Tag Archives: Category: Religious Liberty

LifeSiteNews: A federal court dismissed the case, on Good Friday, of Ave Maria University’s on the grounds that the federal regulations in question are not in final form. “One thing is clear, Ave Maria is not going to comply with the federal contraception mandate,” university President Jim Towey said in a statement.

The Hill: Groups supporting the contraception mandate in President Obama’s healthcare law collected and formally filed almost 350,000 comments on the policy.

Robert Knight at Townhall: A courageous German Christian couple refused to hand over their children to the government schools and fled to America three years ago. Now, the Obama Administration is trying to send them back. A likely outcome would be the state seizing the children and imprisoning the parents.

MO Family Policy Council: The Missouri Senate has given final passage to pro-life legislation which would protect the conscience rights of the owners of licensed pharmacies in the state. The Senate has approved Senate Bill 126, sponsored by Senator David Sater of Cassville, by a vote of 24-9.

George F. Will at Washington Post: Hopkins’s institutional intolerance would be boring were it simply redundant evidence of academia’s commitment to diversity in everything but thought. It is, however, indicative of the increasingly extreme ambitions and tactics of those operating under the anodyne rubric of “choice.” . . . Planned Parenthood, which receives more than $500 million in government subsidies, is branching out, expanding its mission beyond the provision of abortions to the defense of consumers’ rights: If you pay for an abortion, you are owed a dead baby.

Andrew J. Hull, Complete or Partial Accommodation: An Analysis of the Federal Circuit Split Over the Duty of the Employer to Reasonably Accommodate the Religious Beliefs of the Employee, (Regent University Law Review, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2012).

Glickstein, Jed, Should the Ministerial Exception Apply to Functions, Not Persons? (April 1, 2013). Yale Law Journal, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2242966

lliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to members of the California Legislature Friday to explain the significant legal and policy problems of a proposed bill designed to punish non-profit youth organizations like the Boy Scouts of America

Huffington Post: The number of lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s contraception coverage mandate climbed to 60 last week, and legal experts on both sides of the issue are predicting that the Supreme Court will take up the issue within the year.

Christian Post: The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky sent a letter Thursday to 174 public school superintendents citing the possibility of a lawsuit in the 2013-2014 academic school year if they continue to allow The Gideons International to distribute Bibles, the New Testament and religious literature to students on public school campuses. In the letter accompanying the Open Records Act request . . .

News Leader: The ACLU filed a petition Friday asking the judge to order the board to pay Hudson’s legal fees in the case, almost $60,000.

Patheos: And when I say that, I’m thinking of this quote from the student leading the assault on Father Greg, who, after Father Greg told him that his homosexual behavior would prevent him from having a priestly vocation, became a priest in a schismatic sect . . .

Religion Clause Blog: In In re M.M., (OR App., April 3, 2013), the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the authority of a juvenile court to order immunization of children who are wards of the court, even though the children’s mother and father have religious objections to immunization.

Religion Clause Blog: Last September, New York City’s Board of Health adopted a controversial rule that requires informed consent from a parent or guardian in a Jewish ritual circumcision where a mohel will use the controversial procedure known as metzitzah b’peh.

Religion Clause Blog: In MK Chambers Co. v. Department of Health and Human Services, (ED MI, April 3, 2013), a Michigan federal district court refused to issue an ex parte temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate against a closely-held machinery components company and its two Catholic owners.

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed a lawsuit against a Michigan university for denying funds to a pro-life student group because of its “very controversial” views.

Austin American Statesman via InsuranceNews.net: In December, conservative groups Texas Values and the Alliance Defending Freedom submitted a brief to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asking that his office find the Pflugerville district and other government entities in violation of the state constitution.

MBD.Scout.com on MSN: According to the Power Point presentation, obtained and posted online by legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, the Army Reserve in Pennsylvania considers evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Mormons as dangerous as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, and Hamas.

Christian Post: A U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief describes “Evangelical Christianity” and “Catholicism” as examples of “religious extremism,” according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services and the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, who shared a copy of the documents with The Christian Post.

“We are pleased that the court got part of it right: the First Amendment prohibits the government from funding candidates based upon their opponent’s speech,” said James Bopp, Jr., counsel for the plaintiffs.

The Ruth Institute provides more information.

