Trump’s school prayer rules show ‘radical approach’ to rights, law expert says
Columbia University professor Katherine Franke criticized President Donald Trump’s new guidance on prayer in schools, saying it reinforces the administration’s “extremely radical approach to fundamental rights.”
Her comments come after the White House announced Thursday that nine federal agencies are proposing a series of regulations and guidance on religious freedom.
One proposed regulation would treat religious and non-religious groups equally in the awarding of federal grants, and another would weaken an Obama-era requirement that religious groups offer alternative providers for social services.
While the prayer guidance does not change the Supreme Court’s ruling that public school officials cannot promote prayer or religious activities, it does require state departments of education to report prayer lawsuits to the U.S. Department of Education.
Trump praised the new regulations in an Oval Office event for National Religious Freedom Day Thursday.
“While I’m president ... we will not let anyone push God from the public square,” he said. “We will uphold religious liberty for all.”
The Trump administration is treating religious liberty differently than any other of the fundamental rights outlined in the Constitution, Franke told McClatchy News.
“What these instructions do is tell school administrators you need not balance anymore,” she said. “Religious liberty rights take precedence over every other right.”
Franke continued, saying that erasing rules that require faith-based groups to provide alternate options puts vulnerable communities at risk of being discriminated against or provided inadequate services. For example, she said some Catholic hospitals refuse to provide certain reproductive health care procedures. Without notice patients might not be aware.
“If you don’t know what the choice is between one kind of service and the other kind of service, that’s not an informed choice,” she said.
The Human Rights Campaign also issued a statement against the proposed change, saying that they “roll back existing protections for LGBTQ and other people seeking government services and benefits.”
“The right to believe and exercise one’s faith is a core American value,” the organization said. “The right to discriminate with taxpayer dollars is not.”
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of the religious law firm First Liberty Institute, praised the new regulations in an interview with McClatchy and said they do not blur the lines between the separation of church and state.
“This is about students, teachers and individual citizens and their freedoms under the First Amendment to live out their faith,” he said.