Click here to view full article at www.pnj.com Buy Photo The fate of Pensacola’s Bayview Park cross now rests with three federal judges after oral arguments were held Wednesday morning in Atlanta in the appeal of last year’s lower federal court ruling ordering the cross be removed from the public…
Agreement limits religious expression
Click here to view full article at press-herald.com ACLU declares victory in case The Webster Parish School Board and the American Civil Liberties Union have reached the first stage of a settlement in their religious promotion lawsuit, a settlement which includes judgment in favor of the ACLU. A consent decree…
Fight over cross at Florida public park resumes before appeals court
Click here to view full article at www.nola.com A federal appeals court in Atlanta will hear arguments Wednesday on whether this cross should be removed from Bayview Park in Pensacola. (AL.com/Image courtesy of Becket) A 34-foot Christian cross at a public park in Pensacola, Fla., will be the subject of…
Congressman Johnson, leading religious freedom defenders issue letter on SB 512
Click here to view full article at bossierpress.com This joint letter is being submitted in response to questions that have been raised by members of the Louisiana Legislature concerning the legality and feasibility of (Senate Bill 512 of the 2018 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature). We write today to…
Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine Requires Dismissal of Priest’s Defamation Suit
Click here to view full article at religionclause.blogspot.com In Diocese of Palm Beach, Inc. v. Gallagher , (FL App., May 9, 2018), a Florida state appellate court held that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine requires dismissal of a defamation suit brought by a Catholic priest against the diocese in which he…
University of Michigan Sued Over Anti-Bias Rules
Click here to view full article at religionclause.blogspot.com A lawsuit was filed yesterday in Michigan federal district court against the University of Michigan challenging provisions in its disciplinary code prohibiting harassment, bullying and bias-related conduct, and enforcement of these provisions by the University’s Bias Response Team. The lawsuit contends that…
ACLU, others file brief urging court to force cross off Lehigh County seal
Click here to view full article at www.mcall.com The Lehigh County seal (Contributed Photo / THE MORNING CALL) A group of 20 religious and civil rights organizations have filed a brief supporting a federal court’s ruling against Lehigh County, arguing the county seal is unconstitutional because features a cross .…
ACLU, others file brief urging court to force cross off Lehigh County seal
Click here to view full article at www.mcall.com The Lehigh County seal (Contributed Photo / THE MORNING CALL) A group of 20 religious and civil rights organizations have filed a brief supporting a federal court’s ruling against Lehigh County, arguing the county seal is unconstitutional because features a cross .…
EEOC: Medical plan provider forced employees to partake in religious ceremonies
Click here to view full article at legalnewsline.com NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced April 26 that United Health Program of America Inc., a discount medical plan provider, and parent company Cost Containment Group Inc. (CCG), will pay $5.1 million after allegedly coercing…
EEOC: Medical plan provider forced employees to partake in religious ceremonies
Click here to view full article at legalnewsline.com NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced April 26 that United Health Program of America Inc., a discount medical plan provider, and parent company Cost Containment Group Inc. (CCG), will pay $5.1 million after allegedly coercing…
ACLU, others file brief urging court to force cross off Lehigh County seal
Click here to view full article at www.mcall.com The Lehigh County seal (Contributed Photo / THE MORNING CALL) A group of 20 religious and civil rights organizations have filed a brief supporting a federal court’s ruling against Lehigh County, arguing the county seal is unconstitutional because features a cross .…
ACLU, others file brief urging court to force cross off Lehigh County seal
Click here to view full article at www.mcall.com The Lehigh County seal (Contributed Photo / THE MORNING CALL) A group of 20 religious and civil rights organizations have filed a brief supporting a federal court’s ruling against Lehigh County, arguing the county seal is unconstitutional because features a cross .…
European Court of Justice limits employment policies of religious organisations
Click here to view full article at evangelicalfocus.com European Court of Justice. In recent years, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the American Supreme Court have taken some decisions regarding the hiring of religious employees. For example, in 2012 a teacher laid off from a school linked to…
