Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., is and has been an institution long championed by moderate and progressive Baptists for its defense of religious liberty for all people. Since 1936, Baptists from across geographic and racial lines…
Interfaith coalition asks Biden to stop Arizona land swap to protect Native American religious liberties
A coalition of nearly 60 interfaith groups —including nine Baptist groups — has written to President Joe Biden asking for his intervention in a controversial Arizona land-swap enacted in 2014 but not yet consummated. The deal as currently structured would…
‘Pandemic acknowledges no religious exemption,’ interfaith group warns state legislatures
“The pandemic acknowledges no religious exemption,” a group of faith leaders wrote to state legislators across the nation April 12. The interfaith group — which includes the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptist Home Mission Societies, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious…
White Christians at ‘a moment of reckoning,’ author says
Jefferson Davis’ statue coming down in Richmond, Va., and Walmart refusing to fly the Mississippi state flag because of its Confederate emblem are powerful signs the movement against white supremacy is taking hold, Robert P. Jones said during an online discussion hosted June 26 by the BJC.
Supreme Court hears arguments in potential landmark case over public funding of private schools
The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments Jan. 22 in a case described as a major test of the balance between religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
BJC, others, urge Supreme Court to allow states to bolster religious-liberty protections
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.
El Paso shooting puts Christian nationalism on trial
A Twitter account likely belonging to the suspect in Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, identified 21-year-old Patrick Crusius as a “proud God-loving Christian”
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.
James E. Wood, Baylor scholar and BJC leader, dead at 96
James E. Wood Jr., a Baptist statesman and scholar recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject of church-state relations and religious liberty, died peacefully March 4 at age 96. Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Wood began his…