A proposed rule that would allow more federal contractors to use religion to justify hiring, firing, and other employment decisions garnered more than 109,000 comments—a record in the online era for the agency pushing the proposal—with the American Civil Liberties Union accounting for nearly 62,000 of them.
The civil rights group is opposed to what it says is an expansion of religious exemptions that can shield contractors—including those not directly affiliated with a religion—from complying with workplace anti-discrimination laws.
The Family Research Council, a Washington, D.C.-based Christian public-policy ministry that supports the proposal as a way to ensure that religious ...