Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • The Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans secured near unanimous approval for a $230 million bankruptcy settlement. The settlement payout breaks down to $130 million in cash from the archdiocese and its affiliates, $20 million in promissory notes, $30 million from insurers, and up to $50 million from the sale of various property owned by the archdiocese.
  • A federal district court in California dismissed a Title VII religious discrimination claim by a DMV worker who objected to a Covid vaccine. The court held that the worker’s vague statements about bodily autonomy and God did not amount to a religious conviction.
  • A Texas state appeals court affirmed the dismissal of United Methodist Rio Conference Board of Trustees v. Alice First Methodist Church. This suit was brought by the United Methodist Church parent body in an effort to challenge attempts bylocal Texas congregations to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. The Court held that dismissal was proper under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which precludes courts from interpreting religious documents that dictate church governance.
  • The Texas Supreme Court added a new Comment to Canon 4 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct which would allow judges to abstain from performing same-sex marriages because of their sincerely held religious beliefs.
  • A new report from Barna Group shows that Gen Z and Millennial Christians are not only attending church more frequently than in previous years but are also attending more often than Christians of older generations.
Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • The Second Circuit recently heard oral arguments in Miller v. McDonald. The lower court upheld New York’s removal of religious exemptions for vaccine requirements, rejecting free exercise claims by Amish communities.
  • An individual filed suit in a Michigan federal district court alleging discrimination by a theater that was hosting a Harris campaign rally. Plaintiff is a Muslim American who was running for the House of Representatives; his complaint alleges he was escorted out of the theater by the Secret Service based on his religion and ethnicity. 
  • The Ninth Circuit held that a law in California, which disqualified religious backed institutions form being state certified special needs schools, is unconstitutional.
  • In Texas, the Board of Education adopted a curriculum in elementary schools which implements optional Bible based education.
  • Legal experts vow to appeal a decision coming from India’s Supreme Court, which recently overturned a long standing policy that prohibited taxing the income of nuns and priests within government funded Catholic institutions.  
Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • German airline company Lufthansa has been fined $4 million for religious discrimination against a group of Jewish passengers. The incident occurred in 2022, when the passengers were refused boarding because of their failure to wear masks in compliance with the airline’s policy.
  • A Trial Court in Pakistan has granted bail to a Christian woman who was arrested on blasphemy charges brought by her Muslim neighbor.
  • The Texas Supreme Court will soon determine whether Southern Methodist University can cut its ties with the United Methodist Church due to theological differences.
  • A lawsuit has been filed in the Oklahoma Supreme Court challenging the recent requirement to incorporate the Bible into public school curricula.
  • A Washington District Court sentenced a defendant to 11 years in prison because of multiple arson attacks on Jehovah’s Witness institutions.
  • In Pennsylvania, Governor Shapiro signed a new law recognizing Diwali as a state holiday. Diwali is a holiday celebrated by Buddhists, Sikhs, and Hindus and takes place at the end of October.

