News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
A petition to review a writ of certiorari filed on behalf of a La Plata High School alumna, who claimed that the Charles County Public Schools system violated her First Amendment rights back in 2014 by allegedly promoting and endorsing assignments about Islam which conflicted with her Christianity, was denied…
Supreme Court Rejects Case of Christian Student Forced to Write Islamic Prayer The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up the case of a Christian high school student who claims her constitutional rights were violated when she was forced to write on a worksheet, “There is no god but…
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Case Promoting Islam In Public School The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case of a Christian high school student in Maryland who, despite threats of receiving a failing grade, refused to deny her faith by making a written profession of the Muslim conversion…
Maryland high schooler Caleigh Wood’s case made it to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that an assignment to write the Islamic Conversion Prayer did not violate the establishment clause of the first amendment. But the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Should the Supreme Court…
At a recent televised town hall, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke called for religious institutions to lose their tax-exempt status if they disagree with him on same-sex marriage. CNN’s Don Lemon asked O’Rourke, “Do you think religious institutions like colleges, churches, charities – should they lose their tax-exempt status if they…
iStock photo PHOENIX, Ariz. (BP) — The Arizona Supreme Court last week rebuked states and municipalities that overzealously enforce anti-discrimination laws. The state’s highest court said the city of Phoenix cannot apply a nondiscrimination ordinance to the designers of custom wedding invitations. In a 5-3 decision, the court found Joanna…
A judge has dismissed a family’s request to keep their daughter, Taquisha McKitty on life support after she was declared clinically brain dead. TORONTO — Ontario’s top court dismissed Wednesday a legal challenge brought by a Toronto-area family that fought to keep their daughter on life support after she was…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of three Maine families who are challenging a decades-old state law that bars tuition reimbursement for attending religious schools. Angela and Troy Nelson pose in August 2018 with their children, Royce and Alicia, at…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of three Maine families who are challenging a decades-old state law that bars tuition reimbursement for attending religious schools. Angela and Troy Nelson pose in August 2018 with their children, Royce and Alicia, at…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of three Maine families who are challenging a decades-old state law that bars tuition reimbursement for attending religious schools. Angela and Troy Nelson pose in August 2018 with their children, Royce and Alicia, at…
What to watch for in the new Supreme Court session If you care about property rights, the environment and the First Amendment, here’s a quick checklist of cases to watch in the Supreme Court term starting this week. County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund The Clean Water Act makes…
The U.S. Supreme Court may decide as early as this week if it will hear a case related to a lawsuit involving the former Bible in the Schools program in Mercer County schools. Patrick Elliott, an attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) in Wisconsin, said last week the…
American Legion wins fight to keep peace cross memorial standing on public land During its past two terms, the Supreme Court issued a number of notable decisions that appear to have begun the process of restoring the Constitution’s promise of religious free exercise. At the end of its last term,…
(Image via Getty) This fall, the United States Supreme Court will determine whether a provision of the Montana Constitution which prohibits the distribution of public funds “to any church, school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled in whole or in party by any church, sect,…
Login | October 01, 2019 university of Massachusetts Lowell (THE CONVERSATION) A movement for religious rights is transforming the place of religion in American public life. From the 1960s until very recently, liberals successfully argued at the Supreme Court that the tyranny of the majority cannot define the lives and…
The flaws in the Coalition’s religious discrimination bill are “so serious” it cannot be supported in its current form, the Sydney Anglican diocese has warned. Bishop Michael Stead has warned the bill would force Anglican youth camps to host Satanist masses at its campsites and has the “perverse effect” of…
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A battle over a Bible on display at New Hampshire’s veterans hospital was the focus of a federal court hearing Wednesday, with lawyers for the government arguing that a lawsuit demanding its removal should be dismissed because the Air Force veteran who filed it hasn’t shown…
An explanation of our separation of Church and State, or lack thereof “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…
WASHINGTON, DC — Denouncing state laws that claim to advocate for school choice while discriminating against individuals who favor private schools with religious ties, The Rutherford Institute has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a provision of Montana’s constitution that prohibits students from using scholarship funds to attend religiously-affiliated…
Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly hold a religious invocation during the Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018, assembly meeting in Soldotna. The invocation was held only hours after the Alaska Superior Court ruled the ritual violated the Alaska Constitution. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion) Applications to offer invocations during Kenai…
CONCORD, N.H. — A battle over a Bible on display at New Hampshire’s veterans hospital was the focus of a federal court hearing Wednesday, with lawyers for the government arguing that a lawsuit demanding its removal should be dismissed because the Air Force veteran who filed it hasn’t shown he…
Gov. Scott Walker. Photo from the State of Wisconsin. The News : The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), on behalf of Governor Scott Walker , filed an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in Espinoza v. Montana , a critical school choice and religious freedom case…
iStock photo PHOENIX, Ariz. (BP) — The Arizona Supreme Court last week rebuked states and municipalities that overzealously enforce anti-discrimination laws. The state’s highest court said the city of Phoenix cannot apply a nondiscrimination ordinance to the designers of custom wedding invitations. In a 5-3 decision, the court found Joanna…
Business owners win suit over same-sex wedding invitations 01:19 (CNN)A 2013 Phoenix law that adds "sexual orientation, gender identity or expression" to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance violated the freedom of speech and religious beliefs of two business owners, the Arizona Supreme Court said in a 4-3 ruling Monday. Wedding invitation…
Eds: This story was supplied by The Conversation for AP customers. The Associated Press does not guarantee the content. Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell (THE CONVERSATION) A movement for religious rights is transforming the place of religion in American public life. From the 1960s until very recently, liberals successfully…