News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Roger Rollins “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” — U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” — Bible A principal in Long…
(Photo: Flickr Commons/Joe Gratz) A Christian realtor is suing the Virginia Real Estate Board, saying she felt compelled to resign after being investigated for a fair housing complaint related to sharing her religious beliefs on a business website and email signatures. In the state lawsuit filed in Richmond, Hadassah Hubbard…
The Kentucky Supreme Court heard arguments Friday over whether a Lexington company was allowed to refuse to print T-shirts for organizers of the city’s gay pride parade. Blaine Adams, the owner of Hands On Originals, refused to make T-shirts for Lexington’s Gay and Lesbian Services Organization in 2012, saying that…
A split decision of the Eighth Circuit Court on Friday cleared the way Friday for two “Christian” videographers to sue the state of Minnesota over the right to refuse to film same-sex weddings, arguing that the videos are a form of speech subject to First Amendment protections. Carl and Angel…
Angel and Carl Larsen, owners of Telescope Media Group in St. Cloud, Minn. (Alliance Defending Freedom) Earlier today, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutional order , limited the reach of expansive nondiscrimination laws, and protected a Christian couple from having to choose between their business and their…
Nicole Russell is a contributor to The Daily Signal. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, National Review, Politico, The Washington Times, The American Spectator, and Parents Magazine. In a win for the First Amendment, a federal appellate court ruled earlier this month that the seal…
The Government of Uganda has for a while sought to “regulate” religious freedoms under the guise of protecting its citizens. This has essentially taken the form of the controversial Religious and Faith-Based Organizations (RFBOs) Policy whose proponents are majorly officials in the Office of the President and the Directorate of…
Ashers Baking Company is fighting a discrimination case once again. A gay man is to challenge the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of a Christian bakery after it found that he was not discriminated against when his cake order was refused. The case goes back to 2014 when Gareth…
Prime Minister Scott Morrison (centre) with faith community leaders. FOLLOWING last year’s Religious Freedom Review conducted by an expert panel headed by Philip Ruddock, and the publication of its report, the Australian government announced its intention to introduce a new law, a Religious Discrimination Act, to prohibit discrimination on the…
Morgan Bardonstone, 18, of Unity, right, and Ambrose Donth, 19, of Claremont, pass by a large menorah on display as part of the holiday decorations in Broad Street Park in Claremont, N.H., Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. City resident Sam Killay, an atheist, has registered a complaint with the city council…
The Justice Department outlined, in a Friday court filing , its reasons why transgender discrimination in the workplace is illegal under federal law. The filing is related to an upcoming Supreme Court case involving a transgender funeral worker Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her position after announcing her transition.…
The Federal Building in Burlington houses the U.S. District Courthouse and the U.S. Postal Service. Photo by Bob LoCicero/VTDigger Attorneys for the state defended Vermont’s dual enrollment program in federal court Friday, asking U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss to dismiss a lawsuit that argues the program discriminates against students…
A federal appeals court ruled the presence of a cross in Lehigh County’s seal is historical in nature and not a government endorsement of a religion. (Contributed Photo / THE MORNING CALL) The Lehigh County seal can remain as is, with its cross. And we can only hope that seals…
The seal of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. A federal appellate court on Thursday rejected an attempt by the Wisconsin-based atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) to censor the image of a cross from Lehigh County’s historic seal. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia ruled 3-0…
The flag and seal of Lehigh County, Pa. (Images via court documents) (Religion News Service) — A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Lehigh County, Pa., seal that contains a cross, citing a recent Supreme Court decision. The unanimous ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of…
This is disappointing: An Appeals Court has ruled in favor of a Christian logo representing a Pennsylvania county, overturning an earlier ruling that said (fairly obviously) that the symbol was a promotion of religion. The battle began in 2016 when the lawsuit was filed. A judge later declared that the…
American Legion wins fight to keep peace cross memorial standing on public land The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday a Pennsylvania county’s 70-year-old seal and flag is allowed to remain after being targeted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation . The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third…
Home » Copyright/Intellectual Property » ‘Going down’ Is a Trade Mark That Causes a Bad Influence on Morality, Says the Beijng High Court in China From The IPKat: ‘Going down’ is a common English phrase whose meaning is descending or sinking. But when it tried to be registered as a…
RICHMOND, Va. — The Rutherford Institute has filed a First Amendment lawsuit against government officials for discriminating against Protestant Christian inmates at a state-run sex offender rehabilitation facility and restricting their access to Bible studies and Protestant communion. In a complaint filed in federal court against the Commonwealth of Virginia…
During her 2010 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Elena Kagan, fresh off a stint as Barack Obama’s solicitor general, created a minor stir in legal circles by stating, “We are all originalists.” While clearly an exaggeration, this statement spoke to a subtle but increasingly apparent truth: Since the 1980s, constitutional text…
Fyffe High School in DeKalb County, Alabama An Alabama school superintendent defended a local high school that hosted a worship rally on Sunday after a complaint was filed by one of the nation’s leading secularist legal groups. DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Jason Barnett told Fox News on Tuesday that he…
Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia hopes to takes its case arguing it can discriminate against same-sex couples to the US Supreme Court. A Catholic foster care agency has asked the US Supreme Court to overrule a federal appeals court decision rejecting its claim that it enjoys a religious freedom right…
Two businessmen, Grant Strobl and Jacob Chludzinski own ThinkRight Strategies, a political consulting and marketing firm, in Michigan have filed a lawsuit against the city of Ann Arbor for enforcing a law that is discriminatory. Ann Arbor passed an ordinance that makes it illegal for businesses to discriminate based on…
Hospital workers still unsure whether distant religious link exempts retirement plans from federal ERISA compliance San Francisco, CADignity Health has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a proposed class action ERISA lawsuit that accused it of using a undeserved religious exemption to justify underfunding its pension plan by $1.5…
Erwin Chemerinsky is Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Will replacing Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh make a difference as to how the Supreme Court deals with constitutional issues concerning…