{"id":6740,"date":"2025-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2025\/03\/01\/case-in-point-march-april-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-03-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T00:00:00","slug":"case-in-point-march-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2025\/03\/01\/case-in-point-march-april-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Case in Point March\/April 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supreme Court Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n

The recent addition of three major religious freedom cases to the Supreme Court docket means its 2024-2025 term could yield some blockbuster First Amendment decisions.<\/p>\n

In Mahmoud v. Taylor <\/strong><\/i>a group of Muslim and Christian parents is challenging a decision by a county school board in Maryland to end religion-based \u201cparental opt-outs\u201d for elementary-age students. When the county school board introduced a controversial LGBTQ curriculum for 3- and 4-year-olds, they also decided to end the long-standing practice of allowing parents to withdraw their kids from classes where material would be taught that clashed with a family\u2019s religious beliefs. For more on this case, see \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d in the January-February issue of Liberty<\/i>.<\/p>\n

A key question in St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond<\/strong><\/i> is whether the state of Oklahoma can fully fund a Roman Catholic charter school\u2014which has the stated goal of \u201cevangelizing\u201d its students\u2014without running afoul of the First Amendment\u2019s establishment clause.<\/p>\n

In Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission<\/strong><\/i> the Court will decide whether Wisconsin violated the First Amendment\u2019s religion clauses by denying a Catholic charity an otherwise-available tax exemption because the charity did not meet the state\u2019s criteria for \u201creligious behavior.\u201d In this case, the Catholic Charities Bureau claims that its social work is part and parcel of its religious beliefs and mission. Wisconsin claims that this work is not inherently \u201creligious behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presidential Picks Spark Christian Nationalism Concerns<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The reappointment of Pentecostal pastor Paula White-Cain to run the White House Faith Office in President Trump\u2019s second term has drawn criticism not only from the political left but also from some within the evangelical community. Pastor White-Cain has close ties with an influential charismatic Christian movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The NAR promotes the idea that God has a special relationship with America, and that American Christians have been called to dominate the so-called Seven Mountains of society: family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government. (For more on the rise and growing political influence of the NAR, see \u201cAmerica\u2019s Spiritual Warriors,\u201d by Matt Taylor, in the September-October 2024 issue of Liberty<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

Another presidential choice generating controversy is the appointment of Russell Vought, who has been confirmed by the Senate to run the powerful White House Office of Management and Budget. Vought was a key architect of Project 2025, a 900-page policy wish list assembled by a coalition of some 80 religious and conservative advocacy groups in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. He authored the chapter in Project 2025 that outlined a path to consolidating power within the executive branch of government. In a 2021 opinion piece for Newsweek<\/i> called \u201cIs There Anything Actually Wrong With \u2018Christian Nationalism\u2019?\u201d Vought argued for an \u201corientation for engaging in the public square that recognizes America as a Christian nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legislators as Theologians?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Should Congress express theological opinions? <\/span>
A group of 22 representatives say yes, and they\u2019ve introduced a House Resolution critiquing a sermon preached by Episcopalian bishop Mariann Budde. Budde spoke at the National Cathedral as part of the presidential inauguration celebrations and, during her address, weighed in on the new administration\u2019s approach to questions involving migrant workers and LGBTQ issues. In response, legislators led by Representative Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma introduced House Resolution 59, which says, \u201cIt is the sense of the House of Representatives that the sermon given at the National Prayer Service on January 21, 2025, at the National Cathedral was a display of political activism,\u201d and \u201cthe House of Representatives condemns the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde\u2019s distorted message.\u201d Brian Kaylor, a longtime scholar of American civil religion, has pointed out that, regardless of the rights or wrongs of Budde\u2019s sermon, the mere fact that a Christian sermon forms part of a presidential inauguration should raise red flags for those supporting a clearer separation between religion and government.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at the state level, <\/strong>law\u00admakers in North Dakota have voted 59-31 to reject a resolution acknowledging \u201cJesus Christ as the rightful ruler of nations.\u201d House Concurrent Resolution 3020 had urged the state of North Dakota to formally acknowledge the \u201cKingship of Jesus Christ,\u201d asserting that Christ holds \u201cauthority over both spiritual and civil matters, including governance within the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration Enforcement <\/strong><\/span>
Raids and Religious Liberty<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A federal judge in Maryland has temporarily blocked the Trump administration\u2019s ability to conduct immigration raids on the grounds of some places of worship. In a lawsuit filed in January, Quaker groups, along with Cooperative Baptists and Sikhs, challenged the administration\u2019s actions in making houses of worship vulnerable to immigration enforcement activities. The faith groups argued this has a chilling effect on their First Amendment religious rights and discourages immigrants and others from attending communal worship. The judge\u2019s preliminary injunction is narrow\u2014the order doesn\u2019t apply nationwide, and protects only those religious groups that have brought the lawsuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Has Christianity\u2019s Decline Slowed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A massive survey of more than 35,000 Americans in all 50 states has found that the Christian share of the U.S. population, after years of decline, has been relatively stable since 2019. The study marks the third time since 2007 that the Pew Research Center has delved into the religious identity of Americans. Among its other key findings is that the religiously unaffiliated population, often called the \u201cnones,\u201d has leveled off after years of rapid growth. Also in the survey, 62 percent of U.S. adults describe themselves as Christian: 40 percent are Protestant, 19 percent are Catholic, and 3 percent are other Christians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supreme Court Watch The recent addition of three major religious freedom cases to the Supreme Court docket means its 2024-2025 term could yield some blockbuster First Amendment decisions. In Mahmoud v. Taylor a group of Muslim and Christian parents is challenging a decision by a county school board in Maryland to end religion-based \u201cparental opt-outs\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[364],"tags":[196],"class_list":["post-6740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-march-april-2025","tag-march-april-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}