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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Tyler testifies before Congress on the same day of Speaker Mike Johnson’s election
BJC again provided testimony before Congress last week, this time on the same day that the House of Representatives finally landed on a new speaker.
In primetime address, President Biden denounces rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in United States as war rages
President Biden addressed Americans on the war in Israel and Gaza, emphasizing that “Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity, and peace.”
Appeals court says ‘preserving neighborhood character’ is not a sufficient justification for denying meditation center zoning request
By requiring the government to demonstrate a compelling government interest necessitates a substantial burden on religious exercise, laws like RFRA and RLUIPA provide a workable legal framework for resolving disputes between the government and religious adherents.
9th Circuit agrees with panel, orders California school district to recognize Fellowship of Christian Athletes club
The 9th Circuit ordered the San Jose school district to recognize the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as an official student club, despite the fact that FCA would not agree to abide by the district’s nondiscrimination policy.
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.
