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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

Baptist Denominations Affirm Freedom of Religion for Candidates

Posted on April 04, 2008
The 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, 2008
Former 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, 2008
Via 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, 2008
Columnist 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...

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Coverage of Summum Monument Announcement

Posted on April 02, 2008
Lots 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, 2008
For 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, 2008
With 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, 2008
Tony 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, 2008
Citing 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, 2008
Despite 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, 2008
In 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, 2008
Earlier 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, 2008
In 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Tibetan 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, 2008
As 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, 2008
Today 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Tomorrow, 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, 2008
Yesterday'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, 2008
An 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
How 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, 2008
Baptist 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Morristown, 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Rob Marus: "Pastor's Role in Obama Campaign Spotlights Race, Pulpit Freedom"...

Arizona Moves School Religion Bill Forward

Posted on March 18, 2008
The 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, 2008
Rob 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...

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