The Boston Globe reported yesterday that the proposed Workplace Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 1445) that has been languishing for many years in Congress is now gaining some momentum. The bill would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act by requiring employers to make an affirmative and bona fide effort to accommodate the religious practices of employees, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. The House Education and Workforce Committee held hearings on the bill last week. The full text of the testimony presented is available online. The bill has support from both conservatives and many liberals. However abortion rights and gay rights groups are now pressuring Democrats to oppose the bill.
Opponents fear that the bill would allow nurses and pharmacists to refuse on religious grounds to refuse to assist with abortion procedures or fill birth control prescriptions. However the bill excludes from its coverage accommodation for religious beliefs that prevent employees from fulfilling the ''essential functions'' of their jobs. Other opponents fear that the bill will protect harassment of gay colleagues by conservative Christians who oppose homosexuality on religious grounds, though the law does not appear to override any existing prohibitions on such conduct.
