News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Visitors walk outside the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBTQ people in the case of a Colorado web designer who says her religious beliefs prevent her from offering…
Photo: Saul Loeb (Getty Images) A Colorado web developer refusing to offer website services to a same-sex couple has found herself at the center of a national debate over the legal limits of free speech and anti-discrimination laws. The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would take up the web…
Visitors walk outside the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Washington — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBTQ people in the case of a Colorado web designer who says her…
The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear a case over whether a wedding website designer can decline to provide services to same-sex couples under Colorado’s anti-discrimination law. Lori Smith, a Christian graphic artist and webpage designer, is seeking to expand her services to create webpages for weddings but argues…
Visitors walk outside the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBTQ people in the case of a Colorado web designer who says her religious beliefs…
Visitors walk outside the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBTQ people in the case of a Colorado web designer who says her religious beliefs…
California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger is a leading contender to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. Leondra Kruger has been a star in the legal profession for more than a decade. Though some Republicans have railed against President Biden’s pledge to name a Black woman, calling…
Leondra Kruger has been a star in the legal profession for more than a decade. Though some Republicans have railed against President Biden’s pledge to name a Black woman, calling it a "quota," when it comes to qualifications, Kruger has all the bells and whistles if Biden names her to…
Last week, Huntington High and three other area schools arranged assemblies during school time for an evangelical minister to present a religious program to recruit students. This was inappropriate and illegal and even more disturbing because it involved the coercion of students and the schools’ inability to respect their religious…
[co-author: Jenny Lee]* In 2019, we reported on the case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District involving a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state who was placed on administrative leave by his public school district for praying on the football field after games. At the time, the…
In this Oct. 16, 2015 file photo, former Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joe Kennedy, obscured at center, is surrounded by Centralia High School football players in Bremerton, Wash., after they took a knee with him and prayed following their game against Bremerton. Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun via AP…
serjopak/iStock image MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It : another do-over for Sweetcakes by Melissa. Last week, an appeals court in Oregon ordered the state to reconsider damages awarded in a discrimination case. It all arose nine years ago when two women sued…
Four anti-abortion bills have been introduced into the state legislature including a Texas copycat bill (HR2001, HR2483, SB1044, SB1164). The issue is not whether a state has the constitutional authority to protect “unborn life” but whether women, who have been born, have a constitutional right to make decisions about their…
An Oregon appeals court told a state agency Wednesday to reconsider its order for a Christian couple to pay $135,000 in damages for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding on grounds that the state’s actions did "not reflect … neutrality toward religion." However, the panel upheld its…
PMG FILE PHOTO – Aaron and Melissa Klein behind a sign for their former bakery. The Portland Tribune is a KOIN 6 media partner PORTLAND, Ore. ( Portland Tribune ) — The Oregon Court of Appeals has added a twist in its latest decision in the long-running case of a…
The Church of Scientology in Los Angeles. Photo: Bing Guan/Bloomberg News The California Court of Appeal has opened a new front in the legal war over religious exemptions. In Bixler v. Church of Scientology , the court ruled in favor of former members of the church who allege that they…
![[OPINION] Thoughts on mandatory military service for all Filipinos](https://i0.wp.com/religionandlaw.markusmcdowell.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/imho-mandatory-military.jpeg?fit=768%2C432&ssl=1)
Primarily, I want to focus my argument on the effects of mandatory military service on civil liberties since many have already cited the adverse impact on government funding. As Dean Ronald Mendoza of ASoG stated, a “mandatory and poorly funded program is a waste of time for our youth (and…
Action was dismissed after judge held it had become moot Businessman Declan Ganley had raised points of general public importance in his action, the judge said. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons The High Court has ruled that businessman Declan Ganley is entitled to half of the legal costs he incurred for his…
The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear coach Joe Kennedy’s case over prayer on the field. Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a free speech case with potentially far-reaching implications for employees of public institutions. If college athletes are recognized as employees, they could have a stake…
A pair of ministers seeking a tax-exempt status shouldn’t be subject to a government “verification” process, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch argued Tuesday. The Supreme Court denied a request for oral argument in the case of New Life in Christ Church v. City of Fredericksburg , which centered on…
Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto A religious volunteer group in Boston, Camp Constitution, asked permission to fly a flag with the Latin cross to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution and the city’s religious history. Although Boston had approved 284 flag-raising requests without a single rejection in the preceding 12 years,…
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal by a Christian former high school football coach who was suspended from his job at a high school in Washington state for refusing to halt his practice of praying…
Emilee Carpenter, 27, a wedding photographer in Elmira, New York, will appeal a ruling she said unfairly compels her to violate her religious convictions or lose her business. (Photo courtesy Alliance Defending Freedom) Wedding photographer Emilee Carpenter is appealing a New York federal judge’s ruling that her attorneys say compels…
Next week the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Shurtleff v. Boston , a freedom-of-speech case that concerns a flagpole on Boston’s City Hall Plaza. The facts of the controversy are simple. The issues at stake are profound. Related: Supreme Court agrees to review case involving right to fly…
FILE – Gov. Asa Hutchinson answers questions from the press Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, during the weekly briefing at the state Capitol. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff) Religious social media posts from Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are unconstitutional, Americans United for Separation of Church and State said in a letter to the…