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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

Rev. Wright Press Tour? Is It Relevant to Church-State Discussion?

Posted on April 24, 2008
As 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, 2008
Florida'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, 2008
Kenneth 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, 2008
The 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...

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TV Advisory for Religion-in-the-Campaign Junkies

Posted on April 22, 2008
By 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, 2008
Via 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Author-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, 2008
The 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
Earlier 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, 2008
Thanks 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
High 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
I 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, 2008
Senators 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, 2008
Via 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, 2008
If 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Apparently 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, 2008
At 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, 2008
It'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, 2008
An 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, 2008
Last 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Via 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,...

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