Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own. Last week, a U.S. District Judge rightfully ruled against Christian private school Bethel Christian Academy, which claimed the state of Maryland violated its religious freedom after being excluded from a taxpayer-funded school voucher program. The state government pointed out Bethel failed…
Religion can’t excuse discrimination. Bethel Christian Academy shouldn’t get state money.
Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own. Last week, a U.S. District Judge rightfully ruled against Christian private school Bethel Christian Academy, which claimed the state of Maryland violated its religious freedom after being excluded from a taxpayer-funded school voucher program. The state government pointed out Bethel failed…
Texas files suit against California in U.S. Supreme Court as dispute over religious right of refusal intensifies
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and halt one of the latest developments in the escalating tension between states over the rights of organizations and businesses to refuse to provide services that would conflict with their religious beliefs. The state is challenging…
Church and state, again
A few weeks back, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could once again redraw the line separating church and state. The court has not been clear where that line is. Sixteen years ago, then–Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist ruled that a Washington State scholarship program could…
Big Beaver Falls SD among 55 charged to change religion policy
Daveen Rae Kurutz @DK_NewsData and @DKreports Feb 10, 2020 at 5:01 PM The Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center ordered 55 Pennsylvania school districts, including the Big Beaver Falls Area School District, to change policies silencing students from speaking about religion or face a lawsuit. BEAVER FALLS — Big Beaver Falls Area…
Big Beaver Falls SD among 55 charged to change religion policy
Daveen Rae Kurutz @DK_NewsData and @DKreports Feb 10, 2020 at 5:01 PM The Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center ordered 55 Pennsylvania school districts, including the Big Beaver Falls Area School District, to change policies silencing students from speaking about religion or face a lawsuit. BEAVER FALLS — Big Beaver Falls Area…
The First Amendment Isn’t a Free Pass To Discriminate
On June 27, 1989, President George H. W. Bush stated that “flag burning is wrong … burning the flag goes too far and I want to see that matter remedied.” He added that “support for the First Amendment need not extend to desecration of the American flag.” These quotes by…
Federal judge accepts religious liberty defense of immigrant rights activists
A file picture of the border wall between the US and Mexico. (RNS) An Arizona federal judge has reversed the convictions of four faith-based volunteers who were fined and put on probation for aiding migrants at the border, saying that the activists were simply exercising their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”…
EDITORIAL: Religious rights victory for elderly Fredericksburg couple
Fredericksburg retired Lutheran minister Ken Hauge. ON Jan. 16, 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson, which stated that “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested,…
Education Frontlines: In public schools, church, state separate
John Richard Schrock By JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK School-sponsored prayer is not back, despite some media announcements in mid-January. The First Amendment enacted in 1791 clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” Thomas Jefferson stated this clause was to…
Ruling against business discrimination challenged in Arizona
Arizona Attorney General. (Capitol Media Services/Courtesy, file) PHOENIX — Arizona’s top prosecutor is urging a federal appeals court to allow a Colorado woman and the company she owns to refuse to design a website for a same-sex wedding. In a new legal brief filed with the 10th Circuit Court of…
Brnovich leads push to overturn Colorado anti-discrimination law
Arizona’s top prosecutor is urging a federal appeals court to allow a Colorado woman and the company she owns to refuse to design a web site for a same-sex wedding. In a new legal brief filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the rights…
The Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause seem to be at war
Comments (0) Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding www.ohiocoalition.org The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the…
Brnovich leading group of state attorneys general in discrimination case Colorado web designer refused service to same-sex couple
In a new legal brief filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the rights of Lorie Smith trump a Colorado law which makes it illegal for businesses open to the public to refuse to offer services because of a customer’s sexual orientation. That same…
OPINION: Should plaintiffs in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling about school choice be careful what they wish for?
The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox. Editor’s note: Montana parent Kendra Espinoza hoped a tax credit would help her pay for a private Christian school for…
Explainer: Supreme Court considers whether states can ban public funding for religious schools
Article What just happened? The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a case that could have significant ramifications for religious liberty. At issue in h is the question of whether it violates the religion clauses or the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution to invalidate a generally…
Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court may poke another hole in the ‘wall of separation’ between church and state
Los Angeles Times The Supreme Court may be poised to require states to subsidize religious schools if they provide financial support for other private schools, poking another hole in the “wall of separation between church and state” described by Thomas Jefferson as central to the First Amendment. On Wednesday, the…
Airmont: Federal judge refuses to dismiss Hasidic Jewish school’s discrimination lawsuit
The main building of United Talmudical Academy of Monsey on Cherry Lane in the Village of Airmont on Thursday, November 29, 2018. (Photo: John Meore/The Journal News) AIRMONT — A federal judge has found sufficient grounds for a trial on discrimination claims against the village concerning the expansion of a…
Editorial: The Supreme Court may poke another hole in the ‘wall of separation’ between church and state
Justice Elena Kagan noted that states could oppose funding religious schools for reasons that have nothing to do with bigotry. The Supreme Court may be poised to require states to subsidize religious schools if they provide financial support for other private schools, poking another hole in the “wall of separation…
Supreme Court hears oral arguments on major religious school choice case
A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington. Photo by Duncan Lock/Creative Commons (RNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday (Jan. 22) for a case that may put to rest decades of debate over government funding for private, religious schools. The case, Espinoza…
Eric Smith: First Amendment protects work and finances of religious charities
The Washington Post’s exclusive story on David Nielsen’s whistleblower complaint to the IRS with respect to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “saving its excess surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works” deserves a more technical explanation of the law surrounding tax-exempt organizations. First, let’s establish…
Religion and school choice at heart of new Supreme Court battle
The battle over school-choice programs and state aid for religious schools returns to the U.S. Supreme Court this week as three mothers from Montana ask the justices to uphold a scholarship program that would help fund Christian education for their children. The case is a major test for the balance…
Supreme Court takes up church-state separation in Christian schools case
The Supreme Court takes up the sensitive issue of religion in public life Wednesday, considering whether states violate the Constitution if they prevent religious groups from receiving some state benefits. The justices are asked to strike a balance between the desire of a state to keep government out of religion…
Trump administration’s religious freedom announcements square with Constitution, Supreme Court precedent
Trump administration’s religious freedom announcements square with Constitution, Supreme Court precedent Government is not permitted to treat people of faith as second-class citizens. But for far too long public schools and many other government institutions have willfully curtailed religious actions by private individuals in government buildings and grounds. President Trump…
Virginia couple wins battle to hold Bible study at retirement center: settlement
A man reading the Bible. | Getty images/stock photo A Virginia couple who were threatened with eviction from their retirement home if they continued to hold Bible study meetings have won the right to hold classes again. Kenneth and Liv Hauge recently reached a settlement with the Evergreens at Smith…