Thanks Barbara Liotscos for the share
The following information DOES NOT constitute legal advice in either the US or Canada. The message below is “heads up” only.
A warning from DIANA BUTLER BASS AUG 07, 2025
There’s a letter making the rounds on social media from my friends in the UCC (United Church of Christ in the US). It is an update from the UCC General Counsel (lawyer) to denominational leaders. The General Counsel cannot direct or advise local churches on actions and choices they make — this letter informs the church of some important changes in US federal law and gives some context for those changes. Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
“Over the past two days I have received several emails letting me know there has been a change in the terms and conditions of federal grants. I know that some of our churches have received and relied upon HHS grants, FEMA grants, and other types of federal grants to support their ministries. I know that some churches are planning to apply for federal grants under the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
Please encourage your churches to carefully review the terms and conditions of any federal grant they are choosing to apply for, with their own legal counsel.
The terms and conditions for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program now require recipients and subrecipients of the funding, among other things:
- to cooperate with immigration officials,
- not engage in or promote programs that engage in DEI, DEIA, or ‘discriminatory equity ideology’ within the meaning of the Executive Order, in violation of anti-discrimination laws, and
- not participate in discriminatory prohibited boycotts relating to Israel.
- HHS is also requiring certification of compliance with not engaging in DEI activity.
The terms and conditions of ANY federal funding MUST be carefully examined to ensure that accepting a grant does make the church’s ministry an instrument of the state by dictating what religious activities the church can engage in and with whom the church can associate.
I cannot provide counsel to Local Churches on whether they should accept the terms and conditions of these grants, what will happen if they are accused of violating them, and whether First Amendment defenses exist; these are issues and risks churches should raise with their legal counsel….Each church of the United Church of Christ can decide for itself whether to pursue funds from the government, and I encourage churches to carefully consider all of the implications when it is making these decisions.”
end of the quote from the UCC letter
[Diana Butler Bass]
Despite the very public pronouncements of religious freedom and an executive order “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” the concern that the Trump administration would turn its gaze toward liberal and progressive churches appears to now be happening.
It is notable that all three of the issues identified for grantee cooperation are concerns long at the center of mainline Protestant and social justice Catholic agendas — care for and protection of immigrants, racial and gender equality, and justice for the Palestinian people. These issues have been worked out differently in different denominations according to differing polities, but every major denomination has resolutions, policies, and public stances on these particular concerns — and they are, in some way, central to the theological vision of many Christians today.
Of course, this is a significant attack on religious freedom and the separation of church and state. And it underscores long-standing issues about federal monies going to any religious organization (although it must be noted that liberal and progressive churches take more legal care than conservative ones maintaining strict divides between their social service work and religious evangelism). In the next several months, lawyers, constitutional experts, historians who specialize in church/state issues, and denominational leaders will be busy sorting through what this all means to specific churches their social justice work.
But the short version is that it means nothing good — that the Trump administration is seeking to delimit what liberal and progressive Christians can do with money intended to fill gaps in America’s social programs for poor and marginalized people. And, although the particulars of enforcement and consequences are still a mystery, there doesn’t seem to be much of a doubt that putting these strings on this grant money is a way of stopping the work of mainline and liberal churches — and potentially to silence them as well.
Because it appears that if you take the cash, you have to muzzle yourselves. And your pastor. And potentially your ability to protest the government.
I don’t have any solution to this, much less any suggestions. The main reason I write today is to let you know that this is happening. And if people in the UCC are asking questions of their General Counsel, the rest of us can’t be far behind.
Read the full post here
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