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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sessions: U.S. culture ‘less hospitable to people of faith’

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during a Religious Liberty Summit at the Department of Justice, Monday, July 30, 2018. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)
By Eric Tucker Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Justice Department is committed to protecting the religious rights of Americans.

In a speech Monday at a religious liberty summit, Sessions says there’s a “dangerous movement” to erode protections for Americans to worship and believe as they choose.

Sessions says Western culture has become “less hospitable to people of faith.”

He praised a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple and said “we’ve seen nuns ordered to buy contraceptives” and U.S. senators ask judicial nominees about their religious beliefs. That baker, Jack Phillips, was at the center of a case that reached the Supreme Court this year.

Sessions says that he believes one reason President Donald Trump was elected was because “he said he respected people of faith.”