Attorneys for a Washington florist who refused to make a flower arrangement a same-sex wedding filed a supplemental brief in the wake of Monday’s Masterpiece Cakeshop decision which left the question of balance between free exercise of religion and non-discrimination statutes unanswered.Â
Regulation of online speech is marching forward from both the left and the right, and it may only be a matter of time until free expression on the Internet becomes a thing of the past.
On March 20, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, a case challenging a California law that requires pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to advise pregnant women of the availability of publicly-funded family planning services, including contraception and abortion. Unlicensed clinics must also disclose that their personnel are unlicensed.
Today the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving whether it constitutional to require government employees who do not join their respective unions to still pay fees to the unions for the cost of negotiating and administering their employment contracts.
Last week, a judge in Bakersfield, California made a preliminary ruling that a baker can continue to refuse to bake same-sex wedding cakes until the case goes to trial in June.
In the book, 1984, George Orwell paints a bleak portrait of a future where Big Brother is watching everything you do, and the thought police can practically read your mind. In order to gain the support of the population, an ironically named Ministry of Truth twists the meaning of words to make terrible concepts seem acceptable with slogans such as War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; and Ignorance is Strength.
The #MeToo movement has opened the floodgates on sexual abuse allegations. Now it is up to churches, schools, and institutions to prevent it, and for parents to know the signs of sexual abuse to protect their children.
On January 17, 2018, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court improperly granted summary judgment against plaintiffs in a holy day observance case.
Last summer, Hurricane Harvey created a wake of destruction across southeast Texas, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stepped in to provide disaster-relief grants to some organizations. Under FEMA’s policy at the time, churches could receive funding to repair only those portions of their facilities where less than 50 percent of the space was used for religious purposes. As a result, schools or church-run hospitals and community centers could receive aid, but not church sanctuaries.
As part of the final push to enact tax reform before the end of the year, a proposed tax code change that would permit churches and other non-profit organizations to engage in partisan political campaigning has been dropped from the House and Senate reconciliation version of 2017 tax bill. Although the House version of the bill had included a repeal of the controversial Johnson Amendment, the Senate version kept it intact. Proponents of the repeal have argued for the right of pastors to speak freely about candidates from the pulpit, and opponents claim it would provide a “dark money” tax-exempt way to launder otherwise non-tax deductible campaign donations.