Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- A gunman open fired at a Pittsburgh synagogue during Sabbath services this weekend, killing 11 people and wounding several others before being taken into custody.
- The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly began its last meeting with a religious invocation despite an Alaska Superior Court holding, in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, that the practice violates the Alaska Constitution’s Establishment Clause.
- The Seventh Circuit heard oral argument in a case presenting the question whether an income tax housing exemption for clergy members violates the Equal Protection Clause.
- The DOJ filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect transgender workers.
- Japan’s high court affirmed a lower court decision that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in 2013 did not violate the country’s constitution.
- A federal judge in Houston dismissed a lawsuit brought by conservative Christians, which sought to prevent a local public library from hosting “Drag Queen Story Hour” events.
- The European Court of Human Rights ruled that defamatory statements about the Islamic prophet Muhammad are not covered by free speech protections.
- The Arizona State Board of Education plans to revise its social science and history curricula standards to further advance the teaching of evolution and climate change.
- Ireland passed a referendum to remove the prohibition of blasphemy from its constitution.
- Mexican legislators introduced a bill to legalize abortion across the country, where it remains a federal crime.