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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RFRA’s constitutionality called into question
By Brent Walker, Executive Director
When the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments on March 25 in the contraception case involving Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties, it will be asked to decide novel and difficult questions concerning the interpretation and application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
From the February 2014 Report from the Capital.
Chaplains educate lawmakers on religious freedom in the military
By Holly Hollman, General Counsel
Despite suggestions from some members of Congress of religious freedom strains in the military, a recent congressional hearing failed to reveal significant problems.
From the February 2014 Report from the Capital.
A Baptist commitment to freedom and evangelism
By Brent Walker, Executive Director
A pastor friend recently asked me to write a short piece on the importance to Baptists of church planting. I agreed to do it, but only in the context of a larger discussion about the relationship between freedom and evangelism.
From the January 2014 Report from the Capital
BJC supports strong legal standard in contraceptive mandate cases
By Holly Hollman, General Counsel
The Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate — the requirement, under the Affordable Care Act, that most employer-provided health insurance plans cover all FDA-approved methods of contraception — continues to stir controversy and spawn new lawsuits at a dizzying rate.
From the January 2014 Report from the Capital
Celebrating this year, anticipating the next
By BJC Executive Director J. Brent Walker
At the Baptist Joint Committee, the year’s end marks the end of our fiscal year. Projects need to be finished and year-end gifts secured.
From the November/December Report from the Capital
Supreme Court examines government prayer practices
By BJC General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman
Is prayer at government meetings simply a historical aberration notwithstanding the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, or is it justified by some rational explanation?
From the November/December Report from the Capital
Remembering the origins of RFRA
By J. Brent Walker, Executive Director
Executive Director J. Brent Walker reflects on the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and its journey over the past 20 years.
From the October 2013 Report from the Capital.
RFRA at 20: a retrospective
By K. Hollyn Hollman, BJC General Counsel
A Nov. 7 symposium, organized by the BJC and other groups, will use the occasion of the RFRA anniversary as an opportunity to reflect on the state of free exercise of religion in Americaby examining it in a number of contexts.
From the October 2013 Report from the Capital.
BJC says local government prayer violates consciences, undermines voluntary religion
In Supreme Court brief, Baptist Joint Committee urges limit on government involvement in religion
Official prayer at local government meetings violates the First Amendment and demeans genuine faith, according to the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in a brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Public schools are not religion-free zones
By J. Brent Walker, BJC Executive Director
The start of a new school year provides an opportunity to review the many ways religion can properly be exercised, studied and otherwise included on public school campuses in ways that naturally arise in our very religious — and religiously diverse — country, while keeping school officials out of the business of promoting a particular religion or even religion in general.
From the September 2013 Report from the Capital
