The Freedom From Religion Foundation is disheartened that the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear yet another case involving a Christian plaintiff seeking to broaden religious exemptions in the workplace. Late last week, the high court granted review in a case, Groff v. DeJoy, involving a disgruntled religious postal…
Latest Supreme Court case seeking to expand religious exemptions could seriously harm LGBTQ+ people
The Supreme Court will hear a religious expression case that could have serious negative outcomes for the LGBTQ+ community. The case, Groff v. DeJoy , involves Gerald Groff, a former U.S. Postal Service (USPS) worker who, due to his religious beliefs, wanted an exemption from working on Sundays. “Observing the…
Muslim Inmate Wins Another Shot at Challenge to Sunday Services
Court revives establishment clause claim, cites SCOTUS ruling But jail beats separate count over lack of Muslim group prayer A Virginia jail must defend its practice of broadcasting Christian services on every TV screen each Sunday under a new legal test laid out by the US Supreme Court, a federal…
Here’s why education choice opponents can’t hide behind Idaho’s Constitution
The Idaho Supreme Court has recognized, “In the American concept, there is no greater right to the supervision of the education of the child than that of the parent. In no other hands could it be safer.” But apart from the new and limited “Empowering Parents Program,” Idaho currently facilitates…
Supreme Court takes up religious freedom case involving postal worker who refused to work on Sunday
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a religious liberty case that seeks to make it easier for workers to bring employment discrimination claims when their religious beliefs are not accommodated. The court will review Groff v. DeJoy, which concerns Gerald Groff, a Christian mailman who says he…
Supreme Court takes up religious freedom case involving postal worker who refused to work on Sunday
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a religious liberty case that seeks to make it easier for workers to bring employment discrimination claims when their religious beliefs are not accommodated. The court will review Groff v. DeJoy, which concerns Gerald Groff, a Christian mailman who says he…
SCOTUS To Hear Case of Christian Postal Worker Who Quit Rather Than Deliver Amazon Packages on Sundays
Gerald Groff appears in an image provided to Law&Crime by his lawyers. The Supreme Court granted certiorari Friday in the case of an evangelical Christian postal worker who says that his religious freedom was violated when he was forced to surrender his job as the only means of avoiding delivering…
Michigan Parish Files Lawsuit to Protect School From State Intrusion Over Catholic Beliefs on Sexuality
The parish fears the school will be targeted, in the wake of the Michigan Supreme Court’s recent reinterpretation of state antidiscrimination laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Sacred Heart parish worries that a reinterpretation of a law would prevent Sacred Heart Academy from maintaining its standard-of-conduct policies for…
Yeshiva University Pride Alliance: Case Update
On Dec. 15, 2022, a New York appellate court unanimously affirmed a lower court’s order, entered June 24, 2022 (discussed here ), which had permanently enjoined Yeshiva University (YU) from refusing to recognize the Yeshiva Pride Alliance as an official student organization. The New York Appellate Division, First Department issued…
Aden Duale is right, we must protect everyone’s right of religious expression
Defence Cabinet Secretary Adan Duale recently sparked a debate over the right of Muslim girls and women to wear the hijab. In a Quran Competition, Duale suggested that Muslim women must wear hijabs whenever in public, and those who oppose it should move elsewhere. Many, including senior government officials such…
The FAQs: Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Religious Speech Case
What just happened? On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in 303 Creative v. Elenis , an important free speech case that involves a wedding website designer and has important religious liberty implications. What is the case about? According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) (the law firm defending…
Catholic parish sues over its right to hire staff who uphold church tenets
The Michigan Capitol in Lansing is seen in this file photo. (CNS photo/Dan Meloy, Detroit Catholic) LANSING, Mich. (CNS) — A Catholic parish in the Diocese of Lansing has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to protect its right to hire parish employees and staff for its grade school…
Biden Signs Same-Sex Marriage Bill into Law, Christian Groups Say It Threatens Religious Liberty
