Church and State

The “fight continues as foster families, historic crosses, students, and pastors, imams, rabbis, and nuns face off against anti-religious activist groups and government agencies — some going all the way up to the Supreme Court. Here’s a preview of the top religious liberty victories to come.” - W.Examiner

“Focus on the Family is defending its decision to have the Internal Revenue Service officially reclassify the Christian nonprofit as a ‘church,’ denouncing the efforts of some to ascribe ‘sinister’ intentions to the change.” CPost

“The part of tax law that prohibits houses of worship from engaging in explicit political activity will remain intact for now, despite concerns that Republican lawmakers would try to repeal it in the latest massive federal spending bill they released this week.” RNS

Bibles in Iowa schools sparks outrage, but this Iowa City class takes Bible learning in stride

“Per an analysis by Pew Research Center, God or the divine is not mentioned in an explicit manner in the United States constitution. However, when it comes to state constitutions, it is an altogether different matter. In such cases, God or the divine is found to be mentioned a minimum of one time in all 50 state constitutions.” RNS

“But a new survey of evangelical leaders — mainly pastors whose flocks were crucial to Trump’s victory in November — shows that close to 90 percent of those asked opposed the idea of clergy endorsing politicians from the pulpit.”

“Mississippi is now headed to federal court over its effort to protect the religious freedom of individuals who object to same-sex marriage and restroom use based on gender identity. Two organizations — the American Civil Liberties Union and the Campaign for Southern Equality — challenged the state’s Protecting Freedom of Conscience From Government Discrimination Act May 9 and 10, respectively.” BPress

“Haslam, who is a Christian, explained that not only would the bill violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, but that it ‘trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text.’”

“Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has signed into law a bill safeguarding the religious liberty of individuals and organizations who refuse to participate in same-sex weddings or gender identity transitions. Bryant, a Republican, announced today (April 5) via Twitter that he signed House Bill 1523 — the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.” Miss. adopts religious freedom bill

Founders.org: Historically, American Calvinistic Baptists have been fairly unified on their understanding of the role of civil government. They expressed their views in various confessions but the the Second London Baptist Confession was their mother confession.