A Baptist state newspaper editor criticized a Southern Baptist Convention official for defending the building of a New Jersey mosque, suggesting that Islam should not be given First Amendment protection. Gerald Harris, editor of the Georgia Baptist newspaper Christian Index, wrote an…
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…
‘Excruciatingly different’ Mississippi religious liberty law specifies beliefs
Most of the religious freedom laws privilege religion over non-religion, but the Mississippi law also privileges religion over religion, he explained. He called that additional step a “deadly mixture of ignorance and hubris.”
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…
Mississippi religious liberty law challenged in court
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit May 9 challenging Mississippi’s religious freedom law, which critics say could be used to discriminate against gays.
BJC offers timely answers to questions about religious liberty
A new one-page resource advocates a “golden rule” for religious liberty. “Do not ask government to promote your religion if you don’t want government to promote somebody else’s religion; and do not permit government to hinder somebody else’s religion if…
What if we actually applied the Bible to our politics?
What if the lens we viewed politics through was the Bible? No, really! Seriously. For me, it might go something like this: The way of Christ compels me to love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. The…
BJC, others, oppose discrimination by federal contractors
The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty was among 42 religious, education, civil rights, labor and women’s organizations opposing an amendment to a defense policy bill that would exempt religious organizations from a 2014 executive order by President Obama barring…
Missouri Religious Liberty Amendment dies in committee
A Missouri Baptist Convention-engineered proposal to strengthen religious liberty protections in the state constitution died April 27 when it failed to win a majority vote from the House Committee on Emerging Issues. “I am sorry to report that freedom suffered…
The lawyers behind the recent wave of anti-trans bathroom bills
The speed at which they’ve emerged across the country, often with similar or identical language, raises the possibility that these bills are part of a coordinated effort.
Baptist founder still speaking after 400 years, says European leader
The message of Thomas Helwys — a founder of the Baptist denomination and one of the first Englishmen to state explicitly that people of any religion should be free to exercise their faith without government interference — is as relevant today…