News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
A healthcare worker at Long Beach’s Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 vaccination clinic on July 6. Policies requiring vaccination against COVID-19 need not include, and should not include, exceptions for those who have religious objections to vaccinations. Many universities, including the University of California, are requiring vaccination for…
A decision involving the former music director at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, a Catholic church in Calumet City, Illinois, was praised by religious liberty advocates. (Facebook photo) CHICAGO (BP) – Religious freedom advocates praised a federal appeals court opinion that protects the freedom of churches and other religious groups…
Three recent precedents have ‘really increased the amount of protection for religious freedom.’ In recent years, the Supreme Court has shown a greater willingness to protect the First Amendment right of free exercise of religion from state and municipal regulation. In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission in 2018,…
The European Court of Justice ruled Thursday that employers can forbid their staff from wearing visible symbols of religious or political belief, including headscarves, in order to present an image of neutrality. The Court decided on the matter following referrals from the Labour Court of Hamburg and the Federal Labour…
The Eighth Circuit affirmed school administrators are not entitled to qualified immunity for punishing a Christian student group that required its leaders to abide by its beliefs. Macbride Hall at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. (Photo by David Mark from Pixabay via Courthouse News) (CN) — University of…
Last week, the court reached a favorable settlement for Capitol Hill Baptist Church with the District of Columbia in the case Capitol Hill Baptist Church v. Muriel E. Bowser . “We are grateful for the work of NRB Member First Liberty in helping the faithful, gospel-preaching congregation at Capitol Hill…
Jackson Lewis Law Firm Logo On July 9, 2021, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, issued a 7-3 decision in the closely watched case Sandor Demkovich v. St Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City and the Archdiocese of Chicago . The Seventh Circuit found that…
An appellate court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against a Temperance priest who criticized a teenager’s suicide during his funeral after his parents specifically asked for privacy regarding the circumstances behind the teen’s death. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled the Rev. Don LaCuesta, pastor of Our Lady of…
Members of the Texas House stand for a prayer as the House begins a special session, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) **FILE** more > A justice of the peace in Montgomery County, Texas, can continue opening sessions with prayers from volunteer chaplains while a lawsuit…
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Friday that it will hear a case brought by families from Maine who want to use a state tuition program to send their children to religious schools. At the heart of the case is a Maine Department of Education rule…
July 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up a challenge by two families with children attending Christian schools to a Maine tuition assistance program that bars taxpayer money from being used to pay for religious educational institutions in a case that could further narrow the separation…
The Maine Chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation is appalled by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fulton v. Philadelphia that grants religious privilege to Catholic Social Services at the expense of the LGBTQ community. Philadelphia did not renew its contract with CSS because it violated the city’s anti-discrimination…
The District of Columbia and Mayor Muriel Bowser have agreed to pay $220,000 as part of a legal settlement with a local Baptist church that sued the city over in-person worship restrictions during the pandemic. Last September, Capitol Hill Baptist Church sued the district over the government’s ban on outdoor…
Concurrences and dissents leave clues on where a decision might fall if the Wisconsin Supreme Court was deciding the merits of the case. July 7, 2021 – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify what information can be used to determine…
The U.S. Supreme Court will take up a challenge to a Maine law that bars students from using public funding for tuition at religious schools. Local school administrative units that do not have their own secondary schools can pay a certain amount in tuition for students to attend outside public…
The U.S. Supreme Court ‘s decision Friday not to hear floral artist Barronelle Stutzman’s case leaves freedom of religion and expression in an uncertain state. But one thing is perfectly clear: activists and their powerful legal and corporate allies were ready and able to take down a humble Christian grandmother…
In April 23, 2021, photo, Supreme Court members pose for a group photo. Seated from left: Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. Standing from left: Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett. WASHINGTON – If there were any doubts that the U.S. Supreme…
Barronelle Stutzman, surrounded by supporters, speaks with the media after appearing for the Washington Supreme Court at Bellevue College on Nov. 15, 2016. | Screenshot: Facebook/Alliance Defending Freedom The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a Christian florist from Washington state fined refusing to make a floral arrangement…
The major U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia ( .pdf here ) allows a Catholic agency to avoid placing foster-care children with same-sex couples. Importantly, the Catholics will place gay children and will place children with gay singles since there’s no conscience crisis over defying the church’s doctrines…
The Supreme Court The narrow U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia contributes further to the perceived legal entitlement of faith-based organizations to discriminate while utilizing taxpayer’s money, argues Sruti Swaminathan, staff attorney for Lambda Legal. She contends the recent string of SCOTUS religious liberty holdings shows…
David and Amy Carson of Maine, pictured here with their daughter, Olivia, are challenging a 41-year-old policy that that limits to secular schools a state program offering financial assistance to families seeking education choice for their children. David and Amy Carson both graduated from Bangor Christian School s, housed in…
Americans need to live and let live. Let the LGBTQ activists practice their preferences, and let Christians live the Gospel. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that a Catholic Social Services adoption agency in Philadelphia could continue to place children only with heterosexual couples, consistent with the Gospel’s…
Americans need to live and let live. Let the LGBTQ activists practice their preferences, and let Christians live the Gospel. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that a Catholic Social Services adoption agency in Philadelphia could continue to place children only with heterosexual couples, consistent with the Gospel’s…
The Supreme Court this week took one small step for religious freedom. Unfortunately, it failed to take the giant leap needed to fully protect religious practice. In Fulton v. City of Philadelphia , the court considered the plight of the Catholic church, which has served Philadelphia’s needy children in various…
The woke crusade against Christian baker Jack Phillips continues. The religious owner of the Colorado-based Masterpiece Cakeshop rose to national prominence after he, in 2012, declined to make a custom wedding cake for a same-sex wedding. Phillips cited his First Amendment right to not promote ideas contrary to his cherished…