Church & State

"The list of interesting characters will include what many will regard as adherents of fringe religions like The Satanic Temple and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti. To the shock of conservative Christians, these people are now scheduled to invoke their deities before all local government meetings that will take place on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska in 2019." - World Religion News

"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.'”