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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New rule addresses religious freedom, contraception concerns
By BJC Staff
WASHINGTON – Responding Feb. 10 to opponents of the administration’s rule requiring most health insurance plans to cover contraceptive services, President Barack Obama announced a new policy that expands the religious accommodation and requires insurance companies to offer contraceptive services free of charge directly to employees at religious institutions that object to providing them.
From the March 2012 Report from the Capital
Principles in political posturing
By J. Brent Walker, BJC Executive Director
We planned to release the Interfaith Statement of Principles on Religion in Political Campaigns the morning after the Presidents Day holiday. And what interesting timing it was. The previous weekend and the following week brought a torrent of examples of the very abuses of religion in politics that we talked about in the statement.
From the March 2012 Report from the Capital
Separating issues from political rhetoric
By K. Hollyn Hollman, BJC General Counsel
Exaggerated claims are perhaps to be expected when religious liberty collides with other significant governmental interests. In the ongoing debate about religious institutions’ objections to the contraception coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act, much of the rhetoric has been harsh and misleading….
From the March 2012 Report from the Capital
BJC joins diverse group of religious leaders to mourn victims of 9/11, promote religious freedom
The religious leaders mourned victims of the attacks in New York and recognized families of Muslims killed on September 11, 2001. The coalition, called Shoulder to Shoulder, also highlighted religious organizations that have led grassroots efforts to unite religious...
Religion in political campaigns — An interfaith statement of principles
This is the full text of the statement released February 21, 2012, by the Baptist Joint Committee and other organizations.
From the March 2012 Report from the Capital
Supreme Court lets prayer decisions stand
Written by K. Hollyn Hollman, BJC General Counsel
Recent decisions reflect a proper application of religious liberty case law, recognizing that sectarian prayers by public officials undermine religious liberty and degrade religion by entangling it with government. The Supreme Court was right to deny the public officials’ request for review — in one case, a school board, and in another, a county board of commissioners.
Update: New rule addresses religious freedom, contraception concerns
WASHINGTON – Responding Friday to opponents of the administration’s rule requiring most health insurance plans to cover contraceptive services, President Obama announced a new policy that expands the religious accommodation and requires insurance companies to offer...
Walker comments on recent HHS rule regarding contraception
Note: this story was UPDATED on February 10. Click here to read the update. Feb. 8, 2012 The Department of Health and Human Services issued a new rule that requires most health insurance plans to cover contraceptive services starting August 1. While churches are...
The significance of Supreme Court review
Written by K. Hollyn Hollman, BJC General Counsel
So far this term, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review lower court decisions in two high-profile religious liberty disputes, one involving cross displays erected along Utah’s highways and another concerning a New York church’s long-term use of a public school building for its weekly Sunday worship services. In the former case, Justice Clarence Thomas issued a 19 page dissent — atypical at the petition stage — expressing his disagreement with the Court’s decision not to grant review.
Is Administration’s Contraception Coverage Policy Constitutional?
Written by Don Byrd
Lawsuits have been filed challenging the Obama Administration’s decision to include certain types of religious organization in the general requirement that health insurance plans must cover contraception. The policy, announced last week, does exempt houses of worship and religious organizations that employ primarily those of the same faith
