President Donald Trump has invited conservative leaders to the White House to watch him sign a highly anticipated and controversial religious order regarding religious freedom.
A copy of the order was leaked to the public, and it’s significantly different than the early draft which leaked a few months ago.
It contains much more nebulous language.
Here's the one-pager White House aides handed out in briefing room tonight on tomorrow's religious liberty executive order. pic.twitter.com/Bd8KF1KCbL
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 4, 2017
Early signs suggest conservative religious groups are split on the merits of the order.
The order does not appear to address the issue of religious-owned companies (the bakeries and flower shops) being required to serve LGBTQ groups, as many expected it would.
It does mention the Johnson Amendment—the rarely observed law that forbids tax-exempt, charitable non-profit organizations from endorsing political candidates—but does not overturn it.
The order also mentions “regulatory relief” for the Affordable Healthcare Act’s contraception mandate, but is not specific about what that relief would look like.
Conservative writer Ben Shapiro called the order “an enormous dud” and criticized the vagueness of the language. But the White House counters that the order will put “an end to the federal government punishing Americans for standing up for their moral beliefs.”
