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Archive: September 20, 2009 - September 26, 2009
A Better Question
Should the Federal Government be allowed to determine the hiring practices of religious organizations?...
By Matt Maher | September 25, 2009; 2:25 PM ET | Comments (2)
No Discrimination With Tax Dollars
The bottom line for all religious organizations: If you feel you must discriminate in one of your programs, just don't accept government funds.
By David Saperstein | September 25, 2009; 11:24 AM ET | Comments (3)
Should Government Discriminate?
When government invites civil society to participate in public-private partnership to address these issues, religious organizations must be free to participate as equal partners--without having to sacrifice their core identities.
By Galen Carey | September 25, 2009; 9:45 AM ET | Comments (10)
Free to Hire, Not to Discriminate
Rather than making blanket criticisms or condemnations of groups simply because they have a religious affiliation, we should try to judge each on its deeds and merits, in the same way that we should judge people, not on their religious affiliation or lack thereof, but on their deeds and merits.
By Ramdas Lamb | September 24, 2009; 3:51 AM ET | Comments (2)
Repent It Forward
For us to feel the impact of Yom Kippur deeply, we have to allow ourselves the full range of emotions: gratitude, sadness, loss, remorse, guilt, joy, relief. We don't have to teach ourselves to cry. We just have to give ourselves permission.
By Erica Brown | September 23, 2009; 7:22 PM ET | Comments (11)
Religion Should Support Civil Rights
Religion and civil rights should be best friends. Among religions' great values are an ability to bring people together and a capacity to function as the driving force behind many good works.
By Welton Gaddy | September 23, 2009; 3:09 PM ET | Comments (1)
Subsidizing Religion
Q: Dozens of major religious groups and denominations are urging Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to renounce a Bush-era memo that allows faith-based charities that receive federal funding to discriminate in hiring. Should religious charities that receive federal grant...
By Arun Gandhi | September 23, 2009; 2:51 PM ET | Comments (1)
No Exemptions, Please
Religious dogma, if it is worth its salt, can withstand people of differing views.
By Susan K. Smith | September 23, 2009; 12:50 PM ET | Comments (2)
Flirting with Violations of Religious Liberty
Partnering with faith-based charities in the delivery of crucial social services conceptually always flirted with basic violations of the First Amendment; execution of the concept went well beyond flirtation.
By Aseem Shukla | September 23, 2009; 12:29 PM ET | Comments (5)
From Prophetic to Pathetic: Handouts from Cesar
I find repugnant the very thought of a faith-based group approaching government begging for funding to accomplish a Divine mandate of charity and compassion.
By Samuel Rodriguez | September 22, 2009; 9:26 PM ET | Comments (2)
Holder Must Withdraw the Memo
The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is proud to have played a part in the drafting of a recent letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking that he review and withdraw this memo that espouses a misguided application of RFRA.
By J. Brent Walker | September 22, 2009; 5:16 PM ET | Comments (1)
Immigration Gets 'Churchy'
The reason faith communities all across the nation have begun to engage in grassroots activism is because they are outraged by the treatment of their neighbors and friends.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 22, 2009; 12:26 PM ET | Comments (15)
Can't Serve God and Uncle Sam
Even in a struggling economy, God hasn't declared Chapter 11. He will provide the resources for the work He wants done.
By Cal Thomas | September 22, 2009; 11:58 AM ET | Comments (5)
Society is Neither Church Nor State
For the "state" to require that employment be open to unbelievers in the particular faith is in violation both of the social fact that the agency is a faith community and of the sound principle of subsidiarity. But American individualism makes these violations probable.
By Willis E. Elliott | September 21, 2009; 9:18 PM ET | Comments (5)
Just Say No to Faith-Based Discrimination
If you feel that your faith dictates that you should discriminate, just don't take government money. That's freedom of religion too. But if you take the money, you have to play by the rules.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 21, 2009; 7:50 PM ET | Comments (6)
Taxation For Religious Discrimination
I'm not particularly comfortable with tax breaks the government gives individuals for donating to a religion, or with the huge property tax advantages granted to often-wealthy churches, but I'm appalled that the government would allocate my tax dollars to inadvertently support religious discrimination.
By Herb Silverman | September 21, 2009; 7:03 PM ET | Comments (10)
Bored in Worship? No Wonder
Escaping routine, monotony and boredom in religion requires remarkable personal effort. It requires a zest for life and a passion to squeeze out meaning from every moment.
By Erica Brown | September 21, 2009; 5:36 PM ET | Comments (46)
How to Pray at School
There are so many ways to do religion in public schools right. "See You at the Pole," when properly done, is one of the best.
By J. Brent Walker | September 21, 2009; 4:38 PM ET | Comments (174)
Faith-Based Aid Is Unconstitutional, Period
To require any religious institution to hire people who do not agree with and represent its principles is absurd. That is why the government should not be in the business of funneling money for social services through any faith-based organization, whatever its hiring practices.
By Susan Jacoby | September 21, 2009; 3:55 PM ET | Comments (299)
