News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Hospital workers still unsure whether distant religious link exempts retirement plans from federal ERISA compliance San Francisco, CADignity Health has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a proposed class action ERISA lawsuit that accused it of using a undeserved religious exemption to justify underfunding its pension plan by $1.5…
Erwin Chemerinsky is Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Will replacing Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh make a difference as to how the Supreme Court deals with constitutional issues concerning…
A 40-foot cross that honors 49 fallen World War I soldiers from Prince George’s County stands at the busy intersection of Bladensberg and Annapolis roads and Baltimore Avenue Feb. 28, 2019, in Bladensburg, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Legal scholars agree that the Lemon Test has failed to bring…
Among recent actions by the U.S. Supreme Court, a four-sentence order may set the stage for the court to eventually address the collision between free speech and religious freedom on one hand and gay rights on the other. The order voided a judgment by the state of Oregon that had…
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week on the fate of the "Peace Cross," a World War I memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland that some say violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause. The case could impact memorials nationwide. (Feb. 25) AP WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that…
You are not signed in as a Premium user; we rely on Premium users to support our news reporting. Sign in or Sign up today! MIAMI ( ChurchMilitant.com ) – A federal court ruled Monday that people of all faiths, as well as atheists, must be allowed to give an…
FREDERICKSBURG, VA – An elderly Christian couple could be evicted from their Virginia senior living community if they hold a Bible study. But the two are fighting back. They’ve now filed a federal lawsuit, alleging religious discrimination. Ken and Liv Hauge have been married for 64 years. The 87-year-old Ken…
NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — A Texas-based religious liberties organization has asked a school district in Ohio to restore a Ten Commandments plaque to a middle school wall after learning that the Decalogue display was removed following a complaint from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). “[I]n light of a…
Scott Morrison’s “religious freedom” platform has little to do with the right to pray, it has everything to do with the right to discriminate and undo what the country voted for. Do we need the unqualified right to be bigots, the right to openly discriminate against same sex couples and…
BARONE There’s something attractive in the party names in the Supreme Court’s decision on the relationship between government and religion: American Legion v. American Humanist Association. Both organizations, the veterans group formed after World War I and the secular humanist group founded the year this nation entered World War II,…
There’s something attractive in the party names in the Supreme Court’s decision on the relationship between government and religion: American Legion v. American Humanist Association. Both organizations, the veterans group formed after World War I and the secular humanist group founded the year this nation entered World War II, want…
One pork sandwich every eight hours for six straight days. That’s the only food that Border Patrol provided to Adnan Asif Parveen, a Muslim immigrant who was detained in South Texas in January because his work permit had expired and was pending renewal. Mr. Parveen reportedly informed officials that his…
This week, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the 40-foot tall Bladensburg Peace Cross can remain on public land, in the middle of a busy intersection. The cross is owned and maintained by the State of Maryland. The Court reversed the Fourth Circuit’s decision that the display was an unconstitutional…
The U.S. Supreme Court Building stands in Washington, D.C. (Bloomberg file photo) Almost two dozen states, including Minnesota, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to extend a decades-old workplace discrimination law to cover gay and transgender employees, who can be fired for no reason in many parts of the country.…
The end of the Supreme Court’s recent term marks the beginning of a new era for religious liberty in America. With a landmark 7-2 decision in the case of The American Legion v. The American Humanist Association – combined with the decision by the court in Klein v. Oregon Bureau…
A Southern California lawyer and church leader has filed a lawsuit against the county of Humboldt and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, alleging they violated his client’s rights to religious freedom when they raided a cannabis grow and eradicated five greenhouse’s worth of weed last month. In the…
There has been much debate about religious liberty lately. On one side, evangelical Christians argue that their faith is under attack from those attempting to reduce their influence in culture. On the other side, proponents of church-state separation contend that some Christians breech the wall of separation as they seek…
BARONE There’s something attractive in the party names in the Supreme Court’s decision on the relationship between government and religion: American Legion v. American Humanist Association. Both organizations, the veterans group formed after World War I and the secular humanist group founded the year this nation entered World War II,…
A Ten Commandments plaque dating back to the 1920’s has been removed from an Ohio middle school after complaints from an atheist organization. The plaque had been on display for 92 years at Welty Middle School in New Philadelphia until a concerned parent reportedly complained about it. The parent contacted…
Pensacola’s Bayview Park cross lawsuit is going back to court. The Supreme Court has vacated previous rulings in the case that the cross violates the separation of church and state and has ordered the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case in light of the high court’s…
A pillar of the contemporary conservative movement is hostility to the separation of church and state. For much of the movement, it’s not just that church and state should be tight partners but also that the United States is and should be a Christian country. Their aims have been achieved…
Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, is seen here in her shop. The Washington Supreme Court has again ruled against Christian grandma florist Barronelle Stutzman who faces the risk of crippling fines for refusing to create floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding. The state’s highest court unanimously…
Are you for Israel Folau or against? What a pity that Folau’s dismissal by Rugby Australia should be reduced to an ideological and binary debate. Of course, we love a simple answer. Twitter views are various: the Folau case is exclusively a matter of contract law; Folau has the rights…
Peace Cross 1. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment On June 20, 2019, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of The American Legion vs. American Humanist Association that keeping a Peace Cross on public land does not violate the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. The…
Photo provided by Becket The U.S. Supreme Court issued yet another (potential) victory this month for a cross memorial—this time in Pensacola, Florida. In a decision Friday, the high court vacated previous lower court rulings arguing the historic World War II-era cross in Bayview Park violates the separation of church…