CNA Staff, Jul 28, 2020 / 08:00 am
Religious groups must have equal access to public grant programs, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced in new guidance issued on Monday.
The guidance follows the recent Supreme Court decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, earlier this month, which ruled that faith-based groups could not be barred from public funding solely on account of their religious status.
The July 28 guidance clarifies that faith-based groups offering secular services cannot be disqualified from federal assistance purely on their religious status. To do so would violate the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment, the DOJ said.
The aim of the clarification is to "help ensure that faith-based organizations can compete on an equal footing with secular organizations for Department grants," said Claire McCusker Murray, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General and co-Vice-Chair of the DOJ's Religious Liberty Task Force.