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Home  News & Opinions Press Room
Press Room
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 The continuing-to-unfold events in the Middle East provide an occasion to think about the relationship between religion and politics among the three Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Although religion has not been front and center in the democracy movements in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya, it lurks in the background and, for many, motivates what might look like a purely secular uprising. Of course, the recent bombing of the Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt, and the assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab in Pakistan, are stark reminders of the dangers presented by religious extremism and the dire consequences that emerge when religious zeal fuses with deadly civil power.
Click here to read the rest of the column.
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At Capitol Hill press conference, leaders say national security can be protected without singling out a faith community
March 10, 2011 
WASHINGTON— Just after Congress convened the first in a series of hearings examining "radicalization" in the American Muslim community, BJC Executive Director J. Brent Walker and a group of faith leaders responded with a statement calling fellow citizens and political leaders to the “bedrock American principles” of pluralism and religious freedom, mutuality and respect.
In the joint statement, released at a Capitol Hill press conference following the hearing, religious leaders urged “elected representatives to act — not against a single, unfairly maligned group, but against all forms of violence and extremism that endanger our security.”
“As faith leaders, we are committed to building a future in which extremism is an artifact of the past, and where religious identity is not the cause of hostility but of acceptance,” the statement said. “This country’s spiritual, religious and ethnic diversity serves to enrich our public discourse. When our public discourse is enriched, extremism is seldom given quarter.”
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March 8, 2011
Contact: Jeff Huett | Phone: 202-544-4226 | Cell: 202-680-4127
Cherilyn Crowe | Phone: 202-544-4226 | Cell: 615-519-0620
 WASHINGTON — A Baptist organization committed to religious freedom for all has urged Rep. Peter King and his committee to broaden the scope of the planned hearing on the “radicalization” of American Muslims scheduled for Thursday.
Rep. King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has singled out the Muslim faith, says J. Brent Walker, who is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Walker said the implied suggestion that terrorist threats to the American people result from one religious group is an insult to the millions of peaceful Muslim American citizens.
“I know a little about how this feels when last week, the Westboro Baptist Church — and their hellish, venomous speech — was thought by many to characterize all Baptists,” Walker said. “I had to remind the media that Roger Williams, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jimmy Carter are more typical of Baptists than Rev. Phelps.”
Walker said “the hearing will send a further message that Muslims present a greater threat of terrorism than other religions,” and “it would imply that the potential for terrorism from outside of Islam is not significant enough to merit a hearing.”
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Click here for a comprehensive look at the BJC's work combating anti-Muslim rhetoric.
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WASHINGTON — The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty joined a coalition to confront scheduled Congressional hearings targeting American Muslims.
On Feb. 1, the BJC joined 50 legal, human rights and faith organizations in urging House leaders to raise concerns about planned hearings on the “radicalization” of American Muslims. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, plans to focus a hearing on homegrown terrorism, including the Fort Hood shooting and attempted Times Square bombing, both plots hatched by American-born Muslims.
The hearings are set for March 10.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Click here to download the letter sent to House leadership regarding Rep. Peter King's scheduled hearings.
Click here to learn more about the BJC's work confronting anti-Muslim rhetoric.
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 For years, defenders of religious liberty have noted the challenge of ensuring that Muslims in America have the same rights as others. While our religious diversity is often celebrated as a significant strength of our nation’s character, it also tests our commitment to the ideal of religious freedom for all.
Recent controversies over the right to build houses of worship and community centers are demonstrative. Unfortunately, fear rather than fairness often motivates the majority’s response to minority religious traditions.
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My recent article titled “Debunking the Top Five Myths of the Separation of Church and State” was well received. Many of you were kind enough to tell us how much it helped your thinking about the subject, and some of you have republished it in other venues. Actually, of course, there are more than five. Let’s think about a few more.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Huett | Phone: 202-544-4226 | Cell: 202-680-4127
Cherilyn Crowe | Phone: 202-544-4226 | Cell: 615-519-0620
January 26, 2011
WASHINGTON — Legislation introduced Wednesday in the U.S. House that would permit the use of school vouchers in the District of Columbia is bad policy that threatens religious liberty, says a Baptist church-state organization.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., introduced the bill to reauthorize the DC voucher plan ahead of a White House push for education reform this year. The plan would provide taxpayer money in the form of vouchers to attend private schools, including religious ones.
K. Hollyn Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, applauded the attention that education reform is receiving on Capitol Hill, but said sending public tax dollars to private religious schools is not the answer.
“Creative responses are needed to address the problems in our public schools, but subsidizing religious education with tax money is not one of them,” Hollman said.
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 At a January 13 ceremony in Richmond, Va., Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director J. Brent Walker was presented an award for his work advancing freedom of conscience and basic human rights for people of all faiths, traditions and cultures.
Walker was named the Virginia First Freedom Award winner, one of the three awards given annually by the First Freedom Center, a Richmond-based education organization. The awards recognize extraordinary advocates of religious freedom who have made remarkable contributions. The First Freedom Center also bestows International and National First Freedom Awards.
In accepting the award, Walker stressed the Baptist and Virginian commitment to protecting religious freedom for all, while pointing out that we still have a long way to go.
Click here to read more, including excerpts from Walker's speech.
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 This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Baptist Joint Committee. For the first 58 years of our existence, partisan control of the United States Congress was relatively stagnant. In the past 17 years congressional control has changed almost as many times than over the preceding six decades combined. The birth of the 112th Congress this month marks yet another transition, with Republicans reclaiming the House of Representatives and gaining seats in the Senate just five years after losing both.
Capitol Hill’s political dynamics are always one factor in our legislative work. Yet whether Congress is controlled by Republicans, Democrats or the BCS Computer Rankings, the BJC’s paramount legislative priority does not change: to stand guard for legislative threats to religious liberty while seeking opportunities to defend and extend it for all. We monitor and weigh in on state and local legislation, but the bulk of the BJC’s legislative portfolio is necessarily focused on Congress. Unlike the comparatively clear-cut steps of filing amicus briefs in significant court cases, our legislative work — mirroring Congress itself — is less predictable.
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I posted earlier about the Arizona bill making its way through the legislature that would broaden the free exercise protections in the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Among other changes, the bill would allow plaintiffs to bring suit for "potential violations."
Here&... |
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The Supreme Court's decision earlier this week to take up the issue of legislative prayer for the first time in 30 years leaves many questions about the future of the government prayer balance. Veteran reporter Lyle Deniston considers what this decision likely means in a new essay for Constit... |
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