eNews for Faith-Based Organizations is a free occasional newsletter that covers key legal and policy developments and news about research findings. The Editor, Stanley Carlson-Thies, is president and founder of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance.
Progressive Arguments for Religious Organizational Freedom;
Civil Rights and Religious Freedom;
Undermining Civil Religion by Misinterpreting Charity;
So Foster Care Agencies Aren’t Actually Interchangeable?
ENDA and Faith-Based Services;
Religious Hiring, Rep. Bobby Scott, and AG Holder;
Fortnight for [Religious] Freedom;
Nuanced New Research on Faith-Based Organizations;
Same-Sex Marriage Laws and Religious Freedom;
Comments on Combined Fed. Campaign Proposed Rules Due by June 7;
IRFA President’s Kuyper Lecture on Institutional Religious Freedom;
Chipping Away at RFRA;
Obama Faith-Based Advisory Council Continues;
Supreme Court: Oral Argument About Speech Restrictions on Grantees;
Call for Comments: Combined Federal Campaign Proposed Regulations;
Worth Reading on Religious Freedom and Anti-Discrimination Rules;
Kuyper Lecture to be Presented by IRFA’s President;
Supreme Court Case: Can Government Require Private Groups to Support Its Views?
Charitable Giving Incentive Will Likely Be Whacked in President’s Budget;
ENDA Correction;
Halo Effect?
The ACLU’s Popular but Bogus Slogan About Religious Freedom;
Kuyper Lecture to be Presented by IRFA’s President;
Same-Sex Marriage, the Supreme Court, and Religious Freedom;
One Week Left to Comment on Contraceptives Mandate Proposed Rules;
IRFA Submits Comment on Contraceptives Mandate Proposed Rules;
ENDA Executive Order on the Way?
A Challenge to Senator Portman;
Why So Much Religious Freedom Action in the States?
Melissa Rogers is New Director of White House Faith-Based Office;
Opportunities to Comment: Contraceptives Mandate Plus Civil Rights Commission;
RFRA Remedy for VAWA Restrictions on Religious Hiring;
HHS Contraceptives Mandate: House Conscience Bill Introduced;
A Possible Legislative Fix for the HHS Contraceptives Mandate;
Accept a Government Gag if You Accept Government Funds;
Hidden Restriction on Faith-Based Organizations in VAWA Reauthorization;
Charity Tax Deduction: Important for Many Charities, Vital for Others;
Commission Briefing: Religious Freedom vs. Non-Discrimination;
Universal Government-Funded Pre-K Education?
Feb. 14 Conference Call on Contraceptives Mandate Developments;
Head of White House Faith-Based Office Steps Down;
Bill to End FEMA Bias Against Houses of Worship in Reconstruction Help;
New Contraceptives Mandate Announcement: Imperfect Proposals;
Possible Troubling New Anti-Discrimination Requirement for the Combined Federal Campaign;
US Citizens Increasingly Worried About Religious Freedom;
Religious Freedom Day Presidential Proclamation;
Religious Hiring Complications No Excuse for this Mess;
HHS Contraceptives Mandate News;
A First: Religious Liberty clinic at Stanford;
Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom: Illinois and Rhode Island;
Charitable Tax Deduction Not Safe Yet;
Getting Hot Down Under;
Transcript of Brookings Event on Obama’s Faith-Based initiative;
Fiscal Cliff and Faith-Based Organizations;
Next 4 Years of the Obama Faith-Based Initiative;
ECFA Report to Sen. Grassley: Enhance Accountability;
Papal Guidelines for Catholic Service Organizations;
FEMA, Sandy Recovery, and Houses of Worship;
HHS Contraceptives Mandate Developments;
Free to be Distinctive?
IRFA Needs You;
Protecting Faith-Based Adoption Services in Michigan;
What’s Ahead for the Obama Faith-Based Initiative?;
Religious Exercise In a Business? By a Business?;
The Costly Burden of the HHS Contraceptives Mandate;
Good and Bad News About Religious Freedom in Education;
Taxing and Giving;
Crazy Question No 847: Are Charities More Effective than Government?;
City Planning and Faith-Based Organizations: Calgary;
After the Election: The Same, But More Challenging;
Opposition to the Contraceptives Mandate: Not Just an Election Ploy?!
