Church and State
Freedom has also provided in-depth coverage of church and state and U.S. First Amendment issues over the years.
In 1983, when police and state troopers swooped in on the 200-member Faith Baptist Church in Louisville, Nebraska, Freedom made known their plight. The authorities shut down the church’s school, padlocked the church and jailed its pastor on a charge of contempt. The pastor had only insisted on the right to teach his religion at the church’s own school, and to do so with teachers who were not certified by the state. Authorities allowed the church to be unlocked only for Sunday morning and Wednesday evening worship services. Other Christians who attempted to open the church for the Faith Baptist congregation were physically carried from the premises by police. The church was padlocked again—with state troopers left behind as guards. In response to a plea for legal recourse, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the state’s order for the school to remain closed.
Freedom and other media condemned such intrusion by the state into religious affairs. The media coverage and the legal battles fought by the Baptists culminated in a change of the Nebraska law to allow church-run schools throughout the state to operate without government interference.
Freedom provided a voice to other churches and clergy in the United States whose stories focused a spotlight on First Amendment violations.
In the early 1980s, an alarming trend of civil lawsuits and court judgments against primarily Christian churches was sweeping the United States, led by California. The suits—innovative means to line the pockets of opportunists and their lawyers—were based on frivolous claims amounting to “clergy malpractice” and sought punitive damages awards of devastating magnitude.
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