(RNS) — On Monday (Feb. 3), Elon Musk and Mike Flynn sent a shot across the bow of every faith-based organization in the United States when they falsely accused a swath of Lutheran social service organizations of “money laundering” and promised to immediately halt payments on contracted funding.
This action from the newly created and unregulated Department of Government Efficiency run by Musk (who was neither elected nor confirmed by Congress) comes on the heels of the haphazard, now-canceled halt order on billions in federal funding from the Office of Management and Budget. Funding is still “paused” to refugee resettlement agencies, all partners of the U.S. Agency for International Development (known as USAID) and others. DOGE has now commandeered access to the Treasury Department payment systems as well. (A lawsuit has been filed by the federal employees’ unions to challenge this.)
As leaders of three organizations from different faith traditions and with different faith-based missions, we write to sound the alarm on these developments. Monday’s comments are not only an attack on the Lutheran community (though they certainly are that); they are an attempt by one individual to redefine, without consulting Congress or the people, who is worthy of dignity, who is worthy of help and who is allowed to offer that help. The administration’s actions are an assault on the carefully constructed government systems that enable our collective ability to serve the most vulnerable, and it is a direct violation of the principle of religious freedom at our nation’s core.
Take, for example, the immediate “stop work” order on refugee resettlement. This work supports those here legally, right now, often after years of robust vetting by the federal government in response to devastating situations in their countries of origin. Some of us have volunteered with Global Refuge and other faith-based organizations who do this work. We can personally attest that they do the lifesaving work of finding housing, offering food to those who haven’t yet found employment and helping prepare children for school in a new country.
Not only do compassion and the tenets of our faiths compel us to support these human beings, we would argue that refusing to do so is also profoundly counterproductive and counter to the common good. Without support from agencies such as Global Refuge and HIAS, many are likely to become wards of the state, ending up in police stations, public hospitals or without stable housing.
We must also note that these social service efforts — resettlement or otherwise — are done in partnership with the government, under government oversight, and in response to direct requests from the government to serve this function. This is a public-private partnership that has regularly enjoyed bipartisan support and that frees the federal government from having to build the infrastructure to provide direct services to the American people. The costs that will result from eliminating these programs will ultimately be borne by the American people — further burdening already strained local and state governments.
Refugee advocates rally to support the United States Refugee Admissions Program, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
There is an additional, more subtle, dimension to Musk’s actions. They come after a barrage of executive orders over the last two weeks that constrict the ability of nonprofits to do their work, including one to revoke the protected nature of “sensitive locations” such as houses of worship and schools. These actions — many taken illegally — represent a clear consolidation of executive power, and the use of that power to police and punish those with whom those in power disagree or whom they don’t understand.
Our concerns are based on firsthand understanding of human needs and a knowledge of how support for the most vulnerable among us is dispersed across our society.
We take seriously that faith-based groups can and do disagree on the direction of policy, including government spending. But there are two things without which Americans of faith simply cannot be free: First, a healthy democracy in which faith-based communities and organizations can act with courage and discernment and without fear of intimidation or targeting from the federal government. Second, the right and privilege afforded by the Constitution to freely pursue their values and missions, including by serving the most vulnerable populations with respect, compassion and mercy.
Whether you are a person of faith or not, Musk’s actions should concern you because they threaten the bedrock principles of our democratic freedoms.
Together, we call on Congress and President Donald Trump to provide necessary oversight to the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, ensuring that the freedom for religious organizations to practice and honor their faith is not infringed upon by government action. As people of principle and faith, we too are faced with a fork in the road: We can sit and wait for our specific community or organization to be targeted, or we can work together in defense of all of us.
(Aaron Dorfman is executive director of A More Perfect Union: The Jewish Partnership for Democracy; Amanda Tyler is executive director of BJC, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty; Jennifer Walker Thomas is co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)
