News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
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…
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…
In a new legal brief filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the rights of Lorie Smith trump a Colorado law which makes it illegal for businesses open to the public to refuse to offer services because of a customer’s sexual orientation. That same…
The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox. Editor’s note: Montana parent Kendra Espinoza hoped a tax credit would help her pay for a private Christian school for…
Los Angeles Times The Supreme Court may be poised to require states to subsidize religious schools if they provide financial support for other private schools, poking another hole in the “wall of separation between church and state” described by Thomas Jefferson as central to the First Amendment. On Wednesday, the…
The main building of United Talmudical Academy of Monsey on Cherry Lane in the Village of Airmont on Thursday, November 29, 2018. (Photo: John Meore/The Journal News) AIRMONT — A federal judge has found sufficient grounds for a trial on discrimination claims against the village concerning the expansion of a…
Justice Elena Kagan noted that states could oppose funding religious schools for reasons that have nothing to do with bigotry. The Supreme Court may be poised to require states to subsidize religious schools if they provide financial support for other private schools, poking another hole in the “wall of separation…
On Jan. 22, the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in a landmark case that could widen the door for state voucher programs and seriously damage religious liberty. In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue , the court is being asked to hold that the Free Exercise Clause requires…
Did Oregon officials violate their duty to remain neutral on matters of religion when they ordered Christian bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 for declining to create a custom same-sex wedding cake, a move that crushed the small, family-owned business? That’s the question that the Oregon Court of…
A man reading the Bible. | Getty images/stock photo A Virginia couple who were threatened with eviction from their retirement home if they continued to hold Bible study meetings have won the right to hold classes again. Kenneth and Liv Hauge recently reached a settlement with the Evergreens at Smith…
More than half of the Notre Dame incoming class in 2019 did not attend public high school. Catholic high schools, specifically, accounted for 37% of that class. This month, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear argument as to whether it is unconstitutional for a state to…
Keisha Russell Keisha Russell is counsel to First Liberty Institute, a non-profit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all. Did Oregon officials violate their duty to remain neutral on matters of religion when they ordered Christian bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 for declining to create…
Religious and non-public school groups in late December asked the Michigan Supreme Court to strike down the 1970 state constitutional amendment prohibiting taxpayer funding for private schools, arguing it was motivated by anti-Catholic bias and violates the free exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution. (Shutterstock photo) LANSING – What began…
Three families arguing the state should pay tuition for their children to attend private religious schools because they live in school districts with no high schools made their case before a federal appeals court in Boston on Wednesday. Angela and Troy Nelson pose in August 2018 with their children, Royce,…
A Texas judge may get her day in court after she was sanctioned for refusing to perform same-sex marriages. McLennan County Judge Dianne Hensley recused herself from performing same-sex marriages in accordance with her Christian faith. In an affront to religious liberty, the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct investigated…
Dianne Hensley, a judge in Waco, Texas, is suing the state agency that gave her a public warning last month for refusing to officiate same-sex weddings while continuing to officiate heterosexual ones. The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s warning violates Hensley’s rights under the Texas…
The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to hear two California cases on whether teachers at religious schools may sue for alleged discrimination. WASHINGTON — In 2014, Kristen Biel told her principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance that she had breast cancer and would need time off for chemotherapy. The…
The Supreme Court is seen at sunset in Washington, on Jan. 24, 2019. (Scott Applewhite/AP) The Supreme Court has agreed to consider how much protection church schools have from government intervention when it comes to choosing teachers for its religion classes. The top court agreed ( pdf ) on Wednesday…
WACO, Texas — A county judge in Texas has filed a legal challenge after being issued a public warning from the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, which recently concluded that she is “casting doubt on her capacity to act impartially” by declining to officiate same-sex ceremonies and rather providing referrals…
Mr. Greenhill For more than three years, Alfonza H. Greenhill has persisted in battling Virginia prison policies that blocked him from practicing the strict Sufi branch of Islam. While he lost several preliminary rounds, the African-American inmate refused to give up and now has scored a signal victory for religious…
Shields of Strength dog tags | YouTube/First Liberty Institute The U.S. Army’s licensing office has banned a faith-based company from engraving Bible verses on Army-licensed dog tags and jewelry, an action that has outraged at least one member of Congress. Last week, the religious freedom law group First Liberty Institute…
For a second year running, Florida legislators have filed a bill that would make our state the first in the nation to require all public high schools to offer elective courses on the Old and New Testaments. (John Solie/istock) For a second year running, Florida legislators have filed a bill…
Religious freedom advocates are appealing the U.S. military’s decision to prohibit the sale of religiously themed dog tags, a move the military made after receiving complaints from a secularist group. First Liberty, a religious freedom advocacy group, submitted a letter to the Army on Tuesday, asking it to lift a…
Nicole Russell is a contributor to The Daily Signal. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, National Review, Politico, The Washington Times, The American Spectator, and Parents Magazine. Officials in the state of Maryland have banned a school from their voucher program due to their faith-based…