 over President Donald Trump’s decision to retain a 2014 executive order by his predecessor, Barack Obama, that bans federal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity against federal employees and workers for federal government contractors.
Religious freedom issues have certainly been in the news in the U.S. over the past several years — from the Little Sisters of the Poor to the freedom of organizations to hire people who aim to serve the mission of the organization.
A letter to President Barack Obama and congressional leaders asks them to “renounce publicly” a contentious sentence in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ report that equates religious freedom with discrimination. The letter, dated Oct. 7 and released Oct. 12, was signed by 17 religious leaders, including two U.S. Catholic bishops.
