Church/state watchdog groups including the Baptist Joint Committee urged the U.S. Supreme Court to agree that a private school voucher program that diverts public funds to private Christian schools is unconstitutional in an upcoming case testing the balance between the First Amendment’s two clauses regarding religious liberty.
Supreme Court delivers ‘splintered’ opinion upholding Bladensburg cross
The United States Supreme Court ruled June 20 that a 40-foot Latin cross can remain on public land as a historical symbol of war.
BJC opposes ‘government-funded religious discrimination’ in foster care
Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said a Jan. 23 decision to grant an exception to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services policy prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds for religious discrimination “shows more concern for the providers than children in need and willing foster parents.”
Church-state watchdog says Trump’s evangelical advisory team is against the law
An advocacy group that monitors issues related to the free exercise and government sponsorship of religion says President Donald Trump’s unofficial evangelical advisory board is against the law. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based religious liberty…
Billy Graham lying in honor at Capitol raises church/state questions for some
Asked in a 2011 by Christianity Today magazine about his greatest regret, evangelist Billy Graham famously said, “I would have steered clear of politics.” That regret now haunts him in death in form of a debate about whether or not his body should have laid in honor at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump education pick worries church/state separationists
Advocates of church-state separation found little comfort in Donald Trump’s Nov. 23 announcement that he plans to nominate DeVos, a leader in the self-described school reform movement for more than two decades, to head up the U.S. Department of Education.
Do No Harm Act seeks to rein in RFRA claims
Some who 23 years ago worked for passage of a law ensuring broad protection of religious freedom say now the Religious Freedom Restoration Act needs tweaking so it can’t be used to discriminate against others. Groups including Americans United for…
Supreme Court sidesteps constitutional challenge to Obamacare
The U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped the constitutional question May 16 of whether Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate substantially burdens the rights of certain faith-based organizations to exercise their religion, sending seven cases back to lower courts after both sides conceded there may…
Legislation would bar religious discrimination in immigration
The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty joined 30 other religious and religious-liberty organizations in a broad coalition urging passage of legislation making it illegal for Donald Trump, if elected president, to bar Muslim immigration. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) unveiled the…