The Promised Contraceptives “Accommodation”: Judge Says “Show Me!”
Faith-Based Organizations and the Growth of the “Nones”‘
Report on the Freedom of Christians in the UK;
Free to Serve: Protect the Religious Freedom of Faith-Based Services;
Religious Freedom as a Consideration in Voting;
Lawsuits vs. HHS Contraceptives Mandate Continue to be Filed;
Tufts Univ. Knows Best About Christian Student Group Leadership;
Presidential Candidates’ Shared Bad Idea: Cap the Charitable Deduction;
Religious Freedom and Social Architecture;
HHS Contraceptives Mandate Litigation;
Contraceptives Mandate Creates Two Classes of Religious Organization;
Does New York’s SSM Law Protect Faith-Based Agencies?
Financial Stress Ahead for Nonprofits?
Can–And Should–Religious Organizations Speak Up During Elections?
IRFA to EEOC: Protect Religious Hiring!
Another Burden Imposed by the HHS Contraceptives Mandate;
The NLRB and Religious Higher Education;
Administration Accommodation of Conscience;
Party Platforms, God Talk, and Faith-Based Services;
A Welcome, If Suspect, Softening of the HHS Contraceptives Mandate;
Rocks Ahead, Due to PILOTs;
Being Against Faith-Based Charities By Being For Them?;
“Much Ado (Without Cause?) About Religious Liberty”;
Undermining the Good in the Name of the Good;
Contraceptives Mandate Lawsuits: Only a Lull;
SUNY Buffalo Religious Student Club Rights are (Partially) Vindicated;
Contributing to the Common Good: Taxes or Charitable Gifts?;
FAQ on HHS Mandate: Conference Call Recording Now Available;
President’s Faith-Based Advisory Council Restarted;
Hercules Industries Wins (For Now): Maybe Religious Exercise Isn’t Banned from Companies;
Obama Administration Under Fire Again About Religious Hiring;
Administration’s Faulty and Dangerous Definitions of Religious Entities;
HHS’s Pluralist Policy for Grants to Faith-Based Organizations;
Health Care Ruling Undermines Charity Tax Benefits;
Ecumenical Opposition to the HHS Contraceptives Mandate;
Go Into Business, Leave Your Faith Behind;
Thursday IRFA Conference Call on the HHS Contraceptives Mandate;
Contraceptives Mandate Start Date is August 1;
Just How Costly Are the Tax Exemptions for Religious Organizations?;
“Why So Little Religious Politicking in This Presidential Election?”;
Peter Singer’s Cramped View of Religious Freedom;
Supreme Court Upholds Health Law–Religious Freedom Concerns;
Contraceptives Mandate: Another Bad Definition of Religious Organizations is Proposed;
Notable Comments on the ANPRM;
Comments Due June 19 on Administration’s “Accommodation” Ideas
Letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius Protesting the 2-Class System
Good News About Religious Student Clubs
Religious Exercise–But Only Behind Walls?
