A group of Catholic moral theologians is urging a federal appeals court to support “defined normative boundaries” regarding AI use in the military.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a Maryland federal district court’s holding that Catholic Relief Services violated Title VII and the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act by denying health insurance coverage to an IT analyst’s same-sex spouse.
The Virginia Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from McLean Bible Church (MBC) that sought to end a lawsuit brought by longtime members over the church’s 2021 elder election and other concerns.
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Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the spiritual care of Catholic members of the United States armed forces, released a strongly worded statement raising objections to the plan to broadcast the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. He also declared that Catholic members of the US Army must not participate in the firing squad.
In Lajara v. McMenamin, a Pennsylvania appeals court vacated a custody order that prohibited either parent from influencing, restricting or limiting their child’s participation in religious services, events or activities.
In Domanic v. Christian Brothers Automative Corporation, the 5th Circuit held that a Texas religion-based franchisor did not violate federal civil rights laws by requiring that its franchisees be professing Christians.
A Christian evangelist filed suit earlier this month in an Arizona federal district court challenging Tucson’s decision to exclude religious, political, and issue-based leafleting at an annual holiday display. The complain alleges this exclusion violates plaintiff’s free speech, free exercise and due process rights.
Christian Counselors in Lincoln Nebraska filed suit last week in federal district court to enjoin enforcement of city ordinances that prohibit conversion therapy for minors, alleging that the challenged rules are almost identical to the Colorado statute that the U.S. Supreme Court found unconstitutional on free speech grounds in Chiles v. Salazar.
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The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a Catholic order’s challenge to a denial of a permit to build a shrine next to its church. The case could provide clarity on protections for houses of worship against restrictive local zoning.
The U.S. Supreme Court may also take up the Texas and Louisiana Ten Commandments classroom laws, according to CBS’s new-term preview.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis sued in federal district court over a detention center policy that bars priests from giving Communion and hearing confessions, claiming the policy denies detainees spiritual care core to their faith.
A federal district court in New Jersey dismissed without prejudice the Justice Department’s FACE Act suit over a 2024 protest outside a synagogue, ruling that the complaint did not allege a violation of the statute’s protections for worship.
Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs reporting directly to him to advocate for military chaplains and religious support.
The Justice Department’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced the first stop of a national “American Tour Against Hate” in Michigan.
President Trump issued a Columbus Day proclamation that invokes devotion to God in describing the nation’s origins.
In his new book, So Ordered, Justice Alito said that the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized marriage equality in all 50 states, was “perhaps the decisive point in our nation’s turn against religious liberty.”
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The Ninth Circuit rejected an effort to remove a nearly century-old cross and longstanding nativity display at the historic El Pueblo monument in Los Angeles.
In a speech to sick people and caregivers, the Pope Leo denounced France’s recent legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Catholic Church has continued to push against assisted suicide laws in the U.S.
A federal district court in Oklahoma ruled the state may not single out religious schools for exclusion from public charter funding on the basis of religion.
A federal judge in Tennessee dismissed most of the claims against Southern Baptist Convention leaders in a lawsuit filed by a former SBC seminary professor David Sills, who lost his job due to sexual misconduct allegations.
The Muslim Center of New Jersey is suing the Marlboro Township, New Jersey zoning board, council, mayor and others, alleging religious discrimination and violations of the community’s right to worship after a five-year application process to build a mosque ended in a denial.
The Chicago Immigration Court ruled that the U.S. can deport the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque on the grounds that he is a threat to national security.
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A federal judge ruled that Oklahoma cannot exclude a Jewish charter school from the state’s charter school program because of its religious character.
The Eighth Circuit heard arguments over Arkansas’s law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
An Oregon mother sued a public school district for refusing to reimburse her for Christian homeschooling materials while providing reimbursements for secular materials.
A dispute over access to a Jewish rabbinical court reached the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.
Two Christian student organizations sued Virginia State University, alleging that the public university discriminated against them in access to campus recognition and benefits because of their religious requirements for student leaders.
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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops joined the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission in urging the Supreme Court to reject a broad application of the “finality” rule that subjects religious liberty plaintiffs to drawn-out proceedings.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case brought by a Catholic mother seeking a religious exemption from New York’s school vaccine mandates.
A federal district court in Maryland temporarily barred Montgomery County from enforcing a gun ban against a Jewish synagogue, holding that the synagogue was likely to succeed on its Second Amendment and Free Exercise claims, and that the county had not shown a sufficient historical tradition of banning guns in houses of worship.
A federal district court in Oregon dismissed negligence claims against the LDS Church, holding that church membership alone did not create a special relationship imposing a duty to protect a member from abuse occurring outside church supervision.
A federal district court in Maine upheld the state’s school vaccine mandate against Free Exercise and Establishment Clause challenges, holding that eliminating all personal belief exemptions did not single out religion and that the mandate does not burden the parents’ right to direct their child’s religious upbringing.
The Indiana Supreme Court heard arguments whether the state’s abortion ban violates the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, with plaintiffs arguing that the law burdens sincerely held religious beliefs that require religiously motivated abortions.
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Florida officials and Catholic schools are at odds over whether schools participating in state scholarship programs must provide religious exemptions from vaccination requirements.
Several Catholic religious orders and the Archbishop of Chicago filed a federal lawsuit challenging Illinois requirements that healthcare providers inform and counsel terminally ill patients about physician-assisted suicide, arguing that the requirements violate their religious freedom.
Maine’s highest court upheld a ruling allowing a father to prevent his daughter from attending her mother’s church after finding that participation there was psychologically harmful to the child, rejecting the mother’s constitutional claims.
A federal bankruptcy court allowed a Jewish religious nonprofit’s lawsuit against the City of Hollywood, Florida, to proceed after the city denied zoning approval for a proposed K-12 Jewish day school, with the nonprofit alleging violations of its First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
A South Korean court sentenced Unification Church leader Hak Ja Han to two years in prison after convicting her of bribery, violating political finance laws, and embezzling church funds.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship sued SUNY Broome Community College after the school denied the group official recognition because its constitution requires student leaders to affirm a statement of faith, which the college says conflicts with its nondiscrimination policy.
Catholic leaders in Maharashtra are considering a legal challenge to a new state law regulating religious conversions, which requires advance notice of conversions and has drawn broader constitutional challenges over religious freedom.
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Parents in Georgia have filed suit challenging requirements of the state’s Promise Scholarship Program, arguing that forcing their children to attend low-performing public schools before receiving funds for Catholic education violates the Free Exercise Clause.
A federal court allowed a Title VII religious discrimination suit against the Department of Homeland Security to proceed after Customs and Border Protection withdrew a job offer because of an applicant’s sacramental use of ayahuasca as a member of a Christian Spiritist denomination.
The Sixth Circuit rejected a challenge to a Michigan city’s restrictions on which flags may be flown on city-owned flagpoles, while questioning whether the Establishment Clause still requires government action to have a secular purpose after the Supreme Court abandoned the Lemon test.
A federal court allowed Establishment Clause claims to proceed against the Philadelphia School District based on allegations that officials created a Muslim prayer room, restricted access to Muslim students, and disciplined non-Muslim students for entering it.
A Minneapolis church asked a federal judge to hold DHS in contempt, alleging immigration agents surveilled worshippers despite an injunction restricting immigration enforcement at the church.
Iraq’s Court of Cassation ruled that a Christian woman has the right to have her religious identity officially recorded as Christian, overturning her classification as Muslim under Iraqi law.
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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld a preliminary injunction barring the city of Quincy from installing two religious statues on the façade of a new public safety building, finding there is a substantial likelihood that the installation would violate Article III of the Massachusetts Constitution.
Plaintiffs in New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America v. Department of Homeland Securityfiled a motion seeking to hold DHS in contempt for violating an injunction issued in February by a Massachusetts federal district court. The injunction barred immigration officials from enforcing a new policy that allows ICE to conduct arrests, searches, or interrogations in or near churches/other houses of worship at the agents’ own discretion.
The Second Circuit upheld the district court’s decision to grant summary judgment for defendants in Belya v. Kapral, finding that the church autonomy doctrine barred a former priest in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) from suing church leaders/entities for defamation.
The FBI released its 2025 Reported Crime Statistics, showing a 7% overall decrease in hate crimes in 2025 as compared to the year before.
A joint petition for certiorari was filed with the Supreme Court in Nathan v. Alamo Heights School District and Cribbs Ringer v. Comal Independent School District. The petitioners seek review of a Texas law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom.
A Maryland Jewish Center is suing Montgomery County, Maryland to enjoin enforcement of imposed Expedited Bill 23-26, which bans even licensed firearm holders from carrying a firearm within 100 yards of houses of worship and other “places of public assembly.”
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a restructuring of its Office for Civil Rights that will create separate divisions focused on religious liberty and conscience protections, civil rights enforcement, and health privacy and cybersecurity. HHS said the changes are intended to combat anti-Christian bias and race-based discrimination while strengthening enforcement efficiency.
A Virginia appeals court revived a lawsuit against McLean Bible Church over claims that church leaders improperly handled a 2021 elder election and disenfranchised members. The court ruled that limited judicial review of the dispute is not automatically barred by the First Amendment.
A new lawsuit in Utah, backed by pro-life advocates with religious and fetal personhood arguments, claims that disposing of unused IVF embryos violates wrongful death laws. The case has raised concerns that similar religion-influenced legal challenges to IVF practices could spread to other states.
A Texas jury ordered an insurer to pay more than $7 million to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary after the insurer denied coverage for legal costs related to lawsuits involving former seminary president Paige Patterson and the school’s handling of sexual assault allegations. The case arose from broader controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention over abuse and institutional accountability.
Two senators introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at combating antisemitism and increasing security protections for Jewish institutions, including a proposal to expand federal nonprofit security grants to $1 billion annually. The legislation would also address antisemitism on college campuses and require greater transparency from social media companies on moderating antisemitic content.
The Vatican’s Synod office released a new document outlining the path toward a global ecclesial assembly in 2028, continuing the Catholic Church’s “Synod on Synodality” process launched under Pope Francis. The plan establishes stages for dioceses, bishops’ conferences, and continental church bodies to evaluate how “synodality” is being implemented in local churches over the next several years.
A Catholic nun in Los Angeles runs Francisco Homes, a housing program for formerly incarcerated men, including immigrants facing deportation. Her ministry sits in the context of ongoing debates over immigration enforcement and deportation policy.
Archbishop John Ricard, the former archbishop of Baltimore and first leader of the National Black Catholic Congress, has died at age 86. Ricard was a prominent Black Catholic leader known for advancing Black Catholic ministry and advocacy within the Church for decades.