Court Admonishes Village for Adopting Laws with a Discriminatory Purpose
Click here to view full article at www.jdsupra.com Local governments in New York may regulate land use within their borders directly through their zoning codes and indirectly by adopting a variety of other statutes and regulations. There are, however, limits to their power. Municipalities, of course, must not discriminate on…
Kirkpatrick: The First Amendment protects religion from the state, not the other way around
Click here to view full article at www.greeleytribune.com Kirkpatrick, R. Craig Recently, a series of letters have appeared on the editorial page of The Tribune addressing the issue of religious practice within our public square. One writer offered an opinion of those who argue that teaching the Bible should be…
Law and religion round-up – 6th May
Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com Local elections apart, such a quiet week that on Saturday The Sun led with the story that a bloke was buying a suit… …and the newspaper both created and solved the Church Mystery: Grave of woman who died in 2011 mysteriously appears…
Q&A with Derek Ensminger: Recent case addresses tension between laws protecting religious exercise
Click here to view full article at newsok.com Derek Ensminger is an employment law attorney with Hartzog Conger Cason & Neville. Derek Ensminger is associate general counsel for labor and employment for Sonic Corp., and an Oklahoma City University adjunct employment law professor. Recent case addresses tension between laws protecting…
Contraception, unions, Title IX — Catholic colleges push back on government rules
Click here to view full article at www.ncronline.org Students wait in line outside the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in 2015. (CNS/University of Notre Dame/Barbara Johnston) The University of Notre Dame changed its mind again earlier this year. Holy Cross Fr.…
Re-use of institutional burial grounds
Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com Saved by S5 Disused Burial Grounds Act 1884, or not? Disused burial grounds both old and ancient frequently feature in Midsomer Murders . In real life, however, their reuse is an on-going concern in view of the growing shortage of burial space.…
Jury awards $5.1 million to employees of ‘Onionhead’ devotee
Click here to view full article at www.businessinsurance.com Reprints A jury in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn has awarded $5.1 million to 10 workers who said their health-network employer had forced them to participate in group prayers and other religious activities as part of the “Onionhead” religion, in a case…
Jury Awards $5.1 Million For Workers in EEOC Religious Discrimination Case Against United Health Programs of America, Inc. And Cost Containment Group, Inc.
Click here to view full article at www.jdsupra.com Health Network Violated Federal Law by Creating a Hostile Work Environment through Forced Participation in Religious Activities, Jury Found NEW YORK – Following a three-week trial, on April 25, a unanimous Brooklyn federal jury found that United Health Programs of America, Inc,…
Companies that foisted ‘Onionhead’ religion on their workers must pay $5.1M, jury says
Click here to view full article at www.crainsnewyork.com Photo: YouTube/LoveOnionhead Onionhead A federal jury in Brooklyn has awarded $5.1 million in damages to 10 former employees of a Long Island discount health plan and its parent company, finding the companies violated federal laws by coercing the workers to engage in…
Large fine for refusing to supply same sex wedding cake upheld in Oregon
There have been a number of “wedding industry” religious freedom cases arising in the United States and the UK over the last few years. On 28 December 2017 the Oregon Court of Appeals, in Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries ( CA Or; Dec 28, 2017, — P.3d…
Petitions Court to Stop Mandatory Autopsies of Dying Plaintiffs
Click here to view full article at www.businesswire.com SEATTLE–( BUSINESS WIRE )–Seattle law firm Bergman Draper Oslund has filed a petition with the King County Superior Court, asking the Court to amend its standing order requiring autopsies in all asbestos cases where the plaintiff dies during the pendency of the…
FFRF Fights to End Clergy Housing Tax-Break
Click here to view full article at www.worldreligionnews.com Alliance Defending Freedom counters the Freedom From Religion Foundation with a petition campaign to save the Ministerial Housing Allowance. Churches and pastors in the Chicago area have appealed a ruling made in 2017 which declared clergy housing tax breaks to be unconstitutional.…