Ever since the Seattle Hebrew Academy was damaged by an earthquake in 2001, Jewish and non-Jewish religious groups have been trying to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency to grant repair funds to houses of worship hit by natural disaster. But internal rules put in place to ensure federal dollars don’t go to religious causes…
Dear Editor, I am delighted that an eminent legal scholar has responded to my piece, but I am baffled by most of his criticisms. Mr. Dane seems to think that I am arguing against the idea of the Christian Bible as a crucial text in the history of the American experiment. But I didn’t write…
Armed with a presidential tweet, a bill moving forward in Congress and a pending lawsuit, Jewish and Christian advocates believe they are on the verge of overturning a long-standing policy that has prohibited federal emergency funds from reaching houses of worship hit by natural disasters. The public face of this campaign is Christian. A short…
Since his early days on the bench in Alabama, Roy Moore has been on the radar screens of Jewish organizations that followed, protested, and fought against his positions on issues relating to the role of religion in the public sphere and the separation of church and state. Now, with a victory Tuesday night in the…
A debate over some string and plastic strips has laid bare festering anti-Semitism in Mahwah, New Jersey. A recent controversy over an eruv was compounded when Mahwah’s mayor responded to his constituents’ invocations of ancient anti-Semitic tropes like the dirty Jew. The mayor backtracked on the township’s commitment to allow the Jewish community to build…
On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down a Missouri law that prohibited any state government funding to religious institutions. The decision, in effect, prevents the government from singling out religious institutions for worse treatment based upon their religious status. And, maybe more importantly, it reaffirms the right of every religious institution to receive funds for…
A case before the Supreme Court could mark a major milestone in defining the boundaries of church and state separation, but it also might end with a whimper — and the actions of Eric Greitens, Missouri’s new Jewish Republican governor, could make the difference. The debate started with a 2012 request by the Trinity Lutheran…
President Donald Trump, who first became famous as a wheeler-dealer playboy, came to religion late in life. Yet during his second week in office, between the chaotic rollout of his Muslim immigration ban and his prayer for Arnold Schwarzenegger, he made — and tweeted out the photograph of — a very pious move. After nominating…
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