Religion & Law
Blog From The Capital 
Blog from the Capital is the weblog of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a Baptist church-state separation advocacy group in D.C. for the last 70 years.
Post Frequency: 8.8/day Last Entry: March 30, 2009 at 16:22:09 Recent Entries: 712
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Texas Judge Throws Out "Under God" Challenge
Posted on March 30, 2009A district judge in Texas upheld the state's pledge as constitutional in a ruling on Thursday. Public school parent David Wallace Croft challenged the phrase "under God", but on the heels of the 5th Circuit's recent ruling in support of...
Senate Confirmation Hearing of David Hamilton Set
Posted on March 30, 2009On Wednesday at 2:30, according to the Judiciary Committee's website, Judge David Hamilton will have his confirmation hearing. Hamilton was nominated by President Obama to fill a vacancy on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and is sure to have...
Are Crosses and the Ten Commandments Meaningless When Government Uses Them?
Posted on March 30, 2009In an op-ed for the USAToday, Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett argues that the Supreme Court should use the upcoming Mojave Cross case as an opportunity to set the record straight on governmental religious displays. More specifically, he wants...
Texas Education Board Adopts "Mixed Messages" on Evolution
Posted on March 27, 2009The Fort-Worth Telegram reports from the Education Board's votes yesterday. As I posted yesterday, science supporters successfully (if barely) turned back an effort to emphasize "weaknesses" in evolution in the curriculum. But the board also adopted a string of amendments...
Do Religions Have Rights?
Posted on March 26, 2009The UN's Human Rights Council has adopted a controversial resolution that finds "defamation of religion" to be a violation of human rights. I find much common sense in the members of the Council who argued that this language could improperly...
Texas Science Curriculum at Stake in Votes Today [UPDATED]
Posted on March 26, 2009The Texas Education Board has its final say (hopefully) today in proposed alterations to the science curriculum that would reinstate discredited, religion-based objections to evolution. The Dallas Morning News, noting that textbook publishers often defer to the state's standards in...
Arizona Supreme Court Rules Voucher Programs Unconstitutional
Posted on March 25, 2009In recent years, Arizona has attempted limited voucher programs to allow both foster and disabled children taxpayer money to attend private schools. Today the state's Supreme Court unanimously ruled both initiatives in violation of Arizona law. The Daily Star has...
Judge Rules Homeland Security Policy Amounts to Religious Discrimination
Posted on March 25, 2009The U.S. Department of Homeland Security believes that international religious workers entering the country are more likely to commit fraud on their visa applications than other international workers. So they have had procedures in place to make it more difficult...
Texas Education Board Trying Again to Soften Science Curriculum with Religious Concerns
Posted on March 25, 2009Once again the Texas Board of Education is primed to hear testimony and vote on the language used to teach evolution in science textbooks. In the Dallas Morning News, Daniel Foster argues that the mixed messages anti-evolutionists would send children...
Obama's "Outreach Toward Both Ends of the Religious Spectrum"
Posted on March 24, 2009The Wall Street Journal's Laura Meckler writes of President Obama's practice of acknowledging "nonbelievers" during public events at the same time that he demonstrates great comfort with faith publicly. The outreach toward both ends of the religious spectrum makes for...
9th Circuit Supports Nevada School in Monitoring Graduation Speech
Posted on March 24, 2009The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed the First Amendment lawsuit brought by a Clark County, NV 2006 high school valedictorian. Brittany McComb strayed from her approved speech to include personal religious testimony during her commencement address and had...
Weekend Roundup: Blasphemy Laws, Newt's Still Upset, Ceremonial Hallucinogens, and More
Posted on March 23, 2009Too many stories over the weekend to choose from. Take your pick! The NYTimes profiles the issue of state blasphemy laws, particularly the one in Pennsylvania now being challenged. Narrowly speaking, the suit filed last month in Federal District Court...
Voucher Proponent Sees the Light
Posted on March 23, 2009The Washington Post's Jay Matthews has changed his mind on DC school vouchers. A former supporter, he now thinks that tax money should be used to improve the education of all public school children. Even if we had unlimited funds...
Ceremonial Deism
Posted on March 20, 2009At Beliefnet, Mark Silk ponders the issue of ceremonial prayer. Asking clergy to deliver only inclusive non-sectarian prayers at government meetings, he says, is not asking too much. It impinges on no clergy's religious freedom to be asked to pray...
Lions and Tigers, Living Together!
Posted on March 19, 2009The NYTimes reports on the opposition to a proposed Prison Bureau rule (earlier post here), noting the diversity of groups that came together in signing the statement. The Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian lawyers who litigate religious rights...
Conservatives Misrepresent Prayer Decision to Oppose Hamilton's Appeals Court Nomination
Posted on March 19, 2009The blog of the conservative American Spectator posts a letter in opposition to President Obama's nomination of David Hamilton to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, emphasizing in fairly shrill and certainly inaccurate terms his decision in the Indiana House...
Obama Selects First Appeals Court Judge
Posted on March 18, 2009Via Religion Clause, President Obama has nominated an Indiana judge to fill a vacancy in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. From a church-state perspective, the selection of David Hamilton would seem to be good news. He wrote the decision...
One Day Late, But...
Posted on March 17, 2009Happy Birthday James Madison! (That's what you're celebrating today, right?) In the Wall Street Journal, Steven Waldman explains why he's taking the time to remember. Madison's most important contribution to religious freedom was not legislative, it was theoretical...
Baptist Joint Committee Opposes Proposed Bureau of Prisons Rule
Posted on March 17, 2009The Baptist Joint Committee, along with several other religious and civil liberties organizations, signed a statement today in opposition to a proposed rule that could enhance the right of federal prisons to remove certain religious materials. You can read the...
Air Force Investigates Commander for Sending "Inspirational" Link to Subordinates
Posted on March 16, 2009Over the weekend, the NYTimes reported the Air Force is investigating an incident in which a commander sent an email to the thousands of personnel in her wing directing them to an "inspirational video" concerning the role of Christian faith...
5th Circuit Affirms TX Moment of Silence Law
Posted on March 16, 2009AP reports a 5th Circuit panel has ruled Texas' "Moment of Silence" law constitutional, in the face of a challenge by parents who objected to the recently-altered wording of the bill. The 2003 law allows children to "reflect, pray, meditate...
New York Ponders Religious School Conversion
Posted on March 16, 2009New York's Gotham Gazette considers the church-state implications of the city's plan to turn a handful of struggling religious schools into public charter schools. Not surprisingly, the infusion of public money comes at a price. Much of this presents challenges...
BJC Counsel Takes on Radio Talk-Show Host
Posted on March 14, 2009Baptist Joint Committee Counsel Holly Hollman reacts in a column today in the Tennessean, after the Nashville paper published a screed from right-wing radio talk-show host Phil Valentine spouting many of the usual lies about church-state separation. Claiming it was...
DC District Court Dismisses Inauguration Challenge
Posted on March 13, 2009Via Religion Clause, a lawsuit challenging the practice of including prayers in the Inauguration ceremony, and "So help me God" in the swearing-in of the President has been dismissed by the DC District Court for lack of standing. [T]he Court...
Legal Battle Continues over Religious Student Groups, School Discrimination Policies
Posted on March 12, 2009Attorneys for the Christian Legal Society met a skeptical 9th Circuit panel Tuesday in their efforts to obtain full recognition at Hastings College of Law for the student CLS organization, denied in 2004 for violating the school's nondiscrimination policy...
Do 223 Years of Religious Freedom Principle Need an Update?
Posted on March 12, 2009A political action group in Virginia is arguing for a legislative update to that state's famous Statue for Religious Freedom. Religion and Philosophy Professor Stephen Strehle makes the case in today's Washington Times. Today the enemy of liberty is no...
Senate Rejects DC Voucher Amendment to Budget
Posted on March 11, 2009The Senate passed the final '09 appropriations bill tonight after voting on several contentious amendments, including one that would have restored funding for DC's voucher program. That amendment failed, 58-39. As I noted in an earlier post, new Education Secretary...
Connecticut Changes Course, Withdraws Church Interference Legislation
Posted on March 11, 2009Sometimes reason prevails. Even at the expense of good intentions. Connecticut lawmakers have withdrawn a bill from consideration that would have governed the way Catholic parish finances are monitored. An outcry from church-state experts and others argued the measure was...
10th Circuit Judges Question "Secularization" of Cross
Posted on March 10, 2009A panel of the 10th Circuit yesterday considered the constitutionality of large memorial crosses on Utah highways, marking the deaths of state patrol officers. At issue in part is whether the cross has become merely a secular symbol of death...
Church-State Arguments This Week
Posted on March 09, 2009Today, the 10th Circuit hears arguments in the challenge to memorial crosses marking the deaths of Utah's state troopers. A lower court determined that the 13-foot high cross monuments are not an improper government endorsement of religion because "the cross...
At Stake in Monument Decisions: A Hierarchy of Religions
Posted on March 09, 2009Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Welton Gaddy ponders the Supreme Court's Summum decision in advance of the upcoming Mojave cross appeal the Court recently decided to hear. The most recent unanimous ruling handed down by the Supreme Court raises concerns about...
Urging Clarity From the Court
Posted on March 08, 2009An editorial in yesterday's LATimes argues that many church-state controversies like the Summum case could be avoided if the Supreme Court would iron all the wrinkles out of their religious display decisions. In a pair of 5-4 decisions, the court...
Baptist Joint Committee Statement on Summum Decision
Posted on February 26, 2009From a BJC statement following yesterday's Supreme Court decision in the Summum case: J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, said ?the government should not be able to pick and choose the favored religion and then erect...
Summum Attorney Accentuates the Positive
Posted on February 26, 2009The Salt Lake Tribune catches the quote of the day:Summum attorney Brian Barnard said the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Wednesday opens the door to a new constitutional challenge as the case returns to U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City....
Presidential Events Open with "Vetted" Prayer
Posted on February 25, 2009Via Religion Clause, Dan Gilgoff reports that President Obama's public events around the country have opened with prayers from local faith leaders, who have been asked to submit the prayers ahead of time, presumably for approval from the White House....
Unanimous Court Rejects Summum Case, Sidesteps Establishment Clause Question
Posted on February 25, 2009This morning the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the case involving members of the Summum faith, who argued that a monument to their religion must be accepted in a public park by the government if a monument to other...
Mojave Cross to Measure New Court on Church-State Separation
Posted on February 24, 2009LATimes reporter David Savage writes that the Supreme Court's decision to hear the appeal in the Mojave cross display paves the way for the first Establishment Clause stamp from the Roberts court. In the last two decades, the justices have...
Virginia Trooper Prayer Legislation Update
Posted on February 24, 2009Good news from Virginia, as legislation designed to allow sectarian prayer at mandatory state trooper events - attempting to overturn the nondenominational prayer required by the current state police chief - was killed in a committee vote yesterday. The bill...
Form and Substance: Supreme Court Faces Options in Cross Case
Posted on February 24, 2009Lyle Deniston takes a look at the Supreme Court's decision to hear the Mojave cross appeal. Writing at Scotusblog, he notes two potential avenues for the Justices to decide the case: either further restricting standing in Establishment Clause cases, or...
KY Baptist Home Appeal Headed to 6th Circuit
Posted on February 23, 2009The 6th Circuit will hear the appeal of the Kentucky Baptist Children's Home, accused of religious discrimination and using taxpayer funds to promote religion. The case was previously dismissed for lack of standing, citing the recent Supreme Court decision in...
Supreme Court to Hear Controversial Cross Display Dispute
Posted on February 23, 2009The Supreme Court granted cert today in the case now known as Salazar v. Buono, the long-running battle over a memorial cross on federal land in the Mojave Desert. Congress has intervened to try to save the cross by transferring...
Dependence on Government Funding Straps Faith-Based Providers in Bad Economy
Posted on February 20, 2009The front page of today's Washington Post carries a story highlighting the plight of faith-based social service providers due to cuts in taxpayer funding. The nation's economic woes have led local and state government agencies across the country to reduce...
Becket Fund Joins Call to Change Arkansas' Constitution
Posted on February 20, 2009Believe it or not, a few states still have constitutional provisions disallowing atheists from holding office, completely - of course, at odds with the US Constitution's guarantee that there can be no religious test. An effort is under way in...
Judge Rules in Eagle Feather RFRA Case
Posted on February 19, 2009A federal judge in Utah has ruled that non-Native Americans do have a right to the use of eagle feathers for religious purposes, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson says the government ban on the...
Will Supreme Court Take Snowbowl RFRA Case? Experts Argue They Should
Posted on February 18, 2009In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to accept Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Service, the RFRA case in which the 9th Circuit decided an Arizona ski resort was not substantially burdening the religion of...
ADL Petitions President for Heightened Religious Liberty Protections in Faith-Based Funding
Posted on February 18, 2009The Anti-Defamation League today sent a letter to President Obama urging him to add constitutional protections to his plan for expanding the faith-based initiative. During the campaign, you stated that the Bush Administration faith-based initiative lacked essential safeguards against proselytizing...
AU: Charter School Conversion Carries Church-State Responsibilities
Posted on February 17, 2009Americans United today warned New York City to follow principles of church-state separation in transforming Catholic schools into public charter schools. If this proposal is carried out, the new charter schools would be barred from offering religious instruction or worship...
Anti-Science Legislation Leads to Louisiana Boycott
Posted on February 17, 2009A new Louisiana law that inserts creationist concerns into the science curriculum has compelled a leading group of biologists to reject New Orleans for their convention in 2011. The NYTimes has more: The group has more than 2,300 members, mostly...
"This is a Fight We Need Not Have"
Posted on February 16, 2009In a USAToday op-ed, Henry Brinton reflects on how to "honor science and religion" as we mark Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. The challenge of reconciling the two is greater than ever, with the percentage of U.S. adults who accept evolution...
NYTimes Questions Obama's Faith-Based Discrimination Plan
Posted on February 16, 2009In a tough editorial today, the NYTimes takes President Obama to task for "violating" a "campaign promise" in failing to offer a strict non-discrimination rule in conjunction with the creation of his Faith-Based Office. Finding fault with his plan to...
Secretary Clinton Urges Religious Freedom For Chinese and Tibetans
Posted on February 15, 2009In her first address as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton - traveling to East Asia - delivered a wide-ranging speech outlining diplomatic goals and priorities for the U.S. in the region. One of those goals, and clearly one of the...
Final Stimulus Bill Removes School Construction Funding With Controversial Religious Liberty Provision
Posted on February 13, 2009Tough to look through such a long bill for something *not* there, but from my scanning of the final stimulus bill, it appears the Senate's removal of school construction funding held up in the conference report. So, the unfortunate clamor...
US Religious Freedom Commission Calls on Obama to Address Sudan
Posted on February 12, 2009In a press conference yesterday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the Obama Administration to focus renewed peace efforts on the Sudan and Darfur. The Commission called Sudan the world's most violent abuser of religious freedom, and denounced...
Tax-Funded Discrimination "Turns Back the Clock"
Posted on February 11, 2009At the Washington Post's On Faith blog, the question is whether President Obama's faith-based funding program should allow discrimination in hiring. The Baptist Joint Committee's director, Brent Walker, responds that it is "arguably unconstitutional", but that either way: [T]he administration...
Faith-Based Balance
Posted on February 11, 2009At US News and World Report, Dan Gilgoff wonders if "Obama's Faith-Based Initiative Program Could Be Stronger Than Bush's?" In trying to satisfy both the religious groups that Bush brought into the White House and advocates of church-state separation, Obama...
All Eyes on Obama's Church-State Policies
Posted on February 11, 2009Reporting and Commentary on President Obama's church-state policies continue this week. AP's Eric Gorski writes about the "big tent" of opinion comprising the faith-based advisory council. Notably, the piece includes a quote from former BJC head James Dunn, as well...
Solicitor General Confirmation Hearing: Kagan Regrets Religious Funding Memo
Posted on February 10, 2009Harvard Law Dean Elana Kagan is President Obama's nominee to be the nation's Solicitor General, and Thomas Perrelli the nominee to be Asst. Attorney General. In Senate confirmation hearings today, according to a live blog account at SCOTUSBlog, Kagan was...
Re-Run of Intelligent Design Trial Documentary
Posted on February 10, 2009This evening, PBS' Nova is replaying its episode highlighting the trial over intelligent design in Kitzmiller v. Dover, in which Judge John Jones determined intelligent design was merely creationism re-packaged, and inappropriate for the public school science curriculum...
More Sectarian Prayer in Virginia
Posted on February 10, 2009This time a State Senate committee: The Senate Courts of Justice committee today voted down a bill that would have allowed sectarian prayers at government meetings and events. Senate Bill 1072, sponsored by Sen. Stephen H. Martin, R-Chesterfield was formulated...
Religious Fears Over the Stimulus Bill Continue to Spread
Posted on February 09, 2009I've received several notes over the weekend and today from friends and acquaintances concerned about inflammatory emails they're getting warning of the "anti-religious liberty" component of the stimulus bill. Half are worried that the allegations may be true ("Are we becoming an anti-Christian state!?") and the other half understandably worry that the Religious Right is getting away with misleading, divisive - even downright false - accusations that are unfounded.
Faith-Based Hiring: Is Case-By-Case Good Enough?
Posted on February 09, 2009In an editorial today, the LATimes calls on the Obama administration to fulfill the President's campaign promise not to allow federal funding for religious organizations that use that money to discriminate in hiring. In addition, the argument continues, the plan...
Federal Judge Rules Against Religious Student Groups in California
Posted on February 09, 2009The San Diego Tribune reports on the decision by Judge Larry Burns, ruling that California's non-discrimination policy does not violate the First Amendment rights of religious groups seeking to deny membership to openly gay students. The ruling...decides the lawsuit filed...
Coverage of Obama's Faith-Based Office Announcement
Posted on February 07, 2009Associated Baptist Press' report from Rob Marus adds this about the religious discrimination in hiring issue: According to some news reports Feb. 5, Obama will separately order the Justice Department to study the policy behind the Bush executive order, as...
The Scandal That Isn't
Posted on February 06, 2009Religious Right groups are up in arms over a provision in the stimulus bill that would restrict federal construction grant money to schools from being used for religious purpose, meaning schools can't use it to build or renovate buildings whose...
Virginia House Passes Chaplain Prayer Bill
Posted on February 06, 2009Thanks to a reader for sending this story, updating the controversy surrounding police chaplains uttering distinctly Christian prayers in their official capacity at state-sponsored events. The Virginia House has passed a bill prohibiting the State Police from requiring official ceremonial...
At Prayer Breakfast, Obama Reaffirms Church-State Commitment [UPDATED]
Posted on February 05, 2009President Obama spoke at this morning's National Prayer Breakfast, announcing the creation of his Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, of which apparently more will be coming later today. In his prepared remarks (pdf), once again, he acknowledged the importance...
Religious Discrimination Position by White House Still Undecided?
Posted on February 05, 2009Is the White House still trying to determine whether or not to undo Bush Administration policies allowing religious discrimination with taxpayer money in hiring? That's what Interfaith Alliance head Welton Gaddy says, after speaking with Faith-Based Office directory Joshua Dubois,...
Baptist Joint Committee Statement on Obama's Faith-Based Order
Posted on February 05, 2009The Baptist Joint Committee released a statement today noting President Obama's executive order creating the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and pleased that the faith-based advisory council will include trusted voices on church-state separation...
Faith-Based Executive Order Creates Constitutional Review Mechanism
Posted on February 05, 2009The executive order establishing the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is now online. It includes this item, indicating the Director may turn to the Justice Department for opinions regarding church-state issues. In order to ensure that Federal programs and...
White House Faith-Based Advisory Council Includes (Overly?) Diverse Group
Posted on February 04, 2009AP's Eric Gorski reports that President Obama is set to announce his Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, with Josh Dubois as its leader. But along with that comes news of an advisory council that includes religious leaders from many....
5th Circuit Debates Texas' Moment of Silence Law
Posted on February 04, 2009AP reports on yesterday's oral arguments, after a lower court ruled the law constitutional. In 2003, state lawmakers amended an existing law that already allowed schools to hold a moment of silence to specify that students can use the time...
Universal School Voucher Bill Offered in Georgia
Posted on February 03, 2009State Senator Eric Johnson offered a bill yesterday that would create a voucher program accessible to all Georgia students. The scheme would make taxpayers' education money available to private schools including religious schools. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the outrage among...
New York City to Open Hebrew Charter School
Posted on February 02, 2009The number of culturally based, but publicly funded, charter schools is on the rise. This fall, Newsday reports, New York City will add a Hebrew school. The Hebrew Language Academy Charter School's school will open two years after the debut...
Creationism in Schools Debated (Still?!)
Posted on February 02, 2009In anticipation of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, US News and World Report takes us backward 40 years with their op-ed question of the week: Should Creationism be Taught in Public Schools? Henry Morris of the Institute for Creation Research offers....
Justice Department Shift Away From Religious Discrimination Focus Anticipated
Posted on February 01, 2009Today's NYTimes says the Obama Administration's Justice Department is preparing to shift its focus in many areas, including discrimination law enforcement. The civil rights division, which had been reshaped in a conservative direction under President George W...
Mixed Church-State Review for House Stimulus Bill
Posted on January 30, 2009Americans United issued a press release yesterday praising the House's stimulus bill for language restricting school renovation money from going to religious schools or houses of worship, and for keeping the bill clean of other faith-based provisions, but lamented their...
Interview with New Faith-Based Director
Posted on January 30, 2009PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly points to interviews conducted with Joshua Dubois during the presidential campaign. Dubois was Obama's religious outreach director, and will reportedly be named head of the new faith-based office....
Early Returns on Dubois: Good Listener
Posted on January 30, 2009Rob Marus of Associated Baptist Press reports on further reaction to the apparent selection of Josh Dubois to head up President Obama's faith-based office. Included in his piece are statements from Interfaith Alliance Director Welton Gaddy, as well as Baptist...
26-Year-Old Campaign Organizer to Lead Obama's Faith-Based Office
Posted on January 29, 2009The NYTimes is reporting that Josh Dubois - the young preacher who organized Obama's religious outreach campaign - will head the administration's new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. One former Faith-Based Office leader offers praise...
Nashville Settles with Justice Department Over Religious Land Use Dispute
Posted on January 29, 2009The city of Nashville, TN has settled a case with the Department of Justice over violation of the Religious Land Use and Fair Housing Acts in denying zoning approval for a Tenn Challenge substance abuse rehabilitation program. The obstinance of...
4th Circuit Rules in Favor of Religious School Discretion
Posted on January 28, 2009A panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously sided with California Lutheran High School's right to expel students for (allegations of) homosexuality, despite California's law outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation. Because the school has a religious affiliation,...
Faith-Based Stimulus?
Posted on January 28, 2009Religion Clause finds money in the pending stimulus bill that would go to faith-based organizations, and an amendment that would greatly increase the amount....
Discrimination Claims: A New Era of Assertiveness?
Posted on January 28, 2009The marked increase in workplace religious discrimination claims has been a standard refrain for the last few years. Can the case be made that this is a positive development? A new Beliefnet piece argues just that, saying: a) the surge...
President Obama Appeals to "Muslim World", Calls For "Respect" Across Faiths
Posted on January 27, 2009In an unprecedented move, President Obama granted his first sit-down interview with an Arab TV network in an attempt to communicate a new, respectful attitude toward the Muslim world. THE PRESIDENT: Now, my job is to communicate the fact that...
Judge Refuses to Halt Gold Mine Over Religious Objection
Posted on January 27, 2009In a case echoing the Arizona Snowbowl dispute - recently appealed to the Supreme Court - a federal judge in Nevada has denied the Religious Freedom Restoration Act claim of the Shoshone tribe that a gold mining company violates their...
Church-State Principle vs. Pragmatism: Should We Worry About Obama?
