News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that threatens to open the door widely to businesses being allowed to violate anti-discrimination laws. If the court rules that the First Amendment protects the right of business owners to discriminate — based on claims of freedom of speech or…
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday over whether a graphic designer in Colorado has a First Amendment right to refuse to create websites celebrating same-sex weddings based on her Christian faith despite a state law that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation. The case, a sequel…
Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled sympathy on Monday toward an evangelical Christian web designer whose business refuses to provide services for same-sex marriages in a major case pitting LGBT rights against a claim that freedom of speech exempts artists from anti-discrimination laws. The justices were hearing spirited arguments in…
(CNN) — The Supreme Court will revisit the intersection of LGBTQ rights and religious liberty on Monday, when it takes up the case of a graphic designer who seeks to start a website business to celebrate weddings — but does not want to work with same-sex couples. The case comes…
The US Supreme Court is to hear a suit filed by a Christian website designer who declines to provide wedding services to same-sex couples Can a business owner cite her religious convictions in declining to provide service to a same-sex couple? The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court is to examine the…
The case of 303 Creative LLC vs. Elenis is not directly about the free exercise of religion, but the issue will lurk behind any ruling. On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that threatens to open the door widely to businesses being allowed to violate…
Lorie Smith is a business owner, who says she puts her Christian faith above financial profit. However, her efforts to manage both have put Smith in conflict with Colorado officials over the limits of workplace speech, an issue the Supreme Court will address in high-profile oral arguments on Monday. At…
It’s just waiting for someone to walk through it. getty The Supreme Court has slowly and steadily busted a hole in the wall between church and state when it comes to education. AG opinion: Statute barring charter school operators from religious affiliation unconstitutional (nondoc.com) In a fifteen-page opinion issued December…
Attorneys for two pastors who filed a lawsuit asking Chancery Court to prevent Delaware’s governor from imposing future restrictions on religious worship are meeting to see what their next step will be after a judge dismissed the case last week. The Rev. Alan Hines, of Townsend Free Will Baptist Church…
Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building at dusk on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) more > The Supreme Court has already ordered Colorado’s civil rights commission to give faith-based artists who object to same-sex marriage a fair hearing when deciding whether to…
Hands on bible. File photo via Shutterstock. more > Officials in Sumner County, Tennessee, are under fire for including a reference to “the Judeo-Christian values inherent in our nation’s founding” in a document outlining “standing rules” for county commissioners. The preamble to the county’s “Standing Rules and Procedures,” amended in…
Wyoming Rescue Mission (file photo) ADF attorneys representing Casper homeless shelter favorably settle case with state, federal government officials Two months after filing a lawsuit on behalf of the Wyoming Rescue Mission, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys reached a favorable settlement with state and federal government officials. As part of the…
Wyoming Rescue Mission (file photo) ADF attorneys representing Casper homeless shelter favorably settle case with state, federal government officials Two months after filing a lawsuit on behalf of the Wyoming Rescue Mission, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys reached a favorable settlement with state and federal government officials. As part of the…
Montgomery County validly enforced a zoning requirement that two Burtonsville landowners claim prevented a Christian group from building a church on their land, the county stated Monday in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the owners’ request that it hear their appeal. Burtonsville Associates and Burtonsville Crossing LLC allege…
Church support for Respect for Marriage Act shows what a tangled mess religion and politics make (Rick Bowmer | AP photo) In this Jan. 3, 2018, photo, the angel Moroni statue, silhouetted against the sky, sits atop the Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. My wife…
Council Bluffs officials did not violate the rights of dog owners when they banned keeping pit bulls and similar dogs within the city, a federal appeals court has affirmed. The city’s ordinance, which took effect in 2005, bans owning, keeping or selling pit bulls, defined in the law as any…
Notre Dame, IN — A Muslim man’s request to pray in accordance with the dictates of his Islamic faith was repeatedly denied by correctional officers in the Dodge County Detention Facility in Wisconsin. His case addresses the lack of religious accommodations made for practicing Muslims in prison systems. The Notre…
Web designer Lorie Smith is shown in her office on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, in the southwest part of Littleton, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) LITTLETON — A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle…
Web designer Lorie Smith is shown in her office on Nov. 7, 2022, in Littleton, Colo. A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle in the U.S. Supreme Court next month is about protecting…
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, Monday, June 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) LITTLETON, Colo. — A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle in the U.S. Supreme Court next month is…
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle in the U.S. Supreme Court next month is about protecting everyone’s right to free speech. Lorie Smith spoke about her case, which…
COMMENTARY: When the Supreme Court takes up 303 Creative v. Elenis on Dec. 5, we will find out if people who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman will be shielded from reprisal. Web designer Lorie Smith is taking her case 303 Creative v. Elenis to the…
American Samoa’s delegation during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 23, 2021. The Insular Cases, which deny citizens of Puerto Rico and four other US territories full constitutional rights, remain good law after the US Supreme Court denied review of a case involving birthright citizenship.…
A state appeals court Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by a Waco justice of the peace who sued after a state ethics agency rebuked her in 2019 for refusing to marry same-sex couples. Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley sued the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, arguing that its sanction violated…
Notre Dame, IN — Religious social service organizations in many states—from adoption agencies to food pantries—may be faced with the choice of secularizing or giving up their funding and closing as a result of a recent decision regarding privately operated charter schools in North Carolina. The Notre Dame Religious Liberty…