News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Photo courtesy of unsplash.com Students’ rights are a complex, contentious and highly relevant issue. However, despite the fact that these rights are vitally important to college students and the ways they may conduct their lives, many are unaware of how their attendance at a university may impact their freedoms and…
A federal appeals court ruled Feb. 19, 2020, that this World War II-era cross can remain standing in Pensacola, Fla. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the 34- foot Latin cross does not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, based on a similar ruling last year by…
A gay pride flag flying outside the Northern Ireland Office in Stormont; the NIO is now drawing up guidelines to protect clergy from being forced to do gay weddings – but they plan to offer no protection to businesses The church (which is the largest Protestant denomination on the island…
The historic 34-foot cross stands in Bayview Park in Pensacola, Florida. A 34-foot tall cross can remain at a public park in Florida, according to a ruling from a three-judge panel that reversed an earlier decision from the same appeals court. The panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for…
Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own. Last week, a U.S. District Judge rightfully ruled against Christian private school Bethel Christian Academy, which claimed the state of Maryland violated its religious freedom after being excluded from a taxpayer-funded school voucher program. The state government pointed out Bethel failed…
This cross, displayed for decades in Bayview Park in Pensacola, Fla., is the subject of a lawsuit arguing that it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The legal battle over whether the city of Pensacola can keep a large cross on display in a public park took a…
Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own. Last week, a U.S. District Judge rightfully ruled against Christian private school Bethel Christian Academy, which claimed the state of Maryland violated its religious freedom after being excluded from a taxpayer-funded school voucher program. The state government pointed out Bethel failed…
Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own. Last week, a U.S. District Judge rightfully ruled against Christian private school Bethel Christian Academy, which claimed the state of Maryland violated its religious freedom after being excluded from a taxpayer-funded school voucher program. The state government pointed out Bethel failed…
A member of the U.S. Navy reads from a small Bible during an Easter service in Kandahar April 4, 2010. A U.S. Navy chaplain has been accused of violating the U.S. Constitution for teaching an optional 12-week seminar called "Lead Like Jesus" at the Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island.…
The Attorney-General’s Office, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts, has appealed against the ruling made by the Civil High Court last year. Judgment On Notice For Seventh-Day Adventist, Ministry of Education Case Seventh-day Adventist Church lawyers Andrew Tokley QC (front) followed by David Bennett QC outside…
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and halt one of the latest developments in the escalating tension between states over the rights of organizations and businesses to refuse to provide services that would conflict with their religious beliefs. The state is challenging…
This Oct. 2, 2012, file photo shows U.S. Border Patrol agents patrolling the border fence near Naco, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) TUCSON, Ariz. (RNS)—An Arizona federal judge has reversed the convictions of four faith-based volunteers who were fined and put on probation for aiding migrants at the border, saying…
A few weeks back, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could once again redraw the line separating church and state. The court has not been clear where that line is. Sixteen years ago, then–Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist ruled that a Washington State scholarship program could…
David Williamson, a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Brevard County, is founder and director of the Central Florida Freethought Community. (Photo: PROVIDED PHOTO) The Brevard County Commission’s refusal to provide representatives of the atheist and agnostic community an opportunity to give the invocation at the start of commission meetings is…
Daveen Rae Kurutz @DK_NewsData and @DKreports Feb 10, 2020 at 5:01 PM The Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center ordered 55 Pennsylvania school districts, including the Big Beaver Falls Area School District, to change policies silencing students from speaking about religion or face a lawsuit. BEAVER FALLS — Big Beaver Falls Area…
Daveen Rae Kurutz @DK_NewsData and @DKreports Feb 10, 2020 at 5:01 PM The Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center ordered 55 Pennsylvania school districts, including the Big Beaver Falls Area School District, to change policies silencing students from speaking about religion or face a lawsuit. BEAVER FALLS — Big Beaver Falls Area…
On June 27, 1989, President George H. W. Bush stated that “flag burning is wrong … burning the flag goes too far and I want to see that matter remedied.” He added that “support for the First Amendment need not extend to desecration of the American flag.” These quotes by…
In a major bipartisan win for religious freedom on Monday, a federal court tossed out the criminal convictions of four volunteers who, due to their religious convictions, risked their lives to leave food and water for illegal immigrants without a permit. The court rightly ruled that prosecuting them would violate…
A file picture of the border wall between the US and Mexico. (RNS) An Arizona federal judge has reversed the convictions of four faith-based volunteers who were fined and put on probation for aiding migrants at the border, saying that the activists were simply exercising their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”…
Fredericksburg retired Lutheran minister Ken Hauge. ON Jan. 16, 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson, which stated that “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested,…
This Oct. 2, 2012, file photo shows U.S. Border Patrol agents patrolling the border fence near Naco, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) (RNS) — An Arizona federal judge has reversed the convictions of four faith-based volunteers who were fined and put on probation for aiding migrants at the border,…
Kendra Espinoza in her Kalispell home Jan. 14, 2020. Espinoza’s family is front and center in the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide whether states like Montana can exclude religious schools from school choice programs. Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments both for and…
John Richard Schrock By JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK School-sponsored prayer is not back, despite some media announcements in mid-January. The First Amendment enacted in 1791 clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” Thomas Jefferson stated this clause was to…
Arizona Attorney General. (Capitol Media Services/Courtesy, file) PHOENIX — Arizona’s top prosecutor is urging a federal appeals court to allow a Colorado woman and the company she owns to refuse to design a website for a same-sex wedding. In a new legal brief filed with the 10th Circuit Court of…
Arizona’s top prosecutor is urging a federal appeals court to allow a Colorado woman and the company she owns to refuse to design a web site for a same-sex wedding. In a new legal brief filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the rights…