News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
The Catholic organization doesn’t want to pay the Wisconsin unemployment insurance tax, which is usually mandatory for private employers. (CN) — A Catholic nonprofit umbrella organization and its subordinate businesses went before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday, arguing the groups ought to be exempt from paying the state’s unemployment…
FILE – Tennessee Sen. Paul Rose, R-Tipton, speaks on his bill allowing faith-based adoption agencies to decline to place children with same-sex couples because of their religious belief during a legislative session, Jan. 14, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. On Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, appellate judges revived a couple’s lawsuit that…
Appellate Judges Revive Jewish Couple’s Lawsuit Alleging Adoption Bias Under Tennessee Law August 25th, 20PM August 25th, 20PM NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Appellate judges have revived a couple’s lawsuitthat alleges a state-sponsored Christian adoption agency wouldn’t help them because they are Jewish and argues that a Tennessee law protecting such…
Tennessee state Sen. Paul Rose, R-Tipton, speaks on his bill allowing faith-based adoption agencies to decline to place children with same-sex couples because of their religious belief during a legislative session in 2020. On Thursday, appellate judges revived a couple’s lawsuit that alleges a state-sponsored Christian adoption agency wouldn’t help…
Appellate Judges Revive Jewish Couple’s Lawsuit Alleging Adoption Bias Under Tennessee Law August 25th, 22PM August 25th, 22PM NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Appellate judges have revived a couple’s lawsuitthat alleges a state-sponsored Christian adoption agency wouldn’t help them because they are Jewish and argues that a Tennessee law protecting such…
A pride flag flies in front of the US supreme court, in Washington. The extreme religious right’s mission to roll back civil rights from abortion to public accommodations is being fueled by false facts and false history. Recent articles in the New Republic have documented the shaky factual foundation behind…
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Appellate judges have revived a couple’s lawsuit that alleges a state-sponsored Christian adoption agency wouldn’t help them because they are Jewish and argues that a Tennessee law protecting such denials is unconstitutional. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals ruled that Elizabeth…
This is the logo of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency, which is based in Baltimore. In case involving CRS employee, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled Aug. 14, 2023, that job protections based on sex or gender identity do not extend to sexual orientation; gay…
A Christian conservative legal group is encouraging a South Carolina school board to continue allowing members to open meetings with prayer after a secular legal organization demanded that the tradition be halted earlier this month. The First Liberty Institute, a legal nonprofit that has successfully argued First Amendment cases before…
Even as a youngster, I could see the difference, and it went beyond the white shirt, blue slacks and plaid tie that was my uniform. From the morning prayers to religious instruction to the nuns who taught me, it was an education steeped in Catholicism — subsidized by the tuition…
"Religious liberty protects one of the most fundamental and universal elements of the human experience — our desire to know our Creator," Deborah A. O’Malley Deborah A. O’Malley Guest Columnist Parma native Deborah A. O’Malley is associate director of the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government at the University of…
This is the logo of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency, which is based in Baltimore. In case involving CRS employee, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled Aug. 14, 2023, that job protections based on sex or gender identity do not extend to sexual orientation; gay…
Metroplex Atheists put up a billboard to advertise an upcoming seminar after the group’s application to hang banners in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, about the event was denied. Photo courtesy of American Atheists Aug. 18 (UPI) — Members of Metroplex Atheists, a north Texas organization, plan to march Saturday in…
Lois McLatchie Miller Slovakia might be a distant land, and Covid a distant memory. But a significant case brought to the European Court of Human Rights could bring closure to some of the legal questions posed during the pandemic – much-needed closure that many European nations have not yet received,…
Machine learning (ML) models are a cornerstone of modern technology, allowing models to learn from and make predictions based on vast amounts of data. These models have become integral to various industries in an era of rapid technological innovation, driving unprecedented advancements in automation, decision-making, and predictive analysis. The reliance…
The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Aug. 14 that the religious exemption in the state’s Fair Employment Practices Act "bars claims (of) religious, sexual orientation, and gender identity discrimination against religious organizations by employees who perform duties that directly further the core mission(s) of the religious entity." In its 4-3 decision,…
Website of Aurora Pro Services. Screen grab (RNS) — A North Carolina home repair company that advertises as “Grandmother Approved” has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by two employees who were fired for refusing to participate in daily Christian prayers. The lawsuit , brought by the…
A group of public school parents, taxpayers and faith leaders last week filed the first legal challenge to a state-sanctioned religious charter school. They’ve asked an Oklahoma County judge for an injunction to stop the process of opening the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The group argues in…
(GlobalStock/Getty Images) “Something deeply un-American is underway in the state of Oklahoma,” writes Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in the New York Times . Mourning — and suing to prevent — the opening of a religious charter school in Tulsa, she decries that…
A social justice volunteer in Houston has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, arguing a law banning sharing food with people outdoors violates his freedom of expression and freedom of religion. On Friday, a jury found Food Not Bombs volunteer Phillip Picone, 66, not guilty of breaking the law…
An Elmira photographer whose lawsuit over New York’s anti-discrimination laws was dismissed in 2021 is pursuing an appeal, buoyed by a recent Supreme Court ruling in a similar case. Emilee Carpenter, who specializes in wedding photography , filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, claiming New York’s requirement — if…
An Elmira photographer whose lawsuit over New York’s anti-discrimination laws was dismissed in 2021 is pursuing an appeal, buoyed by a recent Supreme Court ruling in a similar case. Emilee Carpenter, who specializes in wedding photography , filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, claiming New York’s requirement — if…
Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 2, 2023 / 09:30 am Nine Oklahoma residents and several interest groups, including the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, filed a lawsuit against state leaders to block the sponsorship and funding for the first approved Catholic charter school in the country. The Statewide…
A long-expected lawsuit has arrived to fight the creation of the country’s first religious charter school . The case, filed Monday in Oklahoma County District Court, kicks off likely years of litigation to examine the possibility of publicly funded religious schools, starting with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.…
Opponents of an application by a Catholic virtual charter school wait for the start of a meeting by the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City on Monday, June 5, 2023. (Paul Monies/Oklahoma Watch) A group of public school parents, taxpayers and faith leaders…