CHURCH & STATE | The Five Strangest Things the Religious Right Believes about President Trump
For many years I worried that a biblical inerrancy-believing Christian zealot would secure the Republican Party nomination for president, go on to win the general election, and begin eroding the wall of separation between church... Read More
CHURCH & STATE | There’s No Broad Right to Use Your Religious Beliefs to Discriminate against People—Yet
A few years ago, I was invited to speak at a symposium on religious freedom at a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church in Takoma Park, Maryland. Also on the panel was an attorney for the... Read More
CHURCH & STATE | Vouchers Pose a Threat to Public Schools and to the Public Good
Public schools serve 90 percent of America’s children. Yet lately, it seems, the system is treated as an afterthought by politicians at the national and state levels as they plot to find new ways to... Read More
CHURCH & STATE | If You Want Social Justice, Work For Church-State Separation
Take a minute and conjure up in your mind an image of a brick wall. Imagine that on top of that wall rest the issues you care about. Examples may be LGBTQ rights, women’s rights,... Read More
CHURCH & STATE | Denied the Right to Care In South Carolina, “Religious Freedom” Has Become a Vehicle for Discrimination
Aimee Maddonna is a Catholic woman in Simpsonville, South Carolina, who wants to volunteer to help children in foster care. Maddonna would seem to be the perfect person to help out kids in need. She... Read More
CHURCH & STATE | “Biblical Literacy” Is the Last Thing the Religious Right Wants to See in Public Schools
Certain ideas sound half decent at first glance, but when you take a closer look, turn out not to be so great. Consider “Bible literacy” courses, which are suddenly popular in a number of state... Read More
CHURCH & STATE | Cross Purposes
The Symbol of America’s Majority Religion Can’t Memorialize Non-Christians The Washington, DC, suburb of Bladensburg, Maryland, is home to a forty-foot-tall cross that sits along a busy intersection. It occupies land owned by the state... Read More