Today, Nathan J. Diament, Executive Director for Public Policy of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, commended the issuance of final regulations by nine Executive Branch agencies protecting the religious liberties of beneficiaries of federally funded programs.  The regulations formally implement a 2010 Executive Order which, in turn, was based upon recommendations made to President Obama by his Faith-Based Advisory Council.  Nathan Diament served as a member of the Advisory Council.

Nathan Diament stated:

“It was an honor to serve on the President’s advisory council and work with other American faith leaders to craft recommendations — now embodied in federal regulations and policy — ensuring that faith-based organizations can partner with the government to deliver programs and services to our communities — and receive federal funds to do so — without sacrificing their religious character.  Just as important, the regulations build on widespread agreement that we can and should do more to protect the religious liberty of beneficiaries and provide greater clarity and transparency about applicable church-state rules.  Melissa Rogers deserves special thanks as she served as our council chairperson and has since served on the White House staff as the president’s adviser on faith-based issues and shepherded this rule-making process into reality.”

The regulations finalized today make changes to current regulations, including changes that:

• Require agencies to ensure that all decisions about federal financial assistance are based solely on merit, without regard to an organization’s religious affiliation or lack thereof, and free from political interference, or the appearance of such interference.
• Make clear that faith-based organizations are eligible to participate in federally funded social service programs on the same basis as any other private organization.
• Clarify what activities can and cannot be supported with direct federal financial assistance by replacing use of the term “inherently religious activities” with the term “explicitly religious activities” and providing examples of such activities.
• Prohibit organizations that receive Federal financial assistance from discriminating against beneficiaries, including denying services or benefits, based on religion, a religious belief, a refusal to hold a religious belief, or a refusal to attend or participate in a religious practice.
• Require faith-based organizations that receive direct federal financial assistance for domestic social service programs to provide written notice of certain protections to beneficiaries of the program.  Specifically, an organization that receives direct federal financial assistance is required to give notice to beneficiaries that the organization may not discriminate against a beneficiary based on religion, a religious belief, a refusal to hold a religious belief, or a refusal to attend or participate in a religious practice;  the organization may not require a beneficiary to attend or participate in any explicitly religious activities that are offered by the organization, and any participation by the beneficiaries in those activities must be purely voluntary;  the organization must separate in time or location any privately funded explicitly religious activities from activities supported by direct federal financial assistance; if a beneficiary or prospective beneficiary objects to the religious character of the organization, the organization will undertake reasonable efforts to identify and refer the beneficiary to an alternative provider to which the beneficiary does not object; and a beneficiary or prospective beneficiary may report violations of these protections, including any denials of services or benefits, to the federal agency or intermediary administering the program.

The federal agencies issuing the final regulations are: the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Agriculture, Agency for International Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Health and Human Services.

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