On Thursday, July 23, Stanley Carlson-Thies, founder and senior director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, and Chelsea Langston Bombino, director of Sacred Sector, both initiatives of the Center for Public Justice, facilitated a webinar for the Wesleyan Church regarding how recent Supreme Court decisions impact these congregations in terms of their understanding of the legal and public policy implications, their own organizational practices, and their public witness. This webinar covered two major Supreme Court cases this term: Bostock v. Clayton County and Our Lady of Guadalupe School, which both had implications for how faith-based organizations engage in religious staffing. This webinar discussed best practices for engaging in mission-based human resources, as well as for how faith-based employers can advance civic pluralism.
In an article originally published on the FedSoc Blog, Richard W. Garnett posits that the Supreme Court decision in Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue is an important case in religious freedom jurisprudence because the Supreme Court affirmed that governments cannot discriminate against religious institutions and religious practice. Garnett describes how a longstanding misapplication of the principle of separation of church and state has led to both judicial and legislative bodies disadvantaging religious educational institutions. Garnatt notes: “The Espinoza decision should help to remove a longstanding barrier in many states to educational reform and to choice-based programs that enhance educational opportunities, especially for low-income families.”