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 HHS to include greater transparency and clarity in final rule concerning religious exemptions to agency grant requirements
Religious liberty advocates, including BJC, are asking the Department of Health and Human Services to go further in articulating all exemption requirements needed to comply with federal religious freedom law.
Federal court declines to require Maryland school district to allow parental opt-out from language arts reading curriculum that includes LGBTQ+ characters
A lawsuit brought by a group of Muslim and Christian plaintiffs appears headed to a federal appeals court, and it bears watching. The families wanted to opt their children out of reading books with LGBTQ+ characters because the books conflict with their religious beliefs.
Texas chaplains caution state’s school boards against creating chaplain programs in public schools
A coalition of Texas chaplains say that training for the chaplaincy counsels against providing such support for school-aged children.
Federal appeals court upholds Connecticut’s removal of religious exemption from vaccination requirement for schoolchildren
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to a recent Connecticut law removing religious exemptions from the state’s vaccination mandate for schoolchildren.
Appeals court vacates earlier decision upholding school district’s pronoun policy, sends back to trial court in light of Supreme Court’s recent Title VII ruling
The Court clarified that the standard an employer must meet for establishing an “undue hardship” is not the “de minimis cost” test used by courts for many years – including by the 7th Circuit in Kluge – but is instead whether a religious accommodation would “result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.”
Guam joins Oklahoma in approving government-funded religious charter schools after legislature overrides governor’s veto
The question of whether the First Amendment allows for publicly funded religious charter schools may make its way to the Supreme Court before long.
EEOC Report: COVID-19 vaccine-related employment disputes fuel surge of religious discrimination claims
The EEOC report suggests in a footnote that a “significant increase in vaccine-related charges filed on the basis of religion” is responsible for the spike in religion cases generally.
Federal judge rejects teacher’s request on religious freedom grounds to halt policy requiring teachers to use students’ preferred name and pronouns
In rejecting the request for a preliminary injunction, the court emphasized that the policy impacts the teacher’s speech only in her official capacity as public school employee, not her private expression.
U.S. Supreme Court rules Constitution’s Free Speech Clause protects website designer’s plans to refuse same-sex wedding services against state law barring discrimination
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court emphasized that unlike the goods and services offered by many other businesses, the custom websites proposed at issue in this case are “expressive speech” protected by the Constitution.
U.S. Supreme Court strengthens workplace religious freedom standard in unanimous ruling
In the Groff v. DeJoy decision, the Court explained that co-workers’ feelings about religion, or their personal objection to religious practices, are not sufficient to deny an employee’s religious accommodation request.
