In March 2015 a Ventura County Superior Court judge upheld the right of a for-profit Christian preschool to compel teachers to make a statement of faith and to obtain a statement by a pastor regarding how frequently they attend church, comment on their faith, and to endorse them as employees a Christian preschool.
On March 17, 2015, the a three-judge panel of the Appeals Court of Georgia ruled unanimously that the denial of unemployment benefits to a Seventh-day Adventist who was fired for refusing to work on Saturdays was unconstitutional.
Introduced on February 12, 2015, H.R. 940 would add a conscience clause to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which would prohibit states that receive federal funding from discriminating against those who decline to participate in abortion or abortion coverage.
On November 6, 2014, attorney Lee Boothby died at the age of 81 in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Boothby was known for his relentless advocacy for religious liberty.
The legal status of the unborn child is not as clear as most people think. There are glaring inconsistencies in the way that the law is practiced, even in states with liberal abortion policies. For instance, if a person kills a fetus in California without the consent of the pregnant woman or for medical necessity it is considered murder under Penal Code section 187. This is why Scott Peterson was convicted for double-homicide when he killed his pregnant wife, Laci, in 2002. This January in Florida, John Andrew Weldon was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison when he tricked his pregnant girlfriend into taking abortion-causing drugs, leading to the miscarriage of her 6-week-old fetus.
On September 27, 2014, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in eastern Ukraine was abducted by gunmen as he was conducting a communion service at a small church in Horlivka. According to parishioners, reports the Adventist Review, the gunmen refused to identify themselves or answer any questions. They forced Pastor Sergei Litovchenko to close the church and…
ATLANTA, GA, September 23, 2014—Today, Liberty Institute and Parks, Chesin & Walbert, attorneys for Dr. Eric Walsh, a leading public health expert, who holds both a medical degree and Ph.D. and serves as lay minister with the Seventh Day Adventist Church, filed an official charge of discrimination with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Georgia Department of Health offered Dr. Walsh a job in May, which he accepted, announced his employment publicly, but then top officials laughed about their decision to terminate his position as Director of Public Health for the region of northeast Georgia based upon Dr. Walsh’s religious beliefs.
According to a survey released September 22, 2014 by Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans think that religion is losing its influence on American society while only 22% believe that it is increasing its influence. Of these, 56% believe that this loss of influence is a “bad thing.” Of the 22% who believe that religion is gaining influence, 12% say that it is a “good thing” while 10% say that it is not.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has recently filed suit in two cases alleging that employers violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when they failed to accommodate holy day observance practices of employees.
By Doug Bandow – Today China’s big cities look much like urban areas anywhere in the world. There are lots of cars. What I didn’t expect was to see a Christian “fish” on an auto.
Religion is “on the rise,” one U.S. diplomat told me.
It also is under attack by the Chinese government. As I wrote in the American Spectator online: “When it comes to religious liberty in the People’s Republic of China, there’s the (surprisingly frequent) good, (not so constant) bad, and (still too often) ugly.”