Posted on January 26, 2009Law professor Jonathan Turley writes in this morning's USAToday about his apprehension over President Obama's seeming "preference of practicalities over principles", especially in matters of church-state separation and faith-based funding initiatives...
The Bush Administration's "Insular" Approach to Church-State Matters
Posted on January 26, 2009In the latest Report From the Capital, BJC Counsel Holly Hollman looks back at the church-state legacy of George Bush. In addition to the well-earned critique of his faith-based initiative in substance, she points to another important flaw I have...
Weekend Roundup: Florida Backtracks, Texas Evolution Battle, Daily Show Update, Gingrich Confounds
Posted on January 25, 2009A NYTimes report notes that the Texas Education Board votes last week - turning back anti-evolution language in the science curriculum - also included changes that did not sit well with scientists. A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled a...
Controversial Minnesota School Sued for Church-State Violations
Posted on January 23, 2009The ACLU has filed suit against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a charter school in Minnesota that emphasizes Middle Eastern culture and language. The publicly funded Academy has been the subject of complaints and one investigation, resulting in an official mandate...
Illinois Moment of Silence Law Ruled Unconstitutional
Posted on January 22, 2009A federal judge yesterday made permanent the injunction against Illinois' Moment of Silence law, ruling it to be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The same judge had previously halted the law pending his decision....
Federal Judge Rules School's Long Hair Policy Unconstitutional
Posted on January 22, 2009Judge Keith Ellison Tuesday struck down a Texas school district's policy banning boys from wearing long hair. The parents of 5-year-old Apache Indian argued that due to the religious significance of keeping hair uncut, the rule violated the Constitution...
By One Vote: Texas Committee Affirms Chamge in Science Standards
Posted on January 22, 2009A committee of the Texas Board of Education earlier today narrowly defeated an effort to reintroduce anti-evolution language into the science curriculum. The Austin-American Statesman has more: The State Board of Education this afternoon rejected efforts to continue to require...
The Audacity of Rick Warren
Posted on January 21, 2009In his ceremony-opening prayer yesterday, Pastor Rick Warren offered some inclusive gestures that I truly appreciated, but he may have undone them all in the end with a recitation of the Lord's Prayer, a "particularly Christian" text as Randall Balmer...
Inaugural Speech Offers Inclusive Vision of Faith in America
Posted on January 21, 2009President Obama's Inaugural address made repeated reference yesterday to the diversity of Americans, including our religious diversity. I was especially glad to hear him couch that in terms that included those also who are not religious. We know that our...
Inauguration Prayer Watch...
Posted on January 19, 2009Bishop Gene Robinson delivered the invocation to the "God of our many understandings" at yesterday's Inaugural concert event. Because Inauguration-related prayers have been in the news of late, here is the text to his....
Inauguration Blogging--Civil Rights Head Named
Posted on January 19, 2009Posting has been light as I made my way to D.C. for the Inauguration festivities (still looking for the church-state ball...), but also trying to keep up with developments of a new administration that will impact religious liberty policy and...
Brent Walker: Inauguration Prayer OK
Posted on January 18, 2009Writing at the Washington Post's On Faith site, BJC Director Brent Walker affirms the propriety of prayer at Tuesday's Inauguration. This long-standing tradition does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause -- Michael Newdow's lawsuit notwithstanding...
Judge Rejects Newdow's Injunction Request in Inauguration Challenge
Posted on January 16, 2009AP reports that federal judge Reggie Walton yesterday declined to enter an injunction halting prayers and the phrase "so help me God" from the Inauguration Tuesday. Walton said he didn't have the authority to order Obama not to say the...
New Louisiana Science Curriculum Guidelines Delete Church-State Protections
Posted on January 16, 2009The National Center for Science Education has been following efforts to alter science curriculum guidelines in Louisiana. As usual in these controversies is an attempt by some to insert religion-based objections to the teaching of evolution. NCSE points to a...
Florida School District Changes Bible Distribution Policy
Posted on January 15, 2009The Florida Baptist Witness reports that the school district of Collier County is discontinuing a practice that allowed the distribution of Bibles on Religious Freedom Day. This year, the district superintendent, Dennis Thompson, through the district's attorney, John Fishbane, said...
Federal Lawsuits Seek a Halt to Bush Administration's "Conscience Rule"
Posted on January 15, 20093 separate lawsuits - from plaintiffs that include 7 states, and several advocacy groups - were filed today in federal court seeking an injunction against the Bush Administration's last minute "conscience rule". The controversial policy recently issued by the Department...
ACLU Files Church-State Suit Over Catholic Funding
Posted on January 14, 2009A Catholic Bishops program to minister to immigrant victims of sex trafficking and prostitution is being challenged for its use of taxpayer funds in promoting only efforts that are in line with the church's beliefs in the area of birth...
Religious Freedom Day
Posted on January 14, 2009As expected, President Bush declared January 16, Friday, to be Religious Freedom Day. The date marks the anniversary of Virginia's Statute for Religious Freedom. You can read the proclamation here....
NY's Nativity Ban in Schools Challenged in City Council
Posted on January 14, 2009New York's City Council is entering the annual December battle over the display of religious holiday symbols in public schools now that its Education Committee will take up a measure that would change city policy. Currently, schools may show some...
Priorities for a New Presidency
Posted on January 12, 2009Americans United has prepared a list of 9 important church-state goals that should be on Barack Obama's list of things to do. Take a look!...
Supreme Court Declines City Council Prayer Case
Posted on January 12, 2009Via Religion Clause, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined the appeal of Reverend Hashmel Turner in the case involving City of Fredericksburg's (VA) Council policy disallowing sectarian prayer to open their meetings. This leaves in place the 4th Circuit's ruling...
Louisiana Agrees to Stop Payments to 2 Churches
Posted on January 09, 2009The ACLU has settled a case with the state of Louisiana, which has agreed to stop sending taxpayer money directly to churches. In 2007, a judge issued an injunction halting the earmarks....
Ban on Sikh Kirpan Challenged (The Becket Fund is Busy)
Posted on January 08, 2009An employee of the Internal Revenue Service filed suityesterday in federal court to challenge the ban on wearing a kirpan. [Kawaljeet] Tagore was fired in July 2006 because she refused to remove her kirpan, a religious item that initiated Sikhs...
Plaintiff Speaks Out on South Carolina License Plate Case
Posted on January 08, 2009Reverend Thomas Summers, one of the plaintiffs in the South Carolina license plate suit, is quoted at the AU blog with some refreshing words of wisdom. ?When lawmakers chose to single out one religious group on a state-sanctioned license plate...
Sincerity of Belief in Love, Music, and Meat
Posted on January 07, 2009On Monday, a motion was filed to keep video evidence out of a Pennsylvania trial scheduled to begin February 23. The $1 million lawsuit, brought by the Universal Church of Love and Music, claims a local ban on its church...
Religious Right Candidate Poised for Republican Party Chair?
Posted on January 07, 2009At The American Prospect, Sarah Posner writes of RNC Chairman candidate Ken Blackwell's connections to prominent Religious Right organizations (a fellow at the Family Research Council), and his history of alienating others with a leadership style that is dependent on...
Amish Conflict with Building Codes Results in Federal Lawsuit
Posted on January 06, 2009As promised, a federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Amish families in Morristown, NY. The 17-count complaint charges that since 2006, Morristown officials have singled out the Amish, who belong to the Old Order Swartzentruber Amish, for prosecution...
Hearing Set for Inauguration Lawsuit
Posted on January 06, 2009Howard Friedman at Religion Clause has the scoop: a district judge has set a January 15 hearing in the case of Newdow v Roberts, a challenge of the constitutionality of the invocation of God in the oath and in prayers...
Appeal Filed with Supreme Court in Snowbowl RFRA Case
Posted on January 06, 2009Native American tribes filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the expansion of a ski resort to use reclaimed sewage for artificial snow. The Arizona Snowbowl case has garnered significant attention as an opportunity for...
Lord Blagojevich?
Posted on January 05, 2009Is there anything more annoying in a politician than the capacity to believe God has endorsed his seat of power? Preparing to go to Washington, D.C. amid a flurry of controversy surrounding his appointment to the Senate, Roland Burris went...
Kentucky Legislator Draws Attention for Church-State "Stunts"
Posted on January 05, 2009Over the weekend, the NYTimes profiled Kentucky state legislator Tom Riner. You may remember him as the minister-representative responsible for sneaking in language requiring dependence on God into the state's homeland security bill. It would seem Riner is a kind...
Obama Transition Team "Tackling the Church-State Issue Head On"
Posted on January 05, 2009Jane Lampman of the Christian Science Monitor reports that Obama's transition team is exploring ways to garner broad support for his vision of faith-based funding partnerships. Tackling the church-state issue head on, the Obama transition team has engaged a large...
DC Appeals Court Relaxes Guantanamo Case Deadline
Posted on January 03, 2009A NYTimes piece today by Adam Liptak looks into the potential effect the new U.S. President might have on enemy combatant detainee cases on appeal. It concludes with a bit of news in the case of religious freedom claims brought...
8th Circuit Upholds Religious Discrimination Verdict Against AT&T
Posted on January 02, 2009The EEOC announced earlier this week that the 8th Circuit declined to review AT&T's appeal of a $756,000 jury verdict. The Commission sued the company for violation of the religious discrimination provisions of Title VII on behalf of 2 Jehovah's...
Tuesday Afternoon Deep Thought
Posted on December 30, 2008With wars raging in Iraq, Afghanistan and anew in Gaza, amid a presidential transition, while the world economy is apparently in meltdown, genocide ongoing in Darfur and global warming picking up its pace, it's hard to believe anyone would consider...
New Jersey Denies Methodist Association's Right of Refusal Argument
Posted on December 30, 2008The NJ Civil Rights Division has ruled in favor of a lesbian couple claiming the Methodist Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association discriminated against them improperly in not allowing the couple's marriage ceremony to occur on the popular beachfront pavilion...
Illinois Supreme Court Orders Pharmacists' Case May Proceed
Posted on December 29, 2008A story I somehow missed in the Christmas haze, the Illinois Supreme Court earlier this month reinstated a "right of conscience" case involving pharmacists who object to distributing emergency contraception on religious grounds. 2 lower state courts had agreed to...
Top Ten Religious Liberty Stories of 2008
Posted on December 29, 2008Reviewing the posts of the year, if there was one emerging theme, it was the sense that we are approaching some turning points in church-state understanding: new compromises, new layers of dispute, new legal frameworks governing the old disputes, and maybe most importantly a new political landscape in which it will all unfold...
Military Policy Upgrade Addresses Complaints of Evangelizing
Posted on December 28, 2008The Pentagon has quietly updated their recruitment center policies to make clearer the ban on proselytizing or religious favoritism by the military. A new regulation distributed last month to commanders of the 65 centers says that religious literature and publications...
New York Judge Finds Solution in Amish Case
Posted on December 26, 2008Via Religion Clause, Canton, NY officials have come up with a way to provide life-saving surgery to a baby with a hole in his heart without getting the consent of the Amish parents whose religious beliefs preclude them of giving,...
Merry Christmas!
Posted on December 25, 2008I'm taking the day off. You should too! Turn off the computer and come back tomorrow....
Bush's Conscience Rule and the "Two Sets" of Religious Beliefs involved in Medical Care
Posted on December 24, 2008Professor Marci Hamilton has an essay at Findlaw slamming the Bush Administration for its 11th hour policy move to protect medical service providers who object to some treatments (or treating some patients?) on religious grounds. I have to admit I'm....
Christian Inauguration Prayer Nothing New
Posted on December 23, 2008Associated Baptist Press' Bob Allen looks back at recent inauguration invocations and finds that if my hope for Obama's comes true, it would not be the exception. Specifically Christian prayers have been the norm. Eight years ago Kirbyjohn Caldwell, senior...
Next Year's Debates: Same as This Year's Debates?
Posted on December 23, 2008From Bible clubs and classroom religious displays in public schools to sidewalk preaching and another round of Mt. Soledad cross appeals, the LATimes reviews church-state cases that California high courts will consider next year....
A Day of Prayer, and Principle vs. Proportion
Posted on December 22, 2008Arguing that constitutional principle needs to be tempered by a sense of proportion, an editorial today in the LATimes takes on the issue of state-sponsored days of prayer. The paper hoping a lawsuit that would forbid the Governor of Colorado...
Washingtons Mixed Message Recognition of Hanukkah
Posted on December 21, 2008As the Hanukkah festival gets under way, Religion Clause notes the controversial imagery the White House is using to mark the event....
"Right of Conscience" Coverage
Posted on December 19, 2008Newspapers today are writing about the Bush Administration's last-minute policy denying federal funding to health providers that do not offer a right to refuse services that conflict with religious beliefs. The Chicago Tribune's Judith Graham blogs: The Bush administration acknowledged...
Bush Administration Issues Controversial Last-Minute Policy
Posted on December 18, 2008The Bush Administration today made official a controversial policy ensuring workers the right to refuse to provide health services that conflict with their religious views. The rule - proposed last month to allow public comment - would deny federal funding...
The Churchs Prophetic Voice and the Limitations of Sectarian Interests
Posted on December 18, 2008On Tuesday, Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori delivered a speech at the National Press Club entitled "Religion in the Public Square." Schori is the presiding bishop of the episcopal Church. Her focus was the role of the church as a prophetic voice against injustice and poverty.
Rick Warren, Joseph Lowery to Pray at Inauguration
Posted on December 17, 2008According to the Wall Street Journal, author, mega-church pastor and presidential inquisitor Rick Warren will deliver an invocation at President-elect Obamas inauguration next month. Civil Rights patriarch Joseph Lowery will give the benediction. Instead of focusing on the controversial stances...
Jailed for Religious Head Covering
Posted on December 17, 2008Judges have a right to control their courtrooms - of course - and to set policies that ensure decorum. But more importantly, Americans have a right to access the judicial system without being forced to violate religious mandates in the...
Military Watchdog Alleges Improper Use of Army Personnel to Proselytize in Afghanistan
Posted on December 16, 2008At Talk2Action, Chris Rodda relays new troubling information about the US military's involvement with Christian entertainment programming. She argues that the depictions of Army personnel assisting in the "evangelizing of Afghans by...Christian missionaries" is not only questionable constitutionally, but also...
Religious Minorities in Iraq Continue to Face Oppression
Posted on December 16, 2008The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has issued yet another report trying to call attention to the plight of religious minorities in Iraq, and urging the US to act more forcefully on their behalf. The commission wants the U.S....
Florida Voucher Proponents Still At It
Posted on December 16, 2008A new report from Floridas Office of Program Policy Analysis Government Accountability seems to suggest that voucher programs save the state money, as the public funds saved by not having a child in public school are greater than the...
Weekend Roundup: 2008 in Review, Amish Update, Blair Laments Silence on Faith, and Clinton Urged to Get Religion at State
Posted on December 15, 2008An editorial Friday in the Dallas Morning-News urged the likely next Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to "close the religion deficit" in the State Department's diplomatic efforts. Via Religion Clause, there's a new sheriff in town in Harris County, Texas,...
Baptist Joint Committee Statement on Supreme Court's Guantanamo Ruling
Posted on December 15, 2008From a statement by the Baptist Joint Committee on today's order (see earlier post) vacating the dismissal of religious freedom claims made by 4 Guantanamo detainees: BJC General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman stressed the importance of RFRA and said she....
Supreme Court Revives Guantanamo Religious Freedom Case [UPDATED]
Posted on December 15, 2008The Supreme Court today ordered the DC Court of Appeals to reconsider their dismissal of a case brought by 4 Guantanamo detainees, alleging violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...
Andrew Sullivan Explains
Posted on December 14, 2008...that the issue is not keeping faith out of our politics; it's keeping faith out of our laws and the requirements we place on the lives of other people. His recipe doesn't solve every church-state dispute of course. We will...
This Land is Not My Land: Richard Finds Lack of Purity in Bush's, Cizik's Views
Posted on December 12, 2008Now that President Bush - in an interview with Nightline - has expressed some religious beliefs that are not completely popular with the Religious Right, Richard Land is suddenly not so sure a President's religious outlook is important after all....
Christian Fraternity Issue Debated
Posted on December 11, 2008As a follow-up to the post below, regarding the Christian fraternity that seeks official recognition at the University of Florida, it's worth reading yesterday's thoughts by Professor Volokh, who argues that just because religious groups on campus are allowed to...
11th Circuit Hears Christian Fraternity Recognition Case
Posted on December 11, 2008Yesterday, the 11th Circuit heard arguments in the case involving a Christian fraternity seeking to be recognized as an official University of Florida organization despite their discriminatory admission policies. Beta Upsilon Chi lawyers told a three-judge panel of the 11th...
Judge Orders Injunction Down SC "I Believe" License Plates
Posted on December 11, 2008A federal judge in South Carolina has ruled for the plaintiffs in halting the state's "I Believe" license plate program before it begins. Determining that it is "unlikely" that the law creating the specialty plates "satisfies even one" of the...
Will Flagging Economy Impact Faith-Based Funding Policy?
Posted on December 10, 2008An interesting article in The Jewish Week considers how a weakening economy might affect government funding of faith-based service providers. ?The economy is going to factor into every debate in government,? said [Interfaith Alliance head Welton] Gaddy...
Arizona Supreme Court Debates Vouchers and Religious Neutrality
Posted on December 10, 2008The Arizona Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday over the legality under the state constitution of its school voucher program. AP reports: An attorney for opponents acknowledged that it?s difficult to draw ?a line? but said the voucher programs trample on...
Article 18
Posted on December 10, 2008I almost let today go by without mentioning it is the 60th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Several of the Declaration's articles makes mention of religion, but most on point, Article 18 says: Everyone has the...
Possible Drug Czar Champion of Faith-Based Earmark
Posted on December 09, 2008A leading candidate for President-elect Obama's cabinet as drug czar may prove controversial. In addition to other problems, Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad became known for his role in sending a congressional earmark to the religious drug treatment program, Teen Challenge...
Supreme Court Declines Religious Candy Cane Petition
Posted on December 09, 2008Via Religion Clause, the Supreme Court denied a petition to hear the appeal in the case of a Michigan 5th grader who was prohibited from distributing religious messages as a part of a school project. This leaves in place the...
What if Governments Halted Christmas Displays
Posted on December 08, 2008Norman Jameson of North Carolina's Biblical Recorder wonders if it might not be a good thing for the state to limit its religious displays and let Christians reclaim Christmas. He may be on to something. What will it mean if...
Protestors Rally Against Solstice Sign
Posted on December 08, 2008The controversial holiday display at the Washington State capitol drew a protest (and counter-protest) of 500 yesterday. Some of the logic is a bit head-spinning. Not unlike trying to follow the hidden ball in the shell game, see if you...
Televangelist Copeland Denied Local Tax Exemption
Posted on December 07, 2008A prominent target of Senator Grassley's probe into televangelist finances, Kenneth Copeland, was ordered to pay taxes on his ministry's private jet after he refused to reveal his salary as is required by Tarrant County (TX) property tax law. Jeffrey...
Future of Faith-Based Policy "Largely Political and Regulatory"
Posted on December 05, 2008In a recent post I glossed over the church-state year in review offered by law professors Ira Lupu and Robert Tuttle. The 112-page document (pdf) deserves more careful attention, and especially so this year as it evaluates not just the...
Foxes Running the Henhouse in Texas School Board
Posted on December 05, 2008As Kathy Miller - President of the Texas Freedom Network - explains it, "A fire chief wouldn't knowingly hire an arsonist in the department." A member of the Texas School Board has written a new book slamming public education for...
Washington State's Diverse Holiday Display Draws Fire
Posted on December 04, 2008City and state officials have an understandably tough time balancing the religious liberty interests of their constituents, maybe doubly so in December. Criticized from the free exercise/free speech advocates for any change to the tradition of government-sponsored religious displays, and...
More on Kentucky's God Requirement
Posted on December 04, 2008ABP's Bob Allen reports on the recent lawsuit challenging Kentucky's statutory requirement of a dependence on God for the Commonwealth's security (earlier post here). AU spokesman Rob Boston described the God requirement as an example of "meaningless civil religion" similar...
Celebrate Baptist Heritage in Your Church
Posted on December 03, 2008The Baptist History and Heritage Society, together with the Center for Baptist Studies, are providing a year's worth of monthly bulletin inserts, beginning Dec. 15, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of "Baptist beginnings". Get on the mailing list to receive...
Friend of Court Brief in Arizona Voucher Appeal
Posted on December 03, 2008Americans United has filed an amicus brief in the school voucher case to be heard by the Arizona Supreme Court. Americans United urged the justices to hold that the voucher plans violate explicit provisions of the state constitution that bar...
Capitol Visitor's Center
Posted on December 03, 2008The visitor's center to the US Capitol is finally open, but of course for some, there's not enough God in it....
The Bush Legacy: Removing Barriers to Religious Funding
Posted on December 03, 2008Each year, church-state experts Ira Lupu and Robert Tuttle file a "State of the Law" report looking at legal developments around the intersection of government and faith-based organizations. This year, in addition to evaluating 2008, they summarize President Bush's 2...
Kentucky Homeland Security Law Challenged
Posted on December 02, 2008A little-noticed provision in Kentucky's 2006 Homeland Security statute required that the state acknowledge "dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth." A new lawsuit is challenging it on Establishment Clause grounds...
Protecting Churches, Interfering with Religion?
Posted on December 01, 2008Yesterday's NYTimes has a story on the number of crumbling church structures and the efforts to preserve them with landmark status. Preservationists argue that too many religious buildings have been lost and more are at risk, even as the New...
Supreme Court Speculations
Posted on December 01, 2008Scott Sheperd of Cox News lists potential Supreme Court nominees of the next President, should vacancies arise. And AP reports that Justice Stevens, at 88 the oldest member of the Court, is showing no signs of retiring. It's also worth...
The Greatness of America
Posted on December 01, 2008At Religion Clause, Howard Friedman points to excerpts from a recent interview given by President Bush as part of the StoryCorps initiative. After asserting the importance of faith in his own life, he added: I would advise politicians, however, to...
"Under God" Catalyst Dies
Posted on November 30, 2008Most Americans are surprised to learn that the Pledge of Allegiance did not originally contain the phrase "under God". Like the phrase "In God We Trust" on currency, it was added much later, signed into law by President Eisenhower in...
Churches Campaigning for Legislative Initiatives
Posted on November 28, 2008The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the controversy surrounding California's Proposition 8 has led to accusations that the Mormon Church was improperly involved, violating their the church's tax-exempt status. But the truth is that IRS' strict prohibitions against political activity...
6th Circuit Says School Outsourcing Case May Continue
Posted on November 26, 2008Overturning a lower court's ruling that plaintiffs did not have taxpayer standing to bring an Establishment Clause suit, the 6th Circuit determined otherwise, 2-1. In addition, they found that there are issues of fact to be considered, thus no summary...
Georgia Pastors Re-Organizing for Senate Runoff With Questionable "Briefing"
Posted on November 25, 2008AU's Sandhya Bathija posts about today's scheduled ?Pastors? Policy Briefing Luncheon? in Atlanta, a week before the Senate runoff election, and wonders if incumbent candidate Saxby Chambliss will be there, essentially campaigning. The event tomorrow is headlined ?Rediscovering God in...
Chuck Norris Defeats the Liberal Media and Barack Obama, Saves Thanksgiving
Posted on November 25, 2008As I'm sure you've said on several occasions: Thank God for Chuck Norris. If he didn't exist, we would have to invent him. Here he is in a Townhall column today, taking on his nemesis, the liberal media:This past week,...
Obama Appointees Show Religious Liberty Experience
Posted on November 25, 2008Via Religion Clause, the Jewish Orthodox Union notes the prior religious liberty experience of 2 White House appointees of President-elect Obama in a press release: As Mr. Obama noted in introducing her, Ms. Barnes worked on many critical issues when...
