News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
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,…
The Supreme Court will hear a key school choice case challenging a state ban on using tax-credit scholarships at religious schools, justices announced Friday. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in December that the state’s tax-credit scholarship plan violated a provision in the state constitution barring public funding for religious education.…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a case that could once again test boundaries for the separation of church and state, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide the legality of a Montana state tax credit that could help students attend private schools including religious ones. A man stands outside…
The U.S. Supreme Court issued yet another (potential) victory this month for a cross memorial—this time in Pensacola, Florida. In a decision Friday, the high court vacated previous lower court rulings arguing the historic World War II-era cross in Bayview Park violates the separation of church and state, according to…
American Legion v. American Humanist Association . There’s something attractive in the names of the parties in the Supreme Court’s recent decision on church and state. Both organizations, the veterans’ group formed after World War I and the secular humanists’ group founded decades later, want to tell you how American…
There’s something attractive in the party names in the Supreme Court’s decision on the relationship between government and religion: American Legion v. American Humanist Association. Both organizations, the veterans group formed after World War I and the secular humanist group founded the year this nation entered World War II, want…
There’s something attractive in the party names in the Supreme Court’s decision on the relationship between government and religion: American Legion v. American Humanist Association. Both organizations, the veterans group formed after World War I and the secular humanist group founded the year this nation entered World War II, want…
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…
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…
The Bladensburg Peace Cross. (Mark Gail/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) The Supreme Court was able to find a small patch of common ground sufficient to resolve the Bladensburg Peace Cross case, but the various opinions in the decision announced on Thursday reveal the deepest fissures among the justices on the most…
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…
The Supreme Court was able to find a small patch of common ground sufficient to resolve the Bladensburg Peace Cross case, but the various opinions in the decision announced on Thursday reveal the deepest fissures among the justices on the most fundamental questions concerning the Constitution’s establishment clause. First, the…
Mark Levin and Michael McConnell on the separation of church and state The phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers saw nothing wrong with having religion in American culture, according to an expert. While Congress is prohibited from enacting a state religion,…
On Thursday, the Supreme Court held in American Legion v. American Humanist Ass’n , that Prince George County, Md., could leave standing a 32-foot-tall Latin cross that had been erected in 1925 to memorialize the sacrifice of local soldiers killed in World War I. Nearly 90 years after a Catholic…
Harry Litman Hide caption The Supreme Court was able to find a small patch of common ground sufficient to resolve the Bladensburg Peace Cross case, but the various opinions in the decision announced on Thursday reveal the deepest fissures among the justices on the most fundamental questions concerning the Constitution’s…
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 Bladensburg World War I Memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland. It’s hard to think of a more aptly named legal doctrine than the Supreme Court’s Lemon Test. Created in 1971’s Lemon v. Kurtzman , it is meant to determine when government action violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The…
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…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking an Alabama High School to task after 18 football players were baptized last month. According to Fox News , 18 players for the Washington County High school were baptized in a feeding trough by Chatom Baptist Church’s pastor in May. The event was…
Tom Rumble photo | Unsplash By Aaron Earls Pastors can rest a little easier in their homes today knowing they or their churches won’t have to pay any additional taxes on their residences—for now. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the…
FREDERICKSBURG — A couple living in the Evergreens at Smith Run in Fredericksburg is suing the senior-living facility, claiming it violated their religious freedom rights. Attorneys for Ken and Liv Hauge argue in federal court filings that the couple was not allowed to hold Bible studies, that staff prohibited the…
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.…
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…