News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
The United States Constitution rolled up on an American flag with a gavel in the foreground. Room for copy along the top half of the image. ach day, millions of families from diverse religious backgrounds entrust the education of their children to our nation’s public schools. Employees within our public…
Flagler Schools students and staff members participate in the Football Sunday event on Aug. 20, 2019. File photo by Paola Rodriguez The school district has said its involvement in the Football Sunday event is legal because participation is voluntary. The nonprofit says voluntary events can still violate the constitution when…
Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, of McLennan County. Photo courtesy KXXV-TV, Waco. The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct on Monday issued a public warning to a Republican judge from Waco who refuses to perform same-sex marriages but still performs them for opposite-sex couples. McLennan County Justice of the Peace…
A Church of England multi-academy trust has settled out of court after being threatened with High Court action over its assemblies, following claims that they breached human rights and were indoctrinating pupils. The Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust was facing a case brought by parents who said primary pupils were made…
If you know your United States history, you know that the Pilgrims came to North America seeking to practice their religion free from the constraints of the Church of England. If you know your U.S. history well , you know that what many call the beginning of public schooling was…
A New York law would force abortion orthodoxy on pro-life employers, including crisis pregnancy centers and churches. The law would undermine the very reason many pro-life centers exist — to prevent abortion and protect the lives of the unborn. Two pregnancy center groups and a church have filed a federal…
Opinion Enlarge Image Shutterstock “You are effectively being compelled to undermine your own reason for being.” It is one thing to disagree with others’ religious beliefs — and another to bend laws and violate the Constitution to ensure they can’t live out their faith in their daily life and work.…
Getty Images For the second time in three years, the Supreme Court will grapple with two seemingly contradictory aspects of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees on religion, and how they apply to education. At issue, once again, are the dueling ideas that government may not establish a religion, but also cannot…
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a case in January that clearly reveals the strategy of evangelical Christian activists to gain legal approval to tax-fund primary and secondary religious education in America. St. Wenceslaus Church in Danvers, Montana, was built in 1916 and is now used occasionally…
In this file photo, members of the Amish community file into the Seneca County Courthouse last month for a state Supreme Court hearing on an Amish man’s lawsuit that sought to overturn New York’s new ban on religious exemptions that allowed unvaccinated children to attend school. Spencer Tulis / Finger…
BOSTON – A federal appeals court should reaffirm that Maine is not required to fund religious education as part of its tuition payment program, according to a friend-of-the-court brief filed today by civil rights groups and religious organizations including the ACLU, ACLU of Maine, Americans United for Separation of Church…
S ince before Trump, religious conservatives in this country have been developing a doctrine that the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion allows them to refuse to comply with laws that are against their religion. On this basis religious people claim the right to refuse to participate in legal abortions,…
The Kentucky Supreme Court has dismissed — on a technicality — a lawsuit brought against a shop that refused to print T-shirts for Lexington’s 2012 Pride Festival. “The court sidestepped debates over civil rights and the freedoms of religion and speech by ruling on a legal technicality, that the party…
Modern political candidates spend a lot of time presenting themselves as culturally acceptable to voters. That means a lot of talk about God, faith, and family, and often the winning candidate is the one who looks best driving a well-worn pickup truck. This is nothing new in American politics, but…
Modern political candidates spend a lot of time presenting themselves as culturally acceptable to voters. That means a lot of talk about God, faith, and family, and often the winning candidate is the one who looks best driving a well-worn pickup truck. This is nothing new in American politics, but…
A petition to review a writ of certiorari filed on behalf of a La Plata High School alumna, who claimed that the Charles County Public Schools system violated her First Amendment rights back in 2014 by allegedly promoting and endorsing assignments about Islam which conflicted with her Christianity, was denied…
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Case Promoting Islam In Public School The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case of a Christian high school student in Maryland who, despite threats of receiving a failing grade, refused to deny her faith by making a written profession of the Muslim conversion…
At a recent televised town hall, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke called for religious institutions to lose their tax-exempt status if they disagree with him on same-sex marriage. CNN’s Don Lemon asked O’Rourke, “Do you think religious institutions like colleges, churches, charities – should they lose their tax-exempt status if they…
A judge has dismissed a family’s request to keep their daughter, Taquisha McKitty on life support after she was declared clinically brain dead. TORONTO — Ontario’s top court dismissed Wednesday a legal challenge brought by a Toronto-area family that fought to keep their daughter on life support after she was…
What to watch for in the new Supreme Court session If you care about property rights, the environment and the First Amendment, here’s a quick checklist of cases to watch in the Supreme Court term starting this week. County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund The Clean Water Act makes…
The U.S. Supreme Court may decide as early as this week if it will hear a case related to a lawsuit involving the former Bible in the Schools program in Mercer County schools. Patrick Elliott, an attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) in Wisconsin, said last week the…
(Image via Getty) This fall, the United States Supreme Court will determine whether a provision of the Montana Constitution which prohibits the distribution of public funds “to any church, school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled in whole or in party by any church, sect,…
Login | October 01, 2019 university of Massachusetts Lowell (THE CONVERSATION) A movement for religious rights is transforming the place of religion in American public life. From the 1960s until very recently, liberals successfully argued at the Supreme Court that the tyranny of the majority cannot define the lives and…
The flaws in the Coalition’s religious discrimination bill are “so serious” it cannot be supported in its current form, the Sydney Anglican diocese has warned. Bishop Michael Stead has warned the bill would force Anglican youth camps to host Satanist masses at its campsites and has the “perverse effect” of…
Business owners win suit over same-sex wedding invitations 01:19 (CNN)A 2013 Phoenix law that adds "sexual orientation, gender identity or expression" to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance violated the freedom of speech and religious beliefs of two business owners, the Arizona Supreme Court said in a 4-3 ruling Monday. Wedding invitation…