Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- The Eleventh Circuit held that a prison’s Islamic-compliant meals forced a Muslim inmate to choose between abandoning his religious beliefs or suffering serious health effects by eating the compliant meals, reversing the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s claim under the Free Exercise Clause.
- After the Third Circuit upheld the City of Philadelphia’s new policy requiring foster care agencies to place children with married, same-sex couples, Becket filed a petition for certiorari on behalf of foster mothers who support faith-based foster agencies.
- A Florida county approved the Christian Englewood Church of Nazarene’s use of its property to host a religious school, settling a federal lawsuit that alleged violations of RLUIPA, Florida’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and both the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
- A coalition of civil rights and religious scholars and leaders submitted a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting him to dismantle the Commission on Unalienable Rights. The coalition argues that granting the commission the ability to sort what rights are “unalienable” and rank human rights is concerning to them and does not, in their view, have a place in human rights discourse.
- Singapore’s government has discussed amending and updating the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act that allows the government to issue restraining orders to those creating disharmony among faiths.