By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Though I am serving this year as theologian-in-residence for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, this reflection on the annual CBF General Assembly this past week represents my independent, unvetted opinion. I write on the day…
Merritt, Moore debate Hobby Lobby’s alleged ‘hypocrisy’
By Bob Allen A faith-and-culture writer and Southern Baptist Convention official clashed June 17 about whether it’s hypocritical for Hobby Lobby to call itself a Christian company while doing business in China. Author and Religion News Service blogger Jonathan Merritt…
ERLC pays tribute to Hobby Lobby owners
By Bob Allen Southern Baptists will honor the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby next week in Baltimore for refusing to pay for employee insurance coverage for birth control methods as required by Obamacare. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and…
Church-state groups skeptical about Hobby Lobby Bible curriculum
By Bob Allen A group that advocates for separation of church and state says Hobby Lobby owner Steve Green’s new high school Bible curriculum is likely unconstitutional and warns that school districts that use it risk getting sued for violating…
Do for-profit corporations have religious liberties?
By David Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee The now-famous Hobby Lobby (HL) case finally has been argued before the Supreme Court, with a decision expected in June. I believe their claim should be denied. Here is my analysis. It…
Saying goodbye to Christian America
By David P. Gushee Follow David on twitter: @dpgushee One day in a doctoral seminar at Union Seminary, my ethics mentor Larry Rasmussen said words I will never forget: “There are advantages and disadvantages in every power position for the…
“Corporations are people, my friend” — Hobby Lobby and religious freedom
Less than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s most significant legislative accomplishment, “Obamacare” is set to be back before the High Court next month. Oral arguments for Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores,…
Brief says Hobby Lobby puts RFRA on trial
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist owners of Hobby Lobby claim in a Supreme Court brief filed Feb. 10 that mandated coverage of contraceptives under Obamacare is a textbook violation of a 1993 law enacted with broad support to prevent…
Scholar claims in legal brief that RFRA is unconstitutional
By Bob Allen Amid a flurry of legal briefs anticipating a Supreme Court decision this year to decide whether a 20-year-old law protecting an individual’s right to religious exercise also applies to corporations, one high-profile legal scholar argues the law…
ERLC supports Hobby Lobby in Supreme Court brief
By Bob Allen The Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission joined other faith groups in a Supreme Court brief filed Jan. 28 arguing that for-profit corporations cannot be forced to pay for employee insurance coverage of contraception if their…
Birth control and the Bill of Rights
By Miguel De La Torre Is requiring corporations to cover birth control medication an attack on religious liberty? Or is claiming the protection of religious liberty an excuse to force one’s religious convictions on others? Should religious affiliated organizations —…
2013: The year in Baptist news
By Bob Allen The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship introduced Suzii Paynter as executive coordinator Jan. 17. The third person to hold the job and the first woman, the former director of both the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission was officially elected…