WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to decide whether it should bolster workplace accommodations for the free exercise of religion. The justices was to hear oral arguments April 18 regarding a U.S. Postal Service employee’s contention his belief in observing Sunday as the Sabbath was not properly accommodated.…
When can we stop punishing those who keep the Sabbath?
The Supreme Court is poised to correct an old error that has hurt religious workers for decades by depriving them of their civil rights. More than 50 years ago, Congress protected religious employees in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It requires employers to give their employees reasonable accommodations…
Another key test for religious liberty
Supreme Court – Separation of Church and State Religious employees should be watching the case of Groff v. DeJoy closely to see whether the Supreme Court will restore religious freedom to the workplace. It may be rare for religious employees to have conflicts between their jobs and their faith, but…
Does religious liberty protect the exercise of choice?
Yellow Dog Productions/Getty Images In the culture war battles over abortion and transgender rights, religion and religious liberty claims are often identified exclusively with one side of these disputes — those who oppose abortion and transgender rights. This is no longer the case. Several weeks ago, 1,500 synagogues observed a…
Perspectives: Tuition trend recalls two tax tussles here
Depositphotos.com image “ Taxes are what we pay for [a] civilized society .” Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas, The Collector of Internal Revenue 275 U.S. 87 (1927) (Holmes, J., dissenting) A unique measure enacted recently in Iowa providing parents public funding to send their children to private schools, including…
Loudoun County Public Schools bans teacher from using Bible verses in email signature
The Loudoun County Public Schools sign on the county building. (7News FILE) LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (7News) — Loudoun County Public Schools Acting Superintendent is banning a teacher from using Bible verses in her email signature, 7News has learned. “Simply put, the general inclusion of religious quotes in communications LCPS employees…
Continue ignoring Liberty Counsel, FFRF tells Va. school district
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is complimenting a Virginia school district for doing the right thing in ignoring a recent misguiding missive from a Christian nationalist group. Liberty Counsel is objecting to Loudoun County Public Schools’ decision requiring a teacher to refrain from using a bible verse in her signature…
In Maine, Lawsuit Argues That State Must Fund Discrimination In Religious Schools
We don’t want your kind. getty Over the past few years, the Supreme Court has, step by step, broken large holes in the wall between church and state when it comes to education. Now a lawsuit in Maine proposes to shatter a few more bricks. Carson v. Makin spun from…
Religion in the workplace
Can an employee refuse diversity training because of religious beliefs? It can be difficult for companies to negotiate the line between what is for the good of the company, and what suits the individual – and one particular minefield is when the company’s values conflict with an employee’s faith. So,…
Will SCOTUS Fall for Biden DOJ’s Flim-Flam in Sabbath-Observer Case? | Opinion
The Biden administration’s Justice Department has submitted a brief to the Supreme Court that should be the subject of a false-labeling charge. An evangelical Christian postman lost his job because he would not deliver mail on Sunday. A federal appellate court ruled against his employment-discrimination claim because accommodating his religious…
Homophobic churches and liberal states make for unhappy bedfellows
Parliament should begin the process of disestablishment rather than try to fix the Church of England, argues Stephen Evans. A recent exchange in parliament revealed the incongruity of a state church in a liberal democracy. Last week, a group of respected parliamentarians brought forward a bill to allow for same…
Judge won’t halt summons in IRS probe of God’s Storehouse, run by Topeka Sen. Rick Kloos
A federal judge dismissed Friday an effort by the pastor of God’s Storehouse, who is also a state senator, to block Internal Revenue Service access the church’s bank records as part of an ongoing investigation. The probe into God’s Storehouse stretches back to June 2021 but became public last year…
How Buddhists, Catholics, Latter-days Saints, other faiths view LGBTQ rights
New PRRI poll also shows LGBTQ Americans tend to be younger and have no religion. (Patrick Semansky | AP) President Joe Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. A new PRRI poll shows how various religious…
Judge blocks abortion ban citing separation of powers
Jackson OB-GYN Dr. Giovannina Anthony, second from left, a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Wyoming’s new ban on most abortions, hugs her attorney after Ninth District Court Judge Melissa Owens issued a temporary order blocking the law Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Jackson. (Kathryn Ziesig/Jackson Hole News&Guide/Pool) A district court…
Is the Pledge of Allegiance just an empty, performative ritual?
Los Angeles Times (TNS) Marissa Barnwell failed to show sufficient deference to the Pledge of Allegiance. And for that, she was punished. She was walking quietly down the hall at River Bluff High School in Lexington, South Carolina, where she is in ninth grade. The daily over-the-intercom recitation of the…
Shocking Texas proposal would destroy state/church separation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is sounding the tocsin about a proposal in the Texas Legislature that would assault the constitutional wall of separation enshrined in both the state and federal constitutions. The proposal is grandiosely and misleadingly dubbed the “Protection of Religious Liberty from Nativist Jurisprudence Act.” If passed,…
Column: Is the Pledge of Allegiance just an empty, performative ritual?
Students saying the Pledge of Allegiance at Mount St. Mary’s Academy in Grass Valley, Calif., in 2021. Marissa Barnwell failed to show sufficient deference to the Pledge of Allegiance. And for that, she was punished. She was walking quietly down the hall at River Bluff High School in Lexington, S.C.,…
Tennessee attorney general weighs in on religious liberty cases
Tennessee’s attorney general is jumping into the First Amendment debate over religious liberty in the U.S., joining other states in issuing support for a number of high-profile issues. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a collation of 19 state attorneys general on Tuesday in filing an amicus brief asking the U.S.…
Florida City Undeterred in Legal Fight vs. Atheists: America Has ‘Long History’ of ‘Government Participating With Religious Communities’
Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash An attorney with First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal firm, addressed the Supreme Court’s recent decision to decline to hear a case brought by the city of Ocala, Florida, predicting atheists will ultimately lose in the ongoing legal feud. Listen to the latest episode…
Tennessee attorney general weighs in on religious liberty cases
Tennessee’s attorney general is jumping into the First Amendment debate over religious liberty in the U.S., joining other states in issuing support for a number of high-profile issues. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a collation of 19 state attorneys general on Tuesday in filing an amicus brief asking the U.S.…
Tennessee attorney general weighs in on religious liberty cases
Tennessee’s attorney general is jumping into the First Amendment debate over religious liberty in the U.S., joining other states in issuing support for a number of high-profile issues. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a collation of 19 state attorneys general on Tuesday in filing an amicus brief asking the U.S.…
FFRF renews call for FEMA to cancel million-dollar-plus Ky. church funding
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is renewing its demand that the Federal Emergency Management Agency rescind a proposed $1 million-plus handout for a Kentucky church/tornado shelter. In 2021, a concerned city resident and taxpayer in Versailles, Ky., had alerted FFRF about an official decision to spend public funds to pay…
Montgomery County judge can continue prayers in courtroom as appeal deadline passes
A decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowing Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack to start his court proceeding with prayer will stand after the deadline to appeal the ruling passed. A decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowing Precinct 1 Justice…
Why the oath to the sovereign matters as a requirement of the practice of law
Law Matters Law Opinion The loyalty being asked of us are to Canada’s organizing constitutional principles. Share: The requirement to take an oath of allegiance to the sovereign remains a requirement for being called to the Bar in some provinces, including Alberta. Does it violate deeply held religious beliefs? Can…
ACLJ Files Amicus Brief at the Supreme Court To Defend Your Right To Attend Church
Most Americans take for granted the ability to attend church on Sunday. In fact, even those whose employers are open seven days a week are still often able to attend church through religious accommodation granted by the employer. Federal law protects employees’ rights to religious accommodation to attend worship services.…