Christian Newswire: Focus on the Family spokesman and Truth Project founder Dr. Del Tackett yesterday declared his support for HSLDA’s efforts to defend the Romeike family. Tackett believes that the U.S. government is siding with the restrictive homeschooling laws in Germany and that this could have serious implications for American homeschoolers.

The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty together with the Archdiocese for the Military Services recently uncovered a U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief that expressly identified “Evangelical Christianity” and “Catholicism” as examples of “religious extremism” like al-Qaida, Hamas, and the Klu Klux Klan.

Yahoo News: “The Republican Party is going to be torn on this issue. The bulk of the party is going to be very resistant and is very supportive of traditional marriage, and parts of the party are going to flake off. Parties do that,” Gingrich told a group of reporters at a breakfast meeting at National Review magazine’s Washington, D.C., office. “The country is gradually evolving. The country is thinking this thing through. It creates complexities.”

WFPL.org: The ACLU of Kentucky is calling on school districts to disclose their practices for letting groups distribute literature to students during school hours.

ACLU: Representatives of religions that do not have ordained ministers must be permitted to perform marriages on the same basis as ministers, priests, rabbis, and other ordained clergy, Chief Judge Dennis J. Smith of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County ruled on Friday.

Andrew C. McCarthy at NRO: Imagine if we had told the anti-war Left that photos of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison could not be publicly displayed.

Today, the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a “Friend of the Court” brief in the United States Supreme Court, urging the Court to review and reverse a Colorado Appellate Court decision which banned the public display of “gruesome” abortion images because they might offend children . . .

Edward Mechmann at the Archdiocese of New York: But even more fundamental to our opposition to the bill is the understanding that current federal law on abortion is evil. It is a terrible injustice, it is a deplorable violation of basic human rights, and it is an ugly stain on our society’s character. We cannot accept or even obey such laws

SC Times: The Catholic deacon who owns American Manufacturing Company in St. Joseph has received a preliminary injunction protecting him from provisions in the Affordable Care Act. The injunction was issued Tuesday in the 8th Circuit of the federal district courts by U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim. | Hall v. Sebelius, Preliminary Injunction

The Christian Civic League has posted this information page.

Columbus Dispatch: The painting long hung in the middle school, which was once the high school, until the Hi-Y club recently moved it to the new high school. Some Jackson residents hope the club sues the district to seek the painting’s return. The club’s attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom did not return calls yesterday.

Ilya Somin at Volokh Conspiracy: Co-blogger Eugene Volokh recently linked to a Virginia state court decision striking down as unconstitutional a state law that allowed religious societies without official clergy to designate only one member as having the power to perform wedding ceremonies, while religious groups that do have clergy can designate more. The court concluded that the First and Fourteenth Amendments bar this law because “The General Assembly [Virginia's state legislature] cannot favor one type of religion over another without a compelling government interest and a narrowly tailored method.”

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: I’m pleased to report that my Mayer Brown LLP colleagues Andrew Frey and Michael Rayfield and I have just filed a friend of the court briefon behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Christian Legal Society in Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court later this month.

NewsOK: A panel of nine federal appeals court judges will hear oral arguments in Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.’s fight against part of the Affordable Care Act on May 23 in Denver.

Religion Clause Blog: A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court in Big Sky Colony, Inc. v. Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

Religion Clause: The Attorneys General of 13 states last week submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services a joint letter (full text) commenting on the Department’s proposed rules that attempt to accommodate objections raised by non-profit religious organizations to the scope of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate.

Religion Clause Blog: The New York Times reported earlier this week on the unusual recent decision by the Internal Revenue Service to revoke its 2003 “church plan” designation for the employee retirement plan of Hospital Center of Orange.

Ross Douthat at NY Times: The notion that nobody would have entertained what Drum later calls the “esoteric” idea that marriage has an essential link to the way that human beings procreate if desperate social conservatives hadn’t grasped at it is apparently quite a popular view, judging by the fact that other writers raised it on Twitter over the weekend, and its popularity testifies to the way that the gay marriage debate has encouraged a strange historical amnesia about the origins of marriage law.

Speak Up Movement: You may be tempted to think if marriage is redefined to include same-sex couples, then the whole issue may just go away and the two sides can come to some sort of grudging peace. Everyone can get on with their lives, right? Well, not so fast. One of the things that is often overlooked in the debate over marriage is the effect redefining marriage will have on religious freedom. In short, redefining marriage to include same-sex couples poses a significant threat to religious freedom. Examples abound to illustrate this fact . . .

