Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) is an education and advocacy association in the United States with a number of Baptist denominations. It states that it seeks to promote religious liberty for all and to uphold the principle of church-state separation. It has, for example, joined with other religious organizations in opposing government-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments.

The BJC defines itself in the following terms: "The mission of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is to defend and extend God-given religious liberty for all, furthering the Baptist heritage that champions the principle that religion must be freely exercised, neither advanced nor inhibited by government."

The BJC strives to avoid language of speaking "for" Baptists or "representing" Baptists. It is the firm belief of BJC staffers that, in the words of a former Executive Director of the organization, "You don't speak for Baptists. You only speak to Baptists."

The BJC restricts its activities to a small number of issues relating to religious liberty and the separation of church and state: church electioneering, civil religion, free exercise, government funding, political discourse, public prayer, and religious displays. On all of these issues, the organization supports a balanced approach that broadly interprets both the free exercise and no establishment clauses of the First Amendment.

To promote its positions on these issues, the organization uses the strategies of education, legislation, and litigation. They publish a wide array of materials relating to church-state separation, from self-published historical pamphlets to significant coalition statements.

One of the most effective educating tools in recent years was "Religion in the Public Schools: A Joint Statement of Current Law." Drafted and endorsed by a number of leading organizations spanning the political spectrum, from the National Association of Evangelicals and the Christian Legal Society to the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Council of Churches, the document was a resource for parents, students, teachers, and administrators throughout the United States. In fact, this document was later condensed and mailed to schools across the country by President Bill Clinton because of its accuracy and reliability. The Baptist Joint Committee was a member of the drafting committee for this document.

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