Church State

President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has been inactive since March 2010.

While the administration has been embroiled in a controversy over a mandate that would require some religious groups to purchase health insurance that provides contraception, sterilization and abortifacient coverage in opposition to their religious beliefs, a council designed to provide the president guidance on religious issues has been nonexistent.

Several members of the disbanded council signed a private letter to the president expressing disappointment in the birth-control mandate, according to Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown. more >>

Recent reports that a church in Louisiana was ordered to stop passing out free water bottles and cups of coffee during a Mardi Gras parade have been unnecessarily sensationalized, a pastor revealed.

The situation at hand arose when Jefferson Parish officials approached volunteers from Hope Church in Metairie, La., telling them that they could not pass out free beverages along the parade route without the proper permits to do so.

According to Fox News, Hope Church did not know they had to secure an occupational license and register for a sales tax before passing out their water bottles labeled with the church's name and website address. more >>

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum was correct when he said "separation of church and state is not absolute," law professor John Witte told The Christian Post Tuesday.

"The First Amendment does not mean absolute separation between religion and politics. The First Amendment means that we protect religious freedom, and religious freedom can be both public and private in its expression," Witte explained.

Witte is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L. McDonald Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. He has written books and articles on the topic of religious liberty, including, Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment (2011), which is now in its third edition. more >>

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum made some controversial remarks on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, saying former President John F. Kennedy's speech about his Catholic faith made him want to "throw up," and that President Obama is a "snob" for saying that everyone should go to college.

Kennedy said, in his Sept. 12, 1960 speech about his Catholic faith, that "the separation of church and state is absolute."

"I don't believe in America the separation of church and state is absolute," Santorum told host George Stephanopoulos. "The idea that the church can have no influence or involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. This is the First Amendment. The First Amendment says 'free exercise of religion,' that means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith into the public square. Kennedy for the first time articulated a vision saying faith is not allowed in the public square." more >>

In God We Trust. I've already angered a segment of society just by writing four simple words.

Today, controversy between the Democrats and Republicans has turned to talks of religion, a result of the Obama's administration attempt to force Catholic institutions to provide women's contraception for their employees. Though the president has since reversed himself on that stance, the controversy goes beyond this particular issue. Many feel this is about the escalating war on religion, specifically Christianity.

Ask anyone from the Greatest Generation how they were able to make it through the Great Depression and World War II, and they will tell you it was their strength and perseverance. But they will also tell you that their strength and perseverance was born out of and shaped by their faith. more >>

Officials at a Tennessee high school, which is reported to have a Christian majority of students and some faculty, have disallowed the publication of an editorial column in which the student editor of the school's newspaper states her rights as an atheist are severely limited on campus.

Lenoir City High School honors student Krystal Myers wrote in her column, "No Rights: The Life of an Atheist," that she feels Christians are allowed special rights at the school while atheists are not.

"As a current student in Government, I have realized that I feel that my rights as an Atheist are severely limited and unjust when compared to other students who are Christians," Myers stated in the article made available to the local media. more >>