Posted on by L&R Forum

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.
Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • In Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. San Jose Unified School District, the Ninth Circuit vacated its August 2022 decision which had found for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and ordered that the case be reheard en banc. In this case, the school had revoked the status of a Christian student group because the school objected to a policy that allegedly discriminated against LGBTQ students.
  • In Firewalker-Fields v. Lee, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a Muslim inmate’s First Amendment Free Exercise claim. The court wrote that the jail’s policy of not allowing the plaintiff access to Friday Islamic prayers was reasonably related to security and resource allocation.
  • Thirteen Christian and Jewish leaders filed for a permanent injunction in the Missouri Circuit Court in Blackmon v. State of Missouri. The complaint seeks to bar the State of Missouri from enforcing its abortion ban, claiming that the ban violates the Missouri Constitution by failing to protect the free exercise of religion.
  • In Ference v Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, a federal magistrate judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania recommended denying a motion to dismiss filed by the Catholic Diocese in response to a Title VII sex-discrimination lawsuit. The lawsuit was made by a Lutheran sixth-grade teacher in a Catholic school who was fired shortly after being hired when the school discovered that he was in a same-sex marriage.
  • A nurse practitioner filed suit in a Texas federal district court after being fired for refusing to prescribe contraceptives. The complaint in Strader v. CVS Health Corp alleges that CVS’s firing amounted to religious discrimination in violation of Title VII.
  • On January 11, 2023, the US House of Representatives passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This bill states that any infant born alive after an attempted abortion is a “legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States.” Doctors would be required to care for those infants as they would any other child who was born alive.
  • Dr. Erika Lopez Prater, an art professor at Hamline University, is suing the University for religious discrimination and defamation after she was fired for showing an image of Muhammad to her Islamic art class.
Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • In Austin v. U.S. Navy Seals 1-26, the Supreme Court, by a vote of 6-3, stayed a Texas district court’s order that barred the Navy from considering the COVID-19 vaccination status of service members who object to the vaccine on religious grounds in making decisions regarding deployment, assignment, and operations. 
  • The Supreme Court denied review in Brysk v. Herskovitz, in which the Sixth Circuit had dismissed a suit brought by synagogue members against anti-Israel picketers who have picketed services at the Beth Israel Synagogue since 2003.
  • In Keister v. Bell, the Eleventh Circuit rejected a challenge brought by a traveling evangelical preacher against the University of Alabama after the University prohibited the preacher from setting up a banner, passing out literature, and preaching on a campus sidewalk because he did not have a permit. The court found the sidewalk was a limited public forum and thus the University could impose reasonable, viewpoint-neutral restrictions.
  • In Wagner v. Saint Joseph’s/Candler Health Systems, Inc., a Georgia federal district court held that a hospital did not violate Title VII after it fired an Orthodox Jewish employee for taking seven days off to observe the Fall Jewish holidays.
  • In Denton v. City of El Paso, a Texas federal magistrate judge concluded that the plaintiff’s First Amendment rights were violated by a city policy that prohibited the plaintiff from proselytizing at the Downtown Art and Farmers Market.
  • A Christian doctor, who lost his job for refusing to use patients’ preferred pronouns, will appear before a tribunal in the United Kingdom this week to challenge a ruling that held that biblical beliefs on gender are “incompatible with human dignity.”
  • In Christian Religious Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the NKR v. Armenia, the European Court of Human Rights held that refusal by Nagorno Karabakh to register Jehovah’s Witnesses as a religious organization amounts to a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • In St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church v. City of Brookings, a church filed suit in an Oregon federal district court challenging a city ordinance that limits the church from offering free meals to the needy more than two days per week.
  • In Buck v. Hertel, Michigan agreed to settle with St. Vincent Catholic Charities in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.  The state agreed to pay attorneys’ fees of $550,000 and not to terminate the contract with the licensed child placement agency because of their religious requirements.
  • In Navy Seal 1 v. Biden, a Florida federal district court issued a temporary restraining order enjoining the military from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccination mandate against two service members who were denied religious exemptions.
  • In Divine Grace Yoga Ashram Inc. v. County of Yavapai, an Arizona federal district court rejected a RLUIPA claim that the county’s permit requirement violates the “equal terms” provision of RLUIPA.
  • The EEOC announced that Wellpath, a provider of health services, agreed to settle a religious discrimination claim brought by a nurse who lost her job after requesting a religious accommodation that would allow her to wear a scrub skirt instead of pants to work. Wellpath agreed to pay the nurse $75,000 and provide anti-discrimination training and a notice of rights to employees.
  • The City of Louisville has agreed to pay Officer Matt Schrennger, Kentucky police officer, $75,000 to settle his lawsuit after he was punished for praying in front of an abortion clinic while in uniform, but off-duty.
Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

Posted on by L&R Forum

Around the Web

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

  • In Mays v. Joseph, the Eleventh Circuit held that a prisoner may recover punitive damages for violation of his free exercise rights. The claim centered around a Georgia Department of Corrections’ grooming policy that barred inmates from growing their hair or goatees longer than three inches.
  • In U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Biden, a Texas federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Navy from imposing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on thirty-five Navy service members. The court concluded that applying the vaccine mandate to plaintiffs violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.
  • In Abraham House of God and Cemetery, Inc. v. City of Horn Lake, a consent decree was entered in a Mississippi federal district court. The suit alleged that the City of Horn Lake denied approval of the site plan for a proposed mosque because of religious animus.
  • Suit was filed in Ohio state trial court by five school districts and students’ parents challenging the Ohio legislature’s recent expansion of the EdChoice voucher program. The complaint alleges that the program violates Article VI, Sec. 2 of the Ohio Constitution, which calls for separation between church and state.
  • A British tribunal has ruled that a Christian nurse who was forced to resign from a hospital over her refusal to stop wearing a cross was wrongfully discriminated against.
  • The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a complaint against a Christian bakery in Northern Ireland that refused to make a cake supporting gay marriage on religious grounds.
    • The case, Lee v. Ashers Baking Co., was the subject of our first Legal Spirits podcast episode.