Trump expected to sign executive order on religious liberty on National Day of Prayer

President Donald Trump will reportedly sign an executive order protecting religious liberty on the National Day of Prayer on Thursday.

According to Politico, the president has invited conservative leaders to the White House for what they expect will be the ceremonial signing of the executive order on religious liberty.

The plan for the ceremonial signing was confirmed by two senior administration officials, but one said that it has not yet been finalized and lawyers are still reviewing and fine-tuning the draft language.

A leaked copy of an executive order in February has prompted outrage from the Left due to their concerns that it would make it easier to use religion as an "excuse" to discriminate against members of the LGBT community.

The original draft provides broad exemptions for people and groups who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity.

Politico reported that an "influential conservative," who was able to see the new draft, noted that the text has not been "dialed back" much from the old draft.

According to CBN News, the new draft addresses the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits pastors from endorsing political candidates from the pulpit.

It directs the IRS to use "maximum enforcement discretion" when investigating tax-exempt organizations. The order will free up pastors and faith leaders to speak more freely from the pulpit, but it will still be illegal for churches to take out an advertisement to endorse a candidate.

A third provision of the order offers "regulatory relief" to faith groups that have moral objections to the contraception mandate in Obamacare. The White House expects that the provision will help alleviate numerous legal cases that were filed to challenge the contraception mandate.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the pro-LGBT firm Lambda Legal have already threatened to file a lawsuit should Trump sign the executive order.

"We will fight this with everything we have," Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Camilla Taylor said on Tuesday. "We are prepared to sue in a very short timeframe if the executive order closely resembles the leaked drafts," she added.

Apart from the threats of lawsuits, over 1,300 left-leaning religious leaders signed a statement denouncing the rumored religious freedom order.

"Although it purports to strengthen religious freedom, what this order would actually do is misuse this freedom, turning it into a weapon to discriminate against broad swaths of our nation, including LGBTQ people, women, and children in foster care," the letter stated.

"We urge you to turn away from all proposals that would abuse religious freedom, including any executive orders on this issue that are currently under consideration," it continued.