“Religious liberty is best secured when accommodations are tailored, fair, and sustainable,” said BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman. “Today’s decision should be understood in that light.”
“We must not accept a government that uses religion and ethnicity as proxies for threat,” said BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler in response to the new travel ban. “Religious freedom means freedom for all — not just those favored by those in power.”
The Religious Liberty Council’s annual meeting will be Monday, June 30, reviewing updates and voting on officers and representation of the Religious Liberty Council to the BJC Board of Directors. Individuals who have made a donation to BJC at any point in the past three years are automatically members of the Religious Liberty Council.
Hollman: This outcome “ensures our public institutions remain open to all, not captured by any one religious mission.”
The most consequential church-state case of this Supreme Court term involves whether the government could – or even must – fund religious charter schools. Amanda and Holly examine key moments in the oral arguments from Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, et al. v. Drummond, playing clips from the courtroom and looking at how the justices may apply recent precedent to shape future law. As BJC noted in the brief we filed, if the government funds religious charter schools, it will drag our government deeper into questions it is unfit to answer on matters of doctrine and church composition. That’s not government neutrality toward religion – that’s religious preference repackaged as educational choice.
Melissa Rogers joins the podcast for a conversation about how each of us can take steps to promote religious freedom and the common good in the United States today. After leading the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Obama and Biden administrations, she shares her inside perspective on government, where we are right now, and how people can truly make an impact. Our religious freedom protects everyone’s right to bring their faith to the public square, and you won’t want to miss this conversation about opportunities we have as Americans to engage government at all levels and express ourselves in the face of injustice.
Amanda Tyler: “Those of us who are Christians profess this hope in the midst of profound grief, but I am asking myself in this fraught time: Are we practicing it?”
Today, we mourn with people around the world the passing of Pope Francis, a spiritual leader whose voice reflected a deep commitment to human dignity, justice, and compassion.
The Rev. Dr. Stan Hastey reflects on a post-presidency interview with Jimmy Carter at his church in Plains, Ga., in 1981.
“It’s not just about resisting — it’s about transforming our communities into spaces of inclusion, equity and shared strength.”