Showing posts with label U.S. Civil Rights Commission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. Civil Rights Commission. Show all posts

Monday, May 14, 2018

Civil Rights Commission Holds Hate Crimes Briefing

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights last Friday held a public briefing titled "In the Name of Hate: Examining the Federal Government’s Role in Responding to Hate Crimes." The briefing's scope was described (Meeting Notice) (List of Panelists) in part as follows:
The Commission will examine best practices for local law enforcement on collecting and reporting data, and the role of the Education and Justice Departments in prosecution and prevention of these heinous acts. Commissioners will hear from local law enforcement and federal government officials, experts, academics, advocates, and survivors of hate.
Video of the day-long briefing is available online: (Morning Session; Afternoon Session; Public Comment). [Thanks to Michael Lieberman for the lead.]

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

US Civil Rights Commission Issues Report On Religious Liberty vs. Civil Rights

Last week (Sept. 7), the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a 306-page briefing report titled Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties.  Here is a portion of the Commission's Findings:
The Commission endorses the briefing panelists’ statements as summarized at page 21 of the Report in support of these Findings.
(1) schools must be allowed to insist on inclusive values; 2) throughout history, religious doctrines accepted at one time later become viewed as discriminatory, with religions changing accordingly; 3) without exemptions, groups would not use the pretext of religious doctrines to discriminate; 4) a doctrine that distinguishes between beliefs (which should be protected) and conduct (which should conform to the law) is fairer and easier to apply; 5) third parties, such as employees, should not be forced to live under the religious doctrines of their employers [unless the employer is allowed to impose such constraints by virtue of the ministerial exception]; 6) a basic [civil] right as important as the freedom to marry should not be subject to religious beliefs; and 7) even a widely accepted doctrine such as the ministerial exemption should be subject to review as to whether church employees have religious duties.
Further, specifically with regard to number (2) above, religious doctrines that were widely accepted at one time came to be deemed highly discriminatory, such as slavery, homosexuality bans, and unequal treatment of women, and that what is considered within the purview of religious autonomy at one time would likely change.
Yesterday, the U.S. Catholic Bishop's Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty released a statement (full text) highly critical of the statement in the Report by Commission Chairman Martin Castro.  The Bishops said in part:
For the current Chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, religious liberty is reduced to "nothing except hypocrisy," and religion is being used as a "weapon… by those seeking to deny others equality." He makes the shocking suggestion that Catholic, evangelical, orthodox Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim communities are comparable to fringe segregationists from the civil rights era. These statements painting those who support religious freedom with the broad brush of bigotry are reckless and reveal a profound disregard for the religious foundations of his own work.
[Thanks to Jeff Ziegler for the lead.]

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Condemns Recent State Religious Liberty Bills

Yesterday the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a statement (full text) condemning recent state enactments and proposals protecting religious liberty at the expense of equal treatment for the LGBT community.  The statement reads in part:
Religious freedom is an important foundation of our nation. However, in the past, ‘religious liberty’ has been used to block racial integration and anti-discrimination laws. Those past efforts failed and this new attempt to revive an old evasive tactic should be rejected as well. The North Carolina and Mississippi laws, and similar legislation proposed in other states, perverts the meaning of religious liberty and perpetuates homophobia, transphobia, marginalizes the transgender and gay community and has no place in our society.
The Commission said that it will shortly release a new report on the issue of religious liberty.

Two members of the 8- member Commission (Gail Heriot and Peter Kirsanow) issued a separate statement (full text) in their individual capacities asking their Commission colleagues "to please take a deep breath."  They argued in part:
none of [the state bills] deserves to be referred to in the derisive terms used by the Commission majority. Those that deal with religious liberty issues are not merely using religion as a “guise” or “excuse” as the Commission majority alleges. All of them address real issues in reasonable ways; none is simply an attack on the LGBT community.
This separate statement was not posted on the Commission's website, but instead on the website of The New American Civil Rights Project with a link to the statement appearing in an ADF press release.