Recent News & Columns
Here are recent columns and news items from the Baptist Joint Committee. Visit our blog and read our monthly magazine, Report from the Capital, to stay current on all religious liberty news. You can also read our press releases online.
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BJC urges U.S. Supreme Court to rule nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school unconstitutional
If the Court holds that states can or even must accept religious schools as charter schools, it would upend decades of Establishment Clause jurisprudence. As BJC’s brief says, “The state may not directly fund religious instruction. That line has long preserved both faith and freedom. It should be respected here.”
Kentucky faith leaders urge Gov. Beshear to veto bill erecting Ten Commandments monument at state Capitol
In a letter to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, dozens of faith leaders – including Christian leaders – explained why returning an enormous, permanent Ten Commandments monument to the grounds of the Kentucky Capitol is a bad idea.
Flurry of state legislature activity would promote religion in public schools
State legislatures across the country are back in session and are introducing troubling bills that, if enacted, will harm the cause of religious liberty for all.
New poll: 29% of Americans espouse Christian nationalism, unchanged from 2023
PRRI questioned 22,000 Americans in all 50 states, and it measured support for Christian nationalism views by asking each participant whether and to what extent they agreed or disagreed with five core beliefs tied to Christian nationalism.
Quaker congregations file suit challenging new White House immigration policy
A lawsuit filed by several Quaker congregations challenges the Trump administration’s new policy as a violation of religious freedom protections under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the freedom to associate under the First Amendment, and as a violation of various provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act.
U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear cases involving religious school funding, parent rights to opt out of grade school curriculum
In the last two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a pair of religious liberty cases, one of which is a closely watched case in Oklahoma that may reshape the landscape of church-state law surrounding government funding of religion, and the other involves parents’ challenge to a school district removing their ability to opt out of reading curriculum assignments that they object to on religious grounds.
BJC urges federal appeals court to reject Louisiana law requiring public school classrooms to post the Ten Commandments
H.B. 71 represents a dangerous step toward the entangling of our civic and religious institutions. It chooses a particular version of a text sacred to Christians, picking sides and improperly expressing a preference in long-standing religious debates among and between religious denominations.
Protecting religious liberty in 2025 requires all of us to work together
As BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler wrote, “The response we need in this moment of crisis for many of our neighbors and our country is a recommitment to involvement in our democracy by every person.”
White House announces strategy, action plan to counter Islamophobia
“Religious freedom must be for everyone, and this initiative encourages a deeper understanding of and accommodation for religious practices.”
Injunction halts New Jersey constitutional provision barring taxpayer funding for building or repairing houses of worship
“The ‘play in the joints’” historically afforded to states between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause “seems to be over,” writes a judge in New Jersey.
