Attorney Ryan Snow has released a new book that is designed to bring non-lawyers up to date on the most important religious liberty debate facing America. Religious Freedom: What’s All the Freedom About recounts the history behind religious freedom laws, and includes an history of how Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, in 1993 – a feat hardly imaginable today.
In a 147-page ruling issued today, New York Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer found that the Trump administration’s “conscience act” exceeded the president’s authority but did not violate the Establishment Clause. Given its procedural defects, the rule was invalidated in its entirety.
The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that an organization that sued Hands On Originals (“Hands On”), a t-shirt print company, for discrimination lacked standing as an “individual” to pursue the claim.
Earlier this month, presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke stated that he would support removing the tax-exempt status of organizations and institutions that oppose same-sex marriage. Specifically, O’Rourke said, “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone or any institution or organization in America that denies the full human rights, and the full civil rights of everyone in America.”
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Executive Committee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted at its Annual Council meeting [see Video] to adopt the position that “[t]he Seventh-day Adventist Church considers abortion out of harmony with God’s plan for human life.” The newly adopted position statement affirms that “God considers the unborn child as human life” and that “the principle to preserve life enshrined in the sixth commandment places abortion within its scope.”
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear argument in a case involving a Louisiana regulation on abortion doctors. It is similar to a Texas case decided in 2016.
A woman has filed an $11 million lawsuit against a Hamilton County, Tennessee, sheriff’s deputy for forcing her to be baptized during a traffic stop.
A California Court of Appeals has ruled that a religious hospital can be liable for discrimination if it refuses to provide medical services for religious reasons without immediately providing a referral to a hospital that will accommodate the patient.
When it comes to abortion, Seventh-day Adventists range from providers to prominent pro-life advocates. Now the church may be revisiting its position on the controversial issue.
On September 16, 2019, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that a Phoenix city ordinance cannot require a business to create same-sex wedding invitations in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs.