News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Ireland’s blasphemy law has had a long, ineffective and undistinguished tradition Wendy Shea’s cartoon depicted politicians John Bruton, Proinsias de Rossa and Ruairi Quinn walking past a priest distributing communion: the tagline was “Hello Progress – Bye Bye Father” – a play on the anti-divorce campaign slogan “Hello Divorce –…
Douglas Laycock has served as lead counsel in six religious liberty cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Douglas Laycock of the University of Virginia School of Law, one of the nation’s leading experts on religious liberty, has completed a comprehensive series of books about the often legally and socially…
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…
Hide caption By Diane Smith / Reporter A nativity scene that was added to the Christmas display at the Ravenna Courthouse Lawn last year was the subject of complaints, including a letter from an out-of-state group that advocates for the separation of church and state. Rebecca Markert, legal director of…
The Department of Justice on Wednesday filed a brief in a case concerning Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who was fired from a Detroit funeral home after she informed her employer that she was beginning her gender transition. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Stephens and the…
The future of the “parsonage allowance exclusion” is in the hands of the courts. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons (RNS) — A federal court heard oral arguments this week on whether a longstanding housing tax break for clergy called a “parsonage allowance exclusion” is constitutional, setting the stage for a…
The U.S. supreme Court’s M starting its 2018-19 term this month. Although we don’t know yet the range of issues the high court will confront, many observers believe the question of whether religious freedom confers a right to discriminate may surface. The court last term dodged this issue. In its…
Taking up a case that may have implications for how its church-state rulings are applied in public schools, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday said it would review a lower-court ruling that a 93-year-old cross on public land that memorializes a Maryland county’s World War I dead is unconstitutional. The…
Twenty-five years after President Bill Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, most Americans don’t know about current aggressive efforts to amend RFRA into oblivion. In the last two months before the election, 50 House Democrats became new cosponsors on a bill gutting the 25-year-old Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That…
Bulgarian evangelicals have asked for prayer in the face of a new religion bill that threatens a draconian clampdown on minority faiths. The bill has passed its first reading through parliament and they have warned its impact on all faith communities will be serious if it becomes law. The Bulgarian…
In response to the latest abuses against Christians, Amnesty International has initiated an "urgent action" appeal. It has called on the Iranian regime to "quash the convictions and sentences of Victor Bet-Tamraz, Shamiram Isavi, Amin Afshar-Naderi, and Hadi Asgari, as they have been targeted solely for the peaceful exercise of…
(Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images) After two conservative Christian groups filed lawsuits against the city of Austin over the past week challenging an ordinance that protects LGBTQ individuals from discrimination, Texas LGBTQ advocates said Wednesday they do not think the lawsuits will hold up in court. The first lawsuit , filed…
Row over Australia plan to let faith schools reject gay students GAY students and teachers could be rejected by religious schools under changes to anti-discrimination laws being recommended by a federal review into religious freedom. ‘We will protect religious freedom, and get the balance right. In the federal sphere, senator…
A billboard sponsored by the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Harrisburg, Pa. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons (RNS) — An atheist relief organization has sued the Internal Revenue Service, claiming its tax-exempt status was unfairly revoked. IRS officials say the group failed to file required annual information to the agency…
Ashers Bakery owners Amy and Daniel McArthur outside the Supreme Court in London, on Oct. 10, 2018. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP) LONDON (RNS) — On both sides of the Atlantic, a drama set in a bakery has pitted freedom of religion against LGBT civil rights and Exhibit A has been…
PROVO — Sam Brownback is a diplomat, chosen by the Trump administration to travel the world promoting religious freedom. But he sometimes describes himself as a salesman, and he thinks he’s got a great deal for global leaders. If they’ll agree to strengthen religious freedom protections in their countries, to…
In October 2008, the Victorian Parliament passed legislation to remove abortion from the Crimes Act after roughly 40 years of campaigning from militant radical feminists. Reflecting on that legislation, DLP MP Peter Kavanagh remarked: “It’s hard to imagine a worse bill and a worse model, and indeed that’s partly why…
SPRINGFIELD — Imagine a classroom full of bright, inquisitive college students who have no idea who Pontius Pilate was or never heard the story of Noah’s Ark. That’s what Gwen Jordan, an associate professor of legal studies at the University of Illinois-Springfield, has experienced. More than 10 years ago, […]…
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act could provide a shield for liberal businesses seeking to support undocumented immigrants, much the same way the law has allowed conservative companies to challenge enforcement of health care and anti-discrimination laws, a researcher from Oregon State University suggests in a new paper. “We’re seeing […]…
The prime minister has revived the religious freedom issue months after a review was handed to his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has given his clearest indication yet that his government would change anti-discrimination laws so that religious beliefs were protected – just as race, gender or […]…
One of the loudest voices calling for better protection of religious freedoms in recent years has been the Prime Minister Scott Morrison. But what exactly is religious freedom, and why are we having this debate now? Who follows what religion in Australia? Christianity remains the dominant religious group in […]…
Attorneys for the city of Phoenix submitted this place card to the Arizona Supreme Court as a sample of the kind of place cards that Brush & Nib Studios would make for heterosexual couples, but refuse to produce for a same-sex wedding. (Courtesy) PHOENIX — The city of Phoenix […]…