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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

Fourth Circuit Upholds City Council's Ban on Sectarian Prayer to Open Meetings

Posted on July 24, 2008
The 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, 2008
My 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, 2008
While 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, 2008
Colorado 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...

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New Religious Discrimination Guidelines from EEOC

Posted on July 23, 2008
The 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, 2008
Ed 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, 2008
Writing 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
On 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, 2008
Pastor 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, 2008
Today'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, 2008
Americans 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, 2008
Rev. 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, 2008
From 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, 2008
In 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
Though 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, 2008
Associated 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Writing 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
Today, 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
James 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
When 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
CNN'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, 2008
Texas' 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, 2008
A 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....

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