Summum: The View From Texas
Posted on November 24, 2008An opinion piece in the Ft. Worth-Telegram looks at the Summum argument. (via How Appealing) [I]f the city of Pleasant Grove endorses the Ten Commandments, how does that not amount to promotion of one religion over others, a violation of...
Faith-Healing Exemptions
Posted on November 24, 2008An AP story from the weekend looks at the slow-going efforts to repeal faith-healing exemptions to requirements that parents get medical treatment for their children. Faith healing has deep roots in American history, and yet it may seem surprising that...
Controversial MN Pastor May Signal Coming Disputes
Posted on November 24, 2008A Star Tribune editorial highlights the growing legal battle between the IRS and Minnesota pastor Mac Hammond and his Living Word church. Living Word just won a challenge to the government's demand for financial documents. The Minneapolis paper warns: At...
2008 Religion Storylines Emphasize Rumor, Controversy
Posted on November 23, 2008Late last week, the Pew Forum released a report critiquing the media's coverage of religion in this year's presidential campaign. Far more of the religion storylines involved Obama, and most of these involved controversy or had an unfavorable cast. In...
Indiana House Restarts Prayers Despite Court Ruling
Posted on November 21, 2008The Indianapolis Star reports that the leaders of the Indiana State House have reinstituted an opening prayer policy, now that a lawsuit was discarded for lack of standing; this, after a lower court determined that their policy allowing sectarian prayer...
Colorado Jury Gives Something to Both Sides in RLUIPA Dispute
Posted on November 21, 2008I updated my post from earlier in the week to reflect the outcome of jury deliberations in the Colorado RLUIPA case involving a church's desire to expand in size against the wishes of Boulder County. Today's LATimes also offers perspective...
Follow the Money
Posted on November 20, 2008Texas' Christian Life Commission counsel Stephen Reeves, formerly of the Baptist Joint Committee, helped deliver an important message at TCU yesterday (my emphasis): Reeves, who is an adviser to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said even though the increasing...
Texas Science Curriculum Proposal Draws Fire [UPDATED]
Posted on November 20, 2008The Texas Board of Education is considering changes to the science curriculum standards (you can read the second draft - in pdf form - here). They would require discussing "weaknesses" in, and "alternatives" to, evolution. A public hearing (Texas Freedom...
What's Newt Talking About?
Posted on November 19, 2008From the Bill O' Reilly show, Friday Nov. 14 (my emph.): NEWT GINGRICH: Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to...
BJC's Brent Walker on National Days of Prayer and Thanksgiving
Posted on November 19, 2008Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director Brent Walker shares his views on whether Presidents should officially proclaim national days of prayer, or thanksgiving to God. His new essay at the Washington Post's On Faith page ends this way: As church-state controversies...
Minnesota Pastor Wins Round One with IRS
Posted on November 19, 2008A federal magistrate has agreed with Minneapolis pastor Mac Hammond that subpoenas requesting his church's financial records were improper. Living Word Church successfully argued that the request had not come from a "high-ranking official" as required by law...
Federal Jury to Decide Colorado RLUIPA Case
Posted on November 18, 2008A bid by Rocky Mountain Christian Church in Boulder County, Colorado to double its size led to a 2-week jury trial that has just concluded. The LATimes reports: Boulder County officials, known for aggressively preserving open space and rural land,...
New Bush Administration Rule Riles its Own Discrimination Office, Violates its Own Deadline
Posted on November 18, 2008In an end-of-presidency move that has drawn criticism from his own EEOC, the Bush administration has proposed a new rule (pdf) that would add broad general protection to health care personnel that object to performing or assisting with a service...
Late Summum-Supreme Court Thought
Posted on November 17, 2008A thought after finishing up some weekend reading on the Summum argument and the First Amendment curveball the case has seemingly thrown the Court. Without question, changing times require us to revisit the law, and reconsider frameworks in light of....
A Non-Christian President...the Next Frontier?
Posted on November 17, 2008Jim Wallis talks with the San Francisco Chronicle about religion in the 2008 election, and I don't really like the way he he starts (my emph.): I think the Obama campaign made a very deliberate effort, and it was obviously...
Kentucky Amish Convicted for Refusing Safety Emblem
Posted on November 17, 2008Via Religion Clause, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports that a district judge rejected the religious freedom argument of 7 Amish men who claim that a public safety law requiring a bright emblem on the back of their buggies violates their beliefs....
President Bush Praises Faith and Religious Freedom at UN Interfaith Conference
Posted on November 14, 2008At an interfaith conference at the United Nations, President Bush yesterday praised the role of faith in promoting global values and stressed the urgent need for religious freedom. Our nation was founded by people seeking haven from religious persecution...
What is the Future of Monument Speech Law?
Posted on November 14, 2008Tony Mauro builds on his earlier analysis of the Summum argument with a more general consideration of the state of First Amendment jurisprudence when it comes to defining a forum. His perspective is in line with the way it strikes...
Faith-Based Critique
Posted on November 14, 2008A Baptist pastor in Norfolk, VA deems President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative a failure. The Rev. Geoffrey V. Guns said since the president introduced the initiative seven years ago, a large number of those groups benefiting from the federal program are...
A Natural Reaction
Posted on November 13, 2008The Las Vegas Sun gets it right in an editorial today on the Summum monument dispute: The dispute is a good example of the slippery slope created when government displays something that represents a particular set of religious beliefs. It...
Coverage of Summum Hearing
Posted on November 13, 2008ScotusBlog's Lyle Deniston analyzes the argument If a case does not fit within a constitutional pigeonhole, is there no other way to define it so that a legal dispute can be decided? That was the lingering question Wednesday as the...
Secular Coalition Urges Obama to Change Military Policy Regarding Religion
Posted on November 12, 2008On Monday, the Secular Coalition of America held a news conference to propose new military rules regarding the promotion of religion. Stars and Stripes reports: A coalition of atheists and agnostics wants the new White House to protect young military...
Summum Argument Transcript
Posted on November 12, 2008The transcript of today's Supreme Court oral argument in the case of the Summum monument is now online. From the very beginning, the Court was concerned about the ultimate Establishment Clause problem beneath the government speech argument of Jay Sekulow...
Baptist Joint Committee Statement on Summum Argument
Posted on November 12, 2008The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty released the following statement about this morning's Summum monument argument in the Supreme Court: WASHINGTON? A case to be heard today by the U.S. Supreme Court is a reminder that governmental involvement in...
Summum and the Establishment Clause: Silent but not Absent
Posted on November 11, 2008The First Amendment Center's Tony Mauro analyzes the issues in tomorrow's Summum argument. His starting point is the fact that, despite appearances that this is an establishment of religion case, religion has not been a factor in the briefs filed...
Milwaukee Voucher Program Strains Public School Resources
Posted on November 10, 2008Milwaukee's school voucher program has reached new levels of enrollment, putting an increasing stress on the public school system as tax money flows to religious and other private schools. The number of Milwaukee children attending private schools using publicly funded...
Does RFRA Allow Doctors to Determine the End of Life?
Posted on November 10, 2008In a heart-breaking case, Eluzer and Miriam Brody, a Jewish couple whose cancer-stricken son is in Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C, are arguing that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires the hospital to keep 12-year-old Motl on life...
Are Religious Voters Really Changing?
Posted on November 09, 2008Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum dissects an LATimes piece repeating this week's conventional wisdom that Democrats made significant inroads among churchgoing voters. So Obama did better among every religious group and he did better among seculars. Hmmm...
Becket Fund to Sue Over Amish Rights, Hopes to Set National Precedent
Posted on November 08, 2008Watertown, NY has been engaged in a year-long battle with a local Amish community over building codes. They are not alone. 2008 has seen a rise in similar disputes across the country as the Amish way of life increasingly finds...
Preparing for the Summum Argument
Posted on November 07, 2008Wednesday of next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the Summum monument case. The Pew Research Center offers background and a preview. It correctly notes that regardless of whether the debate centers on Establishment Clause issues - as...
Election Recap: Religious Voters Increase Partisan Blur, Slightly
Posted on November 06, 2008AP looks at the exit polls and determines a very subtle shift in religious voter preference. In building a winning coalition of religious voters, Barack Obama cut into the so-called God gap that puts frequent worshippers in the Republican column,...
Pastor Joel Hunter Relays Conversations with Obama, Hints at Common Ground on Discrimination (I think)
Posted on November 06, 2008Time Magazine profiles Orlando pastor Joel Hunter, who gave the closing benediction at the Democratic National Convention, and apparently prayed with Senator Obama hours before election results came in on Tuesday. He is described as a "new evangelical", at odds...
Final Election Notes
Posted on November 06, 2008At Religion Clause, Howard Friedman has compiled a helpful list of President-elect Obama's campaign statements regarding religion and public policy. The new administration's organizational actions regarding the Faith-Based Office will be one of the first things to watch in January...
What Next for Religious Right?
Posted on November 05, 2008AU argues that the Religious Right's "access to power in Washington, D.C., has been seriously diminished" thanks to the results of yesterday's election. ?James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Richard Land and Company did everything but declare Obama the Antichrist,? said Lynn...
Maybe It's the Economy...?
Posted on November 04, 2008Get Religion wonders what happened to all of that important religion talk from earlier in the presidential campaign. Finding "holes" in recent stories about Obama, dpulliam writes: Religion and faith have been apart of the Obama narrative in the past...
Monday Roundup: (Mostly) Campaign Edition
Posted on November 03, 2008In USAToday, Stephen Prothero writes that religion has undergone a "tectonic shift" politically this campaign cycle. Americans United argues that America has "reached a new low in muddling faith and politics." A group of clergy from the African Methodist Episcopal...
Final Campaign Push for Church Votes
Posted on November 03, 2008Via Religion Clause, AP reports on yesterday's get-out-the-vote efforts targeting church-goers. Officials with both the John McCain and Barack Obama campaigns said their efforts are careful to keep churches out of trouble, but it's hard to know whether lines are...
Religion in the 2008 Election
Posted on November 01, 2008AP's Eric Gorski offers an analysis of the role of religion in the 2008 election season. With a few exceptions, whatever seemed odd or fringe trumped serious discussion about how candidates' religious beliefs shape their approach to governance. As the...
BJC Director at Stetson University Law School
Posted on October 31, 2008You might not want to tell your friends at the gym that you're working out while listening to a lecture on religion in politics on your iPod, but you could be doing just that! The audio (MP3) of a presentation...
AU Questions Michelle Obama Appearance at Baptist Convention
Posted on October 31, 2008Americans United has filed a complaint with the IRS urging an investigation into Michelle Obama's recent appearance before the General Baptist Convention of North Carolina During her Oct. 29 appearance before the group, Obama praised her husband and told the...
Senator Attacks Opponent For...Being at Fundraiser with Atheists?
Posted on October 30, 2008This is getting a little ridiculous. November 4 can't come soon enough to put divisive electoral politics behind us (for 2 years anyway). Last week a North Carolina Congressman claimed that "real Americans" were those who believe in God. And...
2 Days To Go: Help Put the BJC Over the Top
Posted on October 30, 2008In thge last 2 days, contributors have helped the Baptist Joint Committee capital campaign jump from 50% to 80% of the $300,000 fundraising goal this week! Only a little more left to do and a day and a half remaining...
Arizona Supreme Court to Hear School Voucher Appeal
Posted on October 30, 2008Earlier this year an Arizona appellate court invalidated a school voucher program for disabled and foster children on the grounds that it violated the state constitution's ban on sending taxpayer money to support religious organizations. "Only by ignoring the plain...
Politics: A Threat to a Baptists' "Sacred Space"?
Posted on October 29, 2008Associated Baptist Press's Rob Marus raises some important issues about political involvement by churches, in "Constitution aside, why should churches avoid partisanship?" Jeffrey Haggray, executive director of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, said risking congregational or denominational unity is...
3 Days To Go!
Posted on October 29, 2008The thermometer on the right is keeping up with contributions to the Baptist Joint Committee's capital campaign during this matching-funds drive, with a goal of $300,000. As posted below, through the end of the month (Friday), your gift will be...
Join the Fight for Religious Liberty!
Posted on October 28, 2008For the rest of the week, supporters of the Baptist Joint Committee have an incredible opportunity to get involved in the preservation of religious liberty in Washington, D.C. All pledged donations for the BJC's capital campaign received through the end...
Becket Fund Echoes Summum Case, Argues for Roadside Crosses in Amici Brief
Posted on October 28, 2008On Friday, the Becket Fund filed an amicus brief with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case challenging the Utah Highway Police Association's practice of commemorating fallen state troopers with a roadside cross. ?American Atheists argue that the...
11th Circuit Deems State-Sponsored Sectarian Invocations Permissible Under Rotating Faith System
Posted on October 28, 2008Via How Appealing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a panel of the 11th Circuit by a 2-1 majority today upheld as constitutional Cobb County, GA's practice of opening official commission meetings with sectarian prayers given by rotating clergy members from a diversity of faiths...
The Ordeal of Teaching Evolution
Posted on October 27, 2008In Atlanta, it's nearing time in the biology curriculum when many teachers begin teaching the principles of evolution - for some, a frightening ordeal. Some students burst into tears when a high school biology teacher told them they?d be studying...
Florida Judge Orders Church to Open Records to Member
Posted on October 27, 2008Via Religion Clause, a Florida court has ordered a Palm Bay's Zion Christian Church to turn over financial documents to a church member. [Stephany] Eley made the request under a Florida statute that allows inspection of records by members of...
Politics and the "Moral Force" of the Church
Posted on October 26, 2008Believing that engaging in politics threatens the church's "moral force", Seattle University pastoral theology professor Rev. Patrick Howell offers wisdom about the role of religious institutions in political discussion. First, the role of the church, synagogue, temple or mosque is...
Should Voters Consider Religion in Choosing a Candidate?
Posted on October 24, 2008The Baptist Standard's Ken Camp takes the issue of a "religious test" for office a step further than the Constitution's ban on religious qualifications, and asks whether or not it's appropriate for voters to consider the religious views of candidates...
City Council Prayer Case Appealed to Supreme Court
Posted on October 24, 2008The Fredericksburg, VA City Council prayer case recently decided by the 4th Circuit has been appealed to the Supreme Court. Via Religion Clause, the Petition for Cert was filed Monday. A panel of the 4th Circuit including former Justice Sandra...
DOJ Memo Generates Scrutiny From Some...
Posted on October 23, 2008It's no surprise that, given the current focus on all things election-related, questionable new revelations about the outgoing administration are avoiding media scrutiny. Case in point, last week's "quietly posted" Justice Department memo outlining a new and controversial (to say...
Frustration of American Muslims
Posted on October 23, 2008NPR's Day to Day ran a story yesterday detailing the reluctance of many Muslim Americans to associate with either major political party. Both sides, they say, have too readily embraced a fear-based campaign targeting their faith. Osama Siblani publishes the...
The BJC on TV
Posted on October 23, 2008If you are a Comcast cable subscriber and receive The Comcast Network, tune in tonight at 10 Eastern to see Baptist Joint Committee director Brent Walker on Art Fennell Reports. They will be discussing the issue of politics in the...
Will Supreme Court Overhaul Establishment Clause Outlook?
Posted on October 22, 2008In today's LATimes, David Savage reports that the Supreme Court will shortly decide whether to hear the appeal of a case involving a memorial cross in the Mojave Desert. The Appeals Court ruled against the display, even rejecting Congress' attempt...
Congressman Equates Being American with Belief in God
Posted on October 21, 2008I know the last few weeks of a hotly contested presidential election will inevitably turn into silly season. But recent days have seen outrageously divisive outbursts (tactics?) including a statement today on a religious note. North Carolina Congressman Robin Hayes,...
Vouchers for Me, Not for Thee
Posted on October 21, 2008There are so many reasons to oppose school vouchers - they drain the public school system, they offer barriers to oversight, and they don't seem to work, to name a few - public debate often misses the very compelling religious...
Colin Powell and the "Really Right Answer"
Posted on October 20, 2008General Colin Powell is getting lots of attention for his presidential endorsement on Meet the Press Sunday. But from my point of view, the most important - moving, really - part of his statement came near the end as he...
Louisiana's Jindal Also Attends Church on the State's Dime
Posted on October 20, 2008Americans United responds to a story in Baton Rouge's Advocate that Governor Bobby Jindal has made frequent use of state resources - including a helicopter - to travel to and from church services. In his first eight months of office,...
Justice Department Memo Made Public: Religious Funding Protections Don't Apply
Posted on October 18, 2008The Bush Administration has spent 8 years trying to remove the constitutional safeguards that regulate the flow of taxpayer money to religious organizations. Fortunately, Congress has declined to go along with those efforts and has held firm that public money...
Religious Discrimination Claims Rise
Posted on October 17, 2008It seems like we've come across stories like this about once every six months. The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported that claims of religious discrimination in the workplace are on the rise. UPI summarizes the findings: Worker discrimination filings over...
Presidential Debate Ends on School Voucher Dispute
Posted on October 16, 2008The debate between Senators McCain and Obama last night spent a fair amount of time on the issue of school vouchers. You can read the debate transcript here, or I excerpted the voucher section in the extended entry below.
Flashback: DC Vouchers Put Students at Risk, Don't Work
Posted on October 16, 2008Since the DC school vouchers played such a prominent role in last night's debate discussion on education, it's worth revisiting the study conducted by the GAO just one year ago. Here's how the Washington Post reported it: A voucher program...
Texas Inserts Religion Advocates into Science Curriculum Discussion
Posted on October 16, 2008Via Religion Clause, Dallas News reports that the Texas Board of Education has named 3 creationists to the 6-member committee that reviews the science curriculum. Two of the appointees are authors of a book that questions many of the tenets...
Oklahoma Town's Stirs Church/State Pot Again
Posted on October 15, 2008Edmond, OK - a city with a history of church/state legal woes - has authorized taxpayer money to purchase a statue of Christ to be placed downtown. [AU's Barry] Lynn said using public funds on the project is a clear...
Florida's Forced Haircut of Sikh Prisoners Challenged
Posted on October 15, 2008The Sikh community has been calling attention to Florida's policy allowing jails to forceably cut inmates' hair, despite religious beliefs that require hair to be unshorn. Late last week, the ACLU wrote to Governor Crist, asking him to rescind the...
Football Coach Asks Supreme Court to Hear Prayer Appeal
Posted on October 14, 2008East Brunswick, NJ Football coach Marcus Borden has asked the US Supreme Court to hear his appeal over the right to pray with his public high school team before games. "The Supreme Court needs to hear this case because it...
Atheist Soldier to Drop Suit Against Military, New Case Takes its Place
Posted on October 14, 2008The Army's Jeremy Hall, plaintiff in an extensive lawsuit against the Defense Department - alleging systemic religious discrimination in the military - is dropping the suit as he is leaving the service. [T]he Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which filed the...
Don't Tell Justice Stevens: Speculation on the Future of the Court
Posted on October 13, 2008At legaltimes.com, Tony Mauro asks a handful of constitutional experts their opinion on how a McCain or Obama presidency might affect the makeup of the Supreme Court in their field. Commenting on church-state affairs, professor Douglas Laycock predicts: [A] McCain...
Liberty Counsel Takes Graduation Speech Punishment to 10th Circuit
Posted on October 13, 2008The Denver Post reports that a contentious case involving a 2006 high school graduation prayer has been appealed to the 10th Circuit. [Erica] Corder is seeking a declaration that the school violated her First Amendment rights and an injunction against...
Campaign Invocation Flaunts Religious Divisiveness, Ignorance
Posted on October 12, 2008Kudos to the McCain campaign for repudiating the invocation given at his rally in Davenport, IA by Rev. Arnold Conrad. There are so many offensive notions packed in, it's difficult to know which outrage to emphasize. "I would also pray,...
Palin's Travel Reimbursements Raise Church-State Questions
Posted on October 11, 2008An investigative report from the Associated Press found that Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin often charged the state for expenses involved with religious activity and the promotion of "religious causes". Since she took state office in late 2006, the governor and...
ABP on Religious Voter Survey
Posted on October 10, 2008Associated Baptist Press' Rob Marus reports on that recent study of young adult Americans of faith: [A] significant shift has occurred in religious voters who attend religious services once or twice a month. Those voters narrowly preferred Bush over Kerry...
Pulpit Endorsement Toxicity
Posted on October 10, 2008World Magazine profiles the recent dispute over politics in the pulpit, quoting the Baptist Joint Committee's Brent Walker in noting the Supreme Court has not found tax exemption to be a right. Another important point was made by Stan Hastey...
Survey of Religious Americans Highlights Young Adults
Posted on October 09, 2008Faith in Public Life released results of a new survey of religious Americans, focusing in on young adults and their attitude toward politics, government and issues of the day. There is plenty to browse - and I recommend it. But...
Religious Violence Ramps Up in India
Posted on October 09, 2008Christianity Today reports on increased violence against Christians in India. Nina Shea, vice chair for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said the attacks are essentially pogroms "to rid the state of the Christian minority." The World Christian Database...
Progress
Posted on October 08, 2008Get Religion notices something about last night's presidential debate in Nashville: The transcript includes none of the following words: God, faith, pray(er), church, Islam, or Christ(ianity).And yet, they still managed to discuss the values involved in health care policy, peace-keeping...
White House Proposes Voucher Push for Inner-City Faith-Based Schools
Posted on October 08, 2008Via Religion Clause, the White House has released a report (pdf) exploring the troubles faced by inner-city faith-based schools. Not surprisingly, they recommend taxpayer money go to prop them up. From the introduction: Fortunately, this problem is solvable...
Dr. James Dobson Presents: Great Moments in Hair-Splitting
Posted on October 07, 2008James Dobson on his radio show today (my emphasis): It's probably obvious which of the two major candidates' views are more palatable to those of us who embrace a pro-life, pro-family world view. While I will not endorse either candidate...
Supreme Court Declines Bible-Consulting Jury Case
Posted on October 07, 2008The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear the appeal of a death row inmate who argued that the jury foreman's reading of the Bible during sentencing deliberations was inappropriate. At issue in the appeal was whether reading the Bible aloud...
Army Responds to Religious Discrimination Complaint
Posted on October 07, 2008The Army has disciplined 2 drill sergeants for religious discrimination involving Jewish soldier Michael Handman, and are investigating his assault by other trainees at Fort Benning. Handman wrote to his parents after a drill sergeant refused to let the 20-year-old...
Previewing Summum
Posted on October 06, 2008The First Amendment Center's Tony Mauro previews the upcoming Supreme Court's session, including the Summum public monument case: Summum is not an establishment-clause case, unlike the Ten Commandments cases the Court has decided in recent years. Instead, the main question...
Is the Johnson Amendment Merely a Political Discussion?
Posted on October 06, 2008Professor Stanley Fish is one of my favorite thinkers and writers. I don't always agree with him, but he rarely fails to live up to the name of his blog, "Think Again". In this week's post, he considers both sides...
Minnesota Pastor Fights IRS Inquiry, Raises Church-State Issues
Posted on October 03, 2008In a District Court, Minnesota pastor Mac Hammond - who has previously been the subject of this blog for being caught on video endorsing a congressional candidate from the pulpit - is fighting an unrelated IRS inquiry into his church's...
Ahead of Debate, Biden, Palen Discuss Church-State Separation
Posted on October 02, 2008As part of a series of interviews on different topics, Katie Couric posed to both Vice-Presidential candidates a question about church-state separation. I like the way the question presupposes that the "wall of separation" is "important".
Clergy Protest Virginia's New Trooper Chaplain Policy, Governor Supports Change
Posted on October 02, 2008Last week, I posted about VA's new policy requiring state police chaplains to deliver inclusive, non-sectarian prayers when participating in official, state-sponsored events. 6 of the 17 chaplains in the program resigned in protest of that directive, and now clergy...
Religion in the Upcoming VP Debate
Posted on October 01, 2008At the Washington Post's On Faith sites, panelists are responding to the question: "Vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin will debate this week. What would you ask them about their religious beliefs and why?" Some of these folks...
Texas Scientists Say Keep Religion Out of Curriculum
Posted on October 01, 2008A group of scientists in Texas are urging the State Board of Education to turn back efforts to inject religion into the science curriculum, when the group meets to update school standards. The Houston Chronicle reports: The group worries that...
Rhetoric of "Pulpit Initiative" Supporters Obscures True Goals
Posted on September 30, 2008One of the more insidious elements of this past weekend's Alliance Defense Fund efforts is proponents' conflation of the candidate endorsement from the pulpit issue with speaking out prophetically on the issues and events of the day. As ADF emphasizes...
Pulpit Initiative Churches Announced, Complaint Filed
Posted on September 29, 2008The Alliance Defense Fund has released a list of the 33 churches (pdf) that participated in the "pulpit initiative." An earlier AP story indicates that though many ministers volunteered, ADF selected the group they thought would create the best test....
Pulpit Endorsements Test IRS
Posted on September 29, 2008The Washington Post reports on yesterday's "pulpit initiative": The Rev. Ron Johnson Jr. told worshipers that the Democratic presidential nominee's positions on abortion and gay partnerships exist "in direct opposition to God's truth as He has revealed it in the...
Turning Churches into Political Puppets
Posted on September 28, 2008In an op-ed, BJC director Brent Walker details his opposition to the ADF's "pulpit initiative", in which a handful of pastors are purposefully violating the IRS prohibition on campaigning from the pulpit. Their ultimate goal is a repeal of that...
Pulpit Initiative Bleg
Posted on September 26, 2008I have a feeling this Sunday's scheduled mass violation of IRS tax-exempt regulations is going to be a bust. Most churches simply don't want their ministers telling them how to vote, and of those that do, most of *them* don't...
Does the Constitution Prohibit the Johnson Amendment?
Posted on September 26, 2008The short answer is...no. In today's installment of Barry Lynn v. Erik Stanley in the LATimes, the topic is "What does the Constitution Say?" Rev. Lynn responds to the charge that the prohibition against pulpit endorsements encourages government to micro-manage...
Pulpit Initiative Roundup
Posted on September 25, 2008OMB Watch reports that the IRS has agreed to review a complaint about the Alliance Defense Fund's efforts to encourage widespread pulpit endorsements, in search of a test case. The LATimes reports on the scheduled act of pulpit rebellion urged...
The Pastor's Pledge...Close, but No Cigar
Posted on September 25, 2008American Family Association head Donald Wildmon is trying to get in on all the pulpit campaigning talk these days. He urging pastors to sign a pledge regarding the lead up to November elections. Granted, he is not asking them to...
"See You at the Pole" Legal, but Problematic
Posted on September 24, 2008The annual "See You at the Pole" event is an organized effort to promote prayer among grade-school students before the school day begins. It should involve only participation that is thoroughly voluntary, and is not official or school-sanctioned in any...
The Responsibilities of Tax Exemption
Posted on September 24, 2008In today's LATimes counterpoint, AU's Barry Lynn and ADF's Erik Stanley debate the issue of tax exemption for churches. Should churches have to pay taxes? Should tax exemption come with federal regulation? Rev. Lynn argues that tax exemption is a...
Virginia Police's New Chaplain Diversity Policy and the "Separation of Jesus and State"
Posted on September 24, 2008Thanks to a reader for pointing to this recent story, in which a handful of Virginia state police chaplains preferring to resign their positions than offer non-sectarian ceremonial prayers at official, state-sponsored events that are "respectful of the varied ethnicities,...
Lynn v Stanley: Pulpit Campaigning Debate
Posted on September 23, 2008All week, the LATimes is running a series of op-ed counterpoints between AU's Barry Lynn and ADF's Erik Stanley over the issue of clergy political endorsements from the pulpit. Today, the focus is on the tax code, and whether it...
Baptist Joint Committee's Brent Walker Blasts "Pulpit Freedom Sunday"
Posted on September 23, 2008In an interview over the weekend on Fox News, Baptist Joint Committee director Rev. Brent Walker ripped into this Sunday's planned "pulpit initiative", in which the Alliance Defense Fund is urging clergy to endorse candidates for office, in violation of...
Will ADF's Efforts Be a Success?
Posted on September 23, 2008AP reports that "dozens of ministers" Sunday preached about the importance of maintaining the separation of church and state, ahead of the Alliance Defense Fund's misguided "pulpit initiative". Meanwhile, at AU, Rob Boston predicts the event will be a bust...
Treasury Department Bailout: A Church-State Angle?
Posted on September 23, 2008Howard Friedman at Religion Clause raises an interesting question regarding the national issue of the day. Would the proposed government purchase of debt extend to church mortgages? As he asks it, "are there any church-state problems with the federal government...
They Ask Questions
Posted on September 22, 2008At the Americans United blog, Joseph Conn is disappointed in recent poll numbers showing a majority of Americans believe the US Constitution "establishes a Christian nation". He asks... Are the Religious Right?s propaganda mills producing these alarming poll results? Or...
Texas "Moment of Silence" Law Gets new Challenge
Posted on September 22, 2008A Texas family has filed suit over the state's mandatory moment of silence law that requires all schools to offer a quiet minute to start the day. The first Texas law, enacted in 1995, allows school districts to decide whether...
State Department Releases Annual Religious Freedom Report
Posted on September 19, 2008Today, the US State Department released its annual report on international religious freedom. You can read the executive summary here and can access the entire report here....
Majority of Americans Believe Constitution "Establishes" Christian Nation
Posted on September 19, 2008Via Religion Clause, the First Amendment Center released its annual survey of public attitudes toward the First Amendment. Here are some results: Only 15% named "Freedom of Religion" as one of the specific First Amendment rights. 6% believe we have...
Microtargeting
Posted on September 18, 2008The Wall Street Journal notes that Democrats are reaching with precision toward religious voters for November's congressional races. In 2006, the Democrats "microtargeted" a few thousand likely voters who might be responsive to the party's message based on their theology...
Wednesday Evening Roundup
Posted on September 17, 2008Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will address the media Friday to discuss the release of the 2008 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. I note (without comment) that Gary Bauer, former head of the Family Research Council, was recruited to...
Accommodating Student Prayer Needs
Posted on September 17, 2008Minnesota Public Radio reports on a rift between a Wilmar Junior high School and a community of Somali parents concerned about their children's access to appropriate prayer time during the school day. A few Somali parents in Willmar complained that...
Jay Hein on Hiring Rights and the Future of the Faith-Based Initiative
Posted on September 16, 2008I missed this from a couple weeks ago, but the Roundtable has an interview online with outgoing White House Faith-based Office Director Jay Hein. There is a stubborn - frankly hilarious - back-and-forth over whether the program has resulted in...
Religious Voter Guides: A Comparison
Posted on September 16, 2008Mark Tooley of the Institute for Religion and Democracy is looking askance at a "voter guide" published by the United Church of Christ. It should, he suggests, get the same kind of scrutiny that conservative voter guides created for church...
FL Supreme Court Shows Reasoning in Striking Voucher Amendments
Posted on September 16, 2008Via Melissa Rogers, the Florida Supreme Court has released their opinion explaining the order that removed controversial school voucher amendments from the November ballot. The ruling determines that the state's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission exceeded its authority in submitting...
What Official Religious Discrimination Looks Like
Posted on September 15, 2008This is a reminder that in some parts of the world, religious folks have more to complain about than their city government refusing to construct a nativity scene, and hanging a banner that says "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas...
Settlement: CA Churches May Feed the Hungry in State Parks
Posted on September 15, 2008Via Religion Clause, a settlement has been reached allowing groups in California to continue feeding the homeless in state parks, despite a law requiring a permit for assembly. California State Parks agreed it would not enforce Regulation 4321 which is...
10th Circuit Rejects Challenge to the Crosses of Las Cruces, NM
Posted on September 15, 2008The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed 2 lawsuits challenging Las Cruces, NM's use of crosses in official city logos. In its 43-page opinion, the appeals court acknowledged that use of such symbols raises legitimate constitutional concerns. But the 10th...
The Challenges of Real-World Diversity
Posted on September 12, 2008In its editorial page, the Rocky Mountain News discusses a conflict between Muslim workers and JBS Swift & Co over the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Included is a nice shout-out to the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, stuck somewhere in...
Palin Attempts to Clarify Remarks About God and Policy
Posted on September 12, 2008Earlier in the week I posted (here and here) about VP nominee Sarah Palin's recent church address in which she used "God's will" and "God's plan" in discussing certain policy positions. In her first news interview, ABC's Charlie Gibson asked...
Judge: CA High School was Wrong to Remove Math Teacher's Religious Banners
Posted on September 11, 2008The LATimes reports on a decision in the case of a San Diego math teacher who is suing his school district for taking down banners in his classroom with slogans like "In God We Trust" and "God Shed His Grace...
Classroom Banner Dispute: School District's "Personal Message Policy" to Blame?
Posted on September 11, 2008Americans United disagrees with yesterday's trial court ruling against a school district for removing a teacher's religion-based banners from his classroom, but they find fault too with the district's policy. The court is wrong to claim that Johnson?s messages on...
Political Views and "God's Will"
Posted on September 10, 2008At the Washington Post's On Faith page, moderators ask: "Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin recently suggested that a gas pipeline is 'God's will' and the Iraq war is 'a task that is from God.' Are you concerned about these or...
Ministers File Complaint with IRS Over ADF Plans
Posted on September 09, 2008AP reports on the IRS complaint filed by several ministers protesting the Alliance Defense Fund's efforts urging churches to endorse candidates in violation of tax-exempt regulations: The group of 55 religious leaders from Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and other states said...
3rd Circuit Hears Head Scarf Case
Posted on September 09, 2008In Philadelphia, a police officer who was denied the right to wear her Muslim head scarf on duty appealed her dismissed case to the 3rd Circuit, which held a hearing today. Attorney Jeffrey M. Pollock, representing Webb in her appeal,...
A New RLUIPA Tactic: Asking Nicely
Posted on September 09, 2008Via Religion Clause, Janesville, WI drivers have been subjected to distracting lights from a church sign near the highway. The city, however, feels that RLUIPA will not allow them to require the sign's removal, so they are resorting to a...
Too Much Religion?
Posted on September 09, 2008The Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman writes with concern over the religious tenor of the presidential campaign. It is deeply troubling when religion is no longer just an element in understanding the character of a candidate but becomes a central part...
Counter-Protest: Fighting Back Against ADF's "Pulpit Initiative"
Posted on September 08, 2008Today's Washington Post reports on the Allied Defense Fund's "pulpit initiative", in which the organization is asking ministers to violate IRS tax-exempt rules against political campaigning, in search of a test case to challenge the constitutionality of that provision...
On Palin: Separating the "Scary" From the "Not Scary"
Posted on September 08, 2008At Beliefnet, Steven Waldman runs down the religious elements of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin that should raise a church-state flag, and those that should not. Here's a snippet: Not Scary - "She asked [her pastor] for a biblical example...
GOP Convention Watch: Vouchers and "Christian Heritage Week"
Posted on September 05, 2008In his acceptance speech tonight, Senator John McCain argued for school vouchers: Equal access to public education has been gained, but what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with...
Palin's Church Speech: "Fair Game"
Posted on September 05, 2008I regularly caution against investigating candidates' religious beliefs for their own sake, rather than as a part of evaluating public policy positions and philosophies. Melissa Rogers has a nice post up considering what's appropriate and not in evaluating VP nominee...
Florida Newspapers Hail Supreme Court's Decision
Posted on September 05, 2008Several op-ed pages are weighing in with relief over the Florida Supreme Court's decision to remove initiatives from the ballot for being misleading to voters. Florida Today: Amendments 7 and 9, also tossed off ballots, were just as deceptive. There?s...
BJC Statement on Florida Voucher Amendment Ruling
Posted on September 04, 2008The Baptist Joint Committee's General Counsel, K. Hollyn Hollman, remarked on the Florida Supreme Court's decision to pull voucher-related constitutional amendments from the November ballot: ?The religious freedom we enjoy depends on strong legal protections for the institutional separation of...
Coverage of FL Supreme Court Ballot Decision
Posted on September 04, 2008As I posted yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously - and nearly immediately following debate - to strip amendments from the November ballot that would have revived school voucher efforts and removed the constitutional "no aid to religion" provision...
NEWS Florida Supreme Court Strikes Voucher Amendments From Ballot
Posted on September 03, 2008After hearing arguments today, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously removed 3 constitutional amendment proposals from the ballot, including 2 (amendments 7 and 9) that would have allowed the state to create a school voucher system. The seven justices did not...
Florida Supreme Court Hears Voucher Amendment Appeals Today, to Rule This Week
Posted on September 03, 2008Florida ballots for the November election must be prepared by the end of the week, so the state's high court is expected to make a quick turnaround in deciding whether proposed constitutional amendments that would pave the way for a...
Preaching in a YouTube Age
Posted on September 03, 2008Memo to ministers: your flock aren't out there rudely talking on their phones as you suspect; they're recording you. As we've seen many times over the last couple of years, a sermon to anyone can easily become a spectacle to...
Clergy Organizing Against ADF's "Pulpit Initiative"
Posted on September 02, 2008At Talk2Action, Frederick Clarkson reports on the efforts of some ministers to "push back" against the Alliance Defense Fund's "Pulpit Initiative", which is urging pastors to violate their tax-exemption agreements on September 28 by engaging in political campaigning from the...
Faith-Based Deputy Director Medefind Takes Over for Hein
Posted on September 02, 2008In a farewell e-mail, outgoing director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives Jay Hein announces his successor. My service is ending a little earlier than I had planned due to some pressing family matters. Yet, I am excited...
US Fights UN Effort to Stifle Religious "Defamation"
Posted on September 02, 2008It sounds like a nice enough idea on its face: to respect religions by aiming to limit their "defamation". But in reality, a resolution being urged in the UN has been used to stamp out dissent, according to the US...
Sarah Palin on Church and State, Religious Liberty Issues
Posted on August 30, 2008Last week, I posted a few links to stories concerning Joe Biden's record and positions on church-state issues. Here are a few regarding Senator McCain's pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. In a 2006 interview with the Alaska NEA, she expressed...
Interesting
Posted on August 29, 2008I didn't hear this part of last night's Democratic Convention - and I haven't found a transcript - but Politico's Ben Smith writes an interesting tidbit about the closing prayer, delivered by evangelical pastor Joel Hunter. After first commenting that...
Texas AG Rules Bible Courses Not Required (Or Did He?)
Posted on August 29, 2008Advocates on either side of a dispute surrounding Texas' new Bible curriculum law are claiming victory after the state's Attorney General issued a ruling yesterday. At issue is whether or not the law *requires* districts to offer the course, or...
Experts Including BJC's Walker Advise Presidential Candidates on Using Faith
Posted on August 28, 2008Over at the Washington Post's On Faith site, panelists including the BJC's Brent Walker are answering the challenge: Advise John McCain and Barack Obama on the role religion should play in their presidential campaigns. There are lots of interesting responses...
DNC Religion Watch
Posted on August 28, 2008Steven Waldman reports on the character of the many faith-related activities throughout this week's Democratic National Convention. I was quite ready to be cynical about all this. Democratic operatives seemed to get religion less by reading scriptures than by exit...
What is the Most Religiously Diverse Community in America?
Posted on August 27, 2008Flushing, NY. An openness to immigration and laws protecting religious freedom helped create the conditions for religious tolerance in the United States, says an expert on immigration, religion and urban issues in America who has researched a neighborhood in New...
Tuesday Morning Roundup
Posted on August 26, 2008So many items out there today, how am I supposed to choose? The Baptist Standard reports on the keynote sermon delivered at the Texas Baptists Committed conference by , who argued that the heritage of Baptists - if observed -...
Biology Teachers Struggle with Evolution in Difficult Religious Environment
Posted on August 25, 2008Over the weekend, the NYTimes featured a fascinating profile of David Campbell, a high school biology teacher in Orange Park, Florida. Campbell is searching for effective ways to introduce his students to evolution, now that the curriculum in that state...
Democrats Highlight Faith in Convention, I Offer Some Guidelines
Posted on August 25, 2008I'm keeping an eye on the DNC Convention in Denver, just getting under way. A key theme in coverage of the event has been the role of faith and religion in this 4-day national commercial for the Democratic Party and...
Youth Drug Prevention Program Returns Government Grant After Church-State Questions Raised
Posted on August 25, 2008Teen Challenge of Kentucky still feels it is qualified for a federal grant, but didn't want to go to court over the $50,000 in question. Americans United had sent a letter to HHS questioning the propriety of taxpayer money going...
Joe Biden on Church and State, Religious Liberty Issues
Posted on August 23, 2008Since he's just been picked as Senator Obama's running mate, I did a little looking for evidence of Joe Biden's attitudes toward the separation of church and state and issues related to religious liberty. During the primaries, the Pew Forum...
New Poll: Growing Majority of Americans Want Churches Out of Politics
Posted on August 22, 2008The Pew Research Center has released a new poll showing that for the first time more than 50% of Americans surveyed believe churches should "stay out of politics" as opposed to "express views". The most interesting part is where the...
DC's Third Church Pursues Argument Over Building's Role in Religious Exercise
Posted on August 22, 2008NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reported yesterday on the dispute surrounding a Washington, DC church building whose congregants want to tear down in favor of a more pleasant-looking and more functional building. The problem is the structure has been designated a...
Summum Response Brief Filed
Posted on August 22, 2008Via Melissa Rogers, the Summum response brief has been filed in the case to be heard by the Supreme Court in November. You can read it here (pdf). Other than the City?s distaste for Summum or its beliefs (or both),...
White House Faith-Based Director Resigns
Posted on August 21, 2008The Roundtable reports that Jay Hein is leaving the White House to care for his ailing father in Indiana: Hein, 43, the third director to head the White House faith-based office since its inception in 2001, has steered the Initiative...
Army Chaplain Says Publishing General's Book Endorsement a Mistake
Posted on August 21, 2008The author of a book on Christianity for military personnel says he made a mistake in publishing Gen David Petraeus' glowing review on the jacket. Now that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has come down on Petraeus for saying every...
Florida Voucher Amendment Hearing Set
Posted on August 20, 2008The Orlando Sentinel blog reports that the Florida Supreme Court has set oral arguments for September 8 in the challenge to controversial ballot initiatives. The amendment proposals in question would alter the state's constitution by removing a key religious liberty...
Add To Your Bookmarks
Posted on August 20, 2008A new blog at beliefnet has 2 well-known contributors discussing issues of religion in politics and government. Jay Sekulow and Barry Lynn post at Lynn v. Sekulow -- Politics, Religion and the Public Square. Add Blog From the Capital to...
BJC's Brent Walker Critiques Warren's Religious Discrimination Question at Saddlebrook Forum
Posted on August 19, 2008Writing at the Washington Post's On Faith site, the Director of the Baptist Joint Committee, Rev. Brent Walker, points to the bias evident in Rick Warren's question to the presidential candidates about faith-based funding and hiring discrimination. It is unfortunate...
Coverage of Lesbian Fertility Refusal Case
Posted on August 19, 2008As I posted yesterday, the CA Supreme Court ruled against physicians who tried to claim a religious exemption allowed them to refuse a lesbian woman a fertility procedure. The court did maintain, however that the doctors could refuse, so long...
Having it Both Ways on Hiring Rights and the Faith-Based Initiative
Posted on August 18, 2008Former White House Faith-Based Director Jim Towey writes an op-ed in today's Denver Post, in advance of next week's Democratic convention in that city. He used the occasion of Saturday's Saddlebrook forum, and Rick Warren's question regarding faith-based funding and...
CA Supreme Court Rules in Physicians' Religious Exemption Case
Posted on August 18, 2008Today the California Supreme Court ruled that physicians must provide equal access to all, despite any religious objections they may have to for certain procedures on certain individuals. At issue here were fertility doctors' refusal to perform intrauterine insemination on...
Saddlebrook Transcript and Video
Posted on August 17, 2008You can read a transcript of Rick Warren's forum with Senators Obama and McCain here. And you can access video at the links below: Obama: Part 1 || Part 2 McCain: Part 1 || Part 2 For the most part, the questions were not offensively religion-obsessed...
Questioning the Saddlebrook Forum
Posted on August 16, 2008Not everyone's happy about the presidential candidates participating in a church forum today, hosted by Rick Warren. AU's Barry Lynn wonders if we haven't covered this ground already: ?Campaign 2008 is starting to feel like a Sunday school Bible drill,?...
The Presidential Campaign Goes to Church
Posted on August 15, 2008In today's Christian Science Monitor, Jane Lampson previews Saturday's presidential forum at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA. It's a sign of religion's importance in the 2008 presidential campaign. The event, back-to-back one-hour interviews at Mr...
Federal Judge Rules Against Library's "Religious Service" Ban
Posted on August 15, 2008Via Religion Clause, the Columbus Dispatch reports on a federal judge's injunction requiring the Upper Arlington Public Library to abandon their policy against using library facilities for "inherent elements of a religious service." The library had created a "limited public...
Faith in the Democratic Party Platform
Posted on August 14, 2008Jeffrey Weiss at the Dallas Morning News read the platform draft of the Democratic Party, looking for references to faith. Here's one key example he found, that indicates an interest in continuing faith-based funding while attempting to ensure religious liberty...
Florida Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Voucher-Related Amendments
Posted on August 14, 2008AP reports the legal dispute over Florida's ballot initiatives slated for November will be heard by the state's Supreme Court. A trial judge rejected a challenge by civil liberties groups to the amendments, which would allow a school voucher program....
ADF Asks Supreme Court to Consider "Student Expression" Case
Posted on August 13, 2008The Allied Defense Fund has filed cert (pdf) with the Supreme Court asking them to review the 6th Circuit's ruling in favor of a Michigan school district. There, an 11-year-old had incorporated religious literature into a project in which students...
University of California Can Reject Course Credits From Christian High Schools [UPDATED]
Posted on August 13, 2008The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the decision by a federal judge allowing the University of California to continue denying credits for high school classes that don't meet standards. Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited...
Texas Judge Rejects Injunction Request by Teachers
Posted on August 12, 2008The Texas State Teachers Association believes a new state dropout recovery, policy offering grants to nonprofits education alternatives, is in reality a school voucher program in disguise. They filed suit a week ago, requesting a halt to the program, but...
New From the Baptist Joint Committee
Posted on August 12, 2008General Counsel Holly Hollman looks into the debate over the future of the Faith-Based Initiative, from the perspective of the BJC's history opposing government funding of religious organizations. The BJC has been a watchdog and critic of much of the...
Santeria Priest Gains Spotlight
Posted on August 11, 2008Today's LATimes profiles Ernesto Pichardo, a Santeria Priest known for his legal challenges in support of the Afro-Cuban religion's ritual animal killings. According to the piece, Pichardo filed suit this summer over a police raid on the home where his...
9th Circuit Reverses 3-Judge Panel, Sides With Snowbowl Resort Over Navajo in RFRA Challenge
Posted on August 11, 2008A year ago, a 3-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Appeals Court agreed with the Najavo plaintiffs that plans to expand Arizona's Snowbowl ski resort, in mountains sacred to many Native American tribes, violates their rights under the Religious Freedom...
Bush Visits Registered Church in China
Posted on August 10, 2008After his efforts to visit an unofficial "house church" in Beijing were scuttled by the Chinese government, President Bush worshipped Sunday in an officially registered Protestant church, according to the NYTimes. Emerging from services at a small Protestant church here,...
Does Historic Preservation Take Precedence Over Worship?
Posted on August 08, 2008A Christian Scientist church in Washington, D.C. wants to tear down its current building because the upkeep is expensive and some of its architectural features leave it inhospitable. There is just one problem: the structure has been named a historic....
Air Force Chaplain Head "Speaks Out"
Posted on August 08, 2008The Chief of Chaplains for the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Cecil Richardson, was interviewed by the Air Force Times on subjects relating to charges of evangelism and improper religious coercion. Q. Say a Christian chaplain is visited by a troubled...
AU Files Brief in Appeal of Utah Cross Ruling
Posted on August 07, 2008You may remember that back in November, a district judge in Utah ruled that the cross has "evolved" from being a religious symbol and is in fact a *secular* symbol of death. His ruling upheld the state government's practice of...
FL Amendments "Crafted to Deceive"
Posted on August 07, 2008An editorial in Florida Today comes out strongly against the 2 ballot initiatives designed to usher in a school voucher program. After skewering Amendment 9 for its deceptive "sneak attack" wording, the piece turns toward the other. Amendment 7 ......
Must We Vet for Religion?
Posted on August 06, 2008Of course, I disapprove (and disapproved here too), but for what it's worth, Steven Waldman, writing at the Wall Street Journal blog, evaluates the "religion factor" of potential VP choices. I'm not naive enough to think that pundits won't explore...
Bush Will Not Attend Church, Will Offer Critique, on China Trip
Posted on August 06, 2008Originally, President Bush intended to visit a church and meet with religious dissidents during his trip to Beijing for the Olympics, to demonstrate his opposition to China's firm grip on religious exercise. But the NYTimes reports that plan has had....
Religion Plays Prominent Role in Political Coverage
Posted on August 06, 2008Religion News Service picks up on a recent Pew Forum report showing that during the 2008 presidential primary season, religion played nearly as big a part in campaign coverage as gender and race combined. The study finds that when coverage...
Tuesday Evening Roundup: Hein Impacting Lawsuits, Colorado Declines Appeal, Religious Liberty Champion gets VP Speculation, and Texas Teachers Sue Over "Back Door" Voucher Program
Posted on August 05, 2008Citing the Supreme Court's decision in Hein, the 7th Circuit has ruled the Freedom From Religion Foundation does not have standing to challenge the VA's emphasis on "spiritual" health of soldiers in its chaplaincy program. You can read the decision...
Circuit Court Judge Allows Voucher Amendments on FL Ballot; AU to Appeal
Posted on August 05, 2008A Florida circuit judge has rejected arguments challenging the upcoming (misguided) ballot initiatives that would remove the state's "no aid to religion" provisions and pave the way for a school voucher program. Plaintiffs maintain that the constitutional amendments put forward...
Appeal Hearing Upcoming in Texas Moment of Silence Challenge
Posted on August 05, 2008The Houston Chronicle reports that both sides of the dispute over Texas' "moment of silence" law are "gearing up" for the appellate hearing in the 5th Circuit, to take place this fall. The state's brief focuses on the fact that...
NJ Supreme Court Rules on Religious Hostility in the Workplace
Posted on August 04, 2008A Jewish police officer in New Jersey filed suit claiming a hostile work environment over religious harassment. Disagreeing with the appellate court, the state's Supreme Court ruled that the evidence does support the jury's finding of liability, making a particular...
Social Services: Government vs. Church Congregations
Posted on August 04, 2008I asked the question of faith-based funding last week and the Baltimore Sun asks again today: does it work? Law professor Michele Gilman writes, in an op-ed: Professor Mark Chaves of Duke University examined data from the National Congregations Study...
Are Nonsectarian Prayers Neither?
Posted on August 01, 2008Charles Haynes addresses a proverbial elephant-in-the-room in his newest column, on the issue of government meetings opening with sectarian prayer. Last week's 4th Circuit decision returns to light a curiosity Haynes traces to the Supreme Court's Marsh ruling that said...
Soledad Case Will Continue
Posted on August 01, 2008The NYTimes today reports on the recent federal court decision rejecting a church-state argument that the Mt. Soledad cross should be removed from government property. Included is a quote from plaintiff attorney announcing his intention to appeal: James E...
HHS Proposes Religious Exemption Requirement for Federally Funded Health Providers
Posted on July 31, 2008A front-page Washington Post story today tackles the difficult issue of medical workers' right to refuse certain services on religious grounds. The report follows a controversial proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services: [The] regulation...
11th Circuit Orders Christian Fraternity Recognition
Posted on July 31, 2008Pending a lawsuit from Christian fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi, the University of Florida has been ordered to recognize the group, despite the school's rule prohibiting religious discrimination. AP reports that since the fraternity only allows Christians, it has been barred...
President to Attend Church, Speak of Religious Freedom, in Beijing
Posted on July 31, 2008According to an AFP story: US President George W. Bush plans to attend church while in China for the opening of the Olympic Games next month, and will speak about freedom of religion, a top aide said Wednesday. "When he...
Final (?) Chapter of Mt. Soledad Cross Dispute Begins with District Court Ruling
Posted on July 30, 2008The controversial Mt. Soledad cross - a 40+ foot monument near San Diego - has been the subject of a heated church-state dispute for nearly 20 years. Now entering what should be the last phase of argument, the cross currently...
Chabad Wins RLUIPA Challenge
Posted on July 30, 2008Via Religion Clause, Florida's Chabad of Nova has won its challenge of Cooper City's ban on churches in the business district. The Florida Sun-Sentinel has more on the RLUIPA case. Miami U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga said the city violated...
President Meets with Chinese Activists
Posted on July 30, 2008AP reports on President Bush's meeting yesterday with Chinese human rights activists, ahead of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. The White House identified the five activists as Harry Wu, Wei Jingsheng, Rebiya Kadeer, Sasha Gong, and Bob Fu. Presidential spokeswoman Dana...
An Important Question of Faith-Based Funding
Posted on July 29, 2008This campaign season's focus on the future of the Faith-Based Initiative has provided some genuinely good debate and conversation about the nature of the program. Hopefully, the result of all of this discussion will be an improved relationship between religious...
Religion a Factor in US Attorney Scandal: Beach-Blogging Edition
Posted on July 29, 2008I'm at the beach on vacation for the week, so naturally - like any normal American - I've taken to some light summer reading: the Justice Department's report (pdf) on Monica Goodling and the US Attorney scandal. (Lots of intrigue,...
Fredericksburg Prayer Case Attorneys Profiled
Posted on July 29, 2008The pro bono lawyers who briefed and argued the 4th Circuit case involving prayer to open a city council meeting are interviewed at law.com.Terence Rasmussen and Robert Rolfe were brought in by People for the American Way....
Pope Benedict, Maliki, Discuss Plight of Christians in Iraq
Posted on July 28, 2008Pope Benedict met with Nouri al-Maliki Friday and called on the President to offer greater protection of Christians in Iraq. Benedict has frequently expressed concern about the plight of Christians caught in sectarian violence in Iraq. The Vatican statement said...
Response to Colorado School Decision
Posted on July 28, 2008The Rocky Mountain News gives its opinion on last week's 10th Circuit decision, which invalidated Colorado's law excluding religious colleges from the state's higher education scholarship program. When the legislature established the stipends, it allowed Colorado high-school graduates attending any...
Humanist Chaplains?
Posted on July 28, 2008Harvard University chaplain Greg Epstein has an interesting idea for - and perspective on - the role of clergy in the military. Writing in the On Faith section of the Washington Post online, he ponders the spiritual plight of many...
Time for a Baptist Lesson?
Posted on July 25, 2008In Illinois, activist Rob Sherman has filed suit challenging a proposed $1 million state grant to a Baptist church for the purpose of repairing fire damage. Writing at AU's blog, Joseph Conn suggests a proper Baptist response that would put...
McDonald's Lawsuit Claims Religious Discrimination
Posted on July 25, 2008Two women in Detroit claim they were denied employment at a McDonald's because of their religious attire. Toi Whitfield of Detroit and Quiana Pugh of Dearborn say they were both told by managers at a McDonald's in Dearborn they would...
Fourth Circuit Upholds City Council's Ban on Sectarian Prayer to Open Meetings
Posted on July 24, 2008The Fredericksburg, VA's City Council instituted a rule that opening prayers must be nondenominational in deference to the First Amendment's prohibition on government-sponsored religious preference. Ruling on a councilman's challenge, the Fourth Circuit determined that "because the prayers at issue here are government speech", the ban is constitutional, and does not violate the plaintiff's free speech or free exercise rights...
Coverage of 4th Circuit Prayer Decision
Posted on July 24, 2008My post covering the decision of the 4th Circuit, upholding the right of the Fredericksburg, VA City Council to limit its opening prayers to nondenominational expressions, is here. Other news coverage is coming in: Associated Baptist Press' Rob Marus has...
HR 6514
Posted on July 23, 2008While I'm mentioning legislation that has been introduced in Congress (see post below), Stars and Stripes points to a new bill introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) last week. HR 6514 would allow military chaplains to offer sectarian prayers at...
Tenth Circuit Rules Colorado Scholarships Must Include "Pervasively Sectarian" Schools
Posted on July 23, 2008Colorado Christian University filed suit, claiming the state is not even *allowed* to leave them out of the scholarship initiative on this basis. The state countered that the Supreme Court's decision in Locke v. Davey - which supported the state's right to refuse public scholarships for a major in devotional theology - does allow them to make such a determination...
New Religious Discrimination Guidelines from EEOC
Posted on July 23, 2008The arm of the government that investigates employment discrimination claims has updated its guidance for religious diversity in the work place. Thanks to Religion Clause for directing me to this Business Week story with the news. Last year, there were...
HR 6146
Posted on July 22, 2008Ed Brayton writes about pending freedom of speech legislation (HR 6146) that would "prohibit recognition and enforcement of foreign defamation judgments." Many international laws and UN resolutions being considered set out to protect religion, but they have a chilling effect...
Presidential Forum in Church Raises Concern
Posted on July 22, 2008Writing at the Huffington Post, former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee evokes the memory of Roger Williams to express his unease with McCain and Obama's upcoming forum to be held in a California church. The two presidential candidates have been...
Texas' Vague Guidelines
Posted on July 22, 2008The Austin American-Statesman weighs in on Texas' impending Bible class fiasco: The standards the board approved last Friday only stress critical thinking, communication, problem solving and decision-making skills. How will those vague guidelines play out in more than a thousand...
UPDATE: Texas Bible Course Approved With Minimal Standards
Posted on July 21, 2008On Friday, the Texas Board of Education gave final approval to proceed with a Bible course in high schools beginning in the 2009-2010 school year. The Houston Chronicle explains the difficulties they are inviting: Local school districts got a green...
McCain, Obama to Discuss Compassion, Faith at Mega-Church
Posted on July 21, 2008Pastor Rick Warren was successful in getting both presidential candidates to agree to appear together at a forum in his Saddleback Church in California. The LATimes has more: The topic of the forum will be "compassion and leadership." A recorded...
More on Obama's Faith-Based Proposal and Hiring Rights
Posted on July 21, 2008Today's Washington Post carries an editorial on Barack Obama's proposal for an overhaul of the Bush Administration's Faith-Based Initiative, including a commitment supporting the principle that public funds should not be used to discriminate in hiring...
Kentucky Baptist Homes Sued for Prosyletizing, Discriminating, with Public Funds
Posted on July 18, 2008Americans United and the ACLU filed suit against Kentucky Baptist Homes. The lawsuit, Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes For Children, Inc., asserts that Kentucky Baptist Homes has no right to accept public funding while imposing religious dogma on the children...
Being Baptist: Separation of Church and State, and the Golden Rule
Posted on July 18, 2008Rev. Michael Helms of Moultrie, GA has some words of Baptist wisdom in today's Moultrie Observer. Separation of church and state, in part, is about making sure that the majority does not use the state to force its religious views...
Colorado Group Moving Toward School Prayer Ballot Initiative
Posted on July 18, 2008From the Denver Post: Bishop Kevin Foreman and his 2-year-old Final Harvest Christian Center received state approval Wednesday for a petition asking voters whether Colorado statutes should be changed to provide students five minutes for private meditation at the beginning...
Long Hair Denied: TX School District Declines Religious Exemption for 5-Year-Old
Posted on July 17, 2008In Needville, TX, strict rules for boys in school do not allow long hair. Yesterday, the local School Board denied parents' appeal of a ruling turning down their request for an exemption based on his religious beliefs as a Native...
Article 18: Americans Care About Religious Liberty Abroad
Posted on July 17, 2008A new study released by Open Doors shows that Americans place a priority on a foreign policy that emphasizes religious freedom. Because Americans hold religious freedom in high regard, they also hold other governments to the same standards. When asked...
Senator McCain Touts School Vouchers
Posted on July 16, 2008Though he didn't mention the benefit to religious schools specifically, speaking at the NAACP Convention today, John McCain announced his plan to institute a nation-wide school voucher program. When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents...
Religious Persecution in China on the Rise
Posted on July 16, 2008Associated Baptist Press reports that while we might assume China would be shaping up for appearances heading into the Olympics, just the opposite may be happening. Chinese officials have...reportedly been cracking down on other dissenting groups, such as human-rights activists...
A Candidate's Policies Matter, Not Their Religious Beliefs
Posted on July 15, 2008The cover story of the new Newsweek delves back into an issue I wish we could leave behind with respect to candidates for office: the specifics of their religious beliefs. Obama has spoken often and eloquently about the importance of...
Gaddy Takes on Faith-Based Funding
Posted on July 15, 2008Writing in today's Baltimore Sun, Interfaith Alliance head Welton Gaddy adds to the growing chorus of concern over the Faith-Based Initiative. When the government gives money directly to religious institutions, those funds are mixed with other private funds into a...
Texas Education Board Under Fire
Posted on July 14, 2008A Houston Chronicle editorial over the weekend warns against the lack of guidance the Texas Board of Education is offering to school districts charged with developing Bible-related courses. The districts, including many without expertise and money for curriculum development, will...
President Bush on the 10th Anniversary of the USCIRF
Posted on July 14, 2008Today, President Bush marked the anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act, which among other things established the Commission on International Religious Freedom. He noted the progress in religious liberty that has been made in places like Turkmenistan and Vietnam,...
RLUIPA and Zoning Discrimination
Posted on July 14, 2008The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) continues to confound some city officials. The Miami Herald reports: [C]ities continue to find themselves in conflict with religious institutions -- sometimes because they aren't familiar with the rules, don't want...
Faith-Based Fallout
Posted on July 11, 2008James Evans, pastor of First Baptist Church in Auburn, AL has an op-ed about "the future of faith-based initiatives" that concludes with a powerful summation of the potential dangers of continuing this governmental philosophy. [S]o long as the practice of...
Baptist Joint Committee, Other Liberty Groups, Urge Candidates to Include Safeguards in Faith-Based Initiative
Posted on July 10, 2008A coalition of religious and civil liberty groups (CARD) including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty sent a letter to both presidential candidates today imploring them to include constitutional protections in any proposals regarding federal funding for religious organizations...
Seventh Circuit Rules Fair Housing Act Does Not Accommodate Religious Practice
Posted on July 10, 2008When Lynne Bloch led her Shoreline Towers Condominium Association to institute a regulation outlawing all "objects of any sort" from the hallways of her building, she wasn't expecting that disputes three years later would lead to having her own mezuzah...
USAToday: Faith-Based Initiative Should be Re-Tooled
Posted on July 10, 2008A USAToday editorial weighs in on faith-based funding. They begin noting that the program thus far has been marked by allegations of political misuse, and then wonder if it's all worth it (my emph.) Given this troubled history, is it...
Military Lawsuit Coverage on CNN
Posted on July 09, 2008CNN's AC360 tonight featured a story on Army Specialist Jeremy Hall's lawsuit against the Department of Defense. Hall claims that as an atheist he experienced systematic discrimination, and that the unconstitutional official promotion of Christianity is rampant in the military...
Texas AG Opinion on State Bible Curriculum Solves...Little
Posted on July 09, 2008Texas' Attorney General Greg Abbott has approved as constitutional the vague Bible curriculum standards offered by the State Board of Education, according to the Houston Chronicle. "By this letter we conclude that courses taught in accordance with applicable Texas law...
Texas Science Director Files Suit Over Forced Resignation
Posted on July 09, 2008A little late to this one, still catching up from the July 4 weekend. In Austin, the pressured resignation of the Texas Education Agency's science director, over her refusal to entertain creationist ideas, has generated local media attention and now....
Defense Department Responds with Motion to Dismiss
Posted on July 09, 2008Responding to the complaint of Army Spec. Jeremy Hall (see post below!) that a "pattern" of religious discrimination exists throughout the military, the Defense Department has filed a memo in support of the defendant's motion to dismiss. (via Religion Clause)...
Separation of Mosque and State in Iraq
Posted on July 08, 2008In an interesting report over the weekend, the LATimes tells of planned changes for the upcoming fall elections in Iraq. Worried that highly influential religious figures would be exploited by campaigns, a new rule will not allow photos of anyone...
Resident Against Resident, Student Against Student
Posted on July 08, 2008AP updates the story of a Mount Vernon, Ohio science teacher who defiantly introduced his own religious beliefs in class, refused to stop displaying a Bible in his room, and marked a student's arm with a cross to "demonstrate" an...
RLUIPA in the News
Posted on July 07, 2008In Maryland, the Walkersville Zoning Board is being sued for its decision to "reject the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's proposal to build a worship and recreation center on 224 acres of agriculturally zoned land." The landowner claims the decision violates RLUIPA...
Grassley Updates Ministry Investigation, Answers Common Questions
Posted on July 07, 2008Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has released a memo updating his progress in investigating the finances of 6 television ministries for potential misuse of tax-exempt status. It looks like 2 of the respondents have been highly cooperative, 2 moderately so, and...
God and Country
Posted on July 04, 2008Mercer University professor David Gushee offers thoughts on the church and July 4. Visiting family last weekend, I experienced a classic ?God and country? service at a large SBC church. There was a day when I would have been outraged...
Initiative, Enforcement and the Faith-Based Funding Program
Posted on July 03, 2008It's nice to see a complex and important church-state issue like the government's faith-based funding program get as much attention as it has lately. First, President Bush recently spent a few days claiming his administration's initiative to be a rousing...
Faith-Based Hiring Thoughts
Posted on July 03, 2008Conservatives have found their avenue of backlash against Senator Obama's proposal to extend and amend the government's faith-based initiative: his reasonable insistence that federal money not be used to discriminate in hiring. Steven Waldman chronicles the outrage...
Baptist Joint Committee Responds to Obama's Faith-Based Proposal
Posted on July 02, 2008From the BJC press release: While recognizing that many challenges will arise in the implementation of his proposal, BJC General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman said many of the senator?s comments are reassuring. ?The speech reflects a keen appreciation for the...
IRS Investigating Florida Televangelist
Posted on July 02, 2008Bill Keller says the IRS is investigating him for comments about Mitt Romney and Mormonism during the primary, and about Barack Obama's Christianity more recently. He says his comments were religious in nature and not political....
The Larger Question
Posted on July 02, 2008Rev. Barry Lynn dares to ask: "Do we really need a faith-based initiative?" More on this later......
Obama to Give Speech on Faith
Posted on July 01, 2008Today's NYTimes reports that presidential candidate Barack Obama will give a major address on faith today in Zanesville, Ohio. Stay tuned. If he makes substantive remarks about church and state, or the role of faith in politics and public policy,...
ADF's "Pulpit Initiative": Who Gains? Who Loses?
Posted on July 01, 2008Rob Boston of Americans United has a strong post criticizing the ADF's "pulpit initiative" plan asking ministers to violate their tax-exempt restrictions on endorsing candidates in their official capacities as church leaders. His concluding point bears repeating - this scheme...
Coverage of, and BJC Reaction to, Obama's Speech on Faith-Based Funding
Posted on July 01, 2008Associated Baptist Press' Rob Marus reports: "On Bush's Faith-Based Programs, Obama Says Save the Best, Ditch the Rest." In the Democrat?s speech, the clearest difference from Bush?s policy was whether religious groups could discriminate on the basis of faith in...
Texas Court Invalidates Judgment Against Church Over Ceremony
Posted on June 30, 2008By a 6-3 vote, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the judicial system may not get involved in claims arising from "accepted and expected" church activities like the "laying of hands" in an exorcism ceremony. The Houston Chronicle has...
President Continues Faith-Based Funding Praise: "Souls Have Been Touched"
Posted on June 30, 2008In his weekly radio address, President Bush continued his renewed interest in promoting the White House's Faith-Based Initiative funding program. At the end of the address, he indicated the religious aims behind sending taxpayer funds to faith-based organizations...
Government Funding of Faith-Based Organizations Tops $2 Billion in 2007
Posted on June 27, 2008The Chronicle of Philanthropy rounds up the President's speech on the faith-based funding program yesterday, and recently released statistics from the White House. The White House released data showing that religious charities won $2.2-billion ? or 10...
Deception and the Florida Amendments
Posted on June 27, 2008A Palm Beach Post editorial starts this way: In November, Floridians could vote on school vouchers without knowing that they're voting on school vouchers. To avoid that kind of deceptive ballot manipulation, the Leon County Circuit Court should rule favorably...
Faith-Based Initiative: Cronyism or Huge Success?
Posted on June 26, 2008An LATimes blog offers its take on the accusation that a Justice Department official was using politics and ideology to guide a large faith-based grant. I posted about this investigation - revealed by ABC News - earlier in the week....
Religious Liberty Council Luncheon Coverage
Posted on June 26, 2008In the Baptist Standard, ABP's Rob Marus reports on last week's Baptist Joint Committee luncheon for its Religious Liberty Council during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship meeting in Memphis, TN. The guest speaker was Aidsand Wright-Riggins, executive director of the American...
ACLU Questions Navy Prayer, Threatens Suit
Posted on June 25, 2008The NYTimes reports that the ACLU, on behalf of nine midshipmen, has asked the Naval Academy to discontinue its practice of offering a prayer with the mandatory noon meal. A Navy spokesman responded by denying that request, setting up a...
Book Reviews, Examining Kennedy, and The Limits of Religious Liberty
Posted on June 25, 2008The newest issue of Report From the Capital - the monthly publication of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty - is now online. BJC Director Brent Walker examines the "church-state legacy" of John F. Kennedy in light of Ted...
Summum Brief Gains Coverage
Posted on June 25, 2008A Deseret News (UT) story says that the friend-of-the-court brief signed by the BJC, AU and other religious liberty groups offers a "new twist" in the case. It's nice to see a reporter reading the documents and recognizing the change...
Justice Department Official Under Investigation for Politically-Motivated Faith-Based Grant
Posted on June 24, 2008ABC News is reporting the Justice Department is investigating one of its own officials for repeatedly awarding funds - including a sizable faith-based grant - improperly, and over the objections of staff. They allege that his priorities in giving out...
Religion in America Study Shows Growing Tolerance for Diversity
Posted on June 23, 2008The NYTimes reports on a new Pew Research study. Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation, according to...
A "First Amendment Oxymoron"
Posted on June 23, 2008Charles Haynes takes a look at the trends toward charter school, like the controversial Middle Eastern-focused school in Minnesota, and the Hebrew school in Florida. Strange as it may sound, this is a hot new trend in education: creating faith-based....
Baptist Joint Committee Joins AU, Others in Friend-of-the-Court Brief in Summum Case
Posted on June 23, 2008In its next term, the Supreme Court is set to hear the appeal arising from the Summum faith's request to place a monument of its Seven Aphorisms next to the Ten Commandments in Pleasant Grove, Utah's Pioneer Park. The issue...
Ohio Teacher Dismissed For Preaching Beliefs...and Other Weird Things
Posted on June 22, 2008Via Religion Clause, a controversial Ohio middle school teacher has been fired after reportedly promoting his religious beliefs - to put it mildly - in class: [John Freshwater] taught creationism in his science class and used a device to burn...
