News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
The Gay Pride Flag is seen on Sept. 2, 2016 State high court reaffirms ruling in favor of same-sex couple No sign of intolerance on behalf of bodies that considered case The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favor of a Christian baker doesn’t change a ruling that a Christian florist…
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…
Unanimous bench finds SCOTUS Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling irrelevant AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF WASHINGTON For the second time, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled that the discrimination claims brought by Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, as well as by the state attorney general, against Arlene’s Flowers for its owner, Barronelle…
OLYMPIA, Wash. (BP) — Barronelle Stutzman’s commitment to operate her florist business according to Christian convictions again found an unreceptive audience in Washington’s highest court. Baronnelle Stutzman The state Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision June 6 that Washington’s judicial system did not demonstrate religious animosity toward Stutzman when…
Curt Freed, left, and his husband Robert Ingersoll pose for a photo after a hearing before Washington’s Supreme Court, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016, in Bellevue, Washington. Washington state’s top court ruled for a second time on Thursday that a Christian florist discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to sell…
A Christian florist is appealing to the Supreme Court after Washington state’s highest court ruled against her for refusing to create floral arrangements for a same-sex wedding on the grounds that doing so would violate her religion. Barronelle Stutzman, who owns Arlene’s Flowers, first asked the Supreme Court to consider…
What happens when employers and employees no longer see eye to eye The Toronto Humane Society in Toronto. Google Street View By Shaun Bernstein and Stuart Rudner When we provide counsel to employers, we continually repeat one key phrase: “Your workplace, your rules.” Generally speaking, an employee’s refusal to carry…
In a recent article in Newsweek , a writer suggested that there may be people whose religion requires them to perform abortions, and therefore laws restricting the practice violate the Bill of Rights’ guarantee of the free exercise of religion. In a similar vein, the New York Times ’s Linda…
Image source: YouTube/Christian Concern A medical professional who attempted to offer a Bible to a cancer patient was “rightly sacked” from her job, a court has heard. British nurse Sarah Kuteh was fired from Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent back in 2016 for talking to several patients about her…
A medical professional who attempted to offer a Bible to a cancer patient was “rightly sacked” from her job, a court has heard. British nurse Sarah Kuteh was fired from Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent back in 2016 for talking to several patients about her faith in Jesus and…
Baker Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, manages his shop after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he could refuse to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs did not violate Colorado’s anti-discrimination law Monday, June 4, 2018, in Lakewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)…
Portland, Ore., has long prohibited religious discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation—but now the city will also expressly protect the nonreligious, including atheists, agnostics and others that don’t believe in a particular religion. Although discrimination based on the lack of religious beliefs is prohibited under Title VII of the…
(Photo by Rick Uldricks/Patch staff) AUSTIN, TEXAS — The attorney general of Texas said he has opened up an investigation stemming from the San Antonio City Council’s decision to exclude Chick-fil-A from an airport concession contract given the company’s opposition to same-sex marriage. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday…
Explore Recipes and Stories By Aleksandr Sverdlik / Guest Columnist 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…
A federal rule was just published in the Federal Register. A single rule in a document that runs over 80,000 pages long may seem a small thing, but this particular rule marks the defeat of what many Americans perceive as an extended assault on religious freedom begun by the Obama…
Judith and Alan Gillis of Orrington, parents of Bangor Christian Schools junior Isabella Gillis at the school Aug. 28, 2018. The Gillis’ are one of three Maine families that are challenging the prohibition on using public money to pay tuition at religious schools after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.…
The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing in on the constitutional question of whether the symbol of Christ’s crucifixion is necessarily religious. The high court agreed Nov. 2 to review a lower court ruling that a 40-foot cross at the center of one of the busiest intersections in Prince George’s County,…
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) − For decades, we’ve seen clashes over civil rights and religious freedoms and now a new trend involves wedding vendors citing religious reasons to refuse service. Landmark cases involving photographers in Minnesota and a baker in Colorado have all eyes watching a case before the Arizona Supreme…
Pussy Riot performs in concert during Day For Night festival on December 16, 2017 in Houston, Texas © Getty Images / Gary Miller Two recent rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demonstrate not only that it’s a political and hypocritical organization. They also show the severe structural…
From the inbox: Can a church-affiliated group conduct after-school Bible study classes in a public school without running afoul of the U.S. Constitution? That depends. The First Amendment to the Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” It was…
I’m going to hold this one up in prayer. The injustice inflicted upon the Klein family by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) should have never stood in a nation that claims to have freedom of religion and speech. And no matter your political persuasion or religious beliefs…
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò speaks at a dinner honoring then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick in 2012 (CNS photo/ Michael Rogel/PMS) I was going through a box of papers sent home from my Commonweal office the other day, tossing out most of them. Then I came across the fourteen-page text of a…
The recent horrific events in Pittsburgh wherein members of the Jewish community were killed while at their place of worship is a stark reminder that prejudices against religious beliefs remains in our society. At work, employers cannot tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment based on religion. Title VII of…
2018 was touted as the year the Supreme Court of Canada would consider how religious freedom should be valued as a right guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court rendered three highly anticipated decisions which received a great deal of press. Two of the decisions…
The Ruddock review on Religious Freedom has recommended the creation of a Religious Discrimination Act as part of its 20 recommendations . Some have argued there is no pressing need for a Religious Discrimination Act. All states and territories , except South Australia and New South Wales, currently prohibit discrimination…