Case in Point Sept/Oct 2024
In Maine, Battle Continues Over State Funding for Religious Schools Can Maine require religious schools to adopt LGBTQ nondiscrimination policies as a condition of receiving state funds via a tuition assistance program? The answer, according to a recent federal court ruling, is “Yes—for now.” This is the latest development in an ongoing saga that kicked…
Read MoreGen Z Has Arrived. Now What?
A group of Christian college students consider the intersection of faith and civic duty. Gen Z voters are preparing to make their mark in November’s presidential election with a projected 7 to 9 million new voters, born between 1997 and 2013, set to cast their first ballot. In all, there are a staggering 40 million…
Read MoreA Religious Freedom Voting Guide
In the coming election, if you truly care about religious freedom, you’ll vote Republican. Unless, of course, you’re concerned about Christian nationalism and Project 2025 and its goal of Christianizing America through law, in which case you’ll vote Democrat. However, if you’re alarmed that young people in public schools are being exposed to militant secular…
Read MoreHow Not To Build A Christian America
By January 1 next year all public school classrooms in Louisiana, from kindergartens to universities, will display posters of a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font.” Depending on your perspective, this is either a much-needed step toward “acknowledging the Christian foundations of America” or a disturbing step toward an America…
Read MoreReflections of a Recovering Prime Minister
Interview with former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison. On the wall of his office in Australia’s Parliament House, Scott Morrison hung a framed newspaper dated May 1, 2019, proclaiming: “ScoMo’s Miracle!” It was a headline that appeared the morning after Morrison’s poll- and pundit-defying election to Australia’s top political job. The evening before, Morrison had…
Read MoreReligion Goes to the Games
The more than 10,000 Olympic athletes competing in the Paris Olympic Games this summer will have access to more than just sports doctors, physiotherapists, and masseuses. They’ll also have the option to receive spiritual care. The Paris Games organizing committee has credentialed some 120 chaplains representing Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. In a large…
Read MoreCelebrating Common Ground
At a time when fierce partisanship defines American politics, a gala dinner at the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill showcased religious liberty as an American value that transcends political and religious differences. Representatives from Congress, civil society organizations, and faith groups came together May 3 for the 18th annual Religious Liberty Dinner, co-sponsored…
Read MoreA Messiah Problem
Today there is a national political leader who is deliberately and strategically draping his political aspirations in religious imagery in ways that are, frankly, sacrilegious. He has implied that his quest for power has the stamp of divine approval. His language, at times, is messianic. As national elections approach, he’s exploiting emotionally powerful tropes about…
Read More“Lives Are at Stake”
A Rabbi, a Reverend, and the Power of Bipartisanship An interview with the chair and vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (Photo: USCIRF commissioners meet with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Commission is charged with advising Congress, the U.S. Secretary of State, and the President on religious freedom concerns abroad.)…
Read MoreState Religious Freedom Laws: Misunderstood or Malign?
Iowa has become the latest state to wade into the controversy surrounding state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs). Governor Kim Reynolds signed the Iowa RFRA into law on April 3, saying it would uphold “ideals that are the very foundation of our country.” Twenty-seven U.S. states have passed similar laws, all of which are modeled…
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