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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Conscience, contraception and conflict over religious freedom
By K. Hollyn Hollman, BJC General Counsel
The constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act is clearly the biggest story in the ongoing national health care debate. A significant subplot, however, is the implementation of rules requiring contraception coverage in health insurance plans as applied to objecting religious employers. …
From the April 2012 Report from the Capital
The will of the majority and the rights of the minority
By J. Brent Walker, Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director
President Barack Obama’s recent remarks about “unelected judges” thwarting the will of the elected political branches provides an opportunity to think about several fundaments of our democratic form of government and how best to protect religious liberty….
From the April 2012 Report from the Capital
BJC, coalition ask candidates to avoid religious discord
Written by BJC Staff
WASHINGTON — A diverse coalition of major national religious organizations on Feb. 21 issued an “Interfaith Statement of Principles,” calling on the presidential candidates and all candidates for public office this election year to help ensure decency, honesty and fair play in elections by conducting campaigns that honor our nation’s traditions of religious liberty and avoid sowing religious discord.
From the March 2012 Report from the Capital
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...
