Courts To Hear Birth Control Mandate Lawsuits
posted on May 23, 2013
Kathryn Smith and Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico report, “Obamacare’s birth control mandate will go before four different appeals courts over the next three weeks as private businesses that object to the policy on religious liberty grounds bring a barrage of lawsuits that opponents hope to get before the U.S. Supreme Court as soon as this fall.” Kyle Duncan, general counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, says the for-profit companies’ arguments will circulate around the key question: “Does the mere fact that they’re a profit-making business … negate their right to freedom of exercise of religion?”
Fishermen Found Guilty, Although Court Agrees Subsistence Salmon Fishing Is Religious
posted on May 23, 2013
Last June, almost 50 fishermen were cited for illegal salmon fishing, reports Angela Denning-Barnes of Alaska Public Media. “The fishermen were challenging the state based on a free exercise clause of the Alaska constitution, arguing that subsistence fishing is a religious practice and that when they fished last summer during closures, they were practicing their religion,” she writes. The judge in the case found that “the state’s need to restrict King salmon supersedes the fishermen’s right to religious practice.”
Church Whistle-Blowers Join Forces On Abuse
posted on May 23, 2013
Laurie Goodstein reports for the New York Times on a newly formed group called Catholic Whistleblowers, a “cadre of priests and nuns who say the Roman Catholic Church is still protecting sexual predators.” Goodstein writes, “Although they know they could face repercussions, they have banded together to push the new pope to clean house and the American bishops to enforce the zero-tolerance policies they adopted more than a decade ago.”
Religious Groups Throw Lobbying Cash At Immigration Reform
posted on May 23, 2013
Elizabeth Flock of US News & World Report writes that religious groups are increasing spending on lobbying for immigration reform: “Once among the smallest lobbyists, the Catholic Health Association last quarter spent $130,000 lobbying on immigration reform, while the American Jewish Committee spent $40,000 — double what it spent the previous quarter.” She continues, “Many religious groups say immigration reform has a lot to with their shared values of family, justice and community.”
Group Wants Atheist Books Placed With Bibles In Georgia State Parks
posted on May 23, 2013
After the governor of Georgia ordered Bibles put back into state parks, David Beasley of Reuters reports the group American Atheists “said it plans to donate enough books on its views to be placed in all Georgia state park cabins.” Beasley writes they “would donate popular atheist books, including ‘Why I Am An Atheist’ by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, ‘god is not Great’ by Christopher Hitchens, and ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins.”
Leahy Withdraws Gay Couples Amendment In Immigration Bill
posted on May 22, 2013
Alan Gomez of USA Today reports that Senator Patrick Leahy withdrew his “amendment that would have allowed gay and lesbian U.S. citizens to use the nation’s immigration system to petition for their partners they married in other countries.” Senator Dick Durbin said of Leahy, “I believe in my heart of hearts that what you’re doing is the right and just thing. … But I believe this is the wrong moment, this is the wrong bill.”
Where Is God When Evil Strikes?
posted on May 21, 2013
After a tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, on Monday, USA Today contributor Tom Krattenmaker grapples with God and faith in times of tragedy. He writes, “Christians believe that the people of the church are the hands and feet of God. It’s in this way that God intervenes and comforts in the darkest times. It’s in this way hope and goodness endure, no matter what.”
Food Stamp Cuts Spark Bible Debate
posted on May 21, 2013
What does Jesus Christ say about social safety nets? “Republican[sic] and Democrats sparred this week on where Jesus Christ would stand on food stamps,” write Arthur Delaney and Jaweed Kaleem of The Huffington Post. They report that on Wednesday a congressional committee approved Republican legislation that would mean “2 million fewer people would qualify” for food stamps. Both sides argued over biblical mandates to support the poor, and whether that means as a government or as an individual.
Writers tell us stories about where they discovered religion and politics in their states.
South Carolina
A Reporter Trails Nikki Haley and Mark Sanford.
THE TABLE 
A setting to debate the issues of the day.
Are the proposed HHS mandate exemptions enough?
How about a “Do Over” for the HHS Mandate?
Rhetoric Versus Reality: The Contraception Benefit and Religious Freedom
R&P TWEETS 
Court says salmon fishing is religious, still finds native fishermen guilty http://t.co/RvFZ2qLoXp #RAPSheet
6 hours ago