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.
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.
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.”
“Religious freedom must be for everyone, and this initiative encourages a deeper understanding of and accommodation for religious practices.”
“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.
