Oregon Legislature Votes Down 1923 Ban on Teachers Wearing Religious Dress By Michael Peabody – This month we have a couple of big stories coming out of the great Pacific Northwest. In Oregon, the legislature has passed a bill championed by the Northwest Religious Liberty Association that overturns a 87-year-old law that prohibited teachers from…
Category: Discrimination
Northwest Religious Liberty Association Honors Oregon Speaker Dave Hunt
Representative Dave Hunt, speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, was awarded by the Northwest Religious Liberty Association (NRLA) at the Oregon Conference Campmeeting in Gladstone on July 17, 2009 for his legislative sponsorship of the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act, Senate Bill 786 (SB 786) which was signed into law by Governor Ted Kulongoski. There were…
3 states still ban religious clothing for teachers (Associated Press)
EXCERPT: PORTLAND, Ore. – A law backed by the Ku Klux Klan nearly a century ago to keep Catholics out of public schools is still on the books in Oregon, one of the last states in the nation to prohibit teachers from wearing religious clothing in classrooms. Both Pennsylvania and Nebraska have similar laws, which…
Civil Rights Pioneer E.E. Cleveland talks about meeting Martin Luther King, Jr.
On August 30, 2009, renowned evangelist Edward Earl Cleveland died at Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama. He was 88. Cleveland worked for more than 60 years as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, evangelist, church leader, teacher, and civil rights leader. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attended one of Cleveland’s tent meetings in 1954 in Montgomery and…
Tennesee governor signs Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law
On July 1, 2009, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. Introduced in February, House Bill 1598 requires Tennessee courts to apply the “compelling state interest” test to cases in which a law substantially burdens one’s right of free exercise of religion. The state now has the burden of…
When work and religion collide
Because religious beliefs are protected and there is a more diverse workforce, religious accommodation issues have increased. This article was written by originally published in the July 19, 2009 Zanesville TimesRecorder and is reprinted here with the permission of the author. By Jim Evans This is not your father’s workplace. A snapshot of today’s workforce looks dramatically…
Governor signs Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act
Northwest Religious Liberty Association Press Release – July 21, 2009 The Stage Was Set On a sweltering Friday summer evening, and just two minutes prior to going on stage before approximately 2,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians at the Gladstone, Oregon Campmeeting, the Honorable Representative Dave Hunt (D), Speaker of the House of Representatives for the Oregon Legislature,…
Justice Department Files Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Against Essex County, New Jersey (DOJ Release)
The Department filed a lawsuit today against Essex County, N.J., alleging that it discriminated against a Muslim corrections officer on the basis of her religion in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The suit alleges that the county refused to permit Yvette Beshier to wear a religiously mandated headscarf while working as a corrections officer.
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signs the Workplace Religious Freedom Act
Breaking News: We have received word that Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has signed the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act (SB 786). SB 786 requires employers to make credible attempts to accommodate religious holy day observance and religious dress. Prior to SB 786, employers in Oregon could make only the bare minimum effort to meet accommodation…
Oregon House of Representatives passes Workplace Religious Freedom Act
SB 786 has passed both houses of the legislature and is now on the Governor’s Desk.