Republicans Urge Trump to Enact moral Executive Order

House and Senate Republicans are calling on President Donald Trump to sign a “religious freedom” executive order.

The proposed order, “Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom,” would bring back simple protection to those who hold the homosexuality is a grave and dangerous sin.

According to a letter from Republican members of Congress, obtained by USA Today, the order is crucial “to protect millions of Americans whose religious freedom has been attacked or threatened over the last eight years.” 

The letter, signed by dozens of Republicans, concludes by again emphasizing the need for the order “so that critical religious liberty and conscience protections may finally be restored to millions of Americans who have been harmed and left unprotected for far too many years.” 

At the time the draft order was leaked, White House officials reported to ABC News that the draft was one of many currently circulating the White House. White House press secretary Sean Spicer also said to reporters, “There is a lot of executive orders, a lot of things that the president has talked about and will continue to fulfill, but we have nothing on that front now.”

But this may have since changed, USA Today reports:

“But on Monday, a senior White House official told USA TODAY that some sort of policy to protect religious liberty is still in the works, but that the president is trying to find middle ground. The official did not want to publicly discuss a policy that is still under development.”

Eighteen Republican senators sent the president a letter similar to that of the Congress members. Signers included Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Marco Rubio (Fl.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) — three of Trump’s former opponents for the Republican nomination when running for president.

Like the Congress members, the senators call for necessary protection of religious freedom: “We have a responsibility to protect and defend the free exercise of religion for people of all faith here and around the world.”

In June 2015 Trump said he supports “traditional marriage.” 

The Order

If signed as originally written, the order, obtained by The Nation, covers a broad spectrum, allowing for discrimination not just in places of worship but in “all activities of life.” The text states, vaguely, “Americans and their religious organizations will not be coerced by the Federal Government into participating in activities that violate their consciences.”

As currently written, it would allow individuals as well as organizations to claim religious freedom “when providing social services, education, or healthcare; earning a living, seeking a job, or employing others; receiving government grants or contracts: or otherwise participating in the marketplace, the public square, or interfacing with Federal, State or local governments.”

The order defines “religious organization” in a very broad scope:

“’Religious organization’ shall be construed broadly to encompass any organization, including closely held for-profit corporations, operated for a religious purpose, even if its purpose is not exclusively religious, and is not limited to houses of worship or tax-exempt organizations, or organizations controlled by or associated with a house of worship or a convention or association of churches.”

And “religious exercise” is protected even if the cited beliefs do not necessarily align with that faith’s systemic views:

“‘Religious exercise’ includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, and includes any act or any refusal to act that is motivated by a sincerely held religious belief, whether or not the act is required or compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.”