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.…
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.…
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.…
European Court Interprets Provision Allowing Churches To Hire On Basis of Religion
Click here to view full article at religionclause.blogspot.com In Egenberger v. Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung eV , (CJEU, April 17, 2018), the Court of Justice of the European Union in a preliminary ruling by its Grand Chamber interpreted Council Directive 2000/78/EC which bars employment discrimination on the basis…
German Church could face legal challenge after European court ruling
Click here to view full article at www.catholicherald.co.uk The European Court of Justice Requirement for Church employees to have a ‘religious affiliation’ could violate anti-discrimination laws Germany’s Catholic Church has said it would review its employment system after top European judges warned it could violate anti-discrimination laws by requiring employees…
German church to review employment practices after European court ruling
Click here to view full article at catholicphilly.com The towers of the European Court of Justice are seen in Luxembourg. Germany’s Catholic Church said it would review its employment system, after top European judges warned it could violate anti-discrimination laws by requiring staffers to be religious. (CNS photo/Francois Lenoir, Reuters)…
Salvation outside the church? CJEU rules on religious discrimination in employment — Dr Ronan McCrea
Click here to view full article at ukhumanrightsblog.com The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued its first major ruling on the reconciliation of the autonomy rights of religious organisations with the right of employees (or potential employees) of such organisations to be free of discrimination. Background In…
More Rulings In South Carolina Episcopal Church Split
Click here to view full article at religionclause.blogspot.com Earlier this week, a South Carolina federal district court issued another opinion in the long-running battle between competing Episcopal Church factions in South Carolina. While the underlying dispute over which faction owns church property has been litigated in state court, a federal…
Religion and the Genuine Occupational Requirement: Egenberger – the judgment
Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com In Vera Egenberger v Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung eV [2018] EUECJ C-414/16 , the Grand Chamber of the CJEU has reaffirmed that, in cases where religion or belief organisations impose a Genuine Occupational Requirement when recruiting staff, that requirement must…
Knowing your rights
Click here to view full article at press-herald.com Johnson, Landry hold Freedom Student Summit Partially in response to ongoing litigations against the Webster and Bossier Parish School Boards, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and U.S. Representative Mike Johnson published the Student Rights Review in January, a reminder to students of…
Church property again: Christian Baptist Church
Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com The issue of expropriated church property has come up again, this time in Poland. Background In Christian Baptist Church in Wrocław v Poland [2018] ECHR (no. 32045/10 , the Church applied to the Governor of Wrocław In May 1996 for a decision…
Has The Free Exercise Clause Become A Free Pass to Discriminate?
Click here to view full article at forward.com Lori Windham (R), senior counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, joins supporters in front of the Supreme Court after the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores June 30, 2014 in Washington, DC. The First Amendment to the Constitution forbids…
Catholic Benefits Association wins suit filed in 2014 against HHS mandate
Click here to view full article at cruxnow.com A group of Little Sisters of the Poor are joined by other women as they walk down the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington in 2016 after attending oral arguments in the Zubik v. Burwell contraceptive mandate case. (Credit: CNS…
Recent queries and comments – late March
Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com More answers to readers’ queries and comments Below is a further compilation of “Quick Answers” to questions which have arisen from searches of, or comments during the past couple of weeks, providing links to our blog posts addressing these issues. As before,…
The House of Commons debates freedom of religion or belief
On 1 March, the House of Commons held a debate in Westminster Hall on freedom of religion or belief (FORB), introduced by Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP), Chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief, which – he pointed out, “speaks on behalf of those with…
Reynolds, “The Judiciary’s Class War”
Here is another new book that addresses the impact of culture on law, The Judiciary’s Class War (Encounter Books), by University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds. As I wrote in Monday’s post, cultural values profoundly American influence church-state law. Reynolds, who also hosts the InstaPundit blog, points out…
Hospital Can Assert Ministerial Exception Defense To Suit By Chaplain
In Penn v. New York Methodist Hospital , (2d Cir., March 7, 2018), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision held that a hospital "only historically connected to the United Methodist Church but still providing religious services through its pastoral care department" may invoke the ministerial…
Law and religion round-up – 11th March
IICSA begins hearings on the Church of England, Ireland clears the way for a referendum on abortion and the President of the Supreme Court tackles the vexed question of niqabs in court. Lady Hale on religious dress The Supreme Court website has posted the text of Lady Hale’s Sultan Azlan…
Balancing Religious Freedom Rights is not “Discrimination”
Australia is in the middle of a debate as to the extent to which religious freedom rights should be accommodated in legislation introducing “same sex marriage” (SSM). Those who object to this idea tell us that: Christian conservatives – following the lead of their counterparts in the United States –…
10th Circuit: ERISA “Church Plan” Exemption Does Not Violate Establishment Clause
In Medina v. Catholic Health Initiatives , (10th Cir., Dec. 19, 2017), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Catholic Health Initiatives retirement plan for employees of 92 hospitals qualifies as a “church plan” under ERISA. One of the issues in the case was resolved by the Supreme…
Gingras, “Science and Religion: An Impossible Dialogue”
We are delayed in noticing this book by Yves Gingras, a historian of science, concerning the very popular idea of “dialogue” between religion and science. Gingras takes the unfashionable view that there may be nothing much to talk about in Science and Religion: An Impossible Dialogue (Wiley Press). Indeed, “dialogue”…
Law and religion round-up – 7th January
Marriage and parochial fees, Gift Aid, Scientologists, hijabs, Brexit – and priority for Buddhist monks… Marriage certificates The Sunday Times reported (£) on New Year’s Eve that the Home Office is likely to approve the inclusion of mothers’ names on marriage certificates. According to the report, “A Home Office source…
“Christianity and Natural Law” (Doe, ed.)
Within Christian thought, natural law is typically seen as a Catholic concept, indeed, as a concept that distinguishes Catholicism from other Christian communions, like Orthodoxy and Protestantism–the former of which rejects natural law as too cerebral and the latter as too optimistic, given fallen human nature. A new collection of…
The SEC, same sex marriage, and the Primate’s Meeting
Primus generates less heat than some predicted The Scottish Episcopal Church has issued the following Press Release on the address of the Primus to the Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting, [our emphasis]. Primus addresses the Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting October 3, 2017 Primus addresses the Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting on Scottish…
Free speech and vilification in the marriage law postal survey
Australia is involved in a debate about whether same sex marriage should be introduced. The question is being put to the electors in the form of a voluntary postal survey, the question in which is simply: “Should the law be changed to allow same sex couples to marry?” The original…