The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has urged the Internal Revenue Service to add religious liberty language to a proposed anti-discrimination regulation affecting private schools.
The IRS recently closed the public comment period on a proposed antidiscrimination regulation that would strip tax-exempt status from private K-12 schools, colleges and universities that consider a student’s race or ethnic background in admissions, financial aid, scholarships or other opportunities.
The preamble of the proposed rule states that it would not prevent private religious schools from maintaining their religious missions or from using selection criteria based on a person’s religious affiliation. The bishops noted, however, that this language does not appear anywhere in the text of the rule itself.
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In a public comment submitted Nov. 2 by the USCCB, the bishops said the proposed language could prohibit “religiously motivated programs addressing ethnoreligious identity and community needs,” because the preamble permits selection criteria only if it “is based solely on religion and not on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.”
The bishops asked the IRS to add religious liberty language to the regulation itself and to remove the word “solely” from that text before finalizing the rule. They also encouraged the agency to address the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in both the preamble and the rule.
In addition, the bishops asked the IRS to direct its personnel not to “second-guess” a religious school’s doctrine, to include explicit language stating that sincerely held religious belief does not violate the rule, and to give private schools a period to correct any violation before enforcement action is taken.
The USCCB was joined in its comment by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and The Catholic University of America.
This article originally appeared on American Faith and is reposted with permission.
