News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
A California church, which planned to hold Palm Sunday services at its rented sanctuary despite a state-mandated stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus, was thwarted when its landlord—another church—changed the locks to prevent entry. The landlord, Bethel Open Bible Church, took action after the San Joaquin County Public Health Officer…
NASHVILLE (BP)—An Interim Final Rule published by the U.S. Small Business Administration provides assurance that churches and other ministries are in fact eligible to receive loans as part of a massive financial stimulus bill passed by Congress. Some experts view the interim final rule as providing assurance faith-based nonprofits will…
people raise arms at Christian music concert Houston lawyer Jared Woodfill, no stranger to controversial cases, is at it again with a legal challenge claiming Harris County’s COVID-19 stay-home order violates religious liberty rights. Woodfill has made headlines in the past by fighting against Houston’s LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance and objecting…
Although the U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily suspended its remaining docket due to our current public health crisis, two cases with far-reaching implications to religious education are still going to be decided this term. Taken together in fact, these two cases reveal a fundamental incoherence to the legal strategy utilized…
The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan/Court of Queen’s Bench in downtown Regina. Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court decision that found provincial funding for non-Catholic students in Catholic schools unconstitutional. The unanimous decision means the government will not have to invoke the notwithstanding clause — as it…
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Leaders at a Colorado Springs church said that they had the Constitutionally protected right to keep their in-person services despite a public health order, but a legal expert says that argument may not have merit. Colorado Springs Fellowship Church tells KRDO it is exercising its First…
Buy Now A Merrimack County Superior Court judge rejected a lawsuit charging the ban on large gatherings due to risks from COVID-19 violates constitutional rights to free speech, free assembly nd religious freedom. Here, Gov. Chris Sununu walks to the podium before speaking at a press conference on the coronavirus…
WASHINGTON (BP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has paused part of its work in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) with decisions in important cases regarding religious liberty, sexuality and abortion still to be announced. The high court announced March 16 it has postponed oral arguments scheduled for March 23-25 and…
In this April 28, 2015 file photo, demonstrators stand in front of a rainbow flag of the Supreme Court in Washington, as the court was set to hear historic arguments in cases that made same-sex marriage the law of the land. Two Texas judges say their religious beliefs allow them…
State governments have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by ordering residents to avoid gathering together in large groups, including gatherings held for the purpose of religious worship. Some churches are reportedly refusing to comply with such edicts and holding in-person religious services anyway. As the Associated Press reports : Rodney…
A judge in Texas is suing a state commission because he wants to be able to refuse to marry same-sex couples. Jack County District Judge Brian Umphress sued all 13 of the members of Texas’s Commission on Judicial Conduct because they gave another judge an “official warning” for refusing to…
After a quiet stretch in the wake of Employment Division v. Smith (1990), cases about the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment are proliferating at the U.S. Supreme Court. Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission recently signaled the potential for large changes…
An Ohio philosophy professor, disciplined by Shawnee State University for declining to use a transgender student’s preferred personal pronouns, is appealing the dismissal of his federal lawsuit against the university. Professor Nicholas Meriwether’s lawsuit argued that the Portsmouth, Ohio, university “denied him his right to exercise his religion under the…
As the coronavirus continued to kill , hospitalize , and harm thousands of people this weekend, President Trump declared that Sunday was, rest assured, a National Day of Prayer. “We are a Country that, throughout our history, has looked to God for protection and strength in times like these,” he…
The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear another case regarding the freedom of religious organizations to employ people who share their sincerely held beliefs. The most recent case, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, Agne s, comes from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which…
The third annual Mid-Missouri Festival of Faiths will focus on the connections between religion in schools. “Religion in Public Schools” will bring together people from various religious traditions and spur discussions on the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, said Robert Pinhero, an education and training consultant. Presented by the Capital Area…
For anyone interested in the fate of religious freedom in America Religious Liberty: Core Court Cases may be the most important guide to contemporary controversies over religion in the public square a nonspecialist can own. At least the price is right; the text of the 244-page book is also available…
A former Bremerton High School assistant football coach who sued the school district after he was ordered in 2015 to stop praying on the field after games lost his lawsuit Thursday, with a judge finding his religious rights were not violated. His attorney said he would appeal. In his ruling,…
The man filed for divorce at a Kadhi court in Kibera. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP Kadhi’s courts cannot determine a divorce case between a Muslim and Christian couple, the High Court has ruled while restoring a marriage between a Catholic woman and her Muslim husband. Justice Aggrey…
An anti-discrimination law designed to protect LGBTQ citizens but that forces a Catholic organization to violate its tenets is unconstitutional. A few years ago, an LGBTQ couple approached Bethany Christian Services and expressed an interest in becoming foster parents. Bethany Christian, which maintained a contract with the city of Philadelphia…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to Walgreens, turning away an appeal by a fired former Florida employee of the pharmacy chain who asked not to work on Saturdays for religious reasons as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. FILE PHOTO: A sign…
Buy Now Christine Flowers A few years ago, an LGBTQ couple approached Bethany Christian Services with an interest in becoming foster parents. Bethany Christian, which maintained a contract with of Philadelphia to provide foster care, turned them down based on a religious opposition to same-sex unions. The Philadelphia Inquirer published…
A few years ago, an LGBTQ couple approached Bethany Christian Services and expressed an interest in becoming foster parents. Bethany Christian, which maintained a contract with the city of Philadelphia to provide foster care, turned them down based on a religious opposition to same-sex unions. The Inquirer ran a story…
Chelsey Nelson is a wedding photographer and blogger in Louisville, Kentucky The U.S. Department of Justice has sided with a Kentucky-based photographer suing a city over an ordinance that compels her to service same-sex weddings. The Justice Department announced last Thursday that it filed a statement of interest brief on…
Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own. Last week, a U.S. District Judge rightfully ruled against Christian private school Bethel Christian Academy, which claimed the state of Maryland violated its religious freedom after being excluded from a taxpayer-funded school voucher program. The state government pointed out Bethel failed…