Federal workers are now free to preach and pray in the workplace and are even encouraged to proselytize colleagues while on the job, according to a new memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel and Management. “Employees may engage in…
Trump tries to criminalize homelessness
Claiming the nation is under threat from unhoused people, the Trump administration has announced “a new approach” to ending homelessness that includes expanded police powers and mass incarceration. “Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the…
1,000 nonprofits protest loosening Johnson Amendment
More than 1,000 churches and nonprofits in 50 states have signed a letter protesting the Trump administration’s attempt to shield congregations from a law banning tax-exempt organizations from endorsing political candidates. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Billy Long agreed July 7…
New lawsuit again seeks to block ICE raids at churches
The Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches USA have joined a coalition of religious groups in a new lawsuit seeking to bar immigration enforcement actions in houses of worship. The federal action was filed July 28 by Democracy Forward…
Facing lawsuit, Trump admin will fund schools
The Trump administration will disburse billions in education funding it has withheld from public school districts for weeks. “The White House will release $5.5 billion in frozen education funds, administration officials announced on Friday, bringing an end to a chaotic…
MAGA is making an ‘all-out assault on Black life’
It is naïve and uncritical to describe the racial injustice dominating American culture and politics as simply the latest iteration of bigotry to plague the nation, Willie Francois III said during the Progressive National Baptist Convention’s 64th annual session in…
Tennessee governor urged to commute death sentence of intellectually disabled man
Advocates and families of people with intellectual disabilities are pleading with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to halt the Aug. 5 execution of an inmate suffering from brain damage, dementia and lifelong cognitive impairment. While federal legal precedent and state statute…
Trump administration arrests ‘Interfaith Imam,’ setting off protests
Tensions are boiling over in Ohio as immigration authorities continue to detain Imam Ayman Soliman, a former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain whose asylum status was revoked last month. More than a dozen demonstrators have been arrested at vigils organized since…
Baptists in Australia, New Zealand and Canada wrestle with LGBTQ inclusion
Like it long has in the U.S., disagreement over same-sex marriage and congregational autonomy are also driving a wedge between Baptists in Australia. Divisions began to simmer in 2022 when the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory Baptist Association…
Trump administration won’t consider violence against women in immigration
The Justice Department has determined women no longer may cite gender-based violence as grounds for seeking asylum in the U.S. The agency’s Board of Immigration Appeals ruled July 18 “that a particular social group defined by the alien’s sex or…
New book explores missions from viewpoint of MKs
Mission work historically has been key to evangelical self-understanding and their view of the United States as a Christian nation favored by God, historian and author Holly Berkley Fletcher said. “Christian nationalism is based on this grandiose idea of what…
Florida parents fight for right to get books restored
Three parents are appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit contending Florida violated their constitutional right to contest the removal of books from public schools. The target of the initial lawsuit and the appeal is a 2023 state law providing a…