Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:

• The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a court martial conviction of a marine corps member for disobeying a lawful order to remove signs containing Biblical verses that she had taped up around her desk.  The court rejected the member’s RFRA defense.
• A bill is being introduced in Congress that would make America a refuge for families being persecuted for choosing to homeschool their children.  Advocates of the bill argue that it will protect children from being forced to attend schools that violate their religious beliefs.
• An inmate of North Carolina’s state prison system has filed a suit against the prison system for its refusal to allow an atheist and humanist group to meet at the system’s facilities.
• An Idaho Senator objected to the opening invocation for the Idaho Senate because it was being delivered by a Hindu cleric. According to the Senator, the invocation would undermine the country’s Judeo-Christian heritage.
• Starting in 2016, all public schools in New York City will close for Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, both of which are Muslim holidays.  According to Mayor Bill de Blasio, this move “respects the diversity of our city.”
• The Alabama Supreme Court has ordered the state’s probate judges to comply with Alabama’s Constitution and cease issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
• Opinion:  In The Atlantic, Dawinder Sidhu argues that the dress code policy at issue in EEOC v. Abercrombie and Fitch, a case involving religious discrimination in the workplace, is being used as an “instrument of workplace segregation.”
  • Listen to Mark Movsesian and Marc DeGirolami discuss the Supreme Court oral argument in the case here.
• Following attacks on a church belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Ukrainian town of Sumy, the Moscow Patriarchate called on the Ukrainian government to protect its churches.
• New zoning laws proposed in Tarragona, Spain, which seek to limit the number of kebab shops and Internet cafes in the town center, have come under criticism for targeting the town’s Muslim population.
• France is set to double the number of university courses on Islam in a bid to ensure that more imams “‘undergo … training in France, to speak French fluently and to understand the concept of secularism’ that is a core pillar of French Republican values.”
• In an address to the Episcopal Conference of North African Bishops, Pope Francis thanked the members of the ecclesial community in Libya for staying in their country despite the many dangers, calling them “genuine witnesses of the Gospel.”