States Considering Religious Conscience Bills

Written by Don Byrd
In recent years, a handful of states have wrestled with the rights of vendors like florists, bakeries, and photographers to refuse business for same-sex weddings on religious grounds. In particular, states with strong nondiscrimination statutes forbidding such refusal have seen religious objectors challenge those laws in court. In New Mexico, for example, the state Supreme Court rejected a photographer’s argument that a nondiscrimination law should not force her to provide business for a same-sex wedding over her religious objections.

Keeping the Church Relevant but Separate

Written by Don Byrd
In today’s NYTimes, religion reporter Samuel Freedman profiles a unique partnership in Portland, Oregon between a suburban evangelical church and a public school in a low-income neighborhood. I love this story because it demonstrates what appears to be the successful navigation of tricky church-state concerns. When a church congregation wants to provide service in the community as part of its religious mission, and sees great need within public institutions like school systems, how should they be Christian servants without crossing important church-state safeguards?

Religious Objection to Taxes Lands Oregon Man in Prison

Written by Don Byrd
A federal judge rejected the religious freedom argument of an Oregon man charged with evading taxes for 10 years, sentencing him to 8 years in prison after a jury found him guilty earlier this year.