An eight-year conflict has left a Pennsylvania family struggling to practice their faith against a sewage ordinance in Sugar Grove Township, Pennsylvania. Joseph and Barbara Yoder, an Old Order Amish family, have been ordered by local courts to install an electric pump in their outhouse, an action that directly contradicts their religious beliefs.
PA Court flushes Amish free exercise claim after 8-year sewer battle Read More »
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Trump v. Hawaii (Docket No. 17-965) and directed the parties to prepare briefs and arguments on the issue of whether President Donald Trump’s travel ban, Proclamation No. 9645, also known as Executive Order 3 (EO-3), violates the Establishment Clause.
Court orders parties to brief Establishment Clause issue in travel ban case Read More »
The state of New York is considering guidelines that could dramatically change the relationship between public and private schools.
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.
10th Cir. reverses summary judgment in Title VII Sabbath accommodation case Read More »
Churches like nothing more than to have a wonderful and exciting conversion story to proclaim to the world. What happens if proclaiming such a story puts lives in danger? What happens when a person is put in danger against his will? These questions have been at the center of a fascinating legal case, Doe v. First Presbyterian Church U.S.A. of Tulsa, (OK Sup. Ct., Dec. 19, 2017), involving a church that announced on the internet how one converted from Islam to Christianity.
When Not to Tell the Story: The Ethics of Announcing a Religious Conversion Read More »
On Monday, January 8, 2018, the United States Supreme Court declined to review both Barber v. Bryant and Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant, two suits filed against Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant contesting the state’s law (HB 1523) which allows public officials and businesses to deny services to LGBT people for religious reasons.
Supreme Court declines Establishment Clause challenge to Mississippi LGBT law Read More »
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.
Why Congress dropped the Johnson Amendment repeal from tax reform Read More »
California Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed legislation that would have prohibited religiously affiliated institutions from taking employment action against non-ministerial employees for their reproductive health decisions including “the use of any drug, device, or medical service.”
CA governor vetoes religious employee reproductive privacy bill Read More »
Last Friday a federal judge in Wisconsin issued a ruling that a federal statute that exempts housing for members of the clergy from taxation violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Tax-exemption of clergy housing violates Establishment Clause rules Federal judge Read More »
A Federal judge has ruled that a Pennsylvania county seal and flag that prominently feature a cross violates the Establishment Clause.
Federal Judge rules Pennsylvania county seal violates Establishment Clause Read More »