Herb Silverman of the Secular Coaltion at Washington Post: The most obvious and effective lesson atheists are learning from gays (including all LGBTs) is to come out of the closet. Attitudes toward gays changed rapidly when people learned that their friends, neighbors, and even family members were gay. Attitudes about atheists are slowly changing as atheists are slowly coming out.

LifeNews: After a terse debate in the Virginia House, members of the Assembly voted today to stop taxpayer funding of abortions in the Obamacare exchange.

Kathryn Jean Lopez at NRO: Americans concerned with the narrowing of conscience rights in the United States have through Monday, April 8, to file comments with the Department of Health and Human Services in opposition to the latest iteration of the Obama administration’s abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization employer-insurance mandate under the president’s health-care law. Maureen Ferguson of the Catholic Association talked to National Review Online about the religious-liberty problem that remains for individuals and religious service institutions with moral objections to any and all of these requirements.

Daily Caller: CWA President and CEO Penny Nance explained in the email, which was sent to supporters on Tuesday, how the conservative women’s organization has been “maligned by the radical Left” for opposing same-sex marriage, labeled a hate group and identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of “a dozen major groups [that] help drive the Religious Right’s anti-gay crusade.”

Dallas Morning News: If passed, the bill would outlaw the discrimination of employees or potential employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. That includes segregating the employee or failing to hire them on the basis of gender preference. It would add on to the state labor code that already prohibits discrimination because of race, color, disability, religion, sex or national origin.

WRAL: A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide . . . House Bill 494, a resolution filed by Republican Rowan County Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford, would refuse to acknowledge the force of any judicial ruling on prayer in North Carolina – or indeed on any Constitutional topic . . .

Garner v. Kennedy, No. 11-40653 (5th Cir. April 2, 2013)

This case requires us to determine whether the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s policy of prohibiting prisoners from wearing beards for religious reasons violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).1 After a bench trial, the district court granted declaratory and injunctive relief in favor of the plaintiff, a Muslim, to the extent that the policy prohibits him from wearing a quarter-inch beard. The defendants have appealed that ruling. We affirm

American Freedom Law Center: Yesterday, the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a lengthy memorandum of law in opposition to a Buffalo-area school district’s motion to dismiss AFLC’s federal civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Joelle Silver, a Christian public school teacher who was forced by school officials to censor her personal speech and remove all religious content from her classroom under threat of being fired.

Religion Clause Blog: In Parish of Jefferson v. Daughters of St. Paul Inc., 2013 La. App. LEXIS 599 (LA App., March 27, 2013), a Louisiana appeals court rejected a RLUIPA land use claim brought by Pauline Books & Media, a non-profit corporation of religious women who share their beliefs through media.

AP: Hiram Sasser, an attorney with the Liberty Institute that helped defend the school, said Wednesday that the Hi-Y Club could file its own lawsuit for the right to display the portrait, but he didn’t know its plans.

GOQNotes: “No state employee should experience discrimination on the job because of the color of their skin, their age, their religion, where they were born, any disability they may have, or who they love,” Sen. Josh Stein (D-Wake), the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill introduced Thursday, said in a press release

DNews.com: Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney and a score of residents were outraged by the City Council’s decision Monday to pass an antidiscrimination ordinance without taking public comment from many who had come out and waited hours for such a chance.

Todd Starnes at Human Events: A federal civil rights complaint has been filed against the Salt Lake City School Board after a principal booted a Cub Scout pack from an elementary school.

Above the Law: These are schools that we don’t talk about very much (except for when they accidentally release the personal data for their entire incoming class), but the trend here seems to be that if the school has any kind of a religious affiliation, its peer assessment score drops quicker than the Walls of Jericho.

Jeremy Tedesco at Speak Up Movement: Rarely can the essence of a lawsuit be captured through pictures. But in Alliance Defending Freedom’s case involving a tiny Church’s First Amendment challenge to the Town of Gilbert’s discriminatory treatment of signs advertising its religious services, a picture truly speaks a thousand words.

