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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

Prepping the Pastor For Legal Battle

Posted on May 14, 2008
After 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, 2008
I 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, 2008
In 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, 2008
An 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...

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New Site Argues Against Grassley Tax-Exempt Probe

Posted on May 13, 2008
Kenneth 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
An 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, 2008
This 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, 2008
Receiving 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, 2008
As 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, 2008
Yesterday, 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
It'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, 2008
Salt 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, 2008
AP 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Today, 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, 2008
In 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Americans 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, 2008
Over 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Indiana'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, 2008
Despite 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, 2008
A "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, 2008
Vikram 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...

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