News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for July 15 The city of Boston, Mass. is being sued for religious discrimination for banning the Christian flag while permitting 284 others, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week. Hal Shurtleff, the director and co-founder of Camp Constitution, asked the city to…
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week on the fate of the "Peace Cross," a World War I memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland that some say violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause. The case could impact memorials nationwide. (Feb. 25) AP WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that…
This week, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the 40-foot tall Bladensburg Peace Cross can remain on public land, in the middle of a busy intersection. The cross is owned and maintained by the State of Maryland. The Court reversed the Fourth Circuit’s decision that the display was an unconstitutional…
There has been much debate about religious liberty lately. On one side, evangelical Christians argue that their faith is under attack from those attempting to reduce their influence in culture. On the other side, proponents of church-state separation contend that some Christians breech the wall of separation as they seek…
Pensacola’s Bayview Park cross lawsuit is going back to court. The Supreme Court has vacated previous rulings in the case that the cross violates the separation of church and state and has ordered the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case in light of the high court’s…
A pillar of the contemporary conservative movement is hostility to the separation of church and state. For much of the movement, it’s not just that church and state should be tight partners but also that the United States is and should be a Christian country. Their aims have been achieved…
Peace Cross 1. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment On June 20, 2019, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of The American Legion vs. American Humanist Association that keeping a Peace Cross on public land does not violate the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. The…
You’d think the moral bullies would leave Jack Phillips alone. The Colorado baker had declined to make a cake for a same-sex wedding due to his religious beliefs, and gay activists went after him. They pulled in the Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission. Now’s he’s back under fire. Even after his…
Photo Credit: Freedom From Religion Foundation WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated a lower court ruling finding a Florida cross monument unconstitutional and has instructed the court to review the case in light of its other ruling last week upholding a similar cross display. “The judgment is vacated,…
A veterans memorial located in Bladensburg, Maryland. Last week’s cross decision was a major case for religious liberty. Perhaps it even spells the death knell of the so-called Lemon Test…an aptly-named decision from the early 1970s that has often been used against any religious expression in the public square. The…
COVINGTON COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) – The Covington County sheriff is responding to a letter that accuses him of unconstitutional religious promotion on the “Covington County Sheriffs Department” Facebook page. The letter , sent to Sheriff Blake Turman by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said a concerned resident in the county…
Source: Algerina Perna /The Baltimore Sun via AP, File Last week’s cross decision was a major case for religious liberty. Perhaps it even spells the death knell of the so-called Lemon Test…an aptly-named decision from the early 1970s that has often been used against any religious expression in the public…
June 20 A 40-foot cross erected as a tribute to World War I dead may continue to stand on public land in Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting arguments that it represented an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The vote was 7 to 2 for the Bladensburg Peace Cross, which…
Covington County Sheriff Blake Turman defended religious posts he’s made on the “Covington County Sheriffs Department” Facebook page after a national organization called them unconstitutional. (Source: WSFA 12 News) COVINGTON COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) – The Covington County sheriff is responding to a letter that accuses him of unconstitutional religious promotion…
Holly Hollman is general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, which submitted an amicus brief in support of the respondents in The American Legion v. American Humanist Association . When the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in the Bladensburg cross case , many church-state separationists feared a…
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: It is June, and that means the U.S. Supreme Court is issuing decisions and winding up its term. Today, the nine justices weighed in on the separation of church and state. By a 7-2 margin, the court ruled that a 40-foot cross, a World War I…
The Supreme Court Thursday ruled that a large cross erected as a memorial to the dead may continue to stand on public land in Maryland because it has many secular purposes. In other words, the real verdict on the “Peace Cross” case is: Be careful what you wish for. This…
The 40-foot Maryland Peace Cross, erected in 1925 on public land in Bladensburg, Md., as a tribute to 49 World War I veterans, can continue to stand despite being a symbol of Christianity, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot cross…
Supreme Court says 40-foot Maryland cross can stand as war memorial The Supreme Court said Thursday the Constitution did not require tearing down historic monuments just because they featured religious symbols, such as crosses or the Ten Commandments. In a 7-2 decision, the high court upheld the display of a…
Michael Robinson Chavez/Washington Post The “Peace Cross,” the focus of an intense court case regarding its upkeep and placement on public land, stands at a busy intersection in Bladensburg, Md. By Robert Barnes | Washington Post WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot cross erected as a…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has decided, wisely, to end its battle over a huge unconstitutional tax break for religious leaders. The perk is known as the “Parsonage Exemption” and it’s the loophole that allows ministers to deduct the cost of rent of their church-owned houses from their taxable income.…
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,…
Pussy Riot performs in concert during Day For Night festival on December 16, 2017 in Houston, Texas © Getty Images / Gary Miller Two recent rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demonstrate not only that it’s a political and hypocritical organization. They also show the severe structural…
China (MNN) – China may finally be making the move to re-write the Bible. Bob Fu, founder of China Aid , a persecution watchdog group, raised the alarm this month, in an address to members of the U-S government. According to him, the Three Self Patriotic Movement and the Chinese…
Hide caption By Diane Smith / Reporter A nativity scene that was added to the Christmas display at the Ravenna Courthouse Lawn last year was the subject of complaints, including a letter from an out-of-state group that advocates for the separation of church and state. Rebecca Markert, legal director of…