{"id":1024365,"date":"2021-11-17T16:29:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T21:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1024365"},"modified":"2021-11-17T16:29:28","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T21:29:28","slug":"biden-administration-hinting-at-rolling-back-religious-liberties-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-hinting-at-rolling-back-religious-liberties-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Administration Hinting At Rolling Back Religious Liberties: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-administration-hinting-at-rolling-back-religious-liberties-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1024365&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A reported memo from the Director of the Office for Civil Rights within the Biden Administration\u2019s Health and Human Services Department hints of the Biden administration\u2019s apparent desire to roll back religious liberties.<\/p>\n<p>In a draft memo to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra from Lisa Pino, the Director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), she writes of the Trump administration\u2019s delegation in 2017 for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to prevent violations of religious liberty:<\/p>\n<p><em>Prior to the delegation in 2017, no division was singularly responsible for the Department\u2019s compliance with RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) or the First Amendment. \u2026 That model recognized that all components of HHS had a responsibility for compliance and that OGC [Office of General Counsel] was a central partner in providing key legal advice on RFRA and defending the Department when RFRA claims were raised. Rescinding the delegation to OCR does not lessen the commitment of the Department to compliance, but ensures that it is not misused by any one agency to enact a broad, proactive agenda.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After former Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued guidelines on various religious liberty issues, HHS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/FR-2018-01-19\/pdf\/2018-00816.pdf\">gave OCR authority<\/a> for RFRA compliance reviews and to \u201cinitiate such other actions as may be necessary to facilitate and ensure compliance with RFRA,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/hhs-ocr-memo-rfra-trump-religious-liberty\">Fox News<\/a> noted.<\/p>\n<p>Pino\u2019s memo also states, <strong>\u201c<\/strong>While nothing in RFRA legally restricts an agency to work proactively to address a complainant\u2019s (or \u2018would be\u2019 complainant\u2019s) religious needs or rights, there is a serious concern that such an approach broadens the effect of RFRA in a way that may not be legally required and while causing significant detriment to civil rights and public health protections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More from the memo: \u201cThe prior Administration took an expansive view of the use of RFRA that resulted in negative impacts for underserved communities. \u2026 broad-based exemptions from nondiscrimination requirements to child welfare agencies challenges the ability of children and youth to obtain safe and loving foster and adoptive homes. \u2026 It also clearly sent the signal to LGBTQ+ communities that the Department did not recognize their civil rights, including the right to marry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The memo snaps, \u201cWhile the Department will need to continue to comply with RFRA, removing this delegation demonstrates our belief that RFRA is meant to be a shield to protect the freedom of religion, not a sword to impose religious beliefs on others without regard for third party<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A reported memo from the Director of the Office for Civil Rights within the Biden Administration\u2019s Health and Human Services Department hints of the Biden administration\u2019s apparent desire to roll back religious liberties.In a draft memo to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra from Lisa Pino, the Director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), she writes of the Trump administration\u2019s delegation in 2017 for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to prevent violations of religious liberty:Prior to the delegation in 2017, no division was singularly responsible for the Department\u2019s compliance with RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) or the First Amendment. \u2026 That model recognized that all components of HHS had a responsibility for compliance and that OGC [Office of General Counsel] was a central partner in providing key legal advice on RFRA and defending the Department when RFRA claims were raised. Rescinding the delegation to OCR does not lessen the commitment of the Department to compliance, but ensures that it is not misused by any one agency to enact a broad, proactive agenda.After former Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued guidelines on various religious liberty issues, HHS gave OCR authority for RFRA compliance reviews and to \u201cinitiate such other actions as may be necessary to facilitate and ensure compliance with RFRA,\u201d Fox News noted.Pino\u2019s memo also states, \u201cWhile nothing in RFRA legally restricts an agency to work proactively to address a complainant\u2019s (or \u2018would be\u2019 complainant\u2019s) religious needs or rights, there is a serious concern that such an approach broadens the effect of RFRA in a way that may not be legally required and while causing significant detriment to civil rights and public health protections.\u201dMore from the memo: \u201cThe prior Administration took an expansive view of the use of RFRA that resulted in negative impacts for underserved communities. \u2026 broad-based exemptions from nondiscrimination requirements to child welfare agencies challenges the ability of children and youth to obtain safe and loving foster and adoptive homes. \u2026 It also clearly sent the signal to LGBTQ+ communities that the Department did not recognize their civil rights, including the right to marry.\u201dThe memo snaps, \u201cWhile the Department will need to continue to comply with RFRA, removing this delegation demonstrates our belief that RFRA is meant to be a shield to protect the freedom of religion, not a sword to impose religious beliefs on others without regard for third party harms, including civil rights.\u201dRoger Severino, the former director of the Office of Civil Rights\u00a0 in the Trump administration, stated on Tuesday, \u201cHHS centralized authority over religious freedom claims because the laws weren\u2019t being enforced and because that\u2019s how we enforce every other civil right. Without dedicated staff responsible for investigating religious freedom complaints, HHS will return to trampling people\u2019s rights as before \u2014 just ask the Little Sisters of the Poor. \u2026 Because Becerra was twice found to have violated conscience protection laws by OCR, he has no business deciding its religious freedom authorities given his massive conflict of interest. \u2026Becerra told Congress that he values religious freedom and that nothing will change with OCR concerning enforcement. His actions since then prove that he lied and this move would put an exclamation point on his anti-religious hostility.\u201dThe Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}