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Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • In Swiech v. Board of Education for the Sylvania City School District, an Ohio state appellate court affirmed the dismissal of a suit brought by an elementary school student’s mother, which claimed that differential bussing violated her free exercise rights.
  • Various Christian and Jewish organizations have sued the Department of Homeland Security in a D.C. federal district court over the rescission of the Sensitive Locations Policy, which limited immigration actions in places of worship.
  • In Zubik v. City of Pittsburgh, a federal district court in Pennsylvania barred the city of Pittsburgh from designating a closed Catholic church as a historic structure.
  • In Higgs v. Farmor’s School, Britain’s Court of Appeals held that the termination of a schoolteacher’s employment due to Facebook posts related to Christian beliefs was a violation of the Equality Act of 2010.  
  • In Calvary Temple Church of Evansville Inc. v. Kirsch, the Indiana Supreme Court provided a broad interpretation of a state statute which partially shields non-profit religious organizations from tort liability.
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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • President Donald Trump signed an executive order that established a temporary task force within the Justice Department aimed at eradicating anti-Christian bias within the federal government. The Executive Order names the Attorney General as the Task Force chair and vests within the Task Force with authority to review the activities of all executive departments and agencies for unlawful anti-Christian policies, practices, or conduct, recommend methods to revoke or terminate violative policies, develop strategies to protect the religious liberties of Americans, and more.
  •  In a new complaint filed for Arroyo-Castro v. Gasper, the plaintiff, a public school teacher,  alleges that DiLoreto Elementary & Middle School violated the Free Exercise clause when she was placed on administrative leave following her refusal to remove a crucifix that she had hung among other personal items in personal workspace near her classroom desk. The plaintiff alleges that the school district pressured her in several meetings to remove the crucifix, and suspended her for two days without pay shortly before placing her on administrative leave.
  • In Groveman v. Regents of the University of California, a California District Court recently dismissed a suit alleging that the University of California Davis alleging that the University violated the plaintiff’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights when it allowed a pro-Palestinian encampment to operate on campus grounds and exclude Plaintiff from walking on the sidewalk where the encampment was located, despite the fact that the encampment violated school policy. The District Court found that the causal connection between the University’s inaction and the injury the plaintiff suffered was too attenuated for a Free Exercise claim to survive. Further, the District Court held that it was impossible to draw a plausible inference that the defendant’s inaction favored or disfavored any religion or burdened the plaintiff’s religious exercise.
  • The Australian Parliament recently passed new amendments to the country’s Hate Crimes Law, strengthening the punishments for existing offenses that urge and force violence and creating new offenses that threaten force or violence against targeted groups and members of groups. These amendments were passed following several high-profile incidents of antisemitism that have risen across the country.
  • The Supreme Court of India recently held that the government of Chhattisgarh has two months to demarcate new, exclusive burial sites for Christians in an attempt to reduce disputes over burial grounds. The Supreme Court’s decision was made against the backdrop of continued persecution by Chhattisgarh state officials, in which Christians have been routinely (and sometimes violently) denied the right to a Christian burial.
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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • The Justice Department recently reached a settlement with a township in Pennsylvania on behalf of group of Old-Order Amish residents who were penalized for failing to connect to the town’s sewage system and placing permanent outhouses on their property. The Justice Department brought suit under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), and the settlement requires the Township to exempt certain households, as well as forgive any outstanding liens or fines arising from the violations.
  • President Trump issued an executive order intended to combat antisemitism, reaffirming Executive Order 13899 issued during his prior administration.
  • A court in Ukraine recently suspended the evictions of Orthodox monks from the Kiev Caves Lavra Monestary, among the most famous of Orthodox monasteries in Ukraine and spiritually significant to Orthodox Ukrainians and Russians. The monastery has been state-owned since the Soviet era, and the Brotherhood’s contract with the State of Ukraine was terminated as part of a general trend of discrimination against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church/Moscow Patriarchate, partially in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • In Little v. Los Angeles County Fire Department, a California federal district court allowed an Evangelical Christian lifeguard’s free exercise and Title VII claims to proceed in a case seeking a religious accommodation to displaying a pride flag on his lifeguard stand.