43 Catholic Entities Sue Over the Contraceptives Mandate;
Becket Fund Keeps Full Record of Contraceptives Mandate Lawsuits;
Arizona Adopts Conscience Protections for Professionals;
From Arizona: A Better Definition of “Religious Employer”;
IRFA Resource on the Contraceptives Mandate for Faith-Based Service Organizations;
May 17, 2012 eNews: correction and supplement
State Same-Sex Marriage Laws and Religious Freedom–Corrected Exemption Language;
May 31 Deadline: Sign Letter to HHS Sec. Sebelius on the Contraceptives Mandate and Religious Freedom;
USCCB Comment on Contraceptives Mandate “Accommodation” Ideas
Religious Freedom and Respect in the Context of Marriage Redefinition;
State Same-Sex Marriage Laws and Religious Freedom;
EEOC Ruling Prohibiting Transgender Job Discrimination;
Sign Letter to HHS Sec. Sebelius On the Contraceptives Mandate and Religious Freedom;
Congressional Fooling with RFRA and Religious Hiring;
Minor Changes Recommended in Church-State Rules for Federal Funding;
IRFA Memo for Faith-Based Organizations on the Contraceptives Mandate;
Every Man Is an Island, and the Constitution Ought to Say So?;
If ENDA by Executive Order, It Ought to Protect Religious Organizations;
Persistent Myths About Religious Hiring;
Memo for parachurch organizations on health insurance choices, the contraceptives mandate, and religious freedom consequences; includes a sign-on protest letter and suggestions for commenting on the proposed “accommodation” for non-exempt groups
VA Governor Signs Law Protecting Faith-Based Adoption Agencies;
Catholic Bishops Call For “A Fortnight for Freedom”;
No Obama Administration ENDA Executive Order After All;
Vanderbilt Student Religious Groups Stand up for Associational Freedom;
School Choice: Progress and Regress;
Obama Administration Religious Freedom Timeline;
Massachusetts Court Rules Against Grant to Catholic Bishops;
Contraceptives Mandate: Fatal Flaw is the Definition of Religious Employer;
Will the Federal Government Require Pro-Gay Hiring by FBOs?;
Multi-Faith Solidarity on Selecting Student Group Leaders;
The Need is Religion-Respecting Regulation;
March 16 Contraceptives Mandate; Announcement: Only a Call for Comments;
Where Are the Church-State Separationists When We Need Them?;
Supreme Court Declines Chance to Uphold Religious/Associational Freedom;
UK Needs Charitable Choice;
White House Consulting Faith Groups About Additional Contraception Accommodation;
Squeezing Religious Freedom by Expanding Gay Rights;
Is Politico Right: Federal Faith-Based Fade-Away?;
Pharmacists’ Conscience Rights Vindicated in Washington Federal Court;
Religious Freedom Concern About Contraceptive Mandate Keeps Growing;
Needy Government vs. Needed Civil Society;
The Grass Isn’t Always Greener Elsewhere;
Last Friday’s Announcements;
Some Progress;
Essential Details Missing;
Two Classes of Religious Employers;
Key Compromise is a “Fig Leaf”?;
Broader Protections Required;
Fundamental Protections Should Be Built Into the Foundations
Administration Unresponsive to Furor About Contraceptives Mandate;
A Win for Professional Judgment by Counselors;
Virginia Considers Laws to Protect Faith-Based Adoption Agencies;
Disestablishing Public Education;
What? Religion Has No Place in Civil Rights Issues?;
No Change to Contraceptives Mandate/Narrow Exemption;
Religious Leaders Unite to Defend Marriage and Religious Organizations;
Pope Speaks About the Freedom of US Religious Organizations;
President’s Religious Freedom Day Proclamation;
US Supreme Court rules 9-0 to uphold freedom of churches to select their own leaders
Candidates Note Institutional Religious Freedom Issues;
Who Cares If We Suppress Those Faith-Based Services Now?;
Shocking: Groups Uniquely Threatened by Terrorism Get Majority of Security Grants!;
420 Days and Counting;
A Penny for Our Thoughts;
Expanding Opposition to Contraceptives Mandate/Narrow Exemption;
VA Adoption Regulations Finalized Without Religious Restrictions;
