It didn’t take long for Baptists who care about religious liberty to learn just how far astray Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, has drifted from our traditional support for church-state separation. Based on his remarks from the…
100 chaplains urge Texas schools not to take the bait on school ‘chaplains’
Texas school districts should reject a new state law that permits hiring government-approved chaplains to counsel public school children, more than 100 chaplains say in an Aug. 22 letter to school board members statewide. The chaplains warn the policy created…
What’s a Baptist to think of the coronation of Charles III?
There are about 2,600 Baptist churches scattered throughout the United Kingdom. The majority (2,000) are in England, where Baptist forebear Thomas Helwys established the first Baptist church on British soil. Another 300 are in Wales, 200 in Scotland, and the…
New York City mayor dismisses need for separation of church and state
New York City Mayor Eric Adams denied the need for separation of church and state in a speech at an interfaith breakfast Feb. 28. “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state,” he said. “State is the body….
At Salem, a reminder the Puritans were Christian nationalists too
Last year my wife and I, on a trip to Maine, included our annual detour to Salem, Mass. It’s a fascinating city just outside Boston, filled with literary and pre-Colonial history. Quite an industry has grown up around the historic…
Who knew ‘unalienable rights’ could undermine life, liberty and true happiness?
Like a stool with uneven legs, distorted interpretations of Americans’ “unalienable rights” provide a precarious perch in perilous times. The Declaration of Independence proclaims: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are…
I’m in love with Christianity. I don’t need the government to be
No matter the misappropriated moral algebra that the Supreme Court used to come to its higgledy-piggledy majority opinion, the fact remains that the Christian cross is not fundamentally a secular monument any more than the American flag is a religious symbol.
Legislating ‘In God We Trust’: using the state to do the Church’s work
For many today, American Civil Religion remains inseparable from Christianity, evident in current efforts among some 30 state legislatures to mandate the posting of “In God We Trust” (IGWT) in multiple government-related contexts. Haven’t we learned anything from history about the folly of such endeavors?
Exploring the church-state side of the same-sex marriage cases
By Executive Director J. Brent Walker When the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the same-sex marriage cases, the justices did not invite briefs on religious liberty. In its writ of certiorari granting review, the Court framed the issues to…