Saperstein on ADF's "Pulpit Initiative"
Posted on June 20, 2008Today's issue of The Forward looks into the Alliance Defense Fund's scheme to create a test case by encouraging pastors to violate their tax-exempt status and endorse candidates from the pulpit ahead of the November election. Included is an interesting...
More Coverage of "Pulpit Initiative"
Posted on June 20, 2008ABC News has picked up the story of Minnesota pastor Gus Booth, who is openly defying the IRS regulations against campaigning from the pulpit. I expect this issue to continue to grow through the campaign season. Will be interesting to...
Finding God at the Wrong Time for RFRA
Posted on June 20, 2008In Baldwin County, AL, Bob and Brenda Shoop made a Religious Freedom Restoration Act claim that the marijuana causing them to fail a drug test, which in turn violated their parole after being arrested for trafficking, was a necessary part...
Buddhist Inmate Wins Case for Vegan Diet in Massachussetts Prison
Posted on June 19, 2008From the Boston Globe US Chief District Judge Mark L. Wolf concluded that the system violated a 2000 federal statute that protects religious freedom in prison. In a judgment entered Tuesday, Wolf ordered the head of the system, beginning Friday,...
Lawsuit Challenges "I Believe" License Plates
Posted on June 19, 2008Americans United has filed suit over the controversial South Carolina specialty license plate that allows residents to choose a tag with a cross and the slogan "I Believe". The Americans United lawsuit says the Christian license plate violates the separation...
Study Questions DC Voucher Program Effectiveness
Posted on June 18, 2008At a time when Congress may be moving toward phasing out the D.C. school voucher program - sending taxpayer money to private schools including religious schools - a Department of Education study indicates the plan leaves participating students performing at...
Supreme Court to Hear Detainees' Right to Sue Government Officials for Religious Discrimination
Posted on June 18, 2008The Supreme Court earlier this week granted a hearing to consider a lawsuit against Defense Department officials over detainees' treatment. Javaid Iqbal claims that he was mistreated due to his religion thanks to a policy that was known and approved....
Saudi Academy in Virginia Under Continued Scrutiny
Posted on June 17, 2008The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has been engaged in a lengthy challenge to the textbooks used by the Islamic Saudi Academy, a school run by the Saudi Government in conjunction with its Embassy. After finally obtaining many of...
Balancing Dignity
Posted on June 17, 2008To follow up yesterday's post, here is Marc Stern of the American Jewish Congress in today's LA Times, in a piece titled "Will Gay Rights Trample Religious Liberty?" [T]he government has acted in some way to forbid gays and lesbians...
NPR on Gay Rights and Religious Liberty
Posted on June 16, 2008Thanks to longtime reader Chris D for sending this link. NPR's Barbara Bradley Haggerty profiles the issue of same-sex marriage as it might impact concerns of religious liberty. Starting with the case of New Jerseys Ocean Grove Pavilion, an open-air....
Louisiana Senate Approves Evolution Bill, Lawsuit Eyed
Posted on June 16, 2008By a unanimous vote, the Louisiana Senate has sent a bill to Governor Bobby Jindal that, according to the Washington Times, "would allow teachers to bring up scientific criticisms of evolution, global warming and other hot-button topics." Opponents, however, say...
Charter School Challenge: Striking the Balance
Posted on June 15, 2008Following the controversy surrounding the city's Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy charter school (previous posts here and here), today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune hosts a conversation among some charter school administrators about the challenges of balancing their schools' cultural focus with church-state concerns...
Church-State Groups Sue over Florida Ballot Initiative
Posted on June 13, 2008People For the American Way announced a lawsuit today on behalf of 6 Florida voters protesting 2 controversial initiatives slated to be on the November ballot. The state's Taxation and Budget Commission approved them - one of which would remove...
Honoring the First Amendment
Posted on June 12, 2008In today's NYTimes, Adam Liptak's series on unique elements of the American judicial system focuses on our most fundamental of free speech rights: the right to offend, even in matters of religion. ?In much of the developed world, one uses...
Is Defiance of IRS Laws Starting Already?
Posted on June 11, 2008Americans United is asking the IRS to investigate the tax-exempt status of a church whose pastor recently preached against the election of Democratic presidential candidates. About two weeks after the sermon, Booth, who was a delegate to this year?s National...
When Religious Beliefs Clash with Modern Codes
Posted on June 11, 2008USAToday profiles the struggle of Amish communities to stay true to their beliefs amid modern-day legal concerns, and the struggle of officials to respect those communities while insisting on compliance with public health and safety codes. In Morristown, N...
Challenging the Texas Moment of Silence Amendment
Posted on June 10, 2008AU and the ACLU have submitted a friend-of-the-court brief (pdf) to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a challenge to Texas' amending their moment-of-silence law to explicitly mention prayer. [T]his case is materially indistinguishable from the Supreme...
Religion-in-the-Campaign Watch: Church-State Contra JFK, School Vouchers and Appealing to Young Evangelicals
Posted on June 10, 2008Some campaign news items relating to religion: In a Wall Street Journal editorial, William McGurn argues that a speech of Senator Obama's puts him at odds (happily, in McGurn's view) with JFK's speech to Houston ministers declaring a belief in...
Congress Unlikely to Renew D.C. Voucher Program
Posted on June 09, 2008From Sunday's Washington Post: Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said this week that she is working on a plan to phase out the controversial D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, the first in the country to provide federal money for vouchers. Norton said...
Afternoon Links: Graduation Lawsuit Settled, School Assembly on Islam Critiqued, Oklahoma Law Vetoed, Church-State Advocate Picks a Side, Tax-Exempt Status Revoked
Posted on June 09, 2008Cleaning up some weekend news and other items I'm reading this afternoon: I was frankly surprised to see Charles Haynes' new column. The First Amendment Center head has come down on the side of the ADF in urging partisan politics...
Campaigns Plan to Woo Religious Voters
Posted on June 09, 2008A NYTimes piece today is ostensibly about conservative evangelicals' hesitation to embrace Senators McCain. But also in the article are references to the intentions of both campaigns in specifically appealing to that demographic. Mr. McCain?s campaign has been ramping up...
South Carolina License Plate Option Raises Controversy
Posted on June 08, 2008Whatever the reasons, we Americans love to paint our various exteriors with pronouncements of our tastes, interests and loyalties. From t-shirts to tattoos, we just can't help it. And that goes doubly for the eminent American form of individual self-expression:...
The Mission in Iraq
Posted on June 06, 2008At Talk2Action, Chris Rodda - Senior Research Director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation - pieces together the growing story of evangelism and US military activity in Iraq. [T]he truth is that Iraq is crawling with missionaries and evangelists, both...
School Assembly on Islam Upsets Junior High Community
Posted on June 06, 2008A school principal has lost her job, and a Texas community is upset, over an assembly at a junior high school devoted to understanding the basics of Islam, according to the Houston Chronicle. The presentation from the Council on American-Islamic...
In Texas, Scrutiny of Evolution Awaits Science Curriculum Debate
Posted on June 05, 2008As I wrote about earlier in the week, the Education Board of Texas is set to review the science curriculum this year. Yesterday's NYTimes offers insight into the way the state may be used as the next battleground for those...
On Scalia and Religion vs. Non-Religion
Posted on June 05, 2008On Sunday, Justice Scalia delivered a speech to a gathering of Orthodox Jews on religion and the Establishment Clause, where he repeated one of his more controversial positions: that the Constitution does not prohibit the government from favoring religion over...
Torture and Religious Liberty
Posted on June 04, 2008The newest issue of Liberty Magazine contains an important and troubling essay on the attack of detainees' religion as a form of humiliation and indeed torture. The starting point for Lawrence Swaim, head of the Interfaith Freedom Foundation, is the....
Brent Walker on Obama and Trinity UCC
Posted on June 04, 2008At The Washington Post's On Faith page, Baptist Joint Committee Director Brent Walker answers the question "Should Barack Obama have resigned from his church?" In the spirit of the no religious test clause in Article VI of the Constitution, we...
More Charges of Military Proselytizing
Posted on June 03, 2008From Jason Leopold at the Online Journal, charges that the controversial Christian coin distribution that sparked an Iraqi investigation is not the only religious activity by US troops: Some U.S. military personnel appears to have launched an initiative to covert...
Texas To Consider Evolution, Science Curriculum
Posted on June 03, 2008Like Florida earlier this year, Texas is due to revamp its science curriculum, a process that begins in July. Expectations are that controversies surrounding evolution and creationism will dominate discussion. The Houston Chronicle gives a preview : David Hillis, a...
Settlement Allows Pacifist Teacher to Return to CA School [UPDATED]
Posted on June 03, 2008Wendy Gonaver, the second teacher in the California University system fired for refusing to sign a loyalty oath on religious grounds has reached an agreement. Representatives of both sides said the settlement allows Gonaver to attach an explanatory statement that,...
Tangipahoa School Board Consents to Court Judgment
Posted on June 03, 2008The beleaguered Tangipahoa, LA school district - whose church-state defiance I have recently thought might render it the first county ever literally bankrupt by the Establishment Clause - may have moved in the direction of sanity and self-protection. Via Religion...
Covering the New Evangelical
Posted on June 02, 2008Today's NYTimes offers a piece on a growing theme this year: a new generation of religious activists who reject partisan politics as a primary expression of their faith. They say they are tired of the culture wars. They say they...
Obama Leaves Trinity UCC, Answers Questions About Choosing a Church
Posted on June 02, 2008For the relationship between pastors and candidates, and the attention and scrutiny it can bring, this political season has been pretty unprecedented, hasn't it? From Obama's rejection of his church of 20 years, to McCain's about-face on Rev. Hagee and Parsley after seeking their support, candidates have found that the perils of endorsement run in both directions...
Illinois Moment of Silence Ban Made Statewide
Posted on May 31, 2008The Chicago Tribune reports that a federal judge has expanded his injunction against that state's "moment of silence" law to include all school districts in Illinois, pending a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. Judge Robert Gettleman's decision follows his ruling turning...
Analysis Sees CA Court Rejecting Doctors' Religious Grounds for Discriminating
Posted on May 30, 2008Writing at law.com, Mike McKee sees California Supreme Court justices delivering a defeat to the doctors who refused to perform an artificial insemination procedure on a lesbian. In a hearing earlier this week, they argued that religious objections should overrule...
Iraq Investigating Marines for Pushing Christianity
Posted on May 29, 2008McClatchy has a brief report announcing an investigation by officials of Iraq's Falluljah into allegations of Christian proselytizing. [R]esidents are abuzz that some Americans whom they consider occupiers are acting as Christian missionaries. Residents said some Marines at the western...
"Zoning for Jesus": RLUIPA Causes More Hand-Wringing
Posted on May 29, 2008In an article entitled "Zoning for Jesus", The Nashville Scene tells of the city's precarious position after killing a local church's desire to build a "halfway house" for alcohol and drug addicts, leading to a lawsuit that Nashville seemingly concedes...
Philly Boy Scouts File Lawsuit in the Face of Discrimination Deadline
Posted on May 28, 2008If there's one axiom that writing this blog has taught me applies to church-state jurisprudence, it's this one: be careful what you wish for. In 2000, the Supreme Court gave the Boy Scouts the ruling they sought. Scouts are a...
More Voucher Plans, This Time Texas
Posted on May 28, 2008The Houston Chronicle reports on a new proposal that would turn a dropout program into a voucher scheme, sending public money to private schools for attracting dropout students. Texas lawmakers set aside about $50 million last year for a more...
The God Primaries
Posted on May 28, 2008Jane Lampson looks back over the 2008 presidential primaries in both parties so far for the Christian Science Monitor and sees one distinctive mark holding them together: lots of God-talk. There was Mitt Romney's speech to try to dispel concerns...
California Court Debates Doctors' Right to Discriminate on Religious Grounds
Posted on May 28, 2008The Supreme Court of California today heard arguments on a controversial issue, after a Doctor was sued for refusing to perform an artificial insemination procedure on a lesbian couple. At stake ion this hearing is not the outcome of the...
Tax-Exempt Institutions Receive New Scrutiny
Posted on May 27, 2008Yesterday's NYTimes explored a growing concern among non-profit entities: increasing scrutiny by both federal and local governments. When does a tax-exempt organization fail to live up to the expectations of that privileged status? In a ruling last December that sent...
Texas' FLDS Mistake Leads to Church-State Controversy
Posted on May 27, 2008A Christian Science Monitor piece today surveys the potential constitutional mess over the FLDS children seized by Texas, as critics say investigators may have focused too broadly on the religious beliefs of the group. Are the beliefs of the Fundamentalist...
Suit Explores Church Autonomy, Hearing Wednesday
Posted on May 26, 2008Saturday's Washington Post reports that several denominations have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in a lawsuit surrounding an Episcopal congregation's ability to break with the church. The filings loosely connect millions more U.S. Christians to the complex Virginia case, which blends U...
Supreme Court Watch
Posted on May 23, 2008Friday's New York Times takes a look at the Supreme Court term to date, and finds a significant difference from the last. A year ago at this time, the Supreme Court had decided 13 cases by votes of 5 to...
South Carolina Creates State-Wide Policy For Government Invocations
Posted on May 23, 2008Via Religion Clause, the Alliance Defense Fund is boasting of a bill that has passed the South Carolina legislature, that lays out the procedure for opening official government meetings with prayer. The law provides that state or local governing bodies...
Disagreeing with the IRS
Posted on May 22, 2008AU's Rob Boston doesn't agree with the IRS' recent decision to clear Wiley Drake of electioneering charges, but is glad for one thing: Now that he?s been cleared, maybe Drake will stop praying for our deaths....
Holly Hollman on the "Evangelical Manifesto"
Posted on May 22, 2008In the newest issue of the Baptist Joint Committee's Report from the Capital, general counsel Holly Hollman examines the "Evangelical Manifesto" signed by a number of religious leaders that seems to argue, among other things, for less politicization of the...
More School Boards Try Religion in Class
Posted on May 22, 2008The Roanoke (VA) Times reports on Craig County's decision to institute a Bible class next year, raising the concern of the ACLU. The group says the course would use the controversial National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools curriculum,....
IRS Clears United Church of Christ in Tax-Exempt Probe
Posted on May 21, 2008According to a UCC press release, the IRS has sent a letter to the denomination clearing it of wrongdoing when Barack Obama - a member of the church - spoke at their national convention. ?We are pleased that the IRS...
Wisconsin School District Settled Religious Freedom Suit
Posted on May 21, 2008The Tomah School District, sued for its policy that in student artwork religious beliefs may not be depicted, has settled with the Alliance Defense Fund, according to the Chicago Tribune....
Controversial Minnesota Charter School Given Directives to Comply With Law
Posted on May 20, 2008Minnesota's Education Department has spelled out necessary changes for a controversial charter school emphasizing Middle East language and culture after charges of improper uses of religion. Most of the school's operations follow state charter school law and federal guidelines on...
Ted Kennedy on Religious Liberty
Posted on May 20, 2008The focus is rightly on Senator Ted Kennedy today, as his cancer diagnosis has left heavy the hearts of Americans. Among other virtuous positions, Kennedy has been a stalwart defender of religious liberty and the separation of church and state....
Study: 1 in 8 Biology Teachers Teach Creationism as Valid Science
Posted on May 20, 2008Via Wired, a new study headed by Penn State political science professor Michael Berkman investigates the attitudes and practices of high school biology teachers with regard to the teaching of evolution. His discovery includes this (my emph): We also asked...
SBC's Former VP Admits Pulpit Endorsement, But IRS Clears Wiley Drake of Wrongdoing,
Posted on May 19, 2008Pastor and former SBC Vice President Wiley Drake has been under investigation by the IRS for his endorsement of presidential candidate Mike Huckabee - in an email using church letterhead, and on his radio show broadcast out of the church....
Violence is Not the Answer
Posted on May 19, 2008After spending the weekend (here and here) posting about the threats to a Florida pastor over his sensible removal of the flag from the sanctuary, Charles Haynes' new column seems an appropriate follow-up. Here, too, the topic is a resort...
Brent Walker on Sanctuary Flag Controversy
Posted on May 17, 2008In today's Daytona Beach News-Journal, BJC Director Brent Walker has a powerful op-ed on the recent threats to Rev. Sean Allen over his theological belief that the American flag should not be in the altar of the sanctuary. Read the...
Arizona Court Throws Out State's Voucher Program
Posted on May 16, 2008A panel of the Arizona State Court of Appeals declared the state's 2-year-old school voucher initiative illegal yesterday. The program, for foster and disabled children, has been described as a test effort leading to a more sweeping, statewide voucher program...
Florida Pastor Receives Threats for Separating State-Worship from God-Worship
Posted on May 16, 2008In a sad story, a Baptist pastor in Florida has taken leave pending an investigation into threatening notes he received. What did he do to incur such hateful, un-Christian animus? Rev. Sean Allen dared to remove the American and Christian...
How Much Room is There for "Play Between the Joints" of the 2 Religion Clauses?
Posted on May 15, 2008In Colorado, a law prohibits the state from giving public tuition assistance money to students enrolled in "pervasively sectarian" institutions, in an effort to avoid conflicting with the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. Colorado Christian University is challenging their...
Washington Post on Upcoming Florida Church-State Amendments
Posted on May 15, 2008In today's Washington Post, Jacqueline Salmon profiles the upcoming ballot initiative in Florida which will remove a key religious liberty provision from the state Constitution and would pave the way for a new school voucher scheme after other attempts have...
Prepping the Pastor For Legal Battle
Posted on May 14, 2008After reviewing their packet of online information for ministers, Melissa Rogers finds that the Alliance Defense Fund's "Pulpit Initiative" is more about mounting a legal challenge than it is about defending earnest religious expression. So the goal is not for...
Being a Christian Isn't a Qualification for Office
Posted on May 14, 2008I said it back in December when Mike Huckabee was pushing it, and I say it again now after seeing Barack Obama's Kentucky campaign literature. (warning: that's a link to CBN News...) As I mentioned in Huckabee's case, it's not...
Legislation Can Be a Slow Business
Posted on May 14, 2008In the newest issue of BJC's Report From the Capital, Holly Hollman asks a sensible question: "Where is the Workplace Religious Freedom Act?" And hey, why not subscribe to this flagship publication of the Baptist Joint Committee? E-Mail Kristin Clifton...
Iowa Paper Sides With Grassley
Posted on May 13, 2008An editorial in the Des Moines Register offers this perspective today: "This is nothing more than a nonprofit tax review," Grassley has said. And his inquiry isn't about religion, as some critics have suggested. It's about congressional responsibility to ensure...
New Site Argues Against Grassley Tax-Exempt Probe
Posted on May 13, 2008Kenneth Copeland, one of the six televangelists to receive inquiries from Senator Charles Grassley regarding tax-exempt regulations and their financial practices, has launched a web site to corral public support for his defiant stance against the request for information...
When is Prayer Student-Initiated?
Posted on May 13, 2008A few more thoughts on the majority-rule commencement prayer concept being used by a Louisiana school district. The excuse, to sidestep (they hope) the constitutional prohibition against school-sponsored prayer, is that the school really has nothing to do with it...
Brent Walker on ADF's Threat to IRS Regulations
Posted on May 12, 2008An AP story over the weekend picked up on the news that the Alliance Defense Fund is actively recruiting pastors to violate their churches' tax-exempt prohibition on electioneering. Baptist Joint Committee Director Brent Walker is quoted on one important, often...
Louisiana School Puts First Amendment Up For Student Vote
Posted on May 12, 2008This is not the constitutional way to conduct graduation for public schools. The Ouachita school system (LA) supports the students and their decision to pray. In fact, they directed each school to let their senior class choose whether they would...
Romney Speech on Religion 2.0
Posted on May 11, 2008Receiving a religious freedom award from the Becket Fund, former presidential candidate (and possible vice presidential pick?) Mitt Romney offered a more nuanced speech on the role of faith in America than his highly controversial effort back while he was...
ADF Campaign to Violate IRS Rules Gains Coverage
Posted on May 09, 2008As I posted last month, the Alliance Defense Fund is actively encouraging pastors to violate the terms of their tax-exempt status and endorse candidates from the pulpit. Today's Wall Street Journal picks up on the story. The action marks the...
10th Circuit Rules Against Native American in RFRA Case
Posted on May 09, 2008Yesterday, a panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not protect a Native American who killed a bald eagle for a religious ceremony. You can read the decision here. A...
Maryland Court Refuses to Accept Talaq Divorce
Posted on May 08, 2008The Maryland State Court of Appeals has ruled that the Talaq divorce proceeding fails to allow proper due process and equal rights to men and women, thwarting a man's efforts to short-circuit the civil divorce proceeding his wife had initiated....
Need a CLE?
Posted on May 08, 2008The ABA and the American Constitution Society are presenting a live teleconference on Thursday, May 15 on entitled "Religion, Children and the Public Schools: Contemporary First Amendment Issues." The practice of faith in public schools has been an issue of...
Another California Teacher...
Posted on May 07, 2008.. has been fired for refusing to sign a loyalty oath on religious grounds. As a Quaker from Pennsylvania and a lifelong pacifist, [Wendy] Gonaver objected to the California oath as an infringement of her rights of free speech and...
Evangelical Manifesto
Posted on May 07, 2008The statement by a group of evangelical leaders I wrote about earlier this week has been released today and is online. Maybe because of the Baptist tradition to resist a creed, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the very idea of...
Religion and Progressive Politics
Posted on May 06, 2008The Pew Forum has an event transcript online now from last week's forum on "Religion and Progressive Politics in 2008". Some pretty interesting questions, starting with - what is the "religious left"? Is it a political movement? A religious one?...
'Tis the Season
Posted on May 06, 2008It's May and you know what that means: bickering over prayer at public school graduation. Liberty Counsel has launched a 'friend or foe' campaign on the issue, threatening encouraging school officials to either be on the side of prayer and...
Salt Lake Editorial Rips Military Over Proselytizing Case
Posted on May 05, 2008Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robyn Blumner has an editorial in today's paper on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation lawsuit on behalf of Jeremy Hall. There is something deeply amiss when we send soldiers on a mission to engender peaceful coexistence...
An Evangelical Manifesto
Posted on May 05, 2008AP reports that a statement signed by dozens of "conservative Christian leaders" ministers will claim that religion has become too political. The statement, called "An Evangelical Manifesto," condemns Christians on the right and left for "using faith" to express political...
Religious Freedom Commission Report Due Today...Except on Iraq [UPDATED]
Posted on May 02, 2008The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is slated to submit its yearly report to the State Department, including its list of recommendations for "countries of particular concern." A brief CNN report says that, unsurprisingly, "At a news conference Thursday...
National Day of Prayer
Posted on May 01, 2008Today, May 1, is the National Day of Prayer. This year the cry for diversity and inclusion has gotten more attention than usual, but still I have been searching for the right way to express my ...discomfort with the whole...
Is the Voucher Movement on its Last Legs?
Posted on May 01, 2008In the newest issue of the Washington Monthly, Greg Anrig argues, in an article entitled "An Idea Whose Time Has Gone", that conservatives have all but given up on the idea of school vouchers. [I]n recent months, almost unnoticed by...
ACS Issue Brief: Religion in the Classroom
Posted on April 30, 2008The American Constitution Society has published an issue brief by Edward Correia entitled, ?A Constitutional Framework for Addressing Religious Viewpoints in Public School Classrooms.? In the 17-page paper, Correia - a D.C. attorney and adjunct law professor at American University...
Family Research Council Plans to Ask Pastors to Cross the Electioneering Line
Posted on April 30, 2008Americans United points to a recent radio show of conservative Christian host Janet Folger. There, she complained to her guest Kenyn Cureton of the Family Research Council that some of her church members were actually - gasp! - thinking of...
