Last week a federal appeals court heard arguments in an important religious freedom case known as Ward v. Wilbanks. The case illustrates how sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies can impose government burdens on religious and moral conscience and create serious civil society conflicts. Julea Ward was a student in the graduate …
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied review in an important religious freedom case called Spencer v. World Vision. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization that was sued by two former employees who alleged they had been fired for religious reasons. In general, Title VII of the Civil …
On October 5, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a very important case concerning religious freedom. Several religious freedom cases have been in the news lately. Such cases should remind us to take seriously the nature of religion itself. Is religion something only to be preached about and …
Last week, California passed a law that penalizes organizations that refuse to provide benefits to employees’ same-sex domestic partners or spouses on the same terms they provide benefits to employees’ opposite-sex domestic partners or spouses. Known as SB 117, the law excludes those organizations from competing for state contracts worth …
Nineteen Chinese pastors have joined together to send a remarkable petition to the National People’s Congress on behalf of one of Beijing’s largest underground churches. The Shouwang church is the most recent target of Communist authorities’ crackdown on the unauthorized house church movement that now numbers some 50–70 million Chinese …
Today’s murder of Pakistani Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti by religious extremists establishes a pattern of growing religious intolerance. It is undermining Pakistan’s struggling democracy by shutting down free speech and political expression in the name of a ruthless ideology disguised as religion. The murderers left pamphlets at the scene …
Last weekend NPR legal correspondent Nina Totenberg inadvertently created a mini-controversy when she said on Inside Washington: “I was at — forgive the expression – a Christmas party at the Department of Justice.” Some thought that Totenberg added “forgive the expression” as a cave to political correctness. But in fact …
The Hanukkah miracle begins with the story of the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus making the observance of Judaism punishable by death. The Jews fought back, and against seemingly insurmountable odds, reclaimed Jerusalem and the Temple which had been desecrated by Antiochus’ army. After reclaiming the Temple, the Jews were disappointed to …
President Obama apparently has a soft spot in his heart for religious liberty. And the New York Times editorial board is not pleased. The president last week issued a much-awaited executive order setting government-wide policy on community-based and religious nonprofits that receive federal grants. The executive order is meant to …
