News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
The Story: The U.S. Department of Education has issued the Religious Liberty and Free Inquiry Final Rule to “help ensure that public institutions uphold fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that private institutions adhere to their stated institutional policies regarding freedom of speech, including…
Congress has mandated that the date of the signing of the Constitution, Sept. 17, 1787, be commemorated. Prior to COVID-19, schools, colleges, and communities would have public gatherings to celebrate Constitution Day. Similar celebrations are impossible this year, because COVID-19 has forced so many of our public institutions to operate…
The News : The Wisconsin Supreme Court granted an original action brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), consolidating it with two others, challenging the Dane County health department’s order closing all Dane County schools for grades 3-12. The Court also ordered a temporary injunction against the…
Dane County health officials cannot prohibit private schools from holding in-person classes until the state Supreme Court makes a formal decision on the matter. In a 4-3 ruling Thursday, the court issued an injunction temporarily blocking a Dane County emergency health order that sharply limited in-person instruction and agreed to…
In July 2020, in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , the Supreme Court “ made it easier for religiously affiliated employers to discriminate” by concluding, 7-2, that two Catholic school teachers were ministers, not teachers. That ruling opened the door for thousands of Catholic school teachers to lose…
Last week, a ruling out of the Seventh Circuit presented the latest example that this country is facing an increasingly theocratic judiciary seeking to expressly favor religion and religious citizens at the great expense of nonbelievers. To be clear, the case is only at the preliminary injunction stage, so the…
Since presidential candidate Joe Biden selected Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, some Catholics have rightly raised concerns about Harris’s hostility toward Catholicism and her animus for Catholics whose moral lives are informed by Church teaching. Coupled with Biden’s own antagonism toward Catholic moral theology, Harris’s nomination clouds rather…
His own father murdered, Catholic archbishop speaks against death penalty Pope Francis to sign a new encyclical on human fraternity on Oct. 3 Question of Faith: In what cases can someone be denied communion? By Christine Rousselle Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 4, 2020 / 08:40 am MT (CNA).- A New…
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley has continued to hold Sunday services despite county and state health orders. On Tuesday, Aug. 25, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied a temporary restraining order sought by county officials to prohibit indoor services at the church. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los…
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley has continued to hold Sunday services despite county and state health orders. On Tuesday, Aug. 25, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied a temporary restraining order sought by county officials to prohibit indoor services at the church. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los…
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone celebrates the feast of the Assumption on the steps of the city’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption Aug. 15, 2020. (CNS photo/Dennis Callahan, Archdiocese of San Francisco) Earlier this week, the Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, released a statement…
Louisiana’s governor should be required to seek legislative approval before extending a state of emergency beyond 30 days, an attorney for a conservative think tank argues. Under current law, the governor can declare or renew an emergency declaration by executive order, though a majority of either chamber of the Legislature…
New Hampshire State House, Concord, New Hampshire, USA. (Wangkung Gia/Shutterstock via CNA) A New Hampshire family has filed suit against the state after a town tuition program refused to pay for their grandson’s Catholic school education. The suit claims that the terms of the program violate religious discrimination laws and…
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington July 2, 2020. Legal experts have noticed a pattern in how the court handled religious liberty cases in the last term. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters) WASHINGTON — As part of what seems to be a new trend for the Supreme Court, it…
During the term it completed in July, the Supreme Court decided several important cases involving religious liberty and one that expanded legal protection for gay Americans. In the term that begins next month, the justices will hear a case that purportedly pits those two interests against each other. But the…
A musician plays his trumpet as pedestrians walk by on Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Thursday, July 9, 2020. An increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations at the time forced bars in the tourist-dependent city to shut down again just a month after they were allowed…
Kevin Newsom’s impressive tenure as solicitor general of Alabama made him an obvious choice for President Trump to appoint to the Eleventh Circuit, where Judge Newsom now sits. Just a few months after his appointment, Judge Newsom made it onto President Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist. Judge Newsom cares deeply about…
Gov. John Bel Edwards (The Center Square) – Louisiana’s governor should be required to seek legislative approval before extending a state of emergency beyond 30 days, an attorney for a conservative think tank argues. Under current law, the governor can declare or renew an emergency declaration by executive order, though…
Not even Notre Dame can escape the Republican National Convention following famed football coach Lou Holtz’s speech last week. There has been some coverage from The Observer about students’ reactions, but I want to focus on a particular aspect of the speech. The most controversial part of Holtz’s time on…
During the term it completed in July, the Supreme Court decided several important cases involving religious liberty and one that expanded legal protection for gay Americans. In the term that begins next month, the justices will hear a case that purportedly pits those two interests against each other. But the…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Chelsey Nelson runs a wedding photography and blogging business here. She is involved in a suit against the local metro government. (Alliance Defending Freedom photo) LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) — A court decision in support of a Kentucky photographer who declines to shoot same-sex weddings is a victory…
PART 1 Who threatens the power structure so much and wields a strength so enormous that the enslavers who would enslave are willing to give up their most valuable asset just to shut them up? Read on. Throughout the ages, churches have been the pillars of community, places to go…
An LGBT cake artist in Detroit was recently asked to create a custom cake with a religious message criticizing same-sex marriage. After she declined to express that message, the customer alleged she had illegally discriminated against him based on his religion. The situation presents an interesting reversal of roles to…
The just-concluded U.S. Supreme Court term was an eventful one for parochial schools and other religious employers. On June 15, the court held in Bostock v. Clayton County , 590 U.S. ____ (2020), that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because…
Says such regulations must be based on ‘administrative considerations in larger public interest’ An AFP file image ISLAMABAD: The apex court has ruled that exercise of the freedom to profess and practice religion must be reasonably regulated “on administrative considerations in the larger public interest”. "It is essential as well…