The one-year anniversary today of the unveiling of President Barack Obama’s version of the “faith-based” initiative has pushed the issue back into the spotlight. Unfortunately, the news is not good.

Speaking at yesterday’s National Prayer Breakfast, Obama boasted that he had “turned the faith-based initiative around.”

I was surprised to read that statement, because everything I see indicates that we’re […] Read More

It’s only a week away from Thanksgiving; the trees have all turned from green to vibrant shades of reds, yellows and browns and a crisp chill in the air puts me on pins and needles as I wait for the season’s first snow. As we reach mid November, the end of the calendar year always sneaks up on me […] Read More

I just got back from New York City, where I spoke at an interesting event sponsored by our friends at the Center for Inquiry.

On Tuesday night, a three-person panel discussed the issue “Church and State in the Obama Era” at All Souls Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation. I wouldn’t call this event a debate; it was more of a discussion […] Read More

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page takes a potshot at Americans United and Barry Lynn today.

That’s not surprising. The Journal’s news department is staffed by lots of skilled and professional reporters who have done some crackerjack reporting on the Religious Right over the years. Fortunately, there’s a wall of separation between those folks and the editorial page staff.

The […] Read More

Is Americans United for Separation of Church and State “one of the most dangerous organizations in America”?

Mat Staver seems to think so.

Staver, dean of the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University Law School and president of Liberty Counsel, went on a tiresome tirade about AU in today’s edition of One News Now, the wacky Wildmon family’s “news […] Read More

When I was a kid, our church decided it would be nice to have a social hall.

It was a pretty ambitious goal. We were a medium-sized congregation serving mostly blue-collar families in an economically depressed area. But the people sitting in the pews believed in the project and gave extra to support it. Kids like me even chipped in […] Read More

Americans United tends to stick to domestic church-state issues. We find that defending the church-state wall from attacks in this country is more than enough to keep us busy.

But every now and then an issue comes along overseas that attracts our attention. Such a story appears in today’s Washington Post. It concerns the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), […] Read More

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to take my cousin Sam, visiting from London, to a luncheon at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. A political studies student at Leeds University, he was interested to learn about the impact of religion on our national politics.

When we arrived at AEI, we were greeted warmly, but […] Read More

I guess it’s a little impertinent for me to issue a report card for President Barack Obama on his performance during his first 100 days in office. I’m not his teacher, and he’s not my student.

But what the heck? It’s a free country and everyone else is doing it. So here goes.

I’m focusing on issues with church-state implications. […] Read More

Should taxpayers be forced to subsidize social service programs that discriminate in hiring on religious grounds?

Most Americans would quickly and emphatically say, “No!” If taxpayers of all faiths (and none) are paying for a program, taxpayers of all faiths (and none) should be eligible to work there. Applicants should be judged on their qualifications, not their theological opinions. […] Read More