Military Religious Freedom Case Gains Attention
Posted on April 29, 2008Over the weekend, the NYTimes and CBS News both picked up on the MRFF lawsuit against the Defense Department alleging a denial of religious freedom through coercion and improper proselytizing. CBS's piece is called "Fighting for God and Country". The...
BJC Files Amicus Brief in Detroit Church Funding Case
Posted on April 28, 2008The Baptist Joint Committee, along with a group of religious and legal organizations, filed an amicus brief with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case challenging Detroit's decision to send taxpayer money to churches, funding beautification efforts ahead...
Supreme Court Upholds Voter ID Law Despite Religious Objector Concerns
Posted on April 28, 2008Indiana's law requiring a photo ID to vote was upheld as constitutional today by the US Supreme Court. The opinion (pdf), written by Justice Stevens, noted the burden that would be placed on some residents, including those who object to...
Florida Commission Reverses Course, Adds Second Voucher Initiative to Ballot
Posted on April 28, 2008Despite criticism for the proposal, and for considering an about-face, Florida's Taxation and Budget Commission has added a second voucher-related proposal to the November ballot, after originally voting it down. The Miami Herald reports on the sketchy vote-trading that resulted...
Is "National Day of Prayer" For All Americans?
Posted on April 25, 2008A "national day of prayer" is already catered, obviously, to people of faith over those who are not religious. But some are charging that the event (coming up on Thursday, May 1) has been taken over by a narrow band...
Summum Case Analysis: Can Government Say No?
Posted on April 25, 2008Vikram Amar and Alan Brownstein have a new essay up at findlaw that helps frame the upcoming Summum monument case in the Supreme Court's next term, one that they think poses a "genuinely new (problem)" for the Court. [T]he question...
Rev. Wright Press Tour? Is It Relevant to Church-State Discussion?
Posted on April 24, 2008As I posted below, controversial UCC pastor Jeremiah Wright will give his first interview on Bill Moyers' Journal, airing tomorrow night. The Huffington Post has some excerpts from the pre-taped conversation. Also, Melissa Rogers posts the news that Wright will...
Will Florida Commission Re-Vote on Failed Voucher Amendment?
Posted on April 24, 2008Florida's Budget and Taxation Commission has already approved one constitutional amendment for the November ballot that would overturn longstanding religious liberty protections and open the door for a school voucher initiative, but a second amendment more closely aligned to the...
Grassley's Investigation Raises Copeland Ministry's Profile
Posted on April 23, 2008Kenneth Copeland's defiance in the face of Senator Grassley's investigation is not so much raising awareness of his financial theology as it is creating the impression that Copeland Ministries is a stalwart fighter for First Amendment rights. At the American...
Judge Rules Against Bible Distribution in Tangipahoa School
Posted on April 23, 2008The Tangipahoa (LA) school district has received yet another judicial defeat in an Establishment Clause challenge. District Court judge Carl Barbier ruled in favor of the ACLU that the practice of distributing Gideon Bibles to 5th grade students is coercive...
TV Advisory for Religion-in-the-Campaign Junkies
Posted on April 22, 2008By the way...in reading the Bill Moyers transcript for the Martha Nussbaum post last night, I couldn't help but notice the guest that he announced for next weekend: Rev. Jeremiah Wright, of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, for the...
Congressional Report Surveys Church Electioneering Investigations
Posted on April 22, 2008Via Religion Clause, the Congressional Research Service has provided information to the House in advance of their consideration of HR 2275, a bill that if enacted would end the prohibition on campaign activity as a requirement for tax exemption as...
Settlement: San Diego Church's Homeless Ministry May Continue
Posted on April 22, 2008A Methodist church in San Diego will be able to continue a ministry aiding the poor and the homeless despite a city code that threatened them with fines and citations. The city reached an agreement with Pacific Beach Church. ?The...
Voucher Funding for Religious Schools on the Rise in Ohio
Posted on April 21, 2008The Columbus Dispatch reports on Ohio's controversial voucher program. Students and private schools alike are showing more interest in state tuition vouchers as the statewide program prepares for its third school year. About 40 percent of the 10,047 applications filed...
Is it Time to Abandon the "Wall of Separation"?
Posted on April 20, 2008Author-philosopher Martha Nussbaum has a new book, Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality. She was a guest on Bill Moyers' Journal over the weekend promoting it, and argued that the biggest threats to our tradition...
Documentary Opens
Posted on April 18, 2008The documentary adaptation of James Carroll's Constantine's Sword, just released in a few theaters today, is reviewed in today's NYTimes by Stephen Holden, who describes the film as "(a)t once enthralling and troubling". ?Constantine?s Sword? is a cri de coeur...
Wisconsin Court Denies "Ministerial Exception" for Catholic Teacher Hiring
Posted on April 18, 2008A Wisconsin Appeals Court has denied an argument by Catholic schools that they are not bound by discrimination laws in hiring teachers, according to the AP. "A general exemption for teachers in religious schools would be more expansive than warranted...
Gaddy on the Presidential "Job Interview"
Posted on April 17, 2008Earlier this week, I whined a little about some of the questions asked at CNN's Compassion Forum featuring presidential candidates Clinton and Obama. The two of them did a much better job than the moderators, I thought, in steering the...
Even the Pope Gets It: Church-State Separation Lets Religion Thrive
Posted on April 17, 2008Thanks to Lauren Smith at AU for posting a link to this Reuters story relaying the Pope's remarks en route to the US on the role of faith in public life. "What I find fascinating about the United States is...
Mt. Soledad Cross Dispute, Round 7 (or so)
Posted on April 16, 2008The battle over the constitutionality of a California cross memorial has been going on for nearly 20 years. It has outlasted its original plaintiff, and has continues despite efforts of the federal government to sidestep the judicial process by taking...
3rd Circuit Rules Coach's Prayer Violates Establishment Clause
Posted on April 16, 2008High school football coach Marcus Borden filed suit challenging his school district's policy prohibiting him from participating, even silently, in student-led team prayers. The New Jersey District Court agreed with him that the policy is unconstitutional, and they added that his involvement would not violate the Establishment Clause...
Houston Pastors Trying New Method of Defense Against Electioneering Charges
Posted on April 15, 2008A group of Houston pastors is trying the old right-back-at-you method, filing an IRS complaint against Americans United for trying to improperly influence an election by...filing a complaint against a pastor for trying to improperly influence an election...
Where Religious Liberty Ends
Posted on April 14, 2008I haven't written about the Texas polygamist sect from a religious freedom point of view because, frankly, I figured this was pretty clear. But here you go anyway, from the Salt Lake Tribune: [T]his is where the social imperative of...
Commission Forum: Obama on Continuing the Faith-Based Office, Clinton on Role of Religion in Politics
Posted on April 13, 2008Senators Clinton and Obama participated tonight in a "compassion forum" exploring the relationship between their personal faith and their public policy positions. For my taste, many of the questions were a bit too concerned with the candidates' religious beliefs generally, without relating them to some relevant government policy...
Scalia Lectures on Church-State Separation
Posted on April 11, 2008Via How Appealing, The Hook reports that Justice Antonin Scalia delivered a lecture at the University of Virginia on the issue of church-state separation. Scalia said he didn?t believe Jefferson intended government to ?favor or disfavor religion, nor banish it...
Rev. Charles Adams to Deliver 3rd Annual Church-State Lecture at Wake Forest
Posted on April 10, 2008If you were in attendance for the last evening's session of the New Baptist Covenant meeting, you heard some preaching you won't soon forget from Charles Adams. Thanks to the upcoming Walter and Kay Shurden Lectures, you have another chance...
A charter school in Minnesota emphasizing
Posted on April 10, 2008A charter school in Minnesota emphasizing Middle Eastern culture is under fire for allegedly engaging in religious instruction despite its funding from taxpayers. A column in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune by Katherine Karsten ignited the controversy, leading the State to initiate...
IL Representative Update
Posted on April 10, 2008The Illinois House member who went on a tirade against atheist and church-state activist Rob Sherman has called him to apologize. Sherman accepts and forgives. Good for them....
The "Nike Swoosh of Religion"
Posted on April 09, 2008The Utne Reader blog offers a brief review of a new book with a promising premise: When most people talk about the ?separation of church and state,? the idea is to protect the state from the church. People work hard...
McCain's Baptist Pastor Interviewed
Posted on April 09, 2008Apparently this cycle, presidential candidates are responsible for the views of their pastors. At least it seems that way. So, kudos to Associated Baptist Press for scoring a rare interview with the pastor of John McCain's Baptist church in Phoenix,....
Religion on the Campaign Trail
Posted on April 08, 2008At Street Prophets, Pastor Dan notes that Senator Barack Obama was questioned on his views of "intelligent design." Q: York County was recently in the news for a lawsuit involving the teaching of intelligent design. What's your attitude regarding the...
IL Representative Says Atheist Has "No Right To Be Here"
Posted on April 08, 2008It's not exactly a Perry Mason moment, but every once in a while a politician's emotion takes over, and true feelings come out. I have to believe that's what happened in an Illinois House committee hearing last week. There, Rob...
Nothing Rests; Everything Moves
Posted on April 08, 2008An LATimes editorial this morning points out the dilemma facing the Court in the upcoming Summum monument case. In recent years...supporters of religion in the "public square" often have taken a different tack, arguing not that this is a Christian...
Interview with BJC's Hollman
Posted on April 07, 2008Last week, Campbellsville University in Kentucky was host to the Baptist Joint Committee's general counsel Holly Hollman for discussion and debate of religious freedom issues. If you have the Windows Media Player, you can watch her interview with Campbellsville's John...
Second Voucher Attempt in Florida Narrowly Defeated
Posted on April 07, 2008The second of 2 proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution was defeated Friday by the state's Taxation and Budget Commission. Friday's proposal would have given voters in November the chance to change the constitution by allowing the state to fund...
Is Summum Really Just About Free Speech?
Posted on April 07, 2008Via How Appealing, Columbia law professor Michael Dorf writes about the Summum monument case at Findlaw. If the Court pays attention to the symbolic messages of its decision in the way that Justice Breyer did in the Van Orden case,...
Baptist Denominations Affirm Freedom of Religion for Candidates
Posted on April 04, 2008The Progressive National Baptist, National Baptist and National Missionary Baptist Conventions - all Baptist Joint Committee member bodies - have released a statement in response to the controversy involving Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to the Dallas Morning News Religion Blog...
Why Tony Blair Didn't "Do God"
Posted on April 04, 2008Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has rather famously converted to Catholicism, and last night he gave a fascinating speech on religion and globalization, arguing that religion needs to be "rescued" from both "extremism" and "irrelevance." Here's a segment in...
Appeals Court Reinstates Religion in the Workplace Lawsuit
Posted on April 03, 2008Via Religion Clause, the EEOC was successful in convincing a panel of the 4th Circuit that a religious discrimination lawsuit should go forward. A jury could find, they held, that the workplace environment a Muslim Sunbelt employee had to endure...
Piling On in Florida
Posted on April 02, 2008Columnist Carl Hiaasen of the Miami Herald: Don't Trust This Gang With Our State's Future The panel of wizards assigned to fix Florida's gross tax inequities has impulsively broadened its scope to a social issue in which its expertise is...
Coverage of Summum Monument Announcement
Posted on April 02, 2008Lots or reporting and commentary out there this morning on the Supreme Court's announcement that they will hear Pleasant Grove, UT's appeal involving the placement of the Summum "Seven Aphorisms" monument next to the Ten Commandments in a public park...
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Appeal in Summum Monument Case
Posted on April 01, 2008For a variety of reasons, the Utah case involving the Summum faith's efforts to have a monument of their "Seven Aphorisms" erected alongside the Ten Commandments in a pair of public parks is one of my favorite recent church-state disputes....
A "Solution in Search of a Problem"
Posted on April 01, 2008With regard to the Florida Taxation Commission's decision to place key church-state provisions on the ballot, Orlando Sun-Sentinel columnist Michael Mayo relays a decent question: "What the heck is a taxation council doing wading into a constitutional wedge issue like...
Government Speech v. Private Speech
Posted on April 01, 2008Tony Mauro of the First Amendment Center does a great job explaining the issues at stake in the Summum monument case, just taken up by the Supreme Court. Summum, represented by Pamela Harris of O?Melveny & Myers, had urged the...
KY Baptist Homes Suit Dismissed
Posted on April 01, 2008Citing the Supreme Court's ruling in Hein last year, a federal judge in Kentucky has thrown out a taxpayer's challenge to the use of public money to promote religion by the Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children. U.S. District Court Judge...
Texas Board of Education Leaves Bible Curriculum Wide Open
Posted on March 31, 2008Despite a law requiring the Texas Education Board to develop a constitutionally sound curriculum for a new Bible-based public education course, the Board Friday chose to offer only the broadest direction to the state's school systems. It sounds like they...
More Cooperation, Questions at Grassley's Deadline
Posted on March 31, 2008In his ongoing effort to investigate the tax-exempt finances of several televangelist ministries, Senator Grassley set a cooperation deadline for today, after which subpoenas may be coming. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that another - Bishop Eddie Long - has decided...
9th Circuit Wrestles with Ten Commandment Display Jurisprudence
Posted on March 28, 2008Earlier this week, the 9th Circuit released a decision in a Ten Commandments display lawsuit, trying to interpret the line between the Supreme Court's pair of 2005 decisions in Van Orden (allowing a Texas display) and McCreary (denying one in...
Quote of the Day
Posted on March 28, 2008In a new Education Week piece on the decision this week to send a constitutional amendment eliminating the "no aid to religion" provision to Florida voters in November, the ramifications were discussed (my emphasis): Besides removing the no-aid provision, the...
Texas Subcommittee Approves Bible Curriculum
Posted on March 28, 2008The Austin American-Statesman reports that a subcommittee of the Texas Board of Education approved a Bible course curriculum 3-1 over the objections of religious freedom advocates. The entire Board will now take up the matter, presumably today. The curriculum -...
Monks Cry Out for Freedom of Religion in Tibet
Posted on March 27, 2008Tibetan monks interrupted a media visit orchestrated by the Chinese government to protest their religious persecution. ?Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!? yelled one young Buddhist monk, who then started crying, said an Associated Press correspondent in the...
Coverage of Florida Ballot Decision
Posted on March 27, 2008As I posted yesterday, Florida's Committee charged with reviewing state legal structures relevant to taxes and the budget has approved a constitutional amendment that would undo provisions requiring the state to offer "no aid" to religion. The November election will...
FL Committee Sends Constitutional Amendment to Ballot Box
Posted on March 26, 2008Today Florida's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission voted to approve one of 2 constitutional amendment proposals that would weaken existing church-state safeguards. I linked yesterday to ao helpful description of the provisions being considered. The Palm Beach Post reports that...
9th Circuit Rules on Religious Rights of Segregated Prisoners
Posted on March 26, 2008The 9th Circuit has ruled Orange County in violation of the ADA and reinstated much of a class action suit brought on behalf of tens of thousands of disabled prisoners. Segregated jail facilities failed to give proper access to religious...
Florida May Consider Turning Back Church-State Protections
Posted on March 25, 2008Tomorrow, a committee in Tallahassee will hear two amendment proposals to the Florida Constitution. As in many states, Florida law includes provisions prohibiting aid to religious organizations that are stricter than the US Constitution. The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission...
Coming Soon(?): Religion in the Military Discussion
Posted on March 24, 2008Yesterday's Aspen Times ran a story on Mikey Weinstein and his legal challenge to the military for various forms of alleged religious discrimination. Head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Weinstein is slated to debate issues of church-state separation and...
Minneapolis Schools, Churches in Partnership
Posted on March 24, 2008An initiative in Minneapolis pairs public schools with community churches to provide tutoring, mentoring and after-school programs to students. Church leaders here have made the curriculum more secular to meet the requirements placed on it by the new school-based partnership...
Tibetan Leader Pursues Dual Roles
Posted on March 23, 2008A common topic around here is the perilous balancing act facing religious leaders who flirt with political influence. So, what if your roles in both are tightly wound around one another? Tomorrow's Christian Science Monitor discusses just this issue with...
2nd Circuit Recognizes "Ministerial Exception" to Discrimination Laws
Posted on March 21, 2008How Appealing links to a 2nd Circuit decision that affirming a lower court's application of the "ministerial exception" to anti-discrimination laws. The case involved a priest's claim that his lack of promotion and ultimate firing were racially motivated...
4th Circuit (Including O'Connor) Hears Council Prayer Appeal
Posted on March 21, 2008Baptist minister Hashmel Turner has been on the Fredericksburg City Council for six years and a plaintiff against it now for two. Rev. Turner objects to his inability to pray "in Jesus' name" to open the meetings, as Council policy...
TX Attorney General: Courts Will Have to Clarify the Clarifying Law
Posted on March 20, 2008The Houston School District went looking for answers from the Texas Attorney General regarding the new law designed to "clarify" students' rights to free religious expression. What the legislation did instead, naturally, was to muddy the waters, a bit of...
Progress and Amish Principle
Posted on March 19, 2008Morristown, NY is cracking down on building code violations, and current targets include a handful of Amish men, who happen to reject, for religious reasons, the rationals behind some of the requirements: Morristown updated its 22-year-old building codes in 2006...
Illinois Court Debates Right to Refuse Service on Religious Grounds
Posted on March 19, 2008The Illinois Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments about a law prohibiting pharmacists from turning away customers seeking emergency contraception. The druggists argued that Illinois law protects them from choosing between violating their consciences and losing their licenses, and that they...
ABP on Obama-Wright Controversy
Posted on March 19, 2008Rob Marus: "Pastor's Role in Obama Campaign Spotlights Race, Pulpit Freedom"...
Arizona Moves School Religion Bill Forward
Posted on March 18, 2008The Arizona State House took a step toward final passage of a bill that would ensure students' rights in expressing religious views at appropriate times--in short, rights that the Constitution already guarantees. Specifically, the measure would: ? Bar teachers from...
Does IRS Investigation of UCC Mark a Change in Policy?
Posted on March 17, 2008Rob Marus of Associated Baptist Press reports on the IRS' investigation of the United Church of Christ, and the curiosity surrounding it. What is the IRS thinking? That?s the question that many church-state experts asked themselves when news broke in...
Worse Than the Lie
Posted on March 17, 2008I agree with Dan, who writes - at Faith in Public Life - that in the case of the false e-gossip claiming that "Obama is a Muslim", the bigotry is worse than the lie itself. Either way, as he notes,...
Weekend Roundup
Posted on March 17, 2008GetReligion believes too many press accounts are burying the church electioneering lede in the Obama-Jeremiah Wright controversy. The Texas Education Agency has sought the state Attorney General's opinion on, essentially, whether recently passed laws *require* Bible classes in public schools,...
A 2-Part Question
Posted on March 14, 20081) Could you not spend the entire rest of your reading lifetime with new books about the Founding Fathers and religion? 2) Even if you did, would you have any more convincing answers to the pressing church-state questions of today?...
Should We Focus Less on What's Constitutional?
Posted on March 14, 2008Steven Waldman's new post at TPMCafe is titled "What Did the Founders Believe About Church and State?" By the end, I thought a more apt title might be, "Should We Care What the Founders Believed...?" Check it out....
Grassley Sends Follow-Up Letters to Ministries
Posted on March 13, 2008Melissa Rogers relays the latest in Senator Grassley's (R-IA) efforts (now joined by Senator Baucus (D-MT) to monitor the finances of a handful of television ministries. The Des Moines Register reports that a new round of letters have been sent...
White House Faith-Based Director Says Time to Raise Church-State Concerns has Elapsed
Posted on March 13, 2008Director of the White House Faith-Based Initiatives Office, Jay Hein, says he's heard just about enough from us rabble-rousers complaining that the government has failed to adequately safeguard....let's see, what was it again?...oh right, the First Amendment! Who knew that...
Future of Faith-Based Programs Analyzed
Posted on March 12, 2008Christianity Today looks at the remaining presidential candidates for their positions on charitable choice, and other efforts to send public money to religious institutions. The next President will face several challenges in continuing the faith-based office's work, however...
Conversation about Waldman's "Founding Faith"
Posted on March 12, 2008Earlier this week, I posted a blurb from Jon Meachem's review of Founding Faith, Steven Waldman's book. Impressively, lots of writers and reporters are talking about this new release. The Washington Post held a chat with the author, and reviewed...
Pew Forum Releases Updated Political Activity Guide For Tax Exempt Organizations
Posted on March 12, 2008Via Religion Clause, the Pew Forum has updated their guide for tax exempt groups - including churches and religious organizations. During every election cycle, many religious congregations find themselves wondering what role, if any, they can play in the political...
LATimes Op-Ed: Loyalty Oaths are Un-American
Posted on March 11, 2008In response to the compelling case of Marianne Kearney-Brown, whose Quaker beliefs led her to question the loyalty oath required of California state employees, law professor Geoffrey Stone slams the very idea of such a requirement in a LATimes op-ed....
Controversial Practice Resumes in Annapolis
Posted on March 11, 2008After Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler became the superintendent at the US Naval Academy in June, he made some changes. One of them was brought on by the surprise of seeing the flag "dipped", as in a salute, toward the altar...
Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America
Posted on March 10, 2008That's the title of a new book by Steven Waldman. Newsweek offers a review by Jon Meachem, who has written on similar historical topics. Here's a snippet. "Founding Faith" is an excellent book about an important subject: the inescapable?but manageable?intersection...
Loyalty Oath Firing Update
Posted on March 10, 2008Late last month, I posted an entry about a California woman who was fired from a state University teaching position for altering her loyalty oath, refusing to swear on religious grounds, and for insisting - because of her Quaker beliefs...
The "Sneak-Attack" on Church-State Separation in Florida
Posted on March 09, 2008Last week, a St. Petersburg Times editorial took on new efforts to awaken school vouchers in Florida through the state's Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which is charged with making recommendations for statutory change every 20 years in pursuit of...
More Church Letterhead Endorsements
Posted on March 07, 2008Americans United has filed a complaint with the IRS over Houston pastor Steve Riggle's endorsement of a congressional candidate. ?Clergy may endorse candidates as private citizens,? said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. ?That?s not what...
MRFF Adds Allegations of Retaliation to Lawsuit Against Military
Posted on March 06, 2008The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has refiled its lawsuit against the military on behalf of Jeremy Hall after his promotion was blocked. The suit was filed in September but dropped last month so the new allegations could be included. Among...
Judge: State Funding of Baptist University Out of Bounds
Posted on March 06, 2008A circuit court judge in Kentucky has ruled unconstitutional the state's budgeting of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund a pharmacy school at a Southern Baptist University. Franklin Circuit Court Special Judge Roger Crittenden ruled that state funding for the...
In Illinois, Practical Concerns Win Over Political Ones
Posted on March 05, 2008Last year, the Illinois legislature passed a controversial mandatory moment of silence law. They were so serious about it, they overrode Governor Blagojevich's veto of the bill. A couple of things happened after that: For one, a lawsuit was filed,...
Settlement: Texas School District Agrees to Abandon Controversial Bible Curriculum
Posted on March 05, 2008A suit filed against Odessa, TX by the ACLU and People For the American Way will be settled. The school district, according to the NYTimes, has agreed to change its curriculum away from the "National Council on Bible Curriculum in...
UCC Hires Highly Respected Attorney To Represent Denomination Through IRS Inquiry
Posted on March 04, 2008Former Solicitor General Seth Waxman will represent the United Church of Christ in handling the recently announced investigation by the IRS following a speech given by Barack Obama at denomination's national meeting. Waxman frames the issue in broad terms: "I...
Harris County Considers Legal Fees in Bible Monument Case
Posted on March 04, 2008The Houston Chronicle reports on a Harris County debate over whether to continue to fight a decision ordering the removal of a Bible monument placed at the courthouse. At stake is $400,000 in attorney fees owed to the plaintiff, Kay...
