Roughly half of the states have adjourned their 2013 regular sessions so far, and among those states, Tennessee was one that kept AU quite busy. The legislature introduced numerous bills that threatened religious liberty in various – and creative – ways. Read more

Texas legislators appear to have too much time on their hands. Members of the House of Representatives just passed legislation protecting everyone’s right to say “Merry Christmas.”

That’s right. It’s mid-May, and some Lone Star lawmakers are worried about Christmas and how it might be acknowledged in public schools. They’re so worried, in fact, that they’ve passed a bill guaranteeing the right to say “Merry Christmas” and display certain holiday symbols in schools. Read more

Does the majority rule when it comes to religion in public schools? A West Texas public school official seems to think so.

Greg Nelson is in his first year as principal of Odessa High School. The Odessa American said that at Nelson’s last job, assistant principal of Permian High School, seniors voted on whether or not they wanted to have prayers at graduation.

When Nelson switched schools, he brought the voting system with him, the newspaper said. Read more

Supporters of private school “choice” – by which they mean their right to choose to pass the bill for private religious education to the taxpayer – believe they are on a roll. To some extent, they’re right.

In March, Indiana’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s voucher plan doesn’t violate a provision in the Indiana Constitution that bars tax aid to religion. In the wake of that ruling, legislators promptly approved an expansion of the program. Read more