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Soldier4Christ
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« on: March 29, 2007, 07:29:48 AM » |
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DOJ's religious freedom seminars kick off in KC
The Justice Department is holding its first regional seminar on religious liberty today. That seminar, taking place in Kansas City, will focus on federal laws protecting religious freedom. Topics to be reviewed at the seminars include religious discrimination in schools, housing, public facilities, and government jobs, along with prosecution of religious hate crimes.
Today's seminar is part of "The First Freedom Project," an initiative that DOJ spokesman Wan Kim explains is designed to educate people about the rights of Americans to freely practice their religion without fear of discrimination. Kim shares one statistic from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that he admits took him by surprise when he first read it.
"f you look over the past decade or so at just one segment of discrimination -- and that is, discrimination in employment ... complaints of religious discrimination rose by 69 percent," says Kim. "That is miles beyond [the increase in] complaints for other types of discrimination during that same time period."
The DOJ, says Kim, is serious about helping protect religious rights of Americans.
"The Department of Justice can really offer a lot of service in this area," he says; "not only because it's the law and not only because [we're charged] to enforce these federal civil rights laws; but because a lot of times when we enter the scene, people realize we're not in this for the money .... We do it because it's our public responsibility to do it."
As part of the project, the DOJ says it is creating a "Task Force on Religious Liberty" that is chaired by the assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division. The focus of that task force, according to a Department announcement, is to "review DOJ policies impacting religious liberty, coordinate religious liberty cases, and improve outreach to stakeholder communities."
The First Freedom Project was announced during a meeting of Southern Baptist Convention leaders last month. Other regional seminars scheduled in coming months include Tampa, Florida (April 25) and Seattle, Washington (May 10).
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