Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Franciscan Alliance v. Cochran, the appeal focused on whether the district court should have issued an injunction against future enforcement of the rule, issued under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or termination of pregnancy in health care programs that receive federal financial assistance.
- In Waln v. Dysart School District, an Arizona federal district court rejected a free exercise, free speech, and equal protection challenge to a school district’s refusal to allow a graduating senior to wear a decorated cap at graduation ceremonies for cultural and religious reasons.
- A Virginia state court, in Young v. Northam, denied the petitioner’s challenge to COVID-19 restrictions on churches concluding that the petitioner is not entitled to injunctive relief because they have not overcome the health and safety exception in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
- Bethany Christian Services, the country’s largest Protestant adoption and foster care agency, announced a nationwide policy change that the agency will now match children with LGBTQ couples.
- The Department of Agriculture announced its decision to delay the transfer of an Apache sacred site in Arizona to a mining company, concluding that additional time is necessary to fully understand the concerns raised by the Tribes and the public.
- Israel’s high court requires that the government allow those who converted to non-Orthodox Judaism in Israel to become citizens.