Atheist Group Challenges Trump's Executive Order to Protect Religious Freedoms
Atheist group the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) became the first organization to challenge President Donald Trump's latest executive order on protecting religious freedoms.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a lawsuit just hours after Trump signed the Executive Order on Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty while hosting conservative religious leaders at the White House for the National Day of Prayer on Thursday last week, the Associated Press reported.
The executive order seeks to ease a ban on political endorsements by churches and religious groups.
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It also loosens a provision of the tax code which prohibits religious organizations from directly supporting or opposing political candidates.
"We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced ever again," Trump declared.
With the order, the Treasury Department is prohibited from taking any "adverse action" against churches or religious organizations for political speech.
"Today my administration is leading by example as we take historic steps to protect religious liberty in the United States of America," Trump said.
He said he was giving churches their voices back.
"No one should be censoring sermons or targeting pastors," Trump said.
The FFRF is calling Trump's order unconstitutional since it allegedly grants preferential treatment to religious organizations while secular non-profit groups are required to still abide by the law, according to the Associated Press.
They also argue that Trump does not have the power to overturn the law.
However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) withdrew an earlier threat to sue the White House over Trump's executive order, Raw Story reported.
In a statement, ACLU director Anthony Romero said the executive order, in its current state, would not affect the rights of the people.
"Today's executive order signing was an elaborate photo-op with no discernible policy outcome," he said.
ACLU had earlier indicated that it would sue if the president signed orders "that allow religion to be used as an excuse to discriminate."
Meanwhile, more than 1,300 members of clergy came up with a full-page ad in Politico to argue that Trump's order would turn religious freedom "into a weapon to discriminate against broad swaths of our nation, including LGBTQ people, women, and children in foster care."
Some religious groups, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, said the order did not go far enough in its protections for businesses that are "simply expressing a religious point of view on marriage that differed from that of the federal government," the BBC reported.
LGBT groups and several human-rights groups also oppose the order.
