CAIR warns identical House and Senate ‘Right to Worship Act’ bills could chill advocacy for Palestinian rights and undermine First Amendment freedoms
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today urged Americans to contact their senators and representatives and oppose S. 5289 and H.R. 10052, the misleadingly titled “Right to Worship Act,” in their current form.
CAIR warned that the legislation would chill peaceful protests against Israeli settlement land sales at religious venues, particularly when commercial events overlap with religious services and disputes arise over whether demonstrations interfere with worship.
CAIR supports the right of all people to worship safely and protest peacefully and is warning that the legislation would function as an “Illegal Israeli Settlements Protection Act” if its provisions are used as intended to discourage lawful demonstrations against events promoting Palestinian dispossession. Hosting a political or commercial event in a religious building should not shield that activity from public accountability.
TAKE ACTION NOW – CLICK HERE TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO PROTEST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
S. 5289 and H.R. 10052 contain identical substantive provisions. Senator Ted Cruz (TX-R) introduced the Senate bill with Senator Elissa Slotkin (MI-D). Representative Brad Knott (NC-R) introduced the House bill with Representatives Tom Suozzi (NY-D), Mike Lawler (NY-R), and Josh Gottheimer (NJ-D).
For the past several years, Senator Cruz has used his position on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee to host a series of Islamophobic hearings aimed at manufacturing suspicion of American Muslims and promoting anti-Muslim conspiracy theories. Recently, CAIR welcomed the announcement by five Democratic senators that they would boycott his anti-Muslim hearings. CAIR views this legislation as another attempt to silence American Muslims, Palestinians, and allies who defend human rights and oppose U.S. complicity in Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation, and apartheid.
Concerned Americans taking part in CAIR’s action alert will send the following message to their members of Congress:
“As your constituent, I urge you to oppose S. 5289 and H.R. 10052, the ‘Right to Worship Act,’ in their current form.
“Congress must protect congregants’ safety and access to religious services while preserving the public’s freedom to demonstrate. Existing protections against violence, threats, and physical obstruction should be enforced consistently.
“Events promoting the sale of Palestinian land in illegal Israeli settlements advance the dispossession and replacement of Palestinians on their own land. I view these sales as part of a broader project of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing that serves the genocidal goal of destroying the Palestinian people. Americans must remain free to protest these human rights violations and oppose U.S. complicity in them.
“A religious venue’s decision to host a political or commercial event cannot place that event beyond public accountability. Please do not allow the ‘Right to Worship Act’ to become the ‘Illegal Israeli Settlements Protection Act.’
“Although these bills do not prohibit every protest near a house of worship, their definitions and costly civil remedies could discourage lawful demonstrations. The First Amendment protects advocacy that challenges powerful institutions and demands accountability for human rights abuses. The prospect of costly litigation should not deter Americans from exercising that right.
“Please oppose both bills in their current form and defend religious freedom alongside the right to peaceful protest.”
CAIR’s Analysis of the Illegal Israeli Settlements Protection Act
The legislation would establish civil liability for conduct occurring within 100 feet of a house of worship during the hour before through the hour after a scheduled religious service if that conduct “knowingly” causes what the bills define as a “disrupt[ion]” of a service or an “impede[ment]” to participation.
Although the bills do not create a criminal offense, they would expose demonstrators to substantial financial penalties and litigation risks. Government penalties would begin at $2,500, while private plaintiffs could seek injunctions, compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney fees, costs, or statutory damages of $5,000 per violation. CAIR is concerned that the threat of lawsuits, damages awards, and attorney fees could discourage lawful protest activity, particularly on issues involving Israeli settlements, Palestinian rights, and other controversial political matters.
The context surrounding this legislation also matters. The bills followed controversy over demonstrations against events promoting property sales in Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory. Opposition to settlement expansion should not automatically be characterized as hostility toward worshippers because of their faith, and a commercial real-estate event does not become immune from public criticism because it takes place at a religious facility. Existing federal law already prohibits force, threats of force, and physical obstruction directed at religious worship. CAIR therefore questions the need for a new civil-liability regime that could be used to burden constitutionally protected advocacy and dissent.
Tell your senators and representative: Oppose S. 5289 and H.R. 10052 in their current form. Protect safe worship and First Amendment freedoms. Preserve Americans’ right to protest illegal Israeli settlement land sales, Palestinian dispossession, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.
CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
END
CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]