New Age Belief Employee Training Ban
Title VII of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriation Act, Sec. 714 (at pg. 147):None of the funds made available in this or any other Act may be obligated or expended for any employee training that— ... (4) contains any methods or content associated with religious or quasi-religious belief systems or "new age" belief systems as defined in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Notice N–915.022, dated September 2, 1988; or (5) is offensive to, or designed to change, participants’ personal values or lifestyle outside the workplace.
Health Care Contraceptive Coverage Exemptions
Title VII of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriation Act, Sec. 727 (at pg. 151):(a) None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be used to enter into or renew a contract which includes a provision providing prescription drug coverage, except where the contract also includes a provision for contraceptive coverage.
(b) Nothing in this section shall apply to a contract with— (1) any of the following religious plans: (A) Personal Care’s HMO; and (B) OSF HealthPlans, Inc.; and (2) any existing or future plan, if the carrier for the plan objects to such coverage on the basis of religious beliefs.
(c) In implementing this section, any plan that enters into or renews a contract under this section may not subject any individual to discrimination on the basis that the individual refuses to prescribe or otherwise provide for contraceptives because such activities would be contrary to the individual’s religious beliefs or moral convictions.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require coverage of abortion or abortion-related services.Title VIII of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriation Act, Sec. 808 (at pg. 156):
Nothing in this Act may be construed to prevent the Council or Mayor of the District of Columbia from addressing the issue of the provision of contraceptive coverage by health insurance plans, but it is the intent of Congress that any legislation enacted on such issue should include a "conscience clause" which provides exceptions for religious beliefs and moral convictions.
Preservation of Foreign Religious Sites
Title I of the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies Appropriations (at pg. 381):None of the funds appropriated under this heading may be used for the preservation of religious sites unless the Secretary of State determines and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that such sites are historically, artistically, or culturally significant, that the purpose of the project is neither to advance nor to inhibit the free exercise of religion, and that the project is in the national interest of the United States.
USCIRF
US Commission on International Religious Freedom (at pg. 388): A budget of $3 million is appropriated, to remain available until Sept. 30, 2013. However the section also provides that Section 209 of the International Religious Freedom Act is to be amended to substitute "September 30, 2012" for "September 30, 2011". This provision causes the Commission to terminate in 2012, even though HR 2687, also signed by the President on Dec. 23, extends the Commission's life until Sept. 30, 2014.
Natural Family Planning Grants
Title III of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (at pg. 392):[I]n awarding grants for natural family planning under section 104 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 no applicant shall be discriminated against because of such applicant’s religious or conscientious commitment to offer only natural family planning....
Reconciliation Programs
Title VII of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (at pg. 465):Of the funds appropriated by title III of this Act under the headings "Economic Support Fund" and "Development Assistance", $26,000,000 shall be made available to support people-to-people reconciliation programs which bring together individuals of different ethnic, religious and political backgrounds from areas of civil strife and war, of which $10,000,000 shall be made available for such programs in the Middle East
Russian Religious Discrimination
Title VII of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (at pg. 470):None of the funds appropriated under the heading "Assistance for Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia" in this Act may be made available for the Government of the Russian Federation, after 180 days from the date of the enactment of this Act, unless the Secretary of State certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that the Government of the Russian Federation: (1) has implemented no statute, Executive order, regulation or similar government action that would discriminate, or which has as its principal effect discrimination, against religious groups or religious communities in the Russian Federation in violation of accepted international agreements on human rights and religious freedoms to which the Russian Federation is a party....
