Editor’s Note: This press release was originally published on the Sacred Sector blog in April. CONTACT: Meg Biallas Henry, director of Communications 202.491.8025 meg.henry@cpjustice.org (April…
In this current COVID-19 crisis, local, state and federal governments are taking a wide range actions, some of them unprecedented, that affect the ability of faith-based nonprofits to sustain their basic operations and to provide services. Governments are also adopting new policies that directly influence the quality of life of the employees of faith-based organizations and the well-being of people in the communities those organizations serve. Are these aid programs, expenditures, and prohibitions, positive or do they need refinement? Advocacy and lobbying are activities, protected by law, that faith leaders and faith-based organizations can speak to government and the public about the justice and effectiveness of these and other policies. Advocacy helps the government know what works, and helps organizations affected by government policy seek changes important for their own religious freedom and effectiveness and for the good of the people they serve.
Beyond the Public Gatherings Debate: Religious Freedom for Faith-based Organizations During COVID-19
The national conversation regarding religious freedom right now is largely focused on the question of public, in person gatherings for worship services. This public conversation and its nuances have been relatively well covered. And yet, it is important to recognize that this is not the only element of the institutional religious freedom discussion that needs to be had at the moment. In the weeks to come, this column will take up in detail emerging public policies that impact the freedom of faith-based organizations. This column will focus on making visible the right now largely invisible, untold and often surprising elements and stories of how institutional religious freedom advances human flourishing during COVID-19 and beyond.
The Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program is designed to be accessible to houses of worship and religious charities, along with other nonprofit organizations. IRFA Founder and Senior Director Dr. Stanley Carlson-Thies notes two recent changes that should further ease the concerns of faith-based organizations about participating in the program. But he calls for further fine-tuning so that the program will fully acknowledge institutional religious freedom.