ACLU Sues Tangipahoa Yet Again, Challenges School Board Prayer Model
Posted on March 03, 2008Few institutions have been responsible for more posts here than the School Board of Tangipahoa, Louisiana. Most recently, the 5th Circuit surprised nearly everyone by dismissing a lawsuit challenging their practice of opening meetings with sectarian prayer on the grounds...
America's Changing Religious Landscape
Posted on March 03, 2008The religious blogosphere is a buzz with a recent Pew research poll showing that Americans' religious affiliations are evolving. Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that religious affiliation...
Baptist Theology and Religious Liberty
Posted on March 03, 2008Writing in Liberty Magazine, Edwin Cook has an article entitled "True to 'Soul Liberty'" that tackles the concept of soul freedom in explaining the founding of the JM Dawson of Church-State Studies at Baylor University. Religious liberty 8 follows as...
The Salvation Army and the "Ministerial Exception"
Posted on February 29, 2008To keep courts from interfering in the business of the church, religious institutions are protected from many elements of federal employment law through a "ministerial exception" covering their handling of employees that perform religious functions. Writing for a unanimous panel...
When Religious Beliefs Conflict with Oaths of Office [UPDATED]
Posted on February 29, 2008What if you work for the state but believe your religious convictions may not conform to the oath of office required of you? Courtroom oaths typically include options for those who "affirm" rather than "swear," but what about the other...
Reaction to United Church of Christ's IRS Investigation
Posted on February 28, 2008Background post is here. Melissa Rogers has some helpful analysis of the issues surrounding the IRS's investigation into Barack Obama's speech to the UCC national convention in June. Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite writes at the Washington Post's On Faith site:...
Critics Question White House's Faith-Based Report
Posted on February 28, 2008Earlier this week, I pointed to the lengthy report from the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives outlining the 7-year accomplishments of the program. As the Roundtable reports, since its release, critics have found it either "incomplete or...
IRS Investigates United Church of Christ over Obama's Speech
Posted on February 27, 2008The United Church of Christ has revealed that a speech given at the denomination's national meeting in June by Senator Barack Obama, a UCC church member, has prompted an IRS investigation into its tax-exempt status. The Rev. John H. Thomas,...
Dobrich Case Settled
Posted on February 27, 2008Howard Friedman at Religion Clause relays the news that a settlement (pdf) has been reached in the case of Dobrich v. Indian River School District. In that case, you'll recall, a Jewish family was terrorized and essentially run out of...
White House Faith-Based Funding Report: "The Quiet Revolution"
Posted on February 26, 2008The White House has released a large report detailing the state of the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiatives project. Called "The Quiet Revolution", the publication argues that Bush's program has overhauled the funding mechanisms of government with respect to social...
Des Moines Register: Iowa Learns Church-State Lesson
Posted on February 26, 2008Iowa will be ending its use of the Innerchange prison ministry program run by Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministry. Late last year, the 8th Circuit agreed with a lower court that the program's use of taxpayer money was an unconstitutional...
Summum Group Asks Supreme Court to Decline Involvement
Posted on February 25, 2008The Utah-based Summum religion is asking the US Supreme Court not to intervene in a recent victory handed down by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, who said that the group should be allowed to build a monument in a...
Senator Grassley Continues Exploration of Ministries' Finances
Posted on February 25, 2008AP offers this update. I couldn't help but notice the not-so-veiled threat in Senator Grassley's response to the idea that some of the ministries may continue to refuse to cooperate with his committee investigation. Grassley said he doesn't want to...
The Aims of the New Baptist Covenant Require a Commitment to Religious Freedom
Posted on February 22, 2008The new issue of Report From the Capital - the flagship monthly publication of the Baptist Joint Committee - is available now online. Included this month are reflections on the New Baptist Covenant meeting by Holly Hollman and news coverage...
Bargaining for Religious Freedom
Posted on February 21, 2008Today's Wall Street Journal includes this piece from James Hookway detailing the slow advances in religious liberty being made in Vietnam as the country goes in search of economic concessions from the US. Vietnam's leaders believe they can't afford disputes...
Random Thursday Thought
Posted on February 21, 2008Apropos of nothing in particular, it occurs to me that after a flurry of talk, early in the presidential campaign, about the religion of the candidates (it seems like there was a story daily) that phenomenon has mostly declined, and...
Lynchburg, VA School Board Debates Religious Exemption from School Activities
Posted on February 20, 2008The Lynchburg, VA School Board is looking for ways to "make uniform" its policies regarding school exemptions on religious grounds - you know, religious holidays, objections and the like. Here's what the city came up with to get the ball...
More on Evolution in Florida's Science Curriculum
Posted on February 20, 2008From the National Center for Science Education: The Florida state board of education voted 4-3 at its February 19, 2008, meeting to adopt a new set of state science standards in which evolution is presented as a "fundamental concept underlying...
Charitable Choice Battle Renewed
Posted on February 19, 2008Yesterday's Washington Times reports on the controversy surrounding government funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In 2000, a provision known as "charitable choice" was added that allowed religious groups receiving grants to discriminate in hiring...
FL Education Board Approves Changes in Science Curriculum Standards
Posted on February 19, 2008Michael Bender of the Palm Beach Post reports that the Florida Board of Education voted 4-3 this afternoon to change scientific standards emphasizing the fundamental role of evolution, which will be referred to as a "scientific theory," in biology. That...
Missouri House Votes for New Rights - Same as the Old Rights
Posted on February 19, 2008The Missouri House approved a constitutional amendment that would affirm the right to pray in public. Of course, an amendment is not needed to establish that right. Nor is one needed for some of the things they decided against in...
West Virginia Debates RFRA
Posted on February 18, 2008The Mountaineer State is the latest to consider a state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Act. ?The intent is to level the playing field by returning the ?compelling interest? test that worked well for over 30 years,? says the man behind the...
Workplace Religious Freedom Act Debated
Posted on February 18, 2008Thanks for Melissa Rogers for pointing to this RNS story about the recent House subcommittee hearing on workplace discrimination, including religious discrimination. Legislators are considering the Workplace Religious Freedom Act - which has long been in the pipeline with broad...
What Role Should Religious Courts Play in Civil Justice?
Posted on February 17, 2008Yesterday's NYTimes Week in Review included a piece by Adam Liptak - "When God and the Law Don't Square" - on the questions that arise when a civil court cedes some authority to a religious tribunal. The larger question, legal...
Statements from Workplace Discrimination Hearing Available
Posted on February 15, 2008Opening statements are online from the House hearing on workplace discrimination held by the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee earlier this week. Below are links to those who addressed the issue of religious discrimination, including the Workplace Religious Freedom...
Custody Battles and Religion
Posted on February 14, 2008Yesterday's NYTimes had an gut-wrenching piece about the difficulties judges and families face when custody battles hinge on religious disagreements. Judges do not want to take on custody disputes rooted in religion, said lawyers like Gaetano Ferro, who until recently...
Prominent SBC Minister Under Investigation by IRS
Posted on February 13, 2008Former SBC Vice President Wiley Drake, who got in hot water after endorsing Mike Huckabee for President in a letter using church stationary - then made all Baptists proud by asking God to strike dead the Americans United officials who...
More on Evangelical Diversity
Posted on February 13, 2008ABP's Rob Marus follows up on the recently released Faith in Public Life poll showing political diversity among evangelicals. ?The media is operating with an outdated script, and the experience I?m having on the road confirms the data,? said Jim...
Workplace Accommodation of Religion "Not an Area for Absolutes"
Posted on February 12, 2008The 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Firestone company yesterday in a case brought by the EEOC claiming religious discrimination. The issue was an employee's conflict between work schedule and his religious requirement - as a...
Florida Nears New Science Standards
Posted on February 11, 2008In Florida, efforts to modernize public school science standards have been met with resistance by those who - for religious reasons - oppose the teaching of evolution as a fundamental principle of biology. Today, residents of the state have one...
Guess What? You're Diverse!
Posted on February 11, 2008You don't need me to tell you, but kudos to Faith in Public Life for demonstrating statistically what many have been saying for a while now: evangelicals are a politically diverse constituency, and increasingly so. In the 2008 election, media...
Should Religious School Tuition Be Tax Deductible?
Posted on February 08, 2008That was the question considered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week in Sklar v. Commissioner. The case stems from an agreement the IRS reached with the Church of Scientology in 1993 to end more than a...
WRFA To Be Considered in Subcommittee Hearing
Posted on February 08, 2008Tuesday, Feb. 12, the House sub-committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pension will hold a hearing entitled "Protecting American Employees From Workplace Discrimination", that will include discussion of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which has yet to come to the...
Did Romney's Mormonism Doom His Campaign? Does Religious Bias Doom our Politics?
Posted on February 07, 2008Alan Wolfe of Boston College believes so. Mitt Romney?s losses Tuesday in a string of primary elections in the South likely stand as final proof that many evangelical Christians were unwilling to overlook his Mormon faith, say religious and political...
Civil Rights Commission to Study RLUIPA
Posted on February 07, 2008On Friday, the US Commission on Civil Rights will host a meeting (pdf), in Washington, D.C. , of a... diverse group of experts to discuss issues arising out of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). These include...
MN Appeals Court: Gun Laws Can't Reach Church Door (or Parking Lot)
Posted on February 06, 2008Minnesota's appeals court ruled that the state's concealed weapon law does not preclude churches from banning firearms with signs of their own choosing, or from their parking lots. The Rev. Erik Strand of Edina Community Lutheran Church said he was...
Religious Advocates Survey
Posted on February 05, 2008Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs has published a new report prepared by undergraduates entitled Religious Advocates: A Force in US Politics? (pdf) The report is a compilation of surveys and interviews with religious advocacy organizations...
Bush Budget Adds $300 Million For School Vouchers
Posted on February 05, 2008As proposed in his State of the Union Address, the President's budget just sent to Congress contains yet another attempt to funnel taxpayer money to private schools, including religious schools, through vouchers. Each year, he has proposed a federal voucher...
Faith-Based Initiative Response
Posted on February 04, 2008In the letters to the editor of the NYTimes today, White House Faith-Based Office Director Jay Hein, and Americans United head Rev. Barry Lynn both respond to last week's op-ed by David Kuo, which argued that President Bush's faith-based funding...
At Least a Strand or Two of Barb-Wire
Posted on February 04, 2008I'll have more quotes later from the last day of the New Baptist Covenant celebration. In the meantime, this ABP piece by Rob Marus is a good report of Friday's religious liberty session featuring James Dunn and the BJC's Holly...
Most Inaccurate Headline Award
Posted on February 02, 2008I was a bit shocked - even through my advanced cynicism - to roll open The Tennessean today to see the headline spanning across the front page...
Day Three: What's Next?
Posted on February 01, 2008Last night, President Carter asked participants of the New Baptist Covenant to send ideas for how this historic gathering could and should move forward as a movement and not just a moment. And in group discussions today I'm hearing more...
Religious Liberty Challenged by Diversity, Majoritarianism
Posted on February 01, 2008The Baptist Joint Committee's Jeff Huett writes about yesterday's religious liberty panel at the New Baptist Covenant. Cheryl Townsend-Gilkes, professor of Sociology and African-American Studies at Colby College in Waterville, Me., suggested that the very definition of religious liberty in...
New Baptist Covenant -- Second Night Reaction
Posted on January 31, 2008Afternoon sessions I attended included Brent Walker of the BJC in a discussion of religious liberty matters, and Suzii Paynter of the Texas Christian Life Commission discussing religion and public policy, both on impressive panels, and shockingly well-attended given the...
New Baptist Covenant -- Day 2
Posted on January 31, 2008The energy and enthusiasm here in the Georgia World Congress Center has been palpable. Some of it is excitement about the possibility of a new coalition, but also a sense of urgency about the state of the world, the state...
Religious Freedom vs. "Security and Cultural Integration"
Posted on January 30, 2008In today's Washington Times, Angela Wu of the Becket Fund discusses the implications of a law recently passed by the Parliament in the Netherlands to ban the face-covering burqa worn by many Muslims. The banning of religious wear in several...
New Baptist Covenant -- First Night
Posted on January 30, 2008I didn't get in until late tonight, so I missed the first session that included President Carter's message. Lucky for you, lots of folks were there - more than 10,000 - and I think they each have their own blog....
Former Bush White House Officials Criticize Faith-Based Funding Program
Posted on January 29, 2008In the wake of President Bush's call last night to make permanent the "charitable choice" programs that send taxpayer money to religious organizations that provide social services, a NYTimes op-ed today by two former officials in the Faith-Based Office -...
Criticism of Bush's Voucher Plan Proposal
Posted on January 29, 2008The Carpetbagger Report's Steve Benen offers a critique of the voucher plan President Bush proposed in last night's State of the Union Address, though the President called them "Pell Grants for Kids." Congressional Republicans rammed through a voucher scheme for...
State of the Union Watching: Vouchers and Faith-Based Funding
Posted on January 28, 2008I have the sneaking suspicion that I'm the only one watching, but President Bush just called for yet another effort to implement federal school vouchers, despite the public's routine repudiation of vouchers in the ballot box. This time around, the...
"God in the White House" Excerpt
Posted on January 28, 2008I posted this morning about NPR's interview with Randall Balmer, author of "God in the White House", to be aired today on Fresh Air. The show's website now has an excerpt from the book online that is well worth a...
What's Liberal/Conservative in Church-State Matters?
Posted on January 28, 2008Marc Fisher's column in today's Washington Post remarks on some recent findings within the National Opinion Research Center's database of social attitudes. An article in Education Next by Robert Slater compares teachers' views with those of Americans generally, finding that...
Balmer Interviewed on NPR
Posted on January 28, 2008I see that today's "Fresh Air" on NPR will feature a conversation with author Randall Balmer, whose new book is entitled "God in the White House." Balmer was the featured speaker at last summer's Religious Liberty Council luncheon hosted by...
Churches in Primary States Prepare for Election Restraint
Posted on January 25, 2008With the revamped primary schedule, and the close races in both parties, states that aren't accustomed to having contested presidential elections are this year anticipating lots more activity. Churches, too, are concerned with taking note of the important decision-making process,...
Earmark to Religious Group Questioned
Posted on January 25, 2008Via the Rountable, the Kansas City Star reports on a troubling earmark inserted into the budget. Sens. Sam Brownback and Kit Bond used earmarks last year to direct about $1 million to an area group "empowering the un-churched urban poor...
Brent Walker on "Huckabee's Mischief"
Posted on January 24, 2008At Washington Post's On Faith site, Baptist Joint Committee Director Rev. Brent Walker responds to Mike Huckabee's recent shocker, calling on the Constitution to be changed to align with "God's standards." First, whose God and which standards? In our incredibly...
9th Circuit Emphasizes Prison's Burden Under RLUIPA
Posted on January 24, 2008Thanks to Religion Clause for pointing to this decision by the 9th Circuit on Tuesday, further refining the appellate court's interpretation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Inmate Darin Greene sued under RLUIPA after his request for...
BeliefNet Interviews Obama on Religion and Politics
Posted on January 23, 2008Thanks to Steve Benen at the Carpetbagger Report for pointing to Dan Gilgoff's recent beliefnet interview with presidential candidate Barack Obama. Question topics included the difference between speaking at a pulpit and speaking at a podium, and whether his view...
Arkansas Town Argues Gideon Bible Distribution in Schools
Posted on January 23, 2008A reasonable School Board President, looking out for the taxpayers' money, argued against allowing Gideon Bibles to be distributed to school children, noting that the inevitable lawsuit would be lost and would cost lots of money that could be better....
The Roles of Church and State
Posted on January 23, 2008A nice companion to Marv Knox's story I linked to over the weekend is Jim Wallis' compelling piece currently at beliefnet. It begins this way: There is a biblical role for the state, just as there is for the church,...
Religious Right Judge Thinks Proselytizing Movie is A-OK
Posted on January 22, 2008I wrote last week about a Christian movie being shown in a Tuscaloosa public school, drawing criticism from church-state separation advocates. And now, former Alabama judge Roy Moore has gotten in on the act, writing a letter of his own...
Supreme Court Throws Out Muslim Prisoner Harassment Lawsuit
Posted on January 22, 2008A lawsuit filed by Muslim prisoner Abdus-Shahid Ali claiming harassment for exercising his religion, including the improper loss of detained personal property, was short-circuited by the Supreme Court after a 5-4 ruling determined that prison guards may not be sued...
Politics and the Religious Calendar
Posted on January 22, 2008Via Religion Clause, after Nevada received criticism for holding its caucuses on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the state's Democrats have further riled Jewish observers by scheduling its Convention at the start of Passover. Even less-observant Jews generally attend a...
The New Baptist Covenant
Posted on January 21, 2008The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previews the importance of the upcoming New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta. William Leonard, a Baptist scholar from Wake Forest University, said, "This gathering is historic if for no other reason, it has the potential to be...
The Politics, and Religion, of Helping People
Posted on January 20, 2008When it comes to helping people in need, the job is an awfully big one. And while it is a Christian mandate, it also falls under the realm of government's responsibility, particularly for essential and large tasks. A story in...
NYT on Huckabee's Religious Balancing Act
Posted on January 19, 2008Today's NYTimes explores presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's challenge in attempting to use, but not overuse religion in his campaign. Ed Rollins, Mr. Huckabee?s national chairman...described a two-pronged pitch, playing up Mr. Huckabee?s Christian convictions to fellow evangelists and his empathy...
Judge Overturns University Policy Denying Funds for Religious Purpose
Posted on January 18, 2008The University of Wisconsin-Madison has been denying religious groups access to student activity fee money on the grounds that such funding would violate the separation of church and state. Yesterday, a federal judge declared that policy unconstitutional, ruling that the...
When Church Conflict Becomes Legal Conflict
Posted on January 18, 2008Many churches today are taking on more and more societal roles. They run small businesses and recreation facilities, offer day care and elementary schools, marriage counseling and financial planning seminars. It should be no surprise then when the kinds of...
The Overzealous Detractors (and Supporters) of Barack Obama
Posted on January 18, 2008Earlier this week, I wrote about presidential candidate Barack Obama's appearance at a Nevada church, at which the pastor seemed to clearly demonstrate his support with a pulpit endorsement of the Illinois Senator. Apparently I wasn't the only one to...
Huckabee "Clarifies" Constitution Remark
Posted on January 17, 2008In a Beliefnet interview, Mike Huckabee was asked about his recent shocking (and wrong) statement that the Constitution should be amended to comply with God's beliefs. I'm not sure that this follow-up really helps his case, but see for yourself...
A New Offensive Against IRS Church Campaigning Regulations
Posted on January 17, 2008Via Religion Clause, yesterday's Wall Street Journal ran an ad paid for by the Becket Fund containing an open letter from a pastor to the IRS' Acting Commissioner. The letter criticized the IRS for investigating churches and threatening their tax-exempt...
After AU Letter, Alabama Public School System Halts Christian Film Showing
Posted on January 16, 2008After a Tuscaloosa (AL) school last year showed "Facing the Giants", a film with a decidedly Christian message, produced by a Georgia Baptist church, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State began receiving complaints from concerned parents...
School Discretion in Limiting Student Religious Expression is Affirmed
Posted on January 16, 2008Where does a young student's First Amendment rights bump up against a public school's wide discretion in controlling curriculum and instructional content? The 6th Circuit waded into that territory in a decision released today, and affirmed the right of an...
Religious Freedom Day Awards
Posted on January 16, 2008On this anniversary of the nation's first religious liberty law in Virginia, three awards will be given this evening by the Council for America's First Freedom. Charles Haynes (First Amendment Center), John Witte (Emory University), and Jakob Finci (Jewish Community...
Interfaith Alliance Criticizes Nevada's Saturday Caucus
Posted on January 16, 2008Interfaith Alliance President Welton Gaddy raises a good point: Nevada's upcoming caucus conflicts with the Jewish Sabbath, on which traveling is restricted. In a country that values religious liberty, no person should ever be forced to choose between practicing their...
Huckabee Would Bring Constitution in Line With "God's Standards"
Posted on January 15, 2008According to MSNBC, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee last night called for changes in the Constitution for the purpose of making it more acceptable to God. "[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's...
Backwards Thinking
Posted on January 15, 2008A lawyer in Florida argues that recently proposed new science standards for public schools could be asking for a church-state challenge. Did they require intelligent design, foolishly, in the science curriculum as some have tried? Or stickers on the textbooks...
On Display: Faith and Foreign Policy
Posted on January 15, 2008Today's NYTimes offers a report on President Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia that begins this way: President Bush?s Christianity is so central to his life that it is not surprising that it would figure prominently in a visit to Israel...
President Bush Proclaims Religious Freedom Day
Posted on January 14, 2008As is custom, January 16 has been declared "Religious Freedom Day" by Presidential proclamation. The freedom to worship according to one's conscience is one of our Nation's most cherished values. It is the first protection offered in the Bill of...
Virginia Intervenes in Case Involving Church Division
Posted on January 14, 2008In today's Washington Post: The case in Fairfax County Circuit Court is over whether the conservative congregations, which left the national church over disputes related to the interpretation of Scripture and the acceptance of homosexuality, can keep the land and...
Candidates Speak from Pulpit as Elections Approach [UPDATED]
Posted on January 14, 2008A couple of campaign stories caught my attention from Sunday. This account of the 11:30 service at Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Las Vegas - at which presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke - certainly leaves the impression that a...
Moment of Silence Rationale
Posted on January 14, 2008In the Nashville Tennessean on Friday, columnist and Vanderbilt Professor of Medicine Frank Boehm offered a piece entitled "'Moment of silence' gives the body a needed timeout" Today, in the average home, children often awake to and eat breakfast with...
School Time and Personal Time
Posted on January 11, 2008As I've posted before, the recently passed mandatory "moment of silence" in Illinois public schools will be argued in front of a district judge after a challenge from a student and her father, Rob Sherman. Today's Baltimore Sun outlines the...
Is Bush's Faith-Based Initiative on the Decline?
Posted on January 10, 2008A new story at the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy looks beyond the current Bush Administration toward the future of his faith-based funding initiative. After all, the number of churches and other religious organizations seeking government funding is...
8th Circuit Denies Iowa Prison Ministry En Banc Request
Posted on January 10, 2008Prison Fellowship Ministries had asked the entire 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear its case regarding the InnerChange program in Iowa, but the Court declined, AP reported yesterday. A lower court had declared the program unconstitutional, a ruling affirmed...
Missouri School District's Bible Distribution Ruled Unconstitutional
Posted on January 10, 2008Missouri's South Iron School District has been embroiled in a series of legal battles since 2005 over their longstanding practice of allowing Gideon's to distribute Bibles to fifth-graders in their classroom during the school day. I have a hard time....
Saudi Academy Books Reviewed for Intolerance
Posted on January 10, 2008A controversial Saudi school in Virginia is under renewed fire after translations of textbooks, reviewed for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, allegedly revealed intolerant passages, according to today's Washington Post: Commission member Nina Shea said the panel is...
Grassley Still Waiting on Ministry Response
Posted on January 09, 2008Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has yet to hear from most of the six television ministries he has questioned about finances in connection with their tax-exempt status. The Tampa Tribune reports today: "It's a new year and the ministries that have...
HR 888
Posted on January 09, 2008HR 888is a mammoth resolution from Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) [remember him?] that would "affirm our nation's religious history" through some 75 statements - of various accuracy - about America's past, followed by 4 be-it-resolved conclusions: That the United States...
California Group Advises Pastors in Election Season
Posted on January 08, 2008As I said below - in truly long-winded, rambly, late-night fashion - most churches do not engage in improper campaign activity. Most ministers - I feel certain - do not want to jeopardize their tax exempt status, even if they...
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what are the proper and legal steps to dissolve a partnership in an ongoing farm business?
I would say that the final tax forms are dispersed for that year with the indica...
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
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