By COLlive reporter
Chabad Rabbi Levi Shemtov was present as President Donald Trump signed an executive order giving religious institutions greater freedom of speech.
Rabbi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch, was once of the clergy invited to stand near the president on Thursday.
Trump signed the Free Speech and Religious Liberty order in the Rose Garden of the White House after a ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer.
He was joined by Vice President Mike Pence, religious leaders, activists and Rabbi Shemtov who also serves on the board of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington – Vaad Harabonim.
“We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced again and we will never stand for religious discrimination,” Trump said.
The new order directs the IRS to exercise maximum enforcement discretion to alleviate the burden of the 1954 ban on political speech from the pulpit.
It instructs the Treasury Department not to target the tax-exempt status of churches and other institutions if they express support for political candidates, Fox News reported.
Rabbi Shemtov has not expressed his thoughts on the new executive order but he told COLlive.com he was looking forward to working closely with this administration on a variety of issues.
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