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News Archives

• 2012
  • Thursday, November 15, 2012Florida Voters Reject Religious Freedom AmendmentVoters rejected the Amendment 8, titled "Religious Freedom," one of the most controversial on the ballot, by 56 percent. The proposal would have repealed the 127-year-old Blaine Amendment, which says state funds may not go to the support of religious institutions.
  • Thursday, November 15, 2012Watchdog Group Asks IRS to Probe Catholic BishopsA public watchdog group is charging the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops with openly politicking on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and it wants the Internal Revenue Service to explore revoking the hierarchy's tax-exempt status.
  • Thursday, November 15, 2012New PBS Documentary Explores Faith of Founding Fathers & Path to Religious Freedom in America"FIRST FREEDOM: The Fight for Religious Liberty," is a new documentary for PBS premiering nationally on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 8 p.m. ET. The 90-minute film examines how the most basic of human freedoms — freedom of conscience — was codified for the first time in human history by America’s Founding Fathers as an inalienable human right protected by law, making use of richly detailed re-enactments, the Founding Fathers’ own words, and the insights of experts.
  • Thursday, November 15, 2012Columbia Union Hosts First Religious Liberty FestivalApproximately four dozen members from Columbia Union churches in the greater Baltimore and Washington, D.C., area gathered at the union office in Columbia, Md., October 20 for the Liberty Festival 2012. Sponsored by the union’s Office of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL), the program provided an overview of the role of religious freedom in the development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and also provided an opportunity for the church to consider religious freedom from the perspective of other faiths. Photo credit: Beth Michaels
  • Tuesday, October 30, 2012Florida Amendment 8 Harmful Not Helpful to Religious FreedomFlorida Amendment 8 is NOT a religious freedom amendment. Church autonomy is far more important than access to tax dollars.
  • Thursday, October 25, 2012Opinions: Maryland’s Referendum on Religious LibertyOn Nov. 6, Maryland voters will decide the fate of a measure that not only redefines marriage but also presents a serious threat to the religious liberty of individuals and religious institutions.
  • Thursday, October 25, 2012Iraqi Shiites Brace for Violence Amid Syria FearsIraqi Shiites increasingly fear the Muslim sect and its holy sites could be targeted in neighboring Syria as the civil war there takes on increasingly sectarian overtones, and Iranian-backed militants are girding for violence in both countries, according to Shiite leaders and government officials.
  • Thursday, October 25, 2012NARLA Partners with Southern Union Religious Liberty Department for Christ-Centered Religious Liberty Conference“The Coming Storm: An Awakening Call to a People of Prophecy,” a one-day religious liberty congress, was presented by the Southern Union Conference in partnership with the North American Religious Liberty Association (NARLA). A total of 350 attendees traveled from 19 states for the October 20 information-packed event.
  • Thursday, October 25, 2012Same-sex Couple Files Discrimination Complaint Over New York Wedding VenueTwo Albany women who were turned away in October from holding their wedding at Liberty Ridge Farm have filed a discrimination complaint, a move that may set the groundwork for testing the extent of same sex marriage in New York.
  • Thursday, October 18, 2012Nine States Launch Religious Freedom CaucusesLegislative leaders from nine states Tuesday, citing a growing polarization on the issue of religious freedom, announced the formation of state religious freedom caucuses. There are plans to have similar legislative caucuses in all 50 states by the end of 2013.
  • Thursday, October 18, 2012Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Takes Aim at the Separation of Church and StateAn informal occasion at Washington’s Catholic Information Center yields a portrait of the deeply Catholic and predictably acerbic justice.
  • Thursday, October 18, 2012Obama Administration Quietly Continues Flawed Faith-Based Discrimination PolicyThe U.S. Justice Department has continued to issue certificates of exemption to faith-based groups excusing them from employment discrimination laws.
  • Thursday, October 18, 2012Judge Dismisses St. Louis Suit Challenging Health Care Law's Contraception MandateA federal court judge in Missouri ruled that the President's Affordable Care Act does not restrict individuals' religious freedom.
  • Thursday, July 19, 2012After Lawsuit, Alabama City Agrees To Adventist Literature Evangelists' ReturnAlabaster, Alabama will allow students to share Adventist message, pending ordinance dispute resolution.
  • Thursday, July 19, 2012NARLA Supports Islamic Center's Right to Build House of WorshipNARLA adds signature to letter supporting the right of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro -- on an equal basis with any other type of religion -- to build a house of worship and to use its own property for the religious exercise.
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012Florida Amendment Uses Taxpayer Money to Fund Religious SchoolsIn 2011, the "Religious Freedom Act," or Amendment 7, was proposed to be put on the Florida state ballot in 2012. The amendment would let parents receive taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their children to private religious schools.
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012State Dept: Release pastor jailed for 1,000 days, sentenced to death in IranIt has been more than 1,000 days since a Christian pastor was thrown into an Iranian jail for leaving Islam and sentenced to death for, as the U.S. State Department put it, "simply following his faith."
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012Pastor Jailed for Holding Home Bible StudiesMichael Salman, a pastor from Phoenix, Ariz. who was fined and sentenced to jail began serving his 60 day sentence on Monday. Salman was found guilty of code violations for hosting Bible studies on his 4.6 acre property.
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012At Religious Liberty Dinner, Canadian Foreign Minister Promotes 'Bedrock' Human RightCanada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs was the keynote speaker May 24 at the 10th annual Religious Liberty Dinner.
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012Texas Leads Nation in Workplace Discrimination ComplaintsThe U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more complaints of workplace discrimination from workers in Texas than from any other state last year, with 10 percent of all complaints filed there.
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012Canada Has Lost Sight of Religious Freedom as Human RightForeign Minister John