Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

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SOLID, RELIABLE, CONFIDENT — these are three words that describe the Baptist Joint Committee as we carry out our work every day on Capitol Hill.

From the halls of Congress, to the agencies and in the courts, the BJC works to defend and extend God-given religious liberty for all people.

With its guarantees of our most fundamental freedoms, the First Amendment must be defended if we are to preserve religious liberty for everyone. Our challenge is great, but we are determined to meet it.

For more than 70 years, the BJC has sounded the alarm and fought the battles from our office on Capitol Hill. We are the only religious organization in the country that works solely on religious liberty issues.

As always, we need your financial support to continue to wage the fight for religious liberty.

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Faith-based council adopts reform recommendations

white-house President’s Advisory Council agrees to proposal to improve the rules regarding faith-based organizations’ partnerships with the government

February 26, 2010

WASHINGTON – Today, a panel of religious and secular leaders charged with improving the operations of the White House faith-based office and its partnerships adopted recommendations for the office, including a list of 12 proposals that would implement reforms.

The 25 members of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships approved recommendations from the task force charged with reform of the office, as well as five other task forces.

The Council approved the reform of the office task force’s 12 specific recommendations to strengthen the constitutional and legal footing of public-private partnerships by clarifying the prohibited uses of direct financial assistance, providing guidance on the protection of religious identity while providing social services and assuring the religious liberty rights of clients and beneficiaries of federal social service funds.

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a strong supporter of church-state separation, also works to defend the free exercise of religion and protect the autonomy of religious organizations. Executive Director J. Brent Walker served on the task force that drafted the recommendations for reform of the office.

Click here to read more.

Baptist church-state group helps draft statement of current law

Document will not end debates about religious expression in American public life, but will make them more productive

While there is much debate about how law should address issues at the intersection of religion and government, there is much less debate among experts about the current state of such law. brookings-holly-wide-tighte

In an effort to improve public dialogue, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has joined with a diverse group of religious liberty experts to draft a document that provides a summary of how the law currently answers some questions regarding religious expression and practice in public life.

"Religious Expression in American Public Life: A Joint Statement of Current Law," is sponsored by the Wake Forest University Divinity School's Center for Religion and Public Affairs. BJC Executive Director J. Brent Walker and General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman served as members of the committee that drafted the 32-page document.

Read the full BJC statement here.

Click here to download a pdf version of the document.

6th Circuit: "Ministerial Exception" Does Not Apply to Secular Teacher

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that Cheryl Perich, dismissed by the Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran School in Redford, Michigan, may bring a discrimination claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The decision overturns the district court's finding that courts are not allowed to i...

On This Day in Church-State History

At the Wall of Separation, Ilana Stern notes that today is the 62nd anniversary of a key church-state decision. 1948's McCollum v. Board of Education determined that public schools may not use instructional time for religious education - even under the guise of a "voluntary" program...

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