Wall Street Journal Op-Ed:  Biden Boils the Religious-Liberty Frog, by Nicole Stelle Garnett (Notre Dame) & Meredith Holland Kessler (Notre Dame):

Cease and desist. That’s what Walter Reed National Military Medical Center wrote last week to Holy Name College, a community of Franciscan priests that has provided pastoral care to hospitalized service members for nearly two decades. The group had continued to minister into Holy Week after the government didn’t renew its contract when it expired on March 31—opting instead​ for what the Archdiocese for the Military Services described as a “secular defense contracting firm.” The result, it says, has been insufficient access to Catholic sacraments for troops and veterans.

The decision is part of a broader pattern of bureaucratic incursions on religious liberty. In mid-March the public-comment window closed on proposed federal regulations that would severely curtail the rights of faith-based organizations that work with the federal government to provide social services.

The regulations, which would govern programs in nine federal agencies, are innocuously titled “Partnerships With Faith-Based and Neighborhood Organizations.” They would scale back and in some instances rescind rules ensuring that religious organizations may participate in federally funded programs while keeping their faith commitments. …

The Biden administration shows no sign of slowing its regulatory war on religion, perhaps because its actions have thus far gone unnoticed. Talk of “notice of proposed rulemakings” evokes yawns, but these proposals ought to spark outrage. Many of these regulations will be challenged in court, and some of them eventually will be invalidated. But religious believers shouldn’t have to turn to courts to remind the executive branch that it is bound by the Constitution.

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