The continued attacks on religious freedom by the Trump administration and its allies pose one of the greatest threats to faith and freedom that our nation has ever seen. Individual staffers may come and go, but the assault on our fundamental rights continues.
Earlier this year, we asked members of Interfaith Alliance to tell President Trump why we need to protect religious freedom for all Americans. Hundreds of you sent letters calling on this administration to change course.
You told personal stories about healthcare denied and children subjected to bullying and hate. You spoke up for the Johnson Amendment and the centrality of church-state separation in American life. You joined a resounding chorus demanding that the president protect the interests of all of us, not just a select few.
This letter confirms what many of us already knew – the Religious Right and the Trump administration are working hand-in-glove to dismantle many of the freedoms that have been a part of the American promise for nearly 250 years.
We will not be silent in the face of this president’s agenda. Many Americans belong to faith communities with deep roots. Others are guided not by religious precepts but by their own consciences. Our Constitution states clearly that our government may neither establish nor favor any particular religion – that we are all free to follow our own moral compass.
Our mission is to ensure that nobody, of any religious or political inclination, rewrites the plain meaning of the First Amendment. This administration may be chipping away at our foundation of religious liberty, but as we continue to fight, we will rebuild and strengthen the freedoms and values that the Religious Right is trying so hard to destroy.
Whoever sits in the White House, we are only as strong as the community we build together.