Last week I heard someone suggest that Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has moved to the left politically and abandoned its historic Baptist tradition. There’s an agricultural word to describe the fallacy of that argument, but I won’t use…
Nativity scenes, inflatable Santas and creeping secularism: What’s in your yard?
Advent and its expectant incarnational witness doesn’t belong to shopping malls, town councils, Congress or even the U.S. presidency. It abides with the church of Jesus Christ.
BJC’s Walker says Okla. ballot question poses danger to religious institutions
A Baptist expert on religious liberty termed a ballot initiative repealing Oklahoma’s prohibition against using state funds for religious purposes “a dangerous road” toward the intermingling of church and state. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for…
Sue for religious freedom? It’s not just for conservatives, anymore
The number of religious freedom bills across the United States may give the impression that using the law to protect faith is a purely conservative pursuit. Well, it isn’t, says Brent Walker of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
After 30 years, advocate still sees need to step up for religious freedom
Brent Walker can see the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Supreme Court building when he arrives at work. And that’s appropriate since he often finds himself heading over to those two buildings, as well as the White House and other…
Retiring BJC head describes religious liberty as a yes/no proposition
Six months away from retirement, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty head Brent Walker reflected on 27 years of “seeking both/and solutions in the congested intersection of church and state” at an annual lunch gathering for BJC supporters June 24 during…
After all these years, why still Baptist?
I hear the question all the time. I meet someone for the first time at a party, they eventually ask what I do for work, and then the follow-up is some version of, “How are you Baptist?”
Baptists join diverse faith groups to support mosque-building effort
Religious freedom has become synonymous with division in the United States thanks to a rash of controversial state laws creating tension between conservative religious groups and LGBT rights. Corporations and gay rights groups have squared off against states and cities…
Group files new challenge to clergy tax break
The Freedom From Religion Foundation once again has filed a lawsuit claiming the IRS ministerial housing allowance is unconstitutional. The Wisconsin-based group that advocates separation of church and state from a secularist position sued April 6 in federal court. It…