Jackley Announces Faith and Family Initiative
PIERRE, SD: On Palm Sunday Attorney General Marty Jackley announced his Faith and Family Initiative to protect religious freedom and strengthen South Dakota families.
“As we enter Holy Week, we recall that we live in a state where ‘Under God the people rule,'” Jackley said. “In the face of federal overreach and unlawful mandates, I have repeatedly fought as attorney general to protect the religious freedom enshrined by our Constitution, and I will continue to be an unwavering advocate as governor.”
The Jackley Faith and Family Initiative includes the following commitments:
- Host Annual Faith Leaders’ Summit. Churches and faith-based organizations are on the front lines confronting poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, hopelessness and depression, and Jackley will hear those stories at an annual meeting with faith leaders.
- Promote a Culture of Life in South Dakota. Jackley will speak out against the taking of innocent life and sign legislation that protects the unborn, the elderly, the mentally ill and the disabled.
- Support Strong Families. Jackley will support pregnancy resource centers, help lines and other outreach centers where women can receive help during and after their pregnancy. He will also assist adoption centers and other organizations that offer alternatives to abortion.
- Support Mental Health Treatment and Addiction Recovery. Jackley holds a comprehensive view on the meaning of pro-life, and will direct a task force to assess South Dakota’s readiness to combat mental illness and addiction.
- Challenge DC Mandates that Conflict with Constitution and Conscience. Jackley will oppose federal overreach on issues related to religious displays, government support for abortion and illegal insurance mandates.
- Protect the Rights of Students. The rights of all South Dakota students, from K-12 to college campuses, to pray, express their religious faith and peaceably assemble must be protected. Jackley is also committed to protecting the privacy and dignity rights of every South Dakota student.
- Defend Conscientious Objection. Jackley will oppose any effort to attack, defund or delegitimize health care providers, insurance providers and employers who refuse to perform, facilitate or pay for procedures or treatments that violate sincerely held religious beliefs.
- Protect the Rights of Teachers and Faith-Based Organizations. The freedom to act consistent with sincerely held religious beliefs regarding traditional marriage must be protected.
The plan can be read in its entirety here.
Amen!
https://imgur.com/a/EWaua
Go Marty! Please adopt Kristi’s 2025 plan. Then you have my vote.
The first amendment of the US Constitution already gives us religious freedom. The religious freedom initiatives are not necessary.
I was curious about the Religious Freedom Initiatives too. Why is Marty pushing them?
If you look, he isn’t proposing new laws as you note the Constitution is sufficient. However, he is talking about opposing infringements.
For instance, if a city passes an anti-religious ordinance, it is the law until a higher authority renders its nullification. We need people to initiate such fights. It’s more about leadership and education about that which appears innocuous but is actually nefarious. Heidelberger is really good about couching religious bigotry in other terms.
Bishop Paul Swain was a lawyer (and legal counsel to the Governor of Wisconsin) before he became Catholic, a Priest, and ultimately Bishop. Because of that background, he very much understands how government (and society) can erode subtly religious freedom. For this reason, Bishop Swain has initiated regular perIods of prayer, education, and discussion of religious freedom throughout the diocese.
What Jackley describes is a similar form of leadership appropriate for a Governor to protect a Constitutionally listed individual and collective Right.
“if a city passes an anti-religious ordinance,”– Examples?
What about states passing un-Constitutional; laws to protect the bigotry , ignorance, hate , cloaked in pseudo religion?
Being from the south I know that the discrimination and violence against a segment of society deemed less than human was justified in the minds of many by their bible and what was preached from the pulpit. Were the laws that changed that “anti-religious laws”?
What a load of mostly un-Constitutional, pandering BS to the gullible…… Lap it up…it means NOTHING.
An annual summit? Seriously? Add this to Marty’s long list of blue ribbon commissions and task forces.
I guess it’s hard to blame Marty for adding government when that’s basically all he knows.
One wonders how Marty expects to pay for all the additional and unnecessary layers of bureaucracy he’s promoting in all these proposals.
Where is the addition of government? Having a hard time seeing it.
Read the first line of the preceding comment.
A summit or conference or seminar isn’t adding government because it may not be Constitutional to do by the government. It is promoting discussion and may be best done by a private organization supported and led by the Governor.
He literally says he “commits” to “hosting” a summit. The host usually pays, no?
If that is the case, I’m ok with it. Religious Freedom is a fundamental right and if the state pays for lunch for the attendees and rents a room, it is a bargain vs allowing the militant atheists to continue to erode our ability to practice this basic and fundamental inalienable human right.
$20,000 for a meeting vs millions for a program. I’m very good with it.
Even better, $0. Then spend the $20K on the Feeding South Dakota BackPack Program and feed 150 hungry South Dakota kids for a year.
Read the plan itself. Surprise! It includes yet another Jackley Task Force, in addition to an “annual summit.” We’re having trouble paying for what we currently have – who’s going to pay for this task force and who will pay for the summit?
I’m sensing a theme here – proposing task forces, summits, and commissions that have no identifiable purpose or goal but cost the state real money.
“As your governor, I will direct a task force…”
“The Jackley administration will commit to hosting an annual Faith Leaders’ Summit…”