Worthy Christian News > US News > Civil Liberties organization demands end to religious discrimination in department of Housing and Urban Development

Civil Liberties organization demands end to religious discrimination in department of Housing and Urban Development

(Worthy News) – The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) filed an official public comment with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Monday in a continued effort to ensure religious groups are not discriminated against by authorities. The Center is also sending a demand letter to a specific HUD property management company after residents at one of their housing complexes alerted that all Bibles and religious materials had been confiscated.

The ACLJ official comment to the HUD was filed as the department opened a public comment period to consider new rules the Trump Administration has proposed to prevent religious discrimination. The new rules, which affect nine federal agencies, would end what the ACLJ described as “unconstitutional forced referral and notice requirements put in place by the Obama Administration exclusively affecting faith-based organizations.” The Center is urging concerned citizens to file their own comments as well.

In regards to the subject of the demand letter, the ACLJ said in a statement on its website that the confiscation of Bibles was not only unacceptable, it was also unconstitutional. The Center said it had been contacted about incidents of this type before now. In this case, the ACLJ would be sending a letter directly to the property management company involved, “notifying it that a ban on and removal of religious material is a violation of our client’s religious liberty, as well as that of other tenants. It’s a direct violation of federal law.”

The ACLJ said that although the confiscation had not been carried out by the HUD directly, the department’s property managers work under its authority and must follow its anti-discriminatory regulations. Indeed, the ACLJ statement continued, the HUD had specifically issued guidance to housing directors not to prohibit religious displays.

Referring to HUD regulations in an April 10 interview with the Epoch Times, a spokesman for the department said: “If a housing provider makes its facilities available for residents to use for secular activities, it must make its facilities available for residents to use for religious activities such as Bible study, religious ceremonies, holiday displays, and celebrations.”