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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Cherilyn Crowe
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Free exercise standards increasingly debated
By K. Hollyn Hollman, BJC General Counsel
While it is not surprising that RFRA — like religious liberty in general — is more popular in principle than in its specific applications, research suggests that even among states that have enacted some version of RFRA, there has been scant litigation testing the statutes’ application to various types of claims.
From the April 2013 Report from the Capital
Protecting religious freedom in schools
By K. Hollyn Hollman, BJC General Counsel
While Supreme Court decisions and other constitutional principles governing religion in the public schools are firmly settled, there is always a steady stream of controversies over religion in the public schools.
From the March 2013 Report from the Capital.
Recent collaborations with Melissa Rogers and the Baptist Joint Committee
Here are a few lectures and columns Melissa Rogers presented in collaboration with the BJC. All of the lectures are available on the Baptist Joint Committee’s iTunes channel.
Former BJC General Counsel named head of White House faith-based office
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Jeff Huett 202-544-4226 / 202-680-4127 Cherilyn Crowe 202-544-4226 / 202-603-1663 WASHINGTON — The White House announced that Melissa Rogers, former general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, has been named the...
Walker to speak at Roger Williams Fellowship event, June 22
The Roger Williams Fellowship is pleased to announce its 2013 ABC/USA Biennial dinner speaker, the Rev. J. Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The meal will be held on Saturday, June 22, 2013 from 5-7 PM during the 2013 ABC/USA Biennial and Mission Summit in Overland Park, KS. Tickets for the meal will be $37, payable in advance through the official registration process.
Walker to deliver Greene Lectures at Gardner-Webb, March 25
Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director J. Brent Walker will deliver three lectures on religious liberty and church-state separation March 25 on the Gardner-Webb University campus in Boiling Springs, N.C.
New contraceptive mandate proposal announced, comment period opened
By Bob Allen, Associated Baptist Press, with BJC Staff Reports
The Obama administration proposed a broader opt-out Feb. 1 for religious organizations that object to mandated coverage of contraceptives in employee health care plans, an effort to alleviate religious liberty concerns behind a number of lawsuits challenging the Afford-able Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
From the February 2013 Report from the Capital.
Walker wins McCall Religious Liberty Award, inducted into Baylor Alumni Hall of Fame
From BJC Staff Reports
At a ceremony January 25 in Waco, Texas, Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director J. Brent Walker was inducted into the Baylor University Alumni Association Hall of Fame for his work defending religious freedom.
From the February 2013 Report from the Capital
Standing for principles in all situations
By J. Brent Walker, BJC Executive Director
Defending religious liberty by standing up for the separation of church and state sometimes results in unpopular outcomes. Theological and constitutional principles ensuring religious liberty must apply and be followed in the hard cases as well as the easy cases.
From the February 2013 Report from the Capital
Jefferson’s Religious Freedom Statute: Setting the groundwork for the separation of church and state
BJC Executive Director J. Brent Walker explains how the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom formed the intellectual foundation and political foreshadowing for the First Amendment principles of religious liberty throughout the United States.
This article first appeared in The Huffington Post and was reprinted in the February 2013 Report from the Capital.
