FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 21, 2012

WASHINGTON -- A diverse coalition of major national religious organizations today issued an “Interfaith Statement of Principles,” calling on the presidential candidates and all candidates for public office this election year to help ensure decency, honesty and fair play in elections by conducting campaigns that honor our nation’s traditions of religious liberty and avoid sowing religious discord.

The statement – organized and drafted by the Anti-Defamation League, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Interfaith Alliance – says candidates should feel comfortable explaining their religious convictions to voters. But the statement warns against placing an overt emphasis on religion, as “there is a point when an emphasis on religion becomes inappropriate and even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as ours.”

“Religion in Political Campaigns - An Interfaith Statement of Principles” has been endorsed by 14 national religious organizations, representing a diverse tapestry of America’s majority and minority faiths.  In honor of the values of religious freedom and pluralism championed by the Founding Fathers, the statement was formally released just following the 2012 observance of Presidents’ Day.

Last month, this column explored the legal process by which litigants can seek review of a case by the U.S. Supreme Court, which begins when one party files a petition for a writ of certiorari. Shortly after the column appeared, the Court declined to review lower court decisions in two additional religious liberty cases, both of which involved prayer practices of government bodies and tested the boundaries of legislative prayers allowed under Marsh v. Chambers (1983). In Marsh, the Supreme Court recognized a narrow Establishment Clause exception for nonsectarian legislative prayers that serve as a “tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the [American] people,” with “no indication that the prayer opportunity has been exploited to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief.”

Click here to read the rest of the column.

Feb. 10, 2012

WASHINGTON – Responding Friday to opponents of the administration’s rule requiring most health insurance plans to cover contraceptive services, President Obama announced a new policy that expands the religious accommodation and requires insurance companies to offer contraceptive services free of charge directly to employees at religious institutions that object to providing them.
 
Under the previous rule, churches were exempt, but other religious nonprofits, including hospitals and universities were not. The administration had set August 1, 2013, as the date to work out compliance with such entities. Some Catholics and others, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said the rule needed to be broadened.

On today’s announcement of the new rule, Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director J. Brent Walker reiterated a statement he made earlier in the week that religious liberty concerns extend beyond churches and houses of worship.
 
“This is a positive step in protecting the right of religious institutions to define themselves and accommodate religious conscience,” Walker said.  “Leaving room for the healthcare needs of women – Catholic and non-Catholic alike -- to get the coverage they deserve is also important.
“Religious freedom is the first freedom and must be protected. At the same time we must be mindful of the health care needs of all employees. This is a win-win solution,” Walker said.

Click here to read the previous statement.