News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam speaks during an unveiling ceremony for Rumors of War, a statue by artist Kehinde Wiley, at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on December 10, 2019, in Richmond, Virginia. A judge has dismissed a lawsuit leveled by a church against Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam over previous…
Rice Memorial High School is seen at night. A recent federal appeals court decision regarding a case in Vermont shows the United States Supreme Court is shifting the goalposts of what the Constitution originally deemed precedent, law experts say. Former President Donald Trump appointed a record number of federal judges…
In this May 3, 2020, file photo, the setting sun shines on the Supreme Court building in Washington. As coronavirus cases surge again nationwide, the Supreme Court late Wednesday, Nov. 25, temporarily barred New York from enforcing certain attendance limits at houses of worship in areas designated as hard hit…
Pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A judge in Louisiana has rejected a motion filed by controversial Pastor Tony Spell to quash six misdemeanor charges filed against him for holding church services in violation of the state’s pandemic restrictions. Judge Eboni Johnson-Rose of Louisiana’s 19th…
Controversial Life Tabernacle Church pastor Tony Spell talks Wednesday, May 13, 2020, just outside the front door of his residence behind the church. Judge Eboni Johnson-Rose rejected Central pastor Tony Spell’s attempt to throw out on 1st Amendment grounds Monday criminal charges that he violated Gov. John Bel Edwards’ emergency…
Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2021 / 02:34 pm ( CNA ).- A proposal made on the last day of the Trump administration would make religious businesses eligible to receive loans from the Small Business Administration, removing previous restrictions. The U.S. Small Business Administration published a proposal Jan 19. that would…
Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2021 / 02:34 pm ( CNA ).- A proposal made on the last day of the Trump administration would make religious businesses eligible to receive loans from the Small Business Administration, removing previous restrictions. The U.S. Small Business Administration published a proposal Jan 19. that would…
National Religious Freedom Day, observed every Jan. 16, is onlyobscurely observed although it officially commemorates the historic day in 1786 when the Virginia Religious Freedom Statute authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison separated Virginia and the Anglican Church. They mandated no one “…shall be compelled to frequent or support…
Libby Bakalar The events of this week have the First Amendment on top of everyone’s mind, so I thought I would do a VERY basic and quick review of some key questions about when and how it applies. First, here’s the full text, adopted in 1789: Congress shall make no…
Anandiben Patel The Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Anandiben Patel has promulgated The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020. The ordinance has been published in the gazette notification (dated 09th January 2021). It may be noted that the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet on 26 th December gave its nod to the…
Pastor Rob McCoy and the Newbury Park church he leads will be allowed to bolster their lawsuit filed against the county over coronavirus restrictions, a Ventura County judge ruled Tuesday. Superior Court Judge Henry Walsh said the courts freely allow parties in litigation to amend their lawsuits and that the…
Separation of church and state has been a feature of American democracy for over two centuries. As Thomas Jefferson predicted, that separation has served both the state and organized religion well. The Church of England was the official religion of the colony of Virginia. As the British departed, the bureaucracy…
Pastor Rob McCoy and the Newbury Park church he leads will be allowed to bolster their lawsuit filed against the county over coronavirus restrictions, a Ventura County judge ruled Tuesday. Superior Court Judge Henry Walsh said the courts freely allow parties in litigation to amend their lawsuits and that the…
Love Jihad Laws : Supreme Court Issues Notice On Pleas Challenging UP, Uttarakhand Laws Against Religious Conversion For Marriage "The challenge is already pending in High Courts. Why don’t you go there? We are not saying you have a bad case. But you must approach the High Courts in the…
Pastor Rob McCoy and the Newbury Park church he leads will be allowed to bolster their lawsuit filed against the county over coronavirus restrictions, a Ventura County judge ruled Tuesday. Superior Court Judge Henry Walsh said the courts freely allow parties in litigation to amend their lawsuits and that the…
(Video by News 18 ) The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to put a stay on the controversial new laws enacted by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regulating religious conversions due to inter-faith marriages. Hearing pleas against the love jihad law, the Supreme Court, however, issued notices to the two state…
Now that at least two COVID-19 vaccines have been made available, all employers, including AAMP members, must consider the various issues involved in deciding whether to make vaccination mandatory for their employees. On December 16, 2020, the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its previous COVID-19 guidance to address the vaccine…
A Christian afterschool ministry tied to The Moody Church in Chicago is sufficiently religious enough to qualify for an exemption from having to pay into a state insurance program, an appeals court ruled last week. A three-judge panel of the Appellate Court of Illinois on Wednesday upheld a lower court…
A federal appeals court has granted an injunction to nine religious schools in Ohio that blocks application to them of a recent county order shutting down public and private schools amid a COVID-19 surge. A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, in Cincinnati,…
The United States Supreme Court, in two cases it ruled on together, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo and Agudath Israel of America v. Cuomo, last month issued an order temporarily barring Governor Cuomo from enforcing strict restrictions on the number of people allowed at houses of worship. In…
This article focuses on a specialized class of employment law and human rights issues where there an overlap exists between matters of creed or religion and the legal relationship. In heterogeneous societies, people will disagree, sometimes passionately and fundamentally, over socio-politics, economics, spirituality and other beliefs and conduct. Our societal…
The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. This amendment…
Justice Madan B Lokur | HT Photo Former Supreme Court Justice Madan Lokur on Tuesday criticised Uttar Pradesh’s new anti-conversion law, suggesting that it has many defects, PTI reported. Lokur said that a judge does not need to get into politics, but has to check the constitutional validity of a…
As the Supreme Court winds down for the holiday break, one thing that has not slowed is the flow of litigation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. In November and December, the court handled seven emergency requests for relief related to COVID-19, six involving challenges by religious institutions to state crowd-restriction…
Consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of a religious ceremony does not automatically “disturb the public peace” even though eating them is illegal, and therefore the act might be protected by the New Hampshire constitution, the state Supreme Court has ruled. Tuesday’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling does not mean that consuming…