Video Now Available: Keep Faith in Faith-Based Education;
Another University Says to Religious Clubs: Pretend Religion is Irrelevant!;
It’s Obvious What Counselors Must Do, Isn’t It?;
It Would Be Entertaining If it Wasn’t Serious;
CARD Demands Religious Hiring Data from the Administration;
Advancing LGBT Rights Overseas;
Good News in the Regulatory Fine Print;
Religion Not Banned After All from Gospel Rescue Mission;
Not Only Catholic Institutions Oppose the Contraception Mandate;
Pro and Anti Religious Freedom Groups Proliferate in Washington;
Looking to Dictatorships For Ways to Keep Religious Groups Alive in America!;
New York Attorney General Aims to Protect (Some?) Religious Rights;
A Federal Child Care Program is the Next Big Push?;
Fifth Hill Briefing: Keeping the Faith in Faith-Based Education;
Briefing Video: Are Faith-Based Services Discriminatory?;
Belmont Abbey College Sues to Stop Contraception Mandate;
Charitable Donation Disincentive On the Way?;
S 598: The (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act;
Dolan’s Decree: Archdiocese of New York Policy on Same-Sex Marriage;
Jonathan Rauch Asks: Will The Gay Movement Become Tolerant?;
Video Available of Hill Briefing on Religious Freedom in Health Care;
House Constitution Subcommittee Hearing on Religious Liberty in the US;
Senate Ally For Rep. Stark’s Bill that Shutters Faith-Based Adoption Agencies;
NRB Study Exposes Anti-Religious Censorship by New Media Companies;
Want a Federal Grant? Be Sure to facilitate Abortions;
Video Now Available of Congressional Briefing on Religious Hiring;
Religious Leaders Thank the President For Maintaining Religious Hiring Freedom;
Amendment Proposed in Illinois To Revive Faith-Based Foster Care Services;
Rush Limbaugh to Front Democratic Party?;
Vanderbilt’s Insane Student Group Policy;
Religious Hiring and the US Supreme Court–Twice Over;
Second IRFA/Becket Fund Hill Briefing;
Defending Religious Freedom: New Catholic Initiatives and More;
If School Choice Isn’t Legal or Affordable . . .;
Catholic Bishops Group Calls Out the President for Undermining Religious Freedom;
Catholic Health Association Calls Out the Administration for Ignoring Religious Freedom;
Oct. 5: Key Religious Hiring Case Argued at Supreme Court;
Again: CARD Presses Obama to Limit Religious Freedom;
Again: Faith-Based Adoption Agencies in Virginia Under Threat;
Again: The President Advocates Cutting the Incentive to Donate;
Illinois Shoves Out Faith-Based Foster Care Organizations;
Video Available: Capitol Hill Briefings on Institutional Religious Freedom;
ECFA Policy Commission Moves Ahead;
Faith Leaders Protest Narrow Exemption;
Catholic Bishops Slam Administration’s Attack on Religious Freedom;
Congressional Prayer Caucus Defends Religious Hiring;
Department of Justice Versus Institutional Religious Freedom;
What’s the “Public”? Hospital Mergers and Catholic Guidelines;
Cutting Private Funding to Faith-Based Organizations;
Faith Communities, Faith-Based Services, and the British Riots;
Federal Government Proposes Feeble Religious Exemption;
Can Public Universities Ban Job Listings from Religious Employers?;
Another Attack on Religious Student Groups;
Faith-Based Office Affirms Current Federal Policies;
What Faith-Shaped Service Means: a Sikh Voice;
President Obama Defends Religious Hiring
Preserve the Charitable Deduction;
Split Coming Among Lutheran Charities;
Health Care Law and Conscience, Again;
Protecting the Religious Freedom of Counselors;
Non-discrimination Requirements Can Harm the Vulnerable;
Cognitive Dissonance, Same-Sex Marriage, and Religious Exemptions
Religious Leaders to the President: Don’t Curtain Our Religious Hiring Freedom
Faith-Based Foster Care and Adoption Now On Again in Illinois
Robust Religious Freedom Exemption in RI Civil Unions Law
Now, For Something Completely Different
New York Same-Sex Marriage and Faith-Based Services;
Pitting Civil Rights Against Religious Hiring;
Proper Church-State Separation;