Alan Sears at Alliance Defending Freedom: One of the quieter – though equally intense – battles for religious freedom in America is being fought almost daily on behalf of young school children. This week, two cases from two different parts of the country spotlight the obstacles being placed before people of faith, like you, who want nothing more than to select a school that best meets the needs of their children and grandchildren.

USA Today: The debate pits those who believe a person is born gay or lesbian versus those who think it is a choice.

Chuck Norris at Townhall: Last week, I gave 12 examples of how religious liberty has been assaulted in just the past two years in the U.S. Here are about two dozen more instances just for good measure, as reported by the Family Research Council, the office of Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., and various media outlets.

KVIA.com: Four words are creating a major ripple in quiet Alamogordo, N.M. “In God We Trust.” A group representing atheists and agnostics is calling out the city of Alamogordo for a new sign bearing the slogan in city hall.

Adam J. MacLeod at Public Discourse: It’s a myth that marriage law “bans” same-sex relationships because it treats marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Todd Starnes at Townhall: The Student Government Association at Johns Hopkins University compared pro-life students to white supremacists and denied them official club status at the school.

CBS: “It will be sued everywhere in the country if it’s declared to be a constitutional right,” said Krauthammer. “Because it would imply that anybody who opposes it does it only out of bigotry, for no other reason.”

Seattle Times: State Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, says a House bill requiring health-insurance plans to cover abortions has the 25 votes needed to pass the Senate. He released a letter Monday with the signatures of 25 senators, as a hearing was being held in the Senate on House Bill 1044. The legislation passed the House 53-43 in February.

LifeSiteNews: On March 12th, a pro-life group at Johns Hopkins University, Voice for Life (VFL), was denied the right to become an official student club by the Student Government Association (SGA) during a student Senate meeting, after having been recommended for approval by the SGA Appointments and Evaluations Committee.

Religion Clause Blog: In American Atheists, Inc. v. Port Authority of NY and NJ, (SD NY, March 28, 2013), a New York federal district court rejected constitutional challenges to the inclusion of the World Trade Center Cross—two beams that survived the collapse of the World Trade Center—as part of the National September 11 Museum in lower Manhattan.

White House: As Christians, my family and I remember the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for each and every one of us – how He took on the sins of the world and extended the gift of salvation. And we recommit ourselves to following His example here on Earth. To loving our Lord and Savior. To loving our neighbors. And to seeing in everyone, especially “the least of these,” as a child of God.

Religion Clause Blog: In a detailed 70-page opinion in Irshad Learning Center v. County of DuPage, (ND IL, March 29, 2013), an Illinois federal district court held that DuPage County Illinois violated the substantial burden provisions of RLUIPA and the Illinois Religious Freedom Act Restoration Act . . .

Dallas Morning News (ruling is embedded): For six years the city of Dallas and two ministries have been locked in a legal battle over their right to feed the homeless and hungry wherever and whenever they find them. But at long last, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ended that tussle today — for now, at least — by siding with Rip Parker Memorial Homeless Ministry and Big Heart Ministries.

Charlotte Observer: A Salisbury church is getting ready to show support for Rowan County commissioners who are facing a legal battle because they pray before county meetings.

KOB.com: A group representing atheists and agnostics has objected to the city Alamogordo displaying the words “In God We Trust” at City Hall.

The World: Beginning at 7, the City Council will talk about a letter — received from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion group — asking the city to remove a memorial cross from Mingus Park because it allegedly violates the Constitution.

Columbian.com: Hospitals are supposed to be places of healing, but Washington’s hospitals are becoming places of conflict between religion and government over health care services.

Reuters: Members of the Pennsylvania legislature are pushing back against a state Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult for hospitals to prove they are nonprofit organizations deserving of tax-exempt status.

Christian News: The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals announced on Friday that Hobby Lobby’s appeal will go before the entire court as per the company’s request. Cases are customarily held before a panel of three judges, except in what are called en banc hearings.

One News Now: The two recent appeals court rulings were in favor of prayer before town council meetings in Lancaster, California and Lakeland, Florida. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Brett Harvey tells American Family News the lawsuits were filed by atheists. “They’ve got two complaints: Their first complaint is that there’s any prayer at all. But they know that that’s a tall order in light of clear Supreme Court precedent that says you can have a prayer, so they’ve modified their complaint to say, Well, you can pray, but you can’t pray in the name of Jesus,” Harvey reports.