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People gather to pray during a vigil that included prayers for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., after he was shot during a baseball practice on June 14, 2017, in Alexandria, Va.(Photo: Zach Gibson, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Sixty-four Republican lawmakers are askingAttorney General Jeff Sessions toreassure them that no religious test will be required for people to hold government positions.

The Friday letter to Sessions, obtained by USA TODAY, is in response to a series of questions that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked one of President Trumps nominees for the Office of Management and Budget earlier this month.

Questions were asked during a recent Senate Budget Committee hearing about an executive branch nominees adherence to the Christian faith, suggesting that such beliefs disqualified the nominee from service, the lawmakerswrote. They askedSessions to make clear that no religious test will ever berequired to serve in the government of the United States.

Earlier this month, Russell Vought Trump's nomineeto bedeputy director of the Office of Management and Budget testified in front of the Senate Budget Committee.

During the hearing, Sanders brought up a a 2016 post Vought wrote for the conservative blog The Resurgent.

Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, his Son, and they stand condemned, Vought wrote in the post.

Sanders read the post out loud and asked whether Vought believed it was Islamophobic. Vought responded: Absolutely not, senator. Im a Christian and I believe in a Christian set of principles based on my faith.

This nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about, Sanders concluded.

Religious liberty advocates cried foul over Sanders' line of questions. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., accused Sanders of coming dangerously close to crossing a clear constitutional line.

Lankford is a former religious youth camp director and serves as co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus. He wrotethe letter with Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., a pastor and co-chairman of thecaucus.

Sanders has defended his conversation with Vought. He told CNN that he was absolutely not saying someone was Islamophobic because they believe the path to God is through Jesus.

One of the great parts of our Constitution is to protect freedom of religion. You practice what religion you want. I do. Mr. Vought does. That's what it's about, Sanders said in a CNN interview in mid-June. But at a time when we are dealing with Islamophobia in this country to have a high-ranking member of the United States government essentially say, 'oh, Islam is a second-class religion' seemed to me unacceptable as a government official.

In May, Trump signed an executive order aimed at promoting religious liberty.But some activists believed it was largely symbolic and did not go far enough.

Contributing: Nicole Gaudiano

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Republicans ask Jeff Sessions to reaffirm no religious tests for government posts - USA TODAY