News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Seattle homeless encampment near school grows as school year set to begin Radio host Jason Rantz discusses why Seattle school board isn’t taking action towards removing homeless camp, as parents raise concerns While homelessness plagues the city of Seattle , one Christian group that looks to help those in need…
This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, the autonomy of faith-based nonprofits to hire only candidates who share their religious beliefs, and Apple’s attempt to shake up the process for contesting patent validity by expanding the jurisdiction of federal courts to…
Photo illustration by DNY59, iStock) A 7.5-year-old lawsuit that began when the Denver Sheriff Department’s chaplain denied a kosher diet to a detainee has ended on Monday, after the federal appeals court based in Colorado ruled that the chaplain deserved immunity for any infringement on the man’s free exercise of…
CANTON TWP. – The Canton Local school board will no longer begin its meetings with a prayer . Board President Scott Hamilton said Tuesday that the board made the decision to discontinue its longstanding practice of invocation after reviewing the laws and court cases surrounding the issue of prayer at…
A Wisconsin-based nonprofit that promotes the separation of church and state says the Canton Local school board is violating the Constitution by beginning its board meetings with a prayer. In a July 23 letter, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has requested the school board immediately stop scheduling prayers as part…
D. James Kennedy Photo: YouTube screenshot A federal court rejected a Florida megachurch’s defamation and religious discrimination lawsuit over how the SPLC labeled them a hate group for their anti-LGBTQ statements. In 2017 , Coral Ridge Ministries Media in Fort Lauderdale, Florida filed a lawsuit against the SPLC after they…
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has ruled that a Christian web designer must create websites that conflict with her religious views. In a 2-1 decision released Monday , the circuit panel ruled against Lorie Smith and her web design company, 303 Creative,…
Key Cases Church Autonomy Ministerial Exception Doctrine Bars Minister-on-Minister Hostile Work Environment Claim In Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City , No. 19-2142, 2021 WL 2880232 (7th Cir. July 9, 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled on interlocutory appeal that the ministerial…
CALUMET CITY, Ill. – A decision involving the former music director at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish (shown here), a Catholic church in Calumet City, Ill., was praised by religious liberty advocates. (BP photo from Facebook) CHICAGO (BP) – Religious freedom advocates praised a federal appeals court opinion that protects…
Just In… Last summer, I wrote , “The Supreme Court has never been more protective of religious freedom in its history.” This term, the court’s “pro-religion” streak has continued — and then some. First, there were the COVID-19 cases. Initially, the court was reluctant to grant emergency relief, declining to…
Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, right, and his new justice minister, André Mendonça, attend his swearing-in ceremony at the Planalto presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) SÃO PAULO (RNS) — Only a few months after taking office in January of 2019, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro…
Key Cases Church Autonomy Ministerial Exception Doctrine Bars Minister-on-Minister Hostile Work Environment Claim In Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City , No. 19-2142, 2021 WL 2880232 (7th Cir. July 9, 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled on interlocutory appeal that the ministerial…
A decision involving the former music director at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, a Catholic church in Calumet City, Illinois, was praised by religious liberty advocates. (Facebook photo) CHICAGO (BP) – Religious freedom advocates praised a federal appeals court opinion that protects the freedom of churches and other religious groups…
Three recent precedents have ‘really increased the amount of protection for religious freedom.’ In recent years, the Supreme Court has shown a greater willingness to protect the First Amendment right of free exercise of religion from state and municipal regulation. In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission in 2018,…
(Photo : First Liberty Institute) Judge Wayne Mack A federal appeals court reportedly allowed a judge from Texas to resume his chaplain-led prayers while the First Amendment lawsuit against his tradition continues. The Christian Post said Montgomery County Justice of the Peace Judge Wayne Mack was allowed by the United…
Last week, the court reached a favorable settlement for Capitol Hill Baptist Church with the District of Columbia in the case Capitol Hill Baptist Church v. Muriel E. Bowser . “We are grateful for the work of NRB Member First Liberty in helping the faithful, gospel-preaching congregation at Capitol Hill…
Jackson Lewis Law Firm Logo On July 9, 2021, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, issued a 7-3 decision in the closely watched case Sandor Demkovich v. St Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City and the Archdiocese of Chicago . The Seventh Circuit found that…
An appellate court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against a Temperance priest who criticized a teenager’s suicide during his funeral after his parents specifically asked for privacy regarding the circumstances behind the teen’s death. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled the Rev. Don LaCuesta, pastor of Our Lady of…
July 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up a challenge by two families with children attending Christian schools to a Maine tuition assistance program that bars taxpayer money from being used to pay for religious educational institutions in a case that could further narrow the separation…
The District of Columbia and Mayor Muriel Bowser have agreed to pay $220,000 as part of a legal settlement with a local Baptist church that sued the city over in-person worship restrictions during the pandemic. Last September, Capitol Hill Baptist Church sued the district over the government’s ban on outdoor…
Can Barronelle Stutzman, a Christian, run her flower shop in keeping with her faith? The Supreme Court — with determinative votes cast by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh — has effectively decided she cannot. “My faith is a part of every aspect of…
Can Barronelle Stutzman , a Christian, run her flower shop in keeping with her faith? The Supreme Cour t—with determinative votes cast by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett , and Justice Brett Kavanaugh —has effectively decided she cannot. “My faith is a part of every aspect of…
The U.S. Supreme Court will take up a challenge to a Maine law that bars students from using public funding for tuition at religious schools. Local school administrative units that do not have their own secondary schools can pay a certain amount in tuition for students to attend outside public…
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is among three justices who turned their backs on a Christian flower shop owner. (Photo by GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) Can Barronelle Stutzman, a Christian, run her flower shop in keeping with her faith? The Supreme Court — with determinative votes cast by…
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether Maine may exclude religious schools that offer sectarian education from a state tuition program. The case, Carson v. Makin, No. 20-1088, is broadly similar to one from Montana decided by the court last year. In that case, the court…