This overturned the decision the judges made in February requiring homeschooling parents to possess credentials. In their decision, they stated, “It is important to recognize that it is not for us to consider, as a matter of policy, whether homeschooling should be permitted in California . That job is for the Legislature. It is not the duty of the courts to make the law; we endeavor to interpret it.”
Author: Michael Peabody
EEOC issues New Guidelines on Religious Discrimination
Thanks to the tireless efforts of many the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released new guidelines that make clearer recommendations regarding workplace religious discrimination and accommodation of religious practices. The full guidelines, available at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/religion.html , are remarkable in that the EEOC has clarified definitions and provided clear examples of prohibited conduct that can…
Proposal Would Deny Federal Money if Employees Must Provide Medical Care to Which They Object (WashingtonPost.com)
The Bush Administration has proposed new regulations which would deny federal money to medical facilities if they required employees to act against their religious conscience in providing certain health benefits. This raises a number of pertinent questions: Does this go too far, or is it just what religious employees need? Is the proposed regulation too…
Landowner Of Proposed Muslim Community Site Files Suit Against Town
In Walkersville, Maryland, a landowner who wanted to sell his farm to a Muslim group is suing the town for religious discrimination because they have refused his right to do so. This is a classic case of “NIMBYism” (Not in My Back Yard) where city officials used what sounds like neutral language to carefully make…
VIDEO: For Independence Day – “Letters From War” by Mark Schultz
Regardless of what you think about the war, I think we all hope and pray that the men and women who are serving make it home safe.
IRLA Meeting draws large crowd in Angola
John Graz, Secretary General of the International Religious Liberty Association (http://www.irla.org) reports that 40,000 people attended the IRLA meeting in Luanda, Angola on June 28. On July 5, a meeting will be held in St. Petersburg and on July 12 a Festival of Religious Freedom will be held in in Honolulu, and meetings are planned…
Professor Steven Calabresi on Enforcing Morality (Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy)
In this essay published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Steven Calabresi, the George C. Dix Professor of Constitutional Law, Northwestern University School of Law, comments on Judge Robert Bork’s thought-provoking book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, specifically focusing on governmental efforts to enforce morality. Calabresi argues that there is a place in the…
VIDEO: Increasing American Religious Comity (Pew Forum by way of Spectrum Magazine)
Thanks to Alexander Carpenter for finding this great video. Click here to watch and review the analysis: http://spectrummagazine.org/blog/2008/06/25/pew_video_increasing_american_religious_comity Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation, according to a survey by the Pew Forum…
Marriage Amendment: In California, your state constitutional rights are in the hands of your neighbors
There has been much discussion about the California ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriages from a moral / social / religious perspective, but not much about the concept of overturning court decisions by majority vote. Vikram David Amar at Findlaw writes in a post entitled, “The California Supreme Court’s Gay Marriage Opinion: The People…
Wisconsin: Freedom from Religion Foundation Asks State to Halt Assembly Prayers
Last July, Wisconsin State Representative Terry Moulton led his colleagues in prayer: “In your name, and by the power of your spirit, I come against the Evil One. And I ask that he be cast from this place, this day.” Not necessarily the most ecumenical of prayers, and now the Freedom from Religion Foundation has…