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Advocacy Blog
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Justice Civil Rights Division Focuses on Religious Groups
The New York Times reports on a shift of the Justice Department's civil rights mission. During the Bush administration, religious cases are being taken up much more than cases of racial discrimination. One example is the involvement in "court cases on behalf of religion-based groups like the Salvation Army that assert they have the right to discriminate in hiring in favor of people who share their beliefs even though they are running charitable programs with federal money." Instead of prosecuting racial injustice, it is disturbing to read that the federal government was supporting the ability of groups to hire based on religion, while the Justice Department was also making similar hiring decisions.
Figures provided by the department show that from 2003 through 2006, there was a notable increase of hirings from religious-affiliated institutions like Regent University and Ave Maria University. . . . Several career lawyers said that some political appointees favored the religious-oriented employees, intervening to steer $1,000 to $4,000 annual merit bonuses to them."
Posted by Amanda Adams
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