News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Attorney Jonathan Scruggs, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, speaks following his legal arguments in January at the Supreme Court that the sincerely held religious beliefs of business owners allows them to turn away gay customers. (Capitol Media Services file photos by Howard Fischer) By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services |…
Jeremy Dys is deputy general counsel to First Liberty Institute, a non-profit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all. Prayer at legislative gatherings is as old as the United States—perhaps older, if we reach back in time to the Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth Rock. Legislative prayer is such…
Skip to main content A Pensacola law enforcement officer is suing his state employer over claims he was unlawfully prevented from sharing his Christian beliefs in his workplace. In a federal civil trial that began Wednesday in Tallahassee, Kevin Fiedor claims that the Florida Department of Financial Services violated his…
Capitol Media Services PHOENIX — Anti-discrimination laws do not trump the rights of business owners to refuse to provide certain services to gays, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. In a divided decision, the majority concluded that the owners of Brush & Nib Studios have a constitutional right to refuse…
A Deschutes County proposal to allow churches in areas zoned to help deer, elk and antelope has a land use group and a state agency concerned about the impacts on wildlife that need undisturbed tracts of land for habitat, food and migration. A proposal before the county planning commission seeks…
In what many have dubbed “Masterpiece Cakeshop 2.0,” the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday in a pivotal case regarding freedom of expression. The Arizona high court found that a Phoenix law violated the free speech rights of religious business owners Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib…
Transgender activists rallied at the White House in October to protest the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ policies. Stating that California’s interest in fighting discrimination against LGBTQ residents outweighs the right to impose religious standards on healthcare, an appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit against the Catholic Dignity Health hospital chain for…
PHOENIX (CNS) — Arizona’s Catholic bishops praised the state Supreme Court’s Sept. 16 decision upholding the refusal by two Christian artists to create custom wedding invitations for same-sex couples based on their religious belief in marriage as being between one man and one woman. “We are grateful that the importance…
Source: National Archives via AP September 17 th is Constitution Day. One wonders how many Americans will take notice. After all, no one is getting a day off, there aren’t any mattress sales, and nobody ever got insta-famous talking about our founding document. Maybe that needs to change. Ours is…
All quiet on the Arizona Supreme Court building steps following the September 16 ruling. In a 4-3 opinion, The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Phoenix-based Brush & Nib Studio, a small business that refused to produce wedding invitations for LGBTQ couples. (This is a breaking news story,…
Screen capture from the video “Getting to know the artists of Brush & Nib” The Arizona State Supreme Court has ruled Phoenix-based company Brush & Nib, which designs custom wedding invitations, may turn away same-sex couples looking to engage their services. According to the Phoenix New Times , the owners…
POLITICS In narrow ruling on Phoenix law protecting LGBT residents, court says Brush & Nib owners don’t have to create invitations for same-sex marriages. PHOENIX — Editor’s Note: The above video is an interview with the Brush & Nib owners from earlier this year. In a narrow ruling on a…
(Facebook Photo/Brush & Nib Studio) The Arizona Supreme Court issued an eagerly anticipated ruling in Brush & Nib et al. v. City of Phoenix on Monday. It decided that a person’s deeply held religious belief overrides the need to treat all people equally, including those in same-sex marriages, at least…
In democratic pluralist and secular societies, freedom of religion is a fundamental right to be enjoyed by all individuals. The most unique feature of this human right is the extent to which it is premised on personal belief. For the most part in Uganda, under the 1995 constitution, different faiths…
Nicole Russell is a contributor to The Daily Signal. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, National Review, Politico, The Washington Times, The American Spectator, and Parents Magazine. First Amendment advocates are celebrating a ruling that marks the first federal court victory to address the free…
Tweet reddit Upvote Downvote Photo image from Shutterstock. A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated a challenge to Minnesota’s anti-bias law by videographers who say they can’t be required to make same-sex wedding videos because it would violate their religious beliefs. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…
Photo Submitted FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Should Native Americans be allowed to sacramentally ingest peyote with no criminal penalties? Does a crèche belong on the courthouse lawn? And what about the 8-foot-tall bronze statue of the satanic goat monster Baphomet, briefly on view last year at the Arkansas Capitol building? Mark…
D.J. Tice @StribDJ America has always been an experiment in the limits of diversity. How deeply and in how many ways can a people differ and disagree, and even disapprove of one another’s ways of life, and still remain “a people” — a community with enough shared values to stay…
Carl and Angel Larsen, the couple who owns the Minnesota-based Telescope Media Group. In Dec. 2016, the Larsens filed suit against a state law that would compel them to film same-sex wedding ceremonies despite their religious objections. An appeals court has ruled in favor of a Christian couple who oversee…
Roger Rollins “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” — U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” — Bible A principal in Long…
The Government of Uganda has for a while sought to “regulate” religious freedoms under the guise of protecting its citizens. This has essentially taken the form of the controversial Religious and Faith-Based Organizations (RFBOs) Policy whose proponents are majorly officials in the Office of the President and the Directorate of…
Prime Minister Scott Morrison (centre) with faith community leaders. FOLLOWING last year’s Religious Freedom Review conducted by an expert panel headed by Philip Ruddock, and the publication of its report, the Australian government announced its intention to introduce a new law, a Religious Discrimination Act, to prohibit discrimination on the…
Morgan Bardonstone, 18, of Unity, right, and Ambrose Donth, 19, of Claremont, pass by a large menorah on display as part of the holiday decorations in Broad Street Park in Claremont, N.H., Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. City resident Sam Killay, an atheist, has registered a complaint with the city council…
The Federal Building in Burlington houses the U.S. District Courthouse and the U.S. Postal Service. Photo by Bob LoCicero/VTDigger Attorneys for the state defended Vermont’s dual enrollment program in federal court Friday, asking U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss to dismiss a lawsuit that argues the program discriminates against students…
This is disappointing: An Appeals Court has ruled in favor of a Christian logo representing a Pennsylvania county, overturning an earlier ruling that said (fairly obviously) that the symbol was a promotion of religion. The battle began in 2016 when the lawsuit was filed. A judge later declared that the…