Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor was a guest on the radio program “State of Belief,” which is hosted by Welton Gaddy. They talk about congressional chaplains, religious liberty, Christian Nationalism, and the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Listen to the program
The coronavirus restrictions placed on houses of worship by the state of New York — which the Supreme Court blocked in a recent 5-4 decision — is back under consideration. Meanwhile, the pandemic continues to record gruesome new highs. How should Christians react?
The Trump administration on Monday moved to loosen restrictions on religious organizations that receive federal money to provide social services. The administration said it was clearing barriers that it claimed make it difficult for religious groups to participate in federal programs.
The Supreme Court has yet to set clear parameters about how religious holidays can be celebrated in public schools and whether granting access to all faith traditions is either constitutionally necessary or acceptable.
The U.S. State Department has added Nigeria to its list of countries deemed to have the most egregious violations of religious freedom. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom hailed the State Department’s decisions.
Leaders of BJC (also known as the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty) criticized political attack ads that use snippets of sermons by U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, who is also a Baptist minister.
Some houses of faith in the U.S. will see the recent Supreme Court ruling as a victory for religious freedom. Efforts by governments to control a pandemic may lack precision and, as a result, rest more heavily, perhaps even unfairly, on some. However, the intent