Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- Trinity Western University’s proposed law school cleared a major hurdle this week, when the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia held that the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society had violated the law school’s religious rights when it refused to recognize the school’s degrees.
- Following a measles outbreak, California has introduced stringent vaccination legislation that eliminates exemptions for personal and religious beliefs.
- Mark Movsesian discusses the relationship between the anti-vaccination stance and the Hobby Lobby case here.
- Pope Francis will be the first Pope to address the United States Congress during his upcoming visit this fall.
- In Alyce Conlon v. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, the Sixth Circuit held that the “ministerial exception” to nondiscrimination laws applies not only to churches and church-based entities but also also to “religious organizations.”
- Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked a North Carolina court to strike down the state’s school voucher program, arguing that the program is unconstitutional and “a taxpayer handout for religious schools.”
- North Texas is home to America’s first official Islamic tribunal that follows Sharia law. The tribunal will hear cases involving divorce, business problems, and other disputes among the community.
- Hundreds of thousands of German Christians are formally renouncing their faith and leaving their churches in order to avoid a change in German tax laws.
- Iceland is planning to build its first temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age. Membership in Ásatrúarfélagið, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods, has tripled in Iceland in the last decade.
- On Tuesday, British law-makers in the House of Commons voted to allow scientists to create babies from the DNA of three people. The procedure is intended to prevent some children from inheriting potentially fatal diseases from their mothers.