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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

Anti-Science Legislation Leads to Louisiana Boycott

Posted on February 17, 2009
A 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, 2009
In 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, 2009
In 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, 2009
In 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...

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Final Stimulus Bill Removes School Construction Funding With Controversial Religious Liberty Provision

Posted on February 13, 2009
Tough 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, 2009
In 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, 2009
At 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, 2009
At 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, 2009
Reporting 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, 2009
Harvard 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, 2009
This 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, 2009
This 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, 2009
I'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, 2009
In 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
Associated 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, 2009
Religious 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, 2009
Thanks 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, 2009
President 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, 2009
Is 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
AP'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, 2009
AP 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, 2009
State 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
In 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, 2009
Today'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, 2009
Americans 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, 2009
PBS' 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....

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