ADF files comment with HUD on religious freedom, free speech protections

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Zack Pruitt regarding a comment that ADF filed Thursday, as part of the public comment period open to all Americans, in support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed new rule in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order on religious liberty, the U.S. attorney general’s memorandum on religious liberty, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer:

“The government isn’t being neutral if it treats religious Americans and organizations worse than everyone else. That’s why we appreciate the efforts of the administration and its agencies to do what they can to respect and protect the free exercise of religion and the freedom of speech all Americans have under the Constitution. Our public comment filed today commends HUD’s commitment to apply the First Amendment in a manner consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in the ADF case Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer. In that decision, the high court ruled 7-2 that the government cannot exclude organizations and people of faith from a secular government program simply because of their religious identity. All federal agencies should make sure that they respect the essential freedoms that the First Amendment protects. As the Supreme Court wrote in the Trinity Lutheran decision, to exclude anyone from a public benefit solely on the basis of religious identity ‘is odious to our Constitution…, and cannot stand.’”

ADF filed similar comments in February with three other federal agencies.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.