News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Photo Credit: Freedom From Religion Foundation WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated a lower court ruling finding a Florida cross monument unconstitutional and has instructed the court to review the case in light of its other ruling last week upholding a similar cross display. “The judgment is vacated,…
The Supreme Court will hear a key school choice case challenging a state ban on using tax-credit scholarships at religious schools, justices announced Friday. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in December that the state’s tax-credit scholarship plan violated a provision in the state constitution barring public funding for religious education.…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a case that could once again test boundaries for the separation of church and state, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide the legality of a Montana state tax credit that could help students attend private schools including religious ones. A man stands outside…
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 and state, according to…
American Legion v. American Humanist Association . There’s something attractive in the names of the parties in the Supreme Court’s recent decision on church and state. Both organizations, the veterans’ group formed after World War I and the secular humanists’ group founded decades later, want to tell you how American…
A veterans memorial located in Bladensburg, Maryland. Last week’s cross decision was a major case for religious liberty. Perhaps it even spells the death knell of the so-called Lemon Test…an aptly-named decision from the early 1970s that has often been used against any religious expression in the public square. The…
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…
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…
Supreme Court sends cake case back to Washington State high court COURTESY OF LAMBDA LEGAL The US Supreme Court has, for the third time, essentially kicked the can down the road on the question of businesses claiming religious exemptions from providing goods and services for same-sex weddings. On June 17,…
Source: Algerina Perna /The Baltimore Sun via AP, File Last week’s cross decision was a major case for religious liberty. Perhaps it even spells the death knell of the so-called Lemon Test…an aptly-named decision from the early 1970s that has often been used against any religious expression in the public…
The Supreme Court on Monday kicked back to the lower court a case involving Oregon bakery owners, in a move that leaves unanswered whether a business owner can refuse services to LGBT people because of their closely held religious beliefs. In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices…
June 20 A 40-foot cross erected as a tribute to World War I dead may continue to stand on public land in Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting arguments that it represented an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The vote was 7 to 2 for the Bladensburg Peace Cross, which…
On Thursday, the Supreme Court held in American Legion v. American Humanist Ass’n , that Prince George County, Md., could leave standing a 32-foot-tall Latin cross that had been erected in 1925 to memorialize the sacrifice of local soldiers killed in World War I. Nearly 90 years after a Catholic…
Photo credit: SAUL LOEB – Getty Images Clarence Thomas, layer of land mines in settled law, has managed to do it again. Perhaps that’s going to be his most lasting legacy as part of the Trumpist Supreme Court: setting the explosives in place to be detonated later by whatever larval…
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: It is June, and that means the U.S. Supreme Court is issuing decisions and winding up its term. Today, the nine justices weighed in on the separation of church and state. By a 7-2 margin, the court ruled that a 40-foot cross, a World War I…
The 40-foot Maryland Peace Cross, erected in 1925 on public land in Bladensburg, Md., as a tribute to 49 World War I veterans, can continue to stand despite being a symbol of Christianity, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot cross…
The Bladensburg World War I Memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland. It’s hard to think of a more aptly named legal doctrine than the Supreme Court’s Lemon Test. Created in 1971’s Lemon v. Kurtzman , it is meant to determine when government action violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The…
Michael Robinson Chavez/Washington Post The “Peace Cross,” the focus of an intense court case regarding its upkeep and placement on public land, stands at a busy intersection in Bladensburg, Md. By Robert Barnes | Washington Post WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot cross erected as a…
Supreme Court sends cake case back to Washington State high court COURTESY OF LAMBDA LEGAL The US Supreme Court has, for the third time, essentially kicked the can down the road on the question of businesses claiming religious exemptions from providing goods and services for same-sex weddings. On June 17,…
Aaron Klein talked before those gathered at the Omni Shoreham Hotel about the fallout from he and his wife’s refusal to make a same-sex wedding cake. The United States Supreme Court vacated a ruling against a Christian couple forced to pay $135,000 for refusing to make a gay wedding cake.…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking an Alabama High School to task after 18 football players were baptized last month. According to Fox News , 18 players for the Washington County High school were baptized in a feeding trough by Chatom Baptist Church’s pastor in May. The event was…
Tom Rumble photo | Unsplash By Aaron Earls Pastors can rest a little easier in their homes today knowing they or their churches won’t have to pay any additional taxes on their residences—for now. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has decided, wisely, to end its battle over a huge unconstitutional tax break for religious leaders. The perk is known as the “Parsonage Exemption” and it’s the loophole that allows ministers to deduct the cost of rent of their church-owned houses from their taxable income.…
Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington, is expected to appeal her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court may soon get another chance to consider whether businesses can claim religious motivations for refusing service to LGBT people. The case likely will come from the…
Newlyweds Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed celebrate their marriage and win over bigotry. The Washington State Supreme Court on June 6 upheld its previous decision in Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against a Richland florist. The court again found that Arlene’s Flowers violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act and the Washington…