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The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, with the Religious Freedom Institute’s Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team, filed a brief. Freedom of religion is included in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (photo: Shutterstock) Daniel Payne/CNA Nation November 27, 2023 A Jewish group and an Islamic advocacy team have weighed in on a Catholic school’s challenge of a Michigan antidiscrimination law, calling for religious-liberty protections to be upheld by the appeals court hearing the case. In July 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that sexual orientation and gender identity were protected categories under a 1976 Michigan antidiscrimination statute, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Sacred Heart of Jesus parish and its school, Sacred Heart Academy, in Grand Rapids, filed a lawsuit last December arguing that the new interpretation of the law would require schools to impose strict policies and practices enforcing non-Catholic views of sexual orientation and gender identity. They also argued the law would ban catechesis about marriage and the sexes and force the school and parish to hire staff who “lead lives in direct opposition to the Catholic faith.” A district court tossed out the lawsuit earlier this year, stating the school lacked standing to bring the […]