Sinners, immigrants and climate change aren’t to blame for the coronavirus — it’s governments here and abroad, according to most religious Americans. In a new study by the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Americans who said they believe in God were…
Wyoming U.S. Attorney publishes op-ed on state health orders constitutionality
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming Mark Klaassen weighed in on the constitutionality of state medical orders related to the COVID-19 crisis. He published an op-ed Friday outlining the U.S. Department of Justice’s position. He said the DOJ is being careful not to…
Court Suggests That Lockdown Exemptions for Religious Institutions Violate the Establishment Clause,
In Friday’s Spell v. Edwards , Judge Brian A. Jackson (M.D. La.), rejected an argument that Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ shutdown order (which limited indoor church gatherings, among other gatherings, to at most 10 people) violated the Free Exercise Clause. But the court also suggested that an exemption specifically…
Attorney General files motion to dismiss lawsuit against governor
In this June 12, 2017 file photo, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh speaks during a news conference in Washington. BALTIMORE — The attorney general of the State of Maryland filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed May 2 against Gov. Larry Hogan and several other state officials alleging a…
Supreme Court sounds split in case on rights for Catholic school teachers
Flowers bloom outside the front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Monday. Mark Sherman / AP FILE – In this Nov. 30, 2018, file photo, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court gather for a formal group portrait to include a new Associate Justice, top…
Tripp will not interfere with inside church services
Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp is standing with the sheriffs of Craven and Johnston counties and will not interfere or interrupt any religious services which are conducted inside a church. His statement is in line with a resolution sent by the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association to Governor Roy Cooper which…
Journalists should be gearing up for big ‘culture war’ cases at U.S. Supreme Court — GetReligion
The COVID-19 emergency shouldn’t divert the media from getting prepared for an unusual pileup of big “culture war” news that will break at the U.S. Supreme Court during the weeks through early July. Pending decisions the media will need to interpret involve abortion, religious conscience claims, gay and transgender rights,…
Oregon churches: Quarantine violates religious freedom
Churches ask court to grant an injunction lifting restrictions created by Gov. Kate Brown’s executive orders. VIA GOOGLE MAPS – Calvary Chapel in Southeast Portland has sued Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. Ten congregations in the state have filed suit challenging the governor’s lock down on individuals and businesses to curb…
Attorney general files motion to dismiss COVID-19 lawsuit against governor
Attorney General Brian Frosh has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Gov. Larry Hogan and other state officials over social-distancing mandates. The suit was filed by three delegates and others including the group Reopen Maryland alleging the violation of their constitutional rights. BALTIMORE — The attorney general of…
Attorney General files motion to dismiss lawsuit against governor
In this June 12, 2017 file photo, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh speaks during a news conference in Washington. BALTIMORE — The attorney general of the State of Maryland filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed May 2 against Gov. Larry Hogan and several other state officials alleging a…
Supreme Court hears case on right of Catholic schools to fire religion teachers
(Shutterstock via CNA) Supreme Court justices on Monday heard arguments for and against extending the Civil Rights Act’s “ministerial exception” to Catholic schools when they fire teachers of religion. “There is no reason for government to get in the business of teaching religion,” stated Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior…
Supreme Court sounds split in case on rights for Catholic school teachers
The Supreme Court justices sounded split Monday on whether to broadly deny civil rights protections to hundreds of thousands of teachers in religious schools, as they heard cases involving two who were fired from Catholic schools in Los Angeles. At issue is whether the Constitution’s protections for religious freedom shields…
Federal judges rule in favor of churches that held in-person services
stock.adobe.com At U.S. District Court in Frankfort, Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove issued a temporary restraining order sought by Tabernacle Baptist Church of Nicholasville. The church had been conducting services on Facebook and by drive-in services, but maintained in their arguments, “Tabernacle has a sincerely-held religious belief that online services and…
