Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Biden administration finalizes rule on religious liberty protections
By Adelle M. Banks — March 1, 2024
(RNS) — 'Today’s announcement establishes uniform policies to safeguard Americans from religious discrimination in social services,' said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Chief justice’s Christian reasoning in IVF opinion sparks alarm over church-state separation
By Tiffany Stanley and Peter Smith — February 23, 2024
(AP) — By citing verses from the Bible and Christian theologians in his concurring opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker alarmed advocates for church-state separation, while delighting religious conservatives who oppose abortion.
At National Prayer Breakfast, Biden speaks of praying, working for peace
By Adelle M. Banks — February 1, 2024
(RNS) — ‘We're all blessed to live in a nation where we can practice our many faiths and practice them freely,’ Biden said at the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
In Texas, Republicans push bills aimed at enhancing faith’s role in school
By Jack Jenkins — April 24, 2023
(RNS) — Cantor Sheri Allen, co-founder of the Jewish congregation Makom Shelanu, called the bills a “blatant violation of the separation of church and state.”
Christian nationalists have provoked a pluralist resistance
By Ruth Braunstein — April 21, 2023
(RNS) — Those fighting for our democracy should be making headlines, too.
Conservative Christians aren’t the only ones asking for accommodation in mailman case
By Yonat Shimron — April 18, 2023
(RNS) — Religious minorities — Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Seventh-day Adventists — have filed briefs asking the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that gutted a civil rights statute’s protections for religious accommodation.
Can a teacher put John 3:16 in email signature? District says no; her lawyers say yes
By Adelle M. Banks — April 10, 2023
(RNS) — An official of a Virginia school district said its ‘determination is not based on any particular religious viewpoint.’
Church-state separationist Barry Lynn recounts his legal arguments in new memoirs
By Adelle M. Banks — April 3, 2023
(RNS) — 'It is people who are hurting, people who are outcasts, that appealed to me,' Lynn said.
Biden administration seeks to rescind Trump-era rule about faith on campus
By Adelle M. Banks — March 3, 2023
(RNS) — An Education Department spokesperson said the more than 600 comments that had been received as of Friday (March 3) will be reviewed before a final rule is issued.
The activist behind opposition to the separation of church and state
By Jack Jenkins — July 18, 2022
(RNS) — Antipathy toward the separation of church and state appears to be a retread of a disputed, decades-old argument popularized primarily by a controversial Texas activist.
Some Muslims, Jews welcome court ruling allowing football coach to pray
By Yonat Shimron — July 8, 2022
(RNS) — Some minority faith leaders are wondering if government neutrality on religion is such a good thing.
New Labor Department rule expands religious exemption for federal contractors
By Adelle M. Banks — December 8, 2020
(RNS) — It is the latest development in the long-standing battle over how to balance religious rights with other, particularly LGBTQ, rights.
In fight over Protestant-only foster agency, lawsuit asks: Who is a Christian?
By Yonat Shimron — February 25, 2019
(RNS) — 'It’s a pretty common belief here in the South that Catholics are not Christian,' said Aimee Maddonna, who sued the federal and state government for allowing Miracle Hill Ministries to discriminate against non-Protestants.
Why the Johnson Amendment is always debated and never repealed
By Jacob Lupfer — December 21, 2018
(RNS) — Responsible actors, including the IRS, seek no change because the current law works in the best interests of churches, the government and society at large.
Trump’s evangelical pander: a sin or a violation of law?
By Jacob Lupfer — August 31, 2018
(RNS) — Normally, when Trump’s evangelical fan club enjoys the perks of presidential access, it hardly merits mention because its unfolding is so predictable. This time, it backfired.
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