News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the East Hartford Police Department to immediately disband a chaplaincy program and the city to cease promotion of it on social media outlets. A concerned East Hartford resident reported that on March 8, multiple Christian religious leaders were sworn in as official police…
This case law update was written by James P. Garay Heelan , an attorney at the law firm of Shaw Bransford & Roth , where he has practiced federal personnel and employment law since 2012. Mr. Heelan represents federal personnel across the Executive Branch, including career senior executives, law enforcement…
Do No Harm Act would address increasing use of religious freedom law to undermine civil rights protections WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Representative Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), along with U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (TN-09), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), reintroduced…
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington March 27, 2023. The court heard arguments in a case April 18 that could have broad implications for employees seeking religious accommodations from their employers. (OSV News photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters) The U.S. Supreme Court heard April 18 arguments in a case that…
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case testing how far employers must go to accommodate the religious views of their employees. Federal civil rights law requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs of workers as long as that accommodation does not impose an "undue hardship" on…
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case testing how far employers must go to accommodate the religious views of their employees. Federal civil rights law requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious beliefs of workers as long as that accommodation does not impose an "undue hardship" on…
Members of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board discuss St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School’s application. Oklahoma will still consider approving a religious charter school despite a February opinion from new state Attorney General Gentner Drummond saying that doing so ”misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing…
CNN — The Supreme Court on Tuesday will take on a major religious liberty dispute that could ultimately clarify how far employers must go to accommodate their employees’ religious beliefs. Gerald Groff, who lives in Pennsylvania, served in 2012 as a rural carrier associate at the United States Postal Service,…
The LDS church protected a sexual abuser for a decade in Cochise County. When sued, the church attempted to escape responsibility by scurrying behind robes. A Cochise County judge ordered that the bishops and the clerk had to testify, so the church filed a special action, then Division 2 issued…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to decide whether it should bolster workplace accommodations for the free exercise of religion. The justices was to hear oral arguments April 18 regarding a U.S. Postal Service employee’s contention his belief in observing Sunday as the Sabbath was not properly accommodated.…
The Supreme Court is poised to correct an old error that has hurt religious workers for decades by depriving them of their civil rights. More than 50 years ago, Congress protected religious employees in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It requires employers to give their employees reasonable accommodations…
Supreme Court – Separation of Church and State Religious employees should be watching the case of Groff v. DeJoy closely to see whether the Supreme Court will restore religious freedom to the workplace. It may be rare for religious employees to have conflicts between their jobs and their faith, but…
Yellow Dog Productions/Getty Images In the culture war battles over abortion and transgender rights, religion and religious liberty claims are often identified exclusively with one side of these disputes — those who oppose abortion and transgender rights. This is no longer the case. Several weeks ago, 1,500 synagogues observed a…
Depositphotos.com image “ Taxes are what we pay for [a] civilized society .” Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas, The Collector of Internal Revenue 275 U.S. 87 (1927) (Holmes, J., dissenting) A unique measure enacted recently in Iowa providing parents public funding to send their children to private schools, including…
The Loudoun County Public Schools sign on the county building. (7News FILE) LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (7News) — Loudoun County Public Schools Acting Superintendent is banning a teacher from using Bible verses in her email signature, 7News has learned. “Simply put, the general inclusion of religious quotes in communications LCPS employees…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is complimenting a Virginia school district for doing the right thing in ignoring a recent misguiding missive from a Christian nationalist group. Liberty Counsel is objecting to Loudoun County Public Schools’ decision requiring a teacher to refrain from using a bible verse in her signature…
We don’t want your kind. getty Over the past few years, the Supreme Court has, step by step, broken large holes in the wall between church and state when it comes to education. Now a lawsuit in Maine proposes to shatter a few more bricks. Carson v. Makin spun from…
Parliament should begin the process of disestablishment rather than try to fix the Church of England, argues Stephen Evans. A recent exchange in parliament revealed the incongruity of a state church in a liberal democracy. Last week, a group of respected parliamentarians brought forward a bill to allow for same…
A federal judge dismissed Friday an effort by the pastor of God’s Storehouse, who is also a state senator, to block Internal Revenue Service access the church’s bank records as part of an ongoing investigation. The probe into God’s Storehouse stretches back to June 2021 but became public last year…
Los Angeles Times (TNS) Marissa Barnwell failed to show sufficient deference to the Pledge of Allegiance. And for that, she was punished. She was walking quietly down the hall at River Bluff High School in Lexington, South Carolina, where she is in ninth grade. The daily over-the-intercom recitation of the…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is sounding the tocsin about a proposal in the Texas Legislature that would assault the constitutional wall of separation enshrined in both the state and federal constitutions. The proposal is grandiosely and misleadingly dubbed the “Protection of Religious Liberty from Nativist Jurisprudence Act.” If passed,…
Students saying the Pledge of Allegiance at Mount St. Mary’s Academy in Grass Valley, Calif., in 2021. Marissa Barnwell failed to show sufficient deference to the Pledge of Allegiance. And for that, she was punished. She was walking quietly down the hall at River Bluff High School in Lexington, S.C.,…
Tennessee’s attorney general is jumping into the First Amendment debate over religious liberty in the U.S., joining other states in issuing support for a number of high-profile issues. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a collation of 19 state attorneys general on Tuesday in filing an amicus brief asking the U.S.…
Tennessee’s attorney general is jumping into the First Amendment debate over religious liberty in the U.S., joining other states in issuing support for a number of high-profile issues. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a collation of 19 state attorneys general on Tuesday in filing an amicus brief asking the U.S.…
Tennessee’s attorney general is jumping into the First Amendment debate over religious liberty in the U.S., joining other states in issuing support for a number of high-profile issues. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a collation of 19 state attorneys general on Tuesday in filing an amicus brief asking the U.S.…