Catholic Colleges and the National Labor Relations Board;
Another Attempt to Tinker with the Federal RFRA;
Catholic Charities Agencies Take Illinois Government to Court;
Effort to Protect Private Higher Education from Education Department Overreaching;
Persistent Media Myths;
Rhode Island Civil Unions Bill Has Strong Religious Freedom Protections;
Limited Guidance in White House Faith-Based Funding Guide;
Renewed Pressure in VA Against Faith-Based Adoption Agencies;
How Many Faith-Based Adoption Services Will Remain in Illinois?;
Are Christian School Graduates World-Changers?;
Who is Shaping Our World?;
Worth Reading: Douglas Laycock Essays on Free Exercise;
IL Plea: Protect Rights of Faith Agencies When Advancing Gay Rights;
Rep. Stark Introduces Again Troubling Adoption Bill;
Update: Virginia Avoids Bad Adoption Regulation;
And Then There Were None: UK Catholic Adoption Agencies Vanish;
Marriage Redefinition Has Two Consequences, Not Just One;
Say It Ain’t So;
AG Holder Says No Plans to Withdraw RFRA Hiring Memo;
Working Group on Obama Executive Order;
World Vision Hiring Victory Appealed to Supreme Court;
AZ: Protecting Religious Students in Professional Training;
Florida Voters Get Chance to Overturn Anti-Catholic Blaine Amendment;
ENDA Reintroduced in Congress
One Church = $6,090,032 Economic Value for the Community;
Illinois and Adoption Agencies: Who Is Restricting Whom?;
Forced Religion – Or Forced Secularism?;
Take the Money And Lose Internal Control?;
Partnering with the White House Agenda;
Important Supreme Court “Ministerial” Employment Case
The Administration Invents New Restrictions on Grantees
Big Win for Kids
Suppressing Faith-Based Child-Serving Agencies in Virginia?
Does the Charitable Deduction Look Like a Nail?
Obama Administration Proposes to Loosen Bush Faith-Based Limitations
Yell the Story of Faith-Based Services;
Same-Sex Marriage Tabled in Maryland;
When to Fight Instead of Switch?
Protecting Faith-Based Counselors;
Coming Back from Over-reaching Overseas?
DOMA, the President, and FBOs;
Compassionate Service Requires Political Action;
Threats to Faith-Based Foster Care Agencies in Illinois;
School Choice That Doesn’t Leave Faith Out;
Foster Care in England: Christians Need Not Apply?;
Protecting Faith-Based Services;
Substituting “Big Society” for “Big Government” in the UK
Reduced Conscience Protections for Health Care Institutions and Professionals;
FBOs: Don’t Hide Your Light Under a Bushel;
Over-Regulation of Higher Education;
Turning the Charitable Deduction into an Actual Government Expenditure;
A License For Everyone;
Misleading ABA Guide to Workplace Law;
Religious Hiring Vindicated Again;
New Members for the President’s Faith Advisory Council;
President Obama’s National Prayer Breakfast Speech;
Faith-Based Schools and the DC Voucher Program;
Religious Hiring Myths;
Baltimore Crisis Pregnancy Center Victory;
Protecting Religious Freedom When Marriage is Redefined
Bogus Religious Freedom Protection in Maryland Same-Sex Marriage Bill;
Respecting the Diversity of Providers of Services;
A Victory for Professionals with a Pro-Life Conscience;
Mischief in President Obama’s Regulatory Reform?;
Health Care Reform and Tax Funding of Abortion (episode 576);
ECFA Heads New Commission On Church Accountability;
Financially Stressed Governments Seek Funds from Nonprofits;
Is the Administration’s Partnership Talk Mostly Just Talk?;
Crying Wolf;
Imposing the Rules Without Giving the Gold;
Lame Duck Congress Leaves Religious Hiring Alone;
Protecting Ministries If Marriage Is Redefined;
Persistent Myths About Religious Hiring;
Protecting Conscience While Expanding Health Care;
Compassionate Conservatism vs. Tea Party Conservatism?;
Is “Outreach” the Way to Gain Religious Voters?;
The Tax Deal and Nonprofits;
Interview with IRFA President in Outcomes Magazine;
Lame Duck Watch;
Stimulus Dollars Flow to Faith-Based Organizations;
Why Not a Limited Religious Hiring Exemption?
IRFA Featured in Outcomes Magazine;