Image: Matt Wade Photography via Creative Commons
A coalition of secular groups that includes the Freedom From Religion Foundation has contacted the Biden administration on behalf of nonreligious Americans.
FFRF and 18 other secular advocacy organizations have sent a letter to the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships with an agenda to advance the interests of nontheists. As our nation begins to recover from the enormous damage that the Trump administration inflicted on religious freedom and the separation of religion and government, the coalition offers specific directives to the current White House to restore true freedom of conscience for all Americans. Its letter reads in part:
Our community firmly believes that separation of religion and government is the bedrock upon which religious freedom is made possible. While the previous administration did everything possible to undermine these important principles to favor specific, politically well-connected religious viewpoints, we are confident that under the leadership of President Biden, Vice President Harris and your team, we will restore a more balanced understanding of religious freedom.
As part of this effort, the letter urges the Biden administration to issue an executive order instructing federal agencies to strengthen freedom of conscience by protecting the separation of religion and government, prohibiting discrimination in the name of religious belief and eliminating government funding of religious activities. In addition, it requests that the Biden administration direct the Department of Justice to correct several erroneous initiatives established in the last four years.
The coalition letter concludes by encouraging the White House to rein in the widely damaging Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which has been weaponized to erode civil rights since its conception. In order to correct this, the letter urges the Biden administration to prioritize the passage of the Do No Harm Act, which would amend RFRA to ensure that it cannot be weaponized to harm or erode civil rights.
FFRF, along with its coalition partners, looks forward to working with the Biden administration to advance an agenda that prioritizes true religious liberty and restores the separation between religion and government.
FFRF is a national nonprofit organization with more than 34,500 members and several chapters across the country. Its purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.