WASHINGTON–Today, ahead of the U.S. Senate’s consideration of nominees for the federal judiciary in the coming weeks, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, chairman of the USCCB Committee for Religious Liberty, sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee asking senators not to impose a religious test for public office. The letter states, in part, as follows:

“In recent months, multiple nominees to the federal judiciary have been interrogated about their membership in the Knights of Columbus, with the implication that participation in the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the country – a respected organization that has accomplished so much good for over a century – could be disqualifying. Not only are religious tests unconstitutional and unjust, they are an attack on all people of faith and those with no faith at all. Religious tests tell not only Catholics, but all Americans, that they cannot both serve their country and live out their convictions.”

Archbishop Kurtz concluded, “I implore you: end these discriminatory questions and refrain from further imposing religious tests on judicial nominees.”

The full letter can be found here: https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/upload/Abp-Kurtz-Letter-to-Senate-No-Religious-Test-for-Judicial-Nominees-February-2019.pdf

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Keywords: Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, USCCB, Senate Judiciary Committee, judicial nominees, religious tests, religious liberty, religious freedom, Knights of Columbus

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Source:: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops