News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Click here to view original article www.secularism.org.uk NSS urges minister to update "unfair, confusing and restrictive" wedding laws in England and Wales. Photo by Brittney Weng on Unsplash (cropped) The new government should update wedding laws in England and Wales for greater freedom and fairness for couples of all religions…
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,…
Local advisory committees on religious education may not exclude humanists, the High Court has found. In a landmark ruling on Friday, the High Court determined that Kent County Council acted unlawfully in barring a humanist from joining a Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) as a full member. Judge…
Some say football is a religion, but does fervent support for Rangers FC amount to “philosophical belief”? Durham University final year student Beatrice Hale looks into an unusual employment tribunal case Rangers FC — image via Wiki Commons/Archibald99 The Employment Tribunal in Glasgow recently handed down its judgment in the…
Its conservative majority is expanding the right to religious exercise at the expense of church-state separation AMERICA’S SUPREME COURT has long steered a careful path between the twin religion clauses of the First Amendment: the “free-exercise” clause, which requires a degree of friendliness towards religion and its adherents; and the…
The US Supreme Court is seen behind a fence after overturning Roe v. Wade, in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2022. Yesterday’s shameful Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade was telegraphed months ago. But, during the angst-laden wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe , the court, so…
Former Bremerton, Wash., High School football coach Joseph A. Kennedy addresses the media outside the U.S. Supreme Court after April 25 oral arguments in his case. The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether prayers at the 50-yard line by former high school football coach Joseph A. Kennedy were protected by…
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBTQ people in the case of a Colorado web designer who says her religious beliefs prevent her from offering wedding website designs to gay couples. The high court said Tuesday it would…
The Church of Scientology in Los Angeles. Photo: Bing Guan/Bloomberg News The California Court of Appeal has opened a new front in the legal war over religious exemptions. In Bixler v. Church of Scientology , the court ruled in favor of former members of the church who allege that they…
“Global Respect Act” Disrespects Religious Liberty; Christians Win in European Court of Human Rights; Chinese Communists “Walk in Footsteps of Taliban”; To Forward a Spiritual Revival? University and Smithsonian to Study Role of Religion in Jan 6 Capitol Riot; Patheos Pulls Plug on Negative Religious Criticism “Global Respect Act” Disrespects…
“The UK Supreme Court engaged at length with the human rights arguments in this case and upheld the McArthurs’ rights to freedom of expression and religion,” Calvert said. On Jan. 6, the ECHR determined that Lee’s case was inadmissible because he had “failed to exhaust domestic remedies.” (photo: Sara Valenti…
The cake was eventually made by another bakery A complaint by Northern Ireland gay rights activist Gareth Lee that he was discriminated against when the Christian owners of a Belfast bakery refused to make him a cake iced with the slogan "Support Gay Marriage" has been ruled inadmissible by the…
Nine Iranian Christians from Rasht facing national security charges. Currently at least 20 Christians are jailed in Iran because their faith was deemed a threat to the Islamic republic’s national security. Of the more than 100 Iranian believers imprisoned since 2012, all have faced similar charges. Read This Issue More…
An icon of Christ damaged by shellfire at St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) Church in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2017. To mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church [this month], the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA) calls upon evangelicals to unite in praying for the area of Europe where the church…
Christian News The BGEA put adverts for the festival on local public buses. (Blackpool) Manchester County Court Judge Claire Evans ruled in favour of Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) in the Lancashire Festival of Hope advertising campaign case. In 2018, the English city of Blackpool hosted…
The prohibition on worship has been overturned by Lord Braid in the Court of Session after a challenge was brought by a coalition of 28 faith leaders. Lord Braid said the regulations went further than the government was lawfully able to do, but this did not mean churches should “reopen…
Of the roughly 32 lawsuits that have been filed since March against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, many allege his executive orders violate the religious liberty clauses of the California Constitution. Twenty-two active cases address religious freedom violations, education policies, forced closures of businesses, alleged violations of federal and state laws,…
An "Open for Worship" banner is posted outside the Crossroads Community Church in Yuba City, Calif., Thursday, July 9, 2020. (The Center Square) – Of the roughly 32 lawsuits that have been filed since March against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, many allege his executive orders violate the religious liberty clauses…
An "Open for Worship" banner is posted outside the Crossroads Community Church in Yuba City, Calif., Thursday, July 9, 2020. (The Center Square) – Of the roughly 32 lawsuits that have been filed since March against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, many allege his executive orders violate the religious liberty clauses…
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif., July 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) has teamed up with Tyler & Bursch, The National Center for Law and Policy (NCLP) and Advocates for Faith & Freedom to file a lawsuit challenging the state of California’s ban on singing and…
Ashers bakery owners Daniel and Amy McArthur outside the Supreme Court in London in October 2018, where five justices unanimously ruled that the Christian owners did not discriminate against gay rights activist Gareth Lee on the ground of sexual orientation by refusing to bake a cake that said ‘support gay…
A gay pride flag flying outside the Northern Ireland Office in Stormont; the NIO is now drawing up guidelines to protect clergy from being forced to do gay weddings – but they plan to offer no protection to businesses The church (which is the largest Protestant denomination on the island…
A Church of England multi-academy trust has settled out of court after being threatened with High Court action over its assemblies, following claims that they breached human rights and were indoctrinating pupils. The Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust was facing a case brought by parents who said primary pupils were made…
Ashers Baking Company is fighting a discrimination case once again. A gay man is to challenge the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of a Christian bakery after it found that he was not discriminated against when his cake order was refused. The case goes back to 2014 when Gareth…
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…