Following a hearing in early March where Kanakuk abuse survivors, their families and other activists spoke in front of a Judiciary Committee at the Missouri House of Representatives about nondisclosure agreements, “Trey’s Law” continues to make its way through the…
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Rep. James Talarico
James Talarico was Texas’ youngest statewide elected official when he entered the Texas House in 2019. His mixture of bona fides — Democrat, devout Christian, former school teacher, Presbyterian seminarian — quickly attracted national attention, and many of his speeches…
Five ways the Texas school voucher bill is cruel
Here’s some basic arithmetic for you: The proposed school voucher bill approved tonight in the Texas Senate is cruel in at least five fundamental ways. First, it stacks the deck against public education, the bedrock of our democratic society. This…
Texas bill defines life as beginning at ‘fertilization’
The debate over when human life begins took a sharp turn in Texas, where a state legislator filed a bill that would define an “individual” as “a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of…
United Women in Faith and Texas Impact converge on Texas Capitol
United Women in Faith (previously known as United Methodist Women) is one of the largest denominational faith organizations for women in the United States. Since 1987, the Texas Conference of United Women in Faith has partnered with Texas Impact —…
Proposed new Texas school curriculum infused with Bible stories
A new curriculum under consideration by the Texas Education Agency threatens to turn state schools into Sunday schools and violate the religious freedom rights of children and families, education and religious liberty advocates warned during a recent webinar. The Bible-based…
Six oddities about the Texas school ‘chaplains’ legislation
In August last year, I joined more than a hundred other Texas professional chaplains in signing a letter opposing a law that would use school safety funds to employ chaplains. We saw multiple oddities in the claims, and I say…
The church already is in trouble, and we don’t need school vouchers to make things worse
I am opposed to spending public money on private schools for many reasons. I am in agreement with many who are stating their opposition to vouchers, as currently under consideration in a special session of the Texas Legislature called by Gov. Greg…
Ten Commandments bill dies in Texas Legislature
A controversial effort to require posting the Ten Commandments in all Texas public school classrooms has died for this session. Senate Bill 1515 passed through the Texas Senate on party-line votes but was among dozens of bills that didn’t get a…
An eleventh commandment: Be careful what you wish for
As a biblical studies professor, I have noted with interest Senate Bill 1515 in the Texas Legislature to place the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. But what are the Ten Commandments? There is no single definitive version of…
Nine ‘Mama Bears’ testify how anti-LGBTQ legislation is harming their families
Loving and supporting LGBTQ children does not make Christian parents bad Christians, Mama Bears founder Liz Dyer said during a roundtable presented by the Human Rights Campaign. “I like to emphasize that my faith led me to become affirming of…
‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife’ and other posters I do not want in a first grade classroom.
Editor’s note: This is the first opinion piece in a new series on religious liberty authored by BJC Fellows and made possible by a grant from the Prichard Family Foundation. Picture yourself in a first grade classroom, one with…