Appearing Friday at the 2017 Values
Voter Summit, President Donald Trump praised recent “religious
freedom” guidance issued by the Department of Justice.
Trump's participation was
unprecedented. No sitting president has ever addressed a Values
Voter Summit, which is organized by the Christian conservative Family
Research Council (FRC), a group known for its opposition to LGBT
rights and labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law
Center (SPLC). Trump praised FRC President Tony Perkins as a
“tremendous guy.”
Earlier this month, the Justice
Department, under the direction of Attorney General Jeff Sessions,
released a memo titled Federal Law Protections for Religious
Liberty that outlines how federal agencies should preserve
religious liberty, even when it conflicts with non-discrimination
laws.
The DOJ memo broadly defines religion –
any “sincerely held” religious belief is deemed valid – and the
federal government and its agencies may not question “the
reasonableness of a religious belief.”
“The American Founders invoked our
Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence – four
times,” Trump told the VVS crowd. “How times have changed. But
you know what, now they're changing back again. Just remember that.”
In May, LGBT groups criticized Trump's
executive order that resulted in Sessions' guidance.
“Just last week, based on this
executive order, the Department of Justice issued a new guidance to
all federal agencies to ensure that no religious group is ever
targeted under my administration,” Trump said. “It won't
happen.”
The DOJ has already acted on the
principles outlined in its memo, backing several court cases where
religious beliefs are at odds with local non-discrimination laws,
including a case before the Supreme Court involving a baker who
refused to serve a gay couple.
(Related: Trump
admin files Supreme Court brief in support of baker who refused to
serve gay couple.)
“I pledged that, in a Trump
administration, our nation's religious heritage would be cherished,
protected and defended like you have never seen before,” Trump
said. “That's what's happening. That's what's happening. You see
it every day. You're reading [about] it.”