Here is a look at some noteworthy law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- In Auburn, Kentucky, members of the Amish community are fighting against an ordinance requiring large animals to wear collection bags, claiming that the law was designed to unfairly target their community.
- Despite opposition from religious groups, the Washington D.C. City Council voted to pass a bill allowing terminally ill-patients to make a request for medically assisted suicide.
- Conservative groups in Indiana are challenging the constitutionality of a “fix” to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
- In Massachusetts, the Roman Catholic Church is leading the fight against a ballot initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana.
- Interfaith leaders signed a letter asking a Massachusetts synagogue to revoke a speaking invitation to three controversial anti-Islamic speakers.
- A report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette details how abandoned houses of worship have been left to deteriorate in the wake of declining church participation.
- The Trinity Western University Law School was victorious before the British Columbia Court of Appeals. The court affirmed a judgment that prevented the Law Society of British Columbia from denying accreditation to the school’s future alumni.
- A protest of non-Orthodox rabbis over equal Jewish prayer rights at the Western Wall in Jerusalem turned violent as protesters and security officials clashed.
- A report from World Watch Monitor discusses how Alqosh, the last Christian town in Iraq, was able to survive the onslaught of ISIS.