I think this is generally quite right, and indeed an important victory for academic freedom; professors, including those at public colleges, have to be able to speak freely about religious belief systems (whether Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or anything else), no less than other belief systems. From Sabra v.…
Despite ruling for Christian photographer, Louisville will still enforce gay rights law
Louisville Metro will continue to enforce the Fairness Ordinance to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, despite a federal judge’s preliminary ruling last week blocking punishment of a Christian photographer who says she will shoot only weddings between a man and a woman. Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell said Tuesday…
Religious liberty ruling for wedding photographer commended
Alliance Defending Freedom photo Chelsey Nelson runs a wedding photography and blogging business in Louisville. She is involved in a suit against Jefferson County Metro Government. A court decision in support of a Kentucky photographer who declines to shoot same-sex weddings is a victory for religious freedom , advocates for…
Justin Walker Takes a Shot at Ruth Bader Ginsburg While Ruling Woman Can Refuse to Photograph Same-Sex Weddings
A Kentucky woman is determined to refuse service to LGBT clients, and the latest Trump appointee on the D.C. Circuit just ruled in her favor. This time, we’re talking wedding photos instead of cakes. Wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson sued the city of Louisville over its anti-discrimination “Fairness Ordinance,” and the…
Justin Walker Takes a Shot at Ruth Bader Ginsburg While Ruling Woman Can Refuse to Photograph Same-Sex Weddings
A Kentucky woman is determined to refuse service to LGBT clients, and the latest Trump appointee on the D.C. Circuit just ruled in her favor. This time, we’re talking wedding photos instead of cakes. Wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson sued the city of Louisville over its anti-discrimination “Fairness Ordinance,” and the…
John MacArthur’s church can worship Sunday with singing, no attendance cap: judge
Pastor John MacArthur announced during the Shepherd’s Conference held earlier this month that next year’s conference will include a summit on biblical inerrancy. Photo taken March 7, 2014. Pastor John MacArthur, whose Grace Community Church had been holding in-person services in violation of the state’s COVID-19 health orders, is celebrating…
Judge decides it’s OK for a photographer to refuse to work a same-sex wedding – even though no one has ever asked her to
Chelsey Nelson (Alliance Defending Freedom) A federal judge has decided that it’s OK for a photographer to refuse to work a same-sex wedding – despite the fact that nobody has ever asked her to do so. Chelsey Nelson, of Chelsey Nelson Photography, describes herself on her website as “a Louisville,…
Federal judge rules Louisville wedding photographer can refuse service to same-sex couples
Louisville wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson filed a federal lawsuit to block the Fairness Ordinance LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A federal judge said the city of Louisville cannot enforce its Fairness Ordinance against a local business owner who does not want to photograph same-sex weddings. Chelsey Nelson filed a lawsuit in…
NAMB files en banc request, First Liberty Institute joins case
NAMB headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga. (BP photo) NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board has asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a hearing by the full court in order to reconsider a ruling in a…
Lawsuit seeks to toss social distancing, mask requirements in Minnesota churches
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. Scott Olson / Getty Images MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, August 14, 2020 ( Thomas More Society ) — The Thomas More Society filed a federal lawsuit against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz yesterday for his Executive Orders requiring face masks at religious worship services. The United States District…
Churches Sue Governor Over Religious Liberty Violation
Cornerstone Church in Alexandria (Minneapolis, MN) The Thomas More Society filed a federal lawsuit against Douglas County Attorney Chad Larson alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on August 13, 2020, over Executive Orders requiring face masks at religious worship services. The United States District Court complaint is on behalf of three…
California Megachurch Sues State Over COVID Mandates
Within days of opening his church to worship services in July, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, received a “cease and desist” order from Los Angeles County. The order started off gently: “The County requests that you immediately cease holding indoor worship services or other…
Key California Employment Law Cases: July 2020
Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049 (2020) Summary: The ministerial exception, grounded in First Amendment’s religion clauses, barred teachers’ employment discrimination claims where teachers educated their students in the Catholic faith and guided their students to live their lives in accordance with that faith. Read…
Did The Satanic Temple Sue Over Missouri Abortion Law?
Image via YouTube, Screen capture A 2018 lawsuit brought by a member of The Satanic Temple (TST) against a Missouri abortion law spurred a debate about religious liberty and abortion rights. Judy Doe, the name given to the plaintiff in the suit, claimed that the state of Missouri’s law requiring…
Satanic Temple declares abortion ‘religious ritual;’ claims it provides ‘spiritual comfort’
An image from The Satanic Temple. | Facebook/The Satanic Temple The Satanic Temple launched its Religious Reproductive Rights campaign Wednesday, declaring abortion as a sacred "religious ritual" in an effort to circumvent state regulations on abortion by exerting their members’ religious freedom protections. In a video posted on YouTube as…
First Amendment Timeline: 21st Century
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment to…
John MacArthur retains Trump lawyer in fight over COVID restrictions
A personal lawyer to President Donald Trump has been retained by high-profile pastor John MacArthur and his Grace Community Church in a COVID-19 fight with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the City of Los Angeles. Grace Community Church has defied government health mandates that prohibit large gatherings to prevent the…
Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church Represented by All-Star Legal Team
NEWS PROVIDED BY Thomas More Society LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5, 2020 / Christian Newswire / — The Thomas More Society announces that nationally renowned attorneys Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri will represent Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, California, as Special Counsel. Grace Community Church, its…
U.S. Supreme Court Holds Employment Discrimination Claims of Religious School Teachers Are Barred by the First Amendment
On July 8, 2020, the United States Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision held that the “ministerial exemption” which prohibits courts from considering employment disputes of certain employees of religiously affiliated organizations, applied to two Catholic school lay teachers. Therefore, their claims of discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment…
Defending the Freedom of the Church
Almost forty years ago in the Columbia Law Review, First Amendment scholar Douglas Laycock argued that the First Amendment protected a right of church autonomy that was distinct from the standard conscientious objector claims of religious free exercise. In the years since, scholars such as Notre Dame’s Richard Garnett have…
Supreme Court: States can limit church attendance during coronavirus pandemic
Supreme Court of the United States (STOCK PHOTO) Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts angered conservatives when he ruled with the four liberal justices that the state of Nevada does have the power to limit Church attendees to just 50 in a 5 to 4 decision that was a serious blow…
US Supreme Court denies Nevada church’s appeal of virus rule
FILE – This June 30, 2020, file photo shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. RENO, Nev. (AP) — A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court denied a rural Nevada church’s request late Friday to strike down as unconstitutional a 50-person cap on worship services as part of the state’s ongoing…
Federal judge shoots down plan for wedding
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A local couple will not be having the big wedding they hoped for after a federal judge shot down their request to hold the event at a Holland venue. The law firm representing the couple and the Holland event center asked a federal judge to…
Finally! The Little Sisters of the Poor Score a Win
The sisters’ refusal comes from a deeply held religious conviction which requires them to protect innocent human life. If they furnish medical insurance under ACA requirements, they will be providing drugs which extinguish or prevent the formation of life in the womb. By doing so they would be forced to…
‘Predictable’: Supreme Court transgender decision leads to religious liberty legal battle
A transgender man last week filed a lawsuit against a Catholic-run hospital in Maryland, citing in his complaint June’s landmark Supreme Court decision on transgender rights , fulfilling conservative fears that the ruling would usher in a legal war. The suit, filed on behalf of Jesse Hammons by the American…