Should Voucher Schools Teach Creationism with Public Money?

Written by Don Byrd
The school voucher program in Indiana is growing rapidly, from just under 4,000 2 years ago to just under 20,000 this school year. That’s more than $80 million of public funds flowing to private education, including many religious schools. One dispute that has grown right along with it is the content of the science curriculum. Courts have well-established that public schools may not teach creationism or intelligent design as part of the science curriculum, because it improperly promotes religious beliefs that are unrelated to the science curriculum and the scientific method.

Kansas House Committee Passes Bill to Allow Discrimination on Religious Grounds

Written by Don Byrd
I posted earlier this week about bills winding through state legislatures that create exemptions from nondiscrimination laws for employees that object on religious grounds to serving same-sex couples. In Kansas earlier today, one of those measures came a step closer to becoming law when a House Committee sent the House Bill 2453 to the state House for a vote.

Obama: Freedom of Religion is “Under Threat” Around the World

Written by Don Byrd
President Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning. His remarks focused on the threats to religious freedom around the world and emphasized the United States’ interests in international religious freedom. You can watch the President’s remarks at C-Span’s site here. He begins at about the 1 hour, 15 minute mark.

Below is a rough transcript of some of those remarks. They are worth a read.

“Baby Messiah” Magistrate Removed From Bench

Written by Don Byrd
A brief update to a strange story from last year: A Child Support Magistrate in Tennessee, Lu Ann Belew, has been fired by the presiding judge in the state’s 4th judicial district. Belew is the magistrate who famously ordered a baby’s name changed from “Messiah.” She was subsequently cited by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct for “religious bias.”

Reuters reports that the Board still has jurisdiction over the Magistrate even though she is no longer on the job.