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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Federal court halts Michigan foster care policy as likely religious freedom violation
Can states require that religious organizations providing foster care services through government contracts must refrain from discriminating?
House committee holds oversight hearing on travel ban, No Ban Act
Last week, House subcommittees held the first-ever oversight hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Trump administration’s travel ban, which restricts travel to and from several majority-Muslim countries.
Speaking at United Nations, President Trump presses for global religious freedom, repeats false Johnson Amendment claim
Speaking at a United Nations event on religious freedom, President Donald Trump called on world leaders to bring an end to all forms of religious persecution, announced his administration would add $25 million to U.N. efforts to protect religious sites and relics, and repeated a false claim about the Johnson Amendment.
BJC issues public comment opposing proposed hiring discrimination rule
A proposed Labor Department rule that would allow federal contractors to discriminate in hiring for government-funded positions “is a harmful and unnecessary expansion of the existing religious exemption,” according to BJC in a public comment submitted in opposition earlier this week.
Arizona Supreme Court sides with business owner in marriage services dispute
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that under state free speech and religious freedom law, Phoenix is prohibited from enforcing a nondiscrimination ordinance against businesses refusing to create custom same-sex wedding invitations.
Maryland county commission ends long-running suit over prayer policy with settlement
A judge approved a settlement reached between Maryland’s Carroll County Commission and plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the commission’s prayer policy.
Federal court orders Texas school district to accommodate students’ religious braids
A federal court in Texas ruled that a public school must make a religious accommodation for two male students with long braids that violate the dress code and allow them to participate in extracurricular activities.
New York court declines to halt removal of religious exemptions from vaccination requirements
A New York court has upheld the state’s recent decision to end all religious exemptions from vaccination requirements to attend school.
Appeals court upholds exclusion of nontheists in Pennsylvania House prayer policy
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled the Pennsylvania House’s policy of barring non-theists from delivering opening invocations is lawful, overturning a trial court, which found it unconstitutional.
Texas law barring non-clergy from officiating weddings upheld as constitutional
A federal court says a state can refuse to allow secular individuals (other than government officials) to conduct marriage ceremonies, dismissing a constitutional challenge to a Texas law that only authorizes officers of a religious organization or secular governmental officials for that function.
