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From: Richard Stone, Nathan J. Diament
June 14,
2004 – Defend
Religious Freedom
Last week,
the A.C.L.U. announced its opposition to and launched an
aggressive misinformation campaign against legislation critical
for the Orthodox Jewish community – Senate Bill 893 – the
Workplace Religious Freedom Act
This
legislation is designed to reinstate protections in the Civil
Rights Act which encourage employers to accommodate the religious
needs of their employees in the workplace. Typical examples
include allowing for religious clothing (such as yarmulkes, head
scarves and turbans) and for flexible scheduling arrangements to
facilitate holy day observances (ie: working late hours on
Tuesdays in order to leave early on Fridays for Shabbat).
The
legislation is supported by virtually all Jewish organizations and
a host of other faith community organizations including the
National Council of Churches, Southern Baptist Convention,
National Council of Muslim Women, Sikh Mediawatch and many others.
The legislation is bipartisan with Senators Rick Santorum (R-Pa)
and John Kerry (D-Ma) serving as its lead sponsors along with 19
other senators.
Despite these
facts, the ACLU is trying to rile up its membership and mislead
senators into believing that WRFA would undermine civil rights –
especially abortion rights and gay rights. THESE CLAIMS ARE
BASELESS, even in the eyes of WRFA supporters who traditionally
support abortion and gay rights.
We urge you to
contact your senators today and relay to them the importance of
supporting the Santorum-Kerry Workplace Religious Freedom Act.
Please convey to them that the Santorum-Kerry Workplace Religious
Freedom Act protects religious liberty and does not jeopardize
other civil rights in any way.
Please
e-mail, fax or telephone a message to your Senators. (Regular mail
is still being diverted for screening before it can be delivered
to Capitol Hill, so do not use this method.) Fax numbers and
e-mail addresses for individual Senators can be found at
www.senate.gov
by using the "Find Your Senators" feature.
Senators
hearing from you now is critical in light of the ACLU activities
and will be important to the passage of this legislation.
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More
information about Religious Accommodation in the Workplace
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