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Interfaith Leaders Call on Obama to Reject Religious Liberty Report

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Faith leaders from various religious groups are calling on President Obama to reject a controversial US Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) report that they say threatens religious liberty.

"We wish to express our deep concern that the commission has issued a report....that stigmatizes tens of millions of religious Americans, their communities and their faith-based institutions, and threatens the religious freedom of all our citizens," reads the group's letter, sent Wednesday to President Obama, Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch, R- Utah, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

The report says that religious organizations discriminate under the guise of religious freedom.

"The phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance," wrote commission Chairman Martin R. Castro in a statement attached to the report.

In their letter, the faith leaders acknowledge that religious freedom is a difficult concept to translate into law.

"We understand that people of good faith can disagree about the relationship between religious liberty and anti-discrimination laws in our country, and how that relationship should best be structured," they write.

However, they argue that the tone of "Peaceful Coexistence" in the USCCR report was inappropriate and offensive.

"We are one in demanding that no American citizen or institution be labeled by their government as bigoted because of their religious views…That is precisely what the commission report does," the letter reads.

The letter was signed by leaders from Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Baha'i, African Methodist, Episcopal, Evangelical, Southern Baptist and Hindu communities.

They ask that Congress and President Obama reject the report and the notion that religious liberty protections lead to discrimination.

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About The Author

Caitlin Burke Headshot
Caitlin
Burke

Caitlin Burke serves as National Security Correspondent and a general assignment reporter for CBN News. She has also hosted the CBN News original podcast, The Daily Rundown. Some of Caitlin’s recent stories have focused on the national security threat posed by China, America’s military strength, and vulnerabilities in the U.S. power grid. She joined CBN News in July 2010, and over the course of her career, she has had the opportunity to cover stories both domestically and abroad. Caitlin began her news career working as a production assistant in Richmond, Virginia, for the NBC affiliate WWBT