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EXCERPT: A judge has ruled that the construction of a new mosque in Rutherford County does not harm the residents who sued the county over it, but allowed them to move forward on claims the county violated an open meetings law. Plaintiffs' attorney Joe Brandon Jr. had argued that the mosque violated his clients' constitutional rights, claiming that the Islamic […]
Between its inception in 1775 and 1912, postal employees delivered mail seven (7) days a week. In the early 1800s, religious leaders became concerned that employees were forced to work on the “Christian Sabbath,” or Sunday, and began to petition Congress to use its Article I powers to disallow Sunday delivery. This concern reached a fevered pitch in 1810 when Congress required post offices to open at least one hour on Sunday. Outraged that Congress had thus enforced Sunday desecration, religious leaders began to clamor for legislation that would outlaw Sunday operations.
"Oh Dave, don't forget, your oath is today at 9:15." The words snap my groggy mind to attention. Oath? My boss continues. "Yeah, it will be on the fourth floor, in the administrative offices. It shouldn't be a problem." It shouldn't be a problem. Is that a threat? It shouldn't be a problem if you keep your idealistic, religious nonsense […]
By Gregory W. Hamilton, President Northwest Religious Liberty Association (NRLA) March 15, 2011 President Barack Obama came to Cairo in 2009 with the purpose of announcing to the Arab-Muslim world that he was not following his predecessor's "Democracy Project" as a matter of U.S. Middle East policy. One could call this Obama's "Olive Branch Doctrine": the message that interfaith tolerance […]
During the brief window between the California Supreme Court's decision finding a ban on same-sex marriage in violation of the California Constitution on May 15, 2008 and the ballot-initiative amending said constitution on November 5, 2008, Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer got married.
While same-sex marriages during this window period have been recognized in California since they were presumably “constitutional,” the newlyweds filed a case against the federal government in state court that was transferred upon motion of the federal government into federal court alleging that “the refusal of all states and jurisdictions” to recognize the validity of their marriage resulted in the denial of their marriage status by other states, and federal rights and benefits that other married couples received so long as they were of the opposite sex.
EXCERPT: A federal judge has upheld the Georgia law banning weapons in churches, mosques and synagogues, saying gun rights advocates had not shown that carrying a firearm is necessary to practicing any religion. U.S. District Judge Ashley Royal late Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the gun rights organization GeorgiaCarry.org and the minister at the Baptist Tabernacle of Thomaston. Royal […]
EXCERPT: President Obama yesterday carried out what has become an annual tradition of declaring January 16 "Religious Freedom Day." Citing Virginia's 1786 "Statute for Religious Freedom," in which Tomas Jefferson wrote that "all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion," the president said that although the country "has sometimes fallen short […]
In the past few months there has been a renewed debate about the principles surrounding the first amendment, and especially about what scholars call the religion clauses – "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Prior to the midterm elections in November, Christine O'Donnell asserted that separation of church and state […]
EXCERPT: COLORADO SPRINGS — An announcement made by a Colorado Springs middle school, stipulating how students can wear rosaries, has the ACLU speaking out against the decision. The group says religious liberty does not stop at the entrance to a public school. [District spokesperson Elaine] Naleski says some students were offended at how others were wearing the religious symbol, but […]
By Richard Epstein EXCERPT: What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. One glaring weaknesses of the modern law on religious freedom is that it turns a blind eye toward neutral rules with a disparate impact on members of minority groups. That is why Justice Scalia was wrong in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith to hold […]