Federal judge sides with Janet Mills in fight over in-person church services
Noah Finnemmore, 5, sticks his head out of the sun roof during the Calvary Chapel drive-in service on Sunday. Click here for the latest coronavirus news, which the BDN has made free for the public. You can support our critical reporting on the coronavirus by purchasing a digital subscription or…
NC Sheriff’s Association committee issues resolution asking Governor Cooper to amend Stay at Home order to allow inside church services
Under the current guidelines, only outdoor church services are permitted. (Source: WBTV File) CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Last week the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association issued a resolution calling for Governor Roy Cooper to amend the Stay at Home to allow for churches to hold worship services inside, provided they meet…
Federal judge sides with Janet Mills in fight over in-person church services
Calvary Chapel pastor Ken Graves leads a recent drive-in service in Orrington. (BDN) BANGOR (BDN) — A federal judge on Saturday ruled that Gov. Janet Mills’ prohibition on in-person worship services does not violate the First Amendment. Calvary Chapel in Orrington and its pastor, Ken Graves, sued the governor in…
The Law Q&A | Parishioners in pews? No so fast
Does the right of the exercise of religion under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment allow one to disregard Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency orders on public gatherings? No, said a federal court out of Northern Illinois. A 60-80-member church, Beloved Church of Lena, filed suit in federal court seeking a ruling…
Legal expert says ruling to allow Kentucky’s churches to reopen amid pandemic is a possibly deadly misinterpretation of Constitution
(Courtesy of University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law on Facebook) Tabernacle Baptist Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Houses of worship in Kentucky can open their doors Sunday for in-person services after a federal judge ruled against Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order prohibiting mass gatherings amid the COVID-19…
Federal judges rule in favor if churches, halt ban on in-person church services in Kentucky
Two federal judges in separate cases issued orders Friday evening halting a ban on in-person church services contained in an executive order issued by Gov. Andy Beshear due to the coronavirus pandemic. At U. S. District Court in Frankfort, Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove issued a temporary restraining order sought by…
Federal judge rules that Kentucky churches can hold in-person services starting Sunday
"There’s hand sanitizer in every pew," one attendee said about having in-person worship services at Maryville Baptist Church on Easter Sunday. Louisville Courier Journal A federal judge ruled Friday that Tabernacle Baptist Church in Nicholasville, Kentucky, — and churches all around the commonwealth — may hold in-person services Sunday despite…
Federal courts allow Kentucky churches to have services starting May 10
Source: MGN Kentucky churches will be allowed to hold services starting May 10 after rulings in two separate cases. A lawsuit by Maryville Baptist Church and its pastor arguing that Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration infringed on the congregation’s constitutional rights by restricting faith-based gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic…
CLC, SBTC and ERLC join in urging Texas Supreme Court action
AUSTIN—A district court ruling against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lubbock succeeded in uniting Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission and a committee of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention—as well as the national Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission—in a call for action by the Texas Supreme Court. The…
Anti-Religion Activist Wants Air Force Colonel Muzzled, Punished for ‘Horrific’, ‘Heinous’, ‘Wretched’ Public Worship
Screen capture of a US military housing in Germany where a worship service was held from a balcony. The COVID-19 virus has led to many a creative effort by folks to maintain normalcy in the midst of a major disruption to normal life, and Christian believers are no different. Many…
Lee’s Summit church files suit claiming Jackson County’s stay-at-home order violates religious freedom
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — A Lee’s Summit, Missouri church has filed a federal lawsuit against Jackson County, claiming the county’s stay-at-home order violates religious freedom . The suit was filed Thursday by Abundant Life Baptist Church of Lee’s Summit in the Western District of Missouri and Western Division of Kansas…
Will the federal courts decide who is a “minister?”
(CNS file photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec) In two cases now before the Supreme Court, the justices are dealing with the constitutional status of a “minister” at a religious school and with the question of who decides the qualifications of a minister: churches and religious schools, or the federal courts. The cases…