Last week, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey demanded Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas turn over all documents, records, and communications relating to his office’s X (formerly Twitter) post retaliating against Kansas City Chief’s kicker Harrison Butker for comments he made in a commencement speech at Benedictine College in which he openly discussed his Catholic faith.
“Missourians of faith deserve to know why Kansas City officials decided to attack Mr. Butker for his deeply held religious beliefs,” said Attorney General Bailey. “My office will not tolerate religious discrimination from City officials. I will enforce the Missouri Human Rights Act to ensure Missourians are not targeted for their free exercise of religion. The mayor needs to immediately turn over his office’s communications relating to this post.”
In his letter, Attorney General Bailey asserted, “Our nation is founded on a bedrock commitment to the free exercise of religion. In addition, Missouri law specifically prohibits faith-based discrimination against Missouri residents. Yet, your office apparently believes it is appropriate to denigrate a devout Catholic for comments he made about his own faith at a religious college.”
General Bailey continued, “Missouri’s Human Rights Act prohibits government actors from discriminating against citizens because of their sincerely held religious beliefs. . . To any employer or government official considering such a move, I assure you that I am prepared to use the authority provided in statute to defend the principle of free religious expression.”
Bailey concluded by stating, “Missourians deserve better from our elected leaders. Mr. Butker was well within his rights to discuss his religious views—views which are shared by millions of members of his faith tradition. Sadly, history is filled with examples of people of religious faith being targeted for their beliefs by government officials.”
The letter to Mayor Lucas can be read here.
