News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Curt Freed, left, and his husband Robert Ingersoll pose for a photo after a hearing before Washington’s Supreme Court, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, in Bellevue, Washington. Washington state’s top court ruled for a second time on Thursday that a Christian florist discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to sell…
A Christian florist is appealing to the Supreme Court after Washington state’s highest court ruled against her for refusing to create floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding on the grounds that doing so would violate her religion. Barronelle Stutzman, who owns Arlene’s Flowers, first asked the Supreme Court to consider…
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — State courts did not act with animosity toward religion when they ruled that a florist broke the state’s anti-discrimination laws by refusing on religious grounds to provide flowers for the wedding of a gay couple, the Washington Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday. The court reaffirmed…
Florist’s same-sex wedding case handed back to lower court In a hotly anticipated decision, the Washington Supreme Court ruled against a florist who was fined for not providing services for a gay couple’s wedding. The court had previously heard the case, State of Washington v. Arlene’s Flowers, ruling that Barronelle…
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — State courts did not act with animosity toward religion when they ruled that a florist broke the state’s anti-discrimination laws by refusing on religious grounds to provide flowers for the wedding of a gay couple, the Washington Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday. The court reaffirmed…
Christians and Abortion New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse recently wrote an op-ed in which she argues that recent anti-abortion laws are unconstitutional. According to her, they violate the Constitution’s First Amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free…
What happens when employers and employees no longer see eye to eye The Toronto Humane Society in Toronto. Google Street View By Shaun Bernstein and Stuart Rudner When we provide counsel to employers, we continually repeat one key phrase: “Your workplace, your rules.” Generally speaking, an employee’s refusal to carry…
In a recent article in Newsweek , a writer suggested that there may be people whose religion requires them to perform abortions, and therefore laws restricting the practice violate the Bill of Rights’ guarantee of the free exercise of religion. In a similar vein, the New York Times ’s Linda…
A Madison police officer cleans up a pile of shattered glass Wednesday in front of Lion of Judah House of Rastafari. Operations at Wisconsin’s first marijuana dispensary came to an abrupt end Wednesday when police swarmed the Lion of Judah House of Rastafari and arrested the two founders. “I woke…
By: Jacob Hornberger Imagine if Congress were to enact a law that required everyone to attend church on Sundays. The overwhelming majority of Americans would go up in arms. The concept of religious liberty is so deeply ingrained in our American heritage that there is no way that people, including…
Image source: YouTube/Christian Concern A medical professional who attempted to offer a Bible to a cancer patient was “rightly sacked” from her job, a court has heard. British nurse Sarah Kuteh was fired from Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent back in 2016 for talking to several patients about her…
A medical professional who attempted to offer a Bible to a cancer patient was “rightly sacked” from her job, a court has heard. British nurse Sarah Kuteh was fired from Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent back in 2016 for talking to several patients about her faith in Jesus and…
Douglas Strang Douglas Strang looks at the case law on religious discrimination in the workplace. Some of the most challenging HR/employment law issues of the recent years have related to religious discrimination and in particular the question of whether an employee can rely on their religious beliefs as justification for…
Not with a toilet flush, but with a whimper, the Senate State Affairs Committee sent a sweeping religious refusal bill to the full Senate Monday evening, March 25, after several hours of testimony from Texas residents, social workers, lawyers, and numerous members of the clergy. The Senate State Affairs Committee…
Baker Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, manages his shop after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he could refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs did not violate Colorado’s anti-discrimination law Monday, June 4, 2018, in Lakewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)…
Abdul Yamobi A trial date has been set for a Boone County Jail inmate accused of beating a Muslim inmate because he dislikes Muslims, according to court records. Michael D. Mathis, 24, of Lebanon, ruled A block, Muslim inmates reportedly told police after Mathis injured Abdul Yamobi, 54, Zionsville, on…
Collinsville Bible Baptist Paul Terrell, who played the trumpet for the Gaither Band for several years, will be performing at special services at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 5-6, at Collinsville Bible Baptist Church. Friday night’s topic will be "The Trump Shall Resound," with Terrell playing the trumpet as…
Canada’s Quebec province on Thursday unveiled controversial draft legislation that would ban a significant section of public servants from wearing religious symbols such as a crucifix, yarmulke or hijab. The measure which applies to police, teachers and others in positions of authority is expected to become law by June with…
Portland, Ore., has long prohibited religious discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation—but now the city will also expressly protect the nonreligious, including atheists, agnostics and others that don’t believe in a particular religion. Although discrimination based on the lack of religious beliefs is prohibited under Title VII of the…
(Photo by Rick Uldricks/Patch staff) AUSTIN, TEXAS — The attorney general of Texas said he has opened up an investigation stemming from the San Antonio City Council’s decision to exclude Chick-fil-A from an airport concession contract given the company’s opposition to same-sex marriage. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday…
Explore Recipes and Stories By Aleksandr Sverdlik / Guest Columnist One pork sandwich every eight hours for six straight days. That’s the only food that Border Patrol provided to Adnan Asif Parveen, a Muslim immigrant who was detained in South Texas in January because his work permit had expired and…
Residents celebrating religious harmony at the Punggol North Racial and Religious Harmony Street Parade last year. A new report by the Institute of Policy Studies has found that most Singaporeans feel that having different religious views is no barrier to getting along when living in close proximity. When it comes…
A federal rule was just published in the Federal Register. A single rule in a document that runs over 80,000 pages long may seem a small thing, but this particular rule marks the defeat of what many Americans perceive as an extended assault on religious freedom begun by the Obama…
Judith and Alan Gillis of Orrington, parents of Bangor Christian Schools junior Isabella Gillis at the school Aug. 28, 2018. The Gillis’ are one of three Maine families that are challenging the prohibition on using public money to pay tuition at religious schools after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.…
The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing in on the constitutional question of whether the symbol of Christ’s crucifixion is necessarily religious. The high court agreed Nov. 2 to review a lower court ruling that a 40-foot cross at the center of one of the busiest intersections in Prince George’s County,…