Challenges Mount for Faith Groups in Ukraine
The pressures of war strain religious freedom norms. As the conflict in Ukraine enters its third year, faith communities are enduring harsh conditions, with more than 500 churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious buildings destroyed or damaged by the Russian military. A recently proposed national law, however, raises a new challenge and highlights Ukraine’s complicated…
Read MoreA Welcome Boost for Religious Freedom on Campus
Four years after Christian high school students were denied equal access, a court reaffirms robust First Amendment protections. In September last year a federal appeals court handed down a major religious freedom decision that protects religious individuals and religious organizations within the nine westernmost states and benefits religious freedom nationwide. In Fellowship of Christian Athletes…
Read MoreUntethered
The Supreme Court’s “History and Tradition” Approach to Religion Cases The lines between religion and state are about to get even more chaotic. With its June 2022 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court overturned more than 50 years of precedent under the establishment clause (without acknowledging it was doing so) and…
Read MoreCase In Point
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a long-awaited “rule” in January regarding conscience protections in health-care settings. Rules are detailed regulations issued by federal administrative agencies that spell out—in a more thorough and practical way—how an agency will interpret and implement laws passed by Congress. In this instance, the new HHS…
Read MoreA Lament for Christianity’s Political Turn
Tim Alberta’s new book takes an inside look at the struggle for the soul of American evangelicalism. Picture this. A pastor finishes his sermon, offers a closing benediction, then closes his Bible. He has just preached a moving homily on the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew—a cornerstone teaching…
Read MoreThe Real Problem With “Project 2025”
The 2025 Presidential Transition Project has caused quite a stir since it was made public last April. This 887-page document stands apart from other position papers routinely churned out by Washington think tanks and advocacy groups. For a start, there’s the sheer size of the coalition that stands behind it: more than 80 conservative organizations,…
Read MoreAn Unlikely Alignment
What could “interest convergence theory” mean for the religious liberty rights of Muslims and Christians? Illustrations by Michael Glenwood In December 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court in Tanzin v. Tanvir ruled unanimously in favor of three Muslim men who say they were placed on the no-fly list by FBI agents in retaliation for their refusal…
Read MoreGeneral Orders No. 11
General Orders No. 11 “The Jews, as a class . . . are hereby expelled.” It’s a case of history being, typically, historical. A time of crisis, even war. Economic uncertainty making matters worse, threatening perhaps the fate of the nation. People needing to blame someone smaller, weaker, and unable to defend themselves. Like the…
Read MoreUntying the Religious Liberty Knot
An interview with author and professor Thomas C. Berg Not too long ago, religious liberty was a cherished, bipartisan constitutional value. Even as late as 1993, both sides of the political aisle in Congress rallied to pass, almost unanimously, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, giving a considerable boost to federal religious-liberty protection. Three decades later,…
Read MoreReckoning With the Reach of the Ministerial Exception
Does this legal doctrine give faith-based schools essential religious liberty protection? Or is it a tool for discrimination? Controversy continues over the extent to which officials in religiously affiliated schools can require their employees to comply with the teachings of their faiths, especially if employees have agreed to do so in the employment contracts they…
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