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a bill into law that he says will ensure that same-sex marriage remains legal but that critics say goes much further than that by also threatening religious liberty. The bill, the Respect for Marriage Act ( H.R. 8404 ), defines marriage as “between 2…
Catholic parish sues over its right to hire staff who uphold church tenets
The Michigan Capitol in Lansing is seen Nov. 30, 2021. (CNS photo/Dan Meloy, Detroit Catholic) LANSING, Mich. (CNS) — A Catholic parish in the Diocese of Lansing has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to protect its right to hire parish employees and staff for its grade school who…
Religious Freedom Expands Slowly, Uncertainly in Current US Supreme Court
Some religious plaintiffs are winning, but often on narrow grounds. U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (photo: Pixabay) Where is the U.S. Supreme Court going on religious freedom? The court’s current trend is to grant religious-freedom claims. That was true even before Amy Coney Barrett joined the court in October…
Time for Religious Charter Schools
On December 1, Oklahoma attorney general John O’Connor issued an opinion letter concluding that the state’s laws prohibiting religious charter schools are unconstitutional. The prohibitions, he found, run afoul of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Carson v. Makin , which held that Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a…
US Supreme Court hears arguments in clash between religion and gay rights law
Protesters demonstrate outside the US Supreme Court in Washington on December 5, 2022. The US Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday appeared ready to rule that a Christian web designer has a right to refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages in a case the liberal justices said could empower…
US Supreme Court hears arguments in clash between religion and gay rights law
Protesters demonstrate outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2022. The US Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday appeared ready to rule that a Christian web designer has a right to refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages in a case the liberal justices said could empower…
Same-sex marriage fight continues at the Supreme Court with challenge from website designer
(CNN) — The Supreme Court will revisit the intersection of LGBTQ rights and religious liberty on Monday, when it takes up the case of a graphic designer who seeks to start a website business to celebrate weddings — but does not want to work with same-sex couples. The case comes…
US High Court To Review Refusal To Provide Service To Same-sex Couple
The US Supreme Court is to hear a suit filed by a Christian website designer who declines to provide wedding services to same-sex couples Can a business owner cite her religious convictions in declining to provide service to a same-sex couple? The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court is to examine the…
Supreme Court to review workplace dispute over free speech and gay marriage
Lorie Smith is a business owner, who says she puts her Christian faith above financial profit. However, her efforts to manage both have put Smith in conflict with Colorado officials over the limits of workplace speech, an issue the Supreme Court will address in high-profile oral arguments on Monday. At…
Paul Mero: LDS Church should get out of politics, especially the modern American culture war
Church support for Respect for Marriage Act shows what a tangled mess religion and politics make (Rick Bowmer | AP photo) In this Jan. 3, 2018, photo, the angel Moroni statue, silhouetted against the sky, sits atop the Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. My wife…
Court allows Council Bluffs’ pit bull ban to stand, despite arguments the law is unconstitutionally vague
Council Bluffs officials did not violate the rights of dog owners when they banned keeping pit bulls and similar dogs within the city, a federal appeals court has affirmed. The city’s ordinance, which took effect in 2005, bans owning, keeping or selling pit bulls, defined in the law as any…
Notre Dame Religious Liberty Clinic defends Muslim man forced to pray next to jail cell toilet
Notre Dame, IN — A Muslim man’s request to pray in accordance with the dictates of his Islamic faith was repeatedly denied by correctional officers in the Dodge County Detention Facility in Wisconsin. His case addresses the lack of religious accommodations made for practicing Muslims in prison systems. The Notre…
Colorado wedding website designer heads to Supreme Court next month for fight over excluding gay couples
Web designer Lorie Smith is shown in her office on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, in the southwest part of Littleton, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) LITTLETON — A Christian web designer who contends her religious beliefs prevent her from making wedding websites for gay couples said Monday that her legal battle…