Federal employees can preach in the workplace under new guidelines issued Monday by the Trump administration that have alarmed advocates for the separation of church and state.
I’m a Christian teacher who opposes posting the Ten Commandments
Eleven years ago, I began my career as a high school English teacher at a school smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. It was the same sort of school that would be required to display the Ten…
Split Supreme Court won’t allow public funds for religious charter school
The nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school will not happen, after a tie vote by the U.S. Supreme Court May 22. Justice Amy Coney Barrett abstained in the case OKPLAC Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School, leaving eight justices…
House bill to censure preacher assigned to committee led by a Southern Baptist
The bill asking the U.S. House of Representatives to censure Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde for her sermon at Washington National Cathedral Jan. 21 has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That powerful committee is chaired…
Trump issues two orders on education that get swift pushback
Amid the flurry of executive orders coming from the Trump White House, two issued Jan. 29 related to education, and both drew immediate fire from educators and church-state separationists. The first order, “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families,” promotes…
Did Trump voters know what they were getting? Pew surveys say yes
With every announcement of a cabinet-level nomination that seems more shocking than the last, Americans who are not on the Trump train are struggling to understand how many of the president-elect’s actions will be agreeable to his base and whether…
Court strikes down Louisiana Ten Commandments law
A Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments be posted in every public classroom is “unconstitutional on its face” and may not go into effect Jan. 1 as state officials hoped, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge John W….
North Carolina Baptist association sends out letter calling Democrats Marxists
The director of missions for a Southern Baptist association in Eastern North Carolina sent a letter to all pastors of churches in Onslow County urging them to compel their members to vote for “biblical values” in this year’s presidential election….
Rwandan government closes thousands of prayer houses
The Rwandan government has once again begun enforcing inspection of prayer houses and has closed 70% of those it inspected. In a statement on its website, the Rwanda Governance Board stated: “RGB organizes frequent discussions and consultative meetings with church…
Baptist churches join NRB lawsuit seeking freedom to endorse political candidates
Two Texas churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention have joined the National Religious Broadcasters and Intercessors for America in a lawsuit that seeks to do away with any federal limits on politicking by tax-exempt religious nonprofits. Sand Springs Church…
Church/state mandates then and now: A tenuous freedom
Church/state mandates began early in the American colonies. On July 19, 1651, three Baptists — John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall — traveled from Newport, R.I., to Lynn, Mass., and the home of William Witter, who requested their visit…
Oklahoma Supreme Court says Catholic charter school unconstitutional
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional a decision by the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to grant a charter school license to a sectarian Catholic school. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would have been the nation’s first sectarian…