  • US Catholic Bishops have petitioned believers to urge their members of Congress to resume foreign aid programs recently suspended by the Trump administration.
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Here are some important law-and-religion news stores from around the web:

  • The Supreme Court agreed to hear a religious-liberty challenge to a Montgomery County, Maryland policy that ended opt-outs for parents who object to elementary-school instruction involving themes of sexuality and gender identity.
  • This week, in an ongoing battle between Southern Methodist University and the United Methodist Church, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding SMU’s desire to separate from the church.
  • In Secular Alliance v. U.S. Department of Education, the D.C. federal district court dismissed some of plaintiff’s claims regarding a rule prohibiting schools that receive Education Department funding from denying benefits to secular groups due to their religious beliefs.
  • Several Jewish schools in New York have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, alleging that the department discriminated against them under Title VI by interfering with and disfavoring Jewish Studies curricula.
  • In Calvary Chapel Belfast v. University of Maine System, a Maine federal district court refused to issue a temporary restraining order in the Church’s suit against the University. The church alleges that the university’s decision to rescind the sale of a satellite campus to the church constituted Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clause violations.  
  • The American Humanist Association has filed suit against West Virginia for a grant of $5 million to a Catholic trade college, alleging that the grant violates the West Virginia constitution by awarding taxpayers’ money to a Catholic institution.
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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • In DeVore v. University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, the Sixth Circuit found that a University did not discriminate against a University of Kentucky employee in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by denying the employee’s religious accommodation request that would’ve exempted her from a series of University COVID testing policies. The Sixth Circuit reasoned that the plaintiff offered no evidence to show a conflict between her religion and the University’s policies, instead presenting her objection the COVID policies as a reflection of her personal moral code.
  • In Esses v. Rosen, a federal district court in New York declined to issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting the defendant from issuing a “seiruv,” which is a form of rabbinical court notice that informs the public that the plaintiff has failed to respond to a summons from the rabbinical court. The court declined to intrude on questions of rabbinical court procedure, which would violate the First Amendment’s Establishment clause.
  • Luther Rice College and Seminary has filed a complaint in a federal district court in Georgia, alleging that the State of Georgia has violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by excluding Luther Rice students from being eligible for a statewide financial student aid program due to the fact that Luther Rice College is a religious institution that the state has classified as a “school of theology.” Luther Rice alleges that the state’s exclusion of the school from its financial aid programs forces the college to forfeit its religious character, beliefs, and exercise or be completely barred from state government financial aid programs, which the college pleads is a violation of the Free Exercise clause and the Equal Protection clause.
  • The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has recently agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who alleged they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy. To date, the settlement has been regarded as the single highest payout by a diocese.
  • In Kumar v. State of Karnataka, an Indian High Court found that a pair of individuals who barged into a mosque and shouted “Jai Sriram” (Glory to Lord Rama) did not violate a section of the Indian Penal Code that prohibits “deliberate and malicious outraging of the religious feelings of any class of citizens.” While the Indian Court conceded that the outburst would outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens, the High Court ultimately decided that the outburst did not have the “effect on bringing out peace or destruction of public order,” nor did it cause “public mischief or any rift.”
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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • In Solliz v. Knox County, Tennessee, a Muslim woman filed suit after she was required by a Knox County sheriff to remove her hijab for a booking photo following her arrest. The complaint alleged violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and the Tennessee Preservation of Religious Freedom Act.
  • A Ukrainian court has extended the detention of an Orthodox bishop for two months after he was arrested for allegedly revealing army positions to the public in a sermon, having mentioned the presence of a road block that prevented access to a local monastery. The bishop was denied the possibility of posting bail, and the checkpoints in question were removed prior to the publication of his sermon online.
  • A petition for certiorari was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, after the Supreme Court of Oklahoma declared the certification of a Catholic-sponsored charter school violative of the state’s constitution and the Establishment Clause. The petition states that the exclusion of religious schools from the state’s charter program violates the Free Exercise Clause, and that the mere funding of religious schools by the state does not constitute state action.
  • The recently-passed Abortion Services Act in Scotland threatens prosecution against anyone praying within a 200-meter radius of an abortion facility, including within their own homes, if they can be seen or heard within the zone, and act in an intentional or reckless manner. Guidance provided by the government to facilitate compliance lists silent vigils and religious preaching as potentially actionable offenses, if conducted intentionally and recklessly.
  • The University of California has continued to deny wrongdoing following a California federal court’s order mandating a variety of measures to prevent the exclusion of Jewish students from parts of campus. The University claims responsibility lies with actors unaffiliated with the school, whereas the plaintiffs maintain the school’s complicity via its failure to act in the face of clear religious discrimination against its students.
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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • A federal district court in Colorado granted a preliminary injunction against the Town of Castle Rock, preventing the Town from enforcing zoning regulations that interfere with a church’s use of an RV and a trailer on church property for the purpose of providing temporary shelter to homeless individuals and small families. The court reasoned that the church was likely to succeed in its RLUIPA claim against Castle Rock, as the church satisfied its burden in pleading that Castle Rock’s zoning restrictions place a “substantial burden” upon the church’s religious obligation to provide for the needy on church property.
  • In Shlomo Hyman v. Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of a defamation claim brought against an Orthodox Jewish school by a Judaic Studies teacher. The court held that the ministerial exception applied because the teacher conceded that his role constituted that of a minister in the yeshiva.
  • In Indiana, a man was sentenced to 24 months in prison and two years of supervised release for willfully transmitting, in interstate commerce, threats to injure other people and for choosing his victims because of their religion. For roughly five months, the defendant left eight voicemails using antisemitic slurs in threats to kill or assault Jews.
  • Representatives of over 39 countries and international organizations published the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism, a set of legally nonbinding policies aimed at monitoring and combatting antisemitism in a way that can be adapted to a wide variety of national, regional, and cultural contexts. The guidelines include, but are not limited to, calls for political leaders to denounce antisemitism wherever it arises, calls for leaders to consider appointing national coordinators, special envoys, or designated officials to proactively address antisemitism, and emphasis on a need to enforce hate crime and anti-discrimination laws.
  • In Jewish Community Council of Montreal v. Canada (Attorney General), a Canadian Federal Court granted an interlocutory injunction against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, preventing the Agency from enforcing animal slaughter guidelines that require slaughterhouses to go through a series of measures, including applying the three indicators of unconsciousness when slaughtering a food animal. The court reasoned that the applicants were likely to succeed in their claim that the guidelines infringed their right to freedom of religion under subsection 2(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
  • In India, representatives from the United Christian Forum (UCF), a human rights group based in New Delhi, recently met with Kiren Rijiju, Indian Minister for Minority Affairs, in an attempt to discuss recent increases in faith-motivated attacks against Christians, largely attributable to mobs who seek to make India a purely Hindu nation. According to UCF National President Michael Williams, the meeting yielded few promises, prompting UCF to state that the national government is doing little to curb police and mob brutality against Christians.
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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion stories from around the web:

  • The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review of a Second Circuit decision upholding the constitutionality of Connecticut’s decision to repeal religious exemptions from its mandatory vaccination laws while retaining medical exemptions. The denial effectively allows the Second Circuit’s ruling to remain in effect, upholding Connecticut lawmakers’ decision to repeal religious objections out of concerns that upticks in exemption requests were coupled with a decline in vaccination rates in some schools.
  • A group of parents (acting on behalf of their children) filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Louisiana, challenging Louisiana’s recently enacted statute that requires the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. In the complaint, plaintiffs allege that the Louisiana statute imposes religious beliefs on public school children and unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance and adoption of a state-favored religious scripture, all in violation of the Free Exercise and Free Establishment clauses of the First Amendment. Plaintiffs seek declarative and injunctive relief.
  • A federal district court in Florida held that a 2014 prayer vigil organized by the Ocala Police Department meant to encourage witnesses to come out and cooperate with police in the aftermath of a shooting spree that injured several children violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Implementing the Supreme Court’s new Establishment Clause test set out in Kennedy vs. Bremerton School District, the court determined that the city’s involvement in “conceiving, organizing, and implementing the Prayer Vigil” constituted government sponsorship of a religious event, which violated the First Amendment.
  • In Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, the Oklahoma Supreme Court violated the Oklahoma and US Constitutions by authorizing a Catholic-sponsored, publicly-funded charter school. The court ruled that state funding for the school violated anti-establishment provisions in both the state and federal constitutions.
    • Please read Center Director Mark Movsesian’s post about the case here.
  • Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that draft-age Haredi Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men are not exempt from the country’s mandatory military service, even if they are studying in a yeshiva. The Supreme Court also ordered that the Israeli government cease funding yeshivas unless their students enlist in the military.
  • In India, a family that recently converted to Christianity was attacked in the state of Chhattisgarh, resulting in the death of one woman. Christian leaders in India have spoken out against the attack as merely one in a growing number of attacks committed against Christians, largely attributable to mobs who seek to make India a purely Hindu nation. Christian leaders have also condemned police inaction as another reason for increased attacks.
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Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

  • In Apache Stronghold v. United States, the 9th Circuit refused to bar the government from transferring federally-owned forest land, significant to Western Apache Indians’ spirituality, to a copper mining company. The court stated that the transfer did not substantially burden religious exercise under RFRA and the Free Exercise Clause.
  • In Christian Employers Alliance v. U.S. EEOC, a North Dakota district court blocked the Department of Health and Human Services and the EEOC from enforcing Affordable Care Act and Title VII mandates that require Christian employers to provide insurance coverage for gender transition procedures. The court stated that these employers would have to violate their religious beliefs to comply with these mandates.
  • In Bair Brucha Inc. v. Township of Toms River, New Jersey, a New Jersey district court found that the town used land use regulations to impede the construction of a synagogue in order to prevent the growth of the Orthodox Jewish community. The court cited evidence of anti-Semitic animus as the motivating factor behind the regulations and rejected the township’s argument that subsequent amendments to zoning laws shielded them from liability.
  • In Crosspoint Church v. Maikin, a Maine district court rejected a request to block the state’s laws barring LGBTQ discrimination from applying to a Christian school receiving public funding. The court stated that the legislature had the authority to define protected classes despite the school’s objections due to a conflict with religious beliefs.
  • Jewish students at Columbia University have filed a lawsuit accusing the institution of widespread antisemitism. The complaint alleges discriminatory policies, support for anti-Jewish violence by faculty, and a lack of protection for Jewish students from harassment.
  • A Christian youth-mentoring ministry in Oregon has filed a lawsuit challenging an anti-discrimination rule adopted by the Oregon Department of Education. The ministry argues that the rule violates its Free Exercise and Free Expression rights by disqualifying it from receiving grants due to their religious hiring practices, which require adherence to a Statement of Faith.
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Legal Spirits 057: Historian Richard Brookhiser on Religious Freedom in America

In this episode, Center Director Mark Movsesian interviews historian Richard Brookhiser (left) about his new documentary, “Free Exercise: America’s Story of Religious Liberty.” How have minority religions tested and shaped America’s commitment to religious freedom over the centuries–and how has America changed those religions in return? From the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657 until now, it has been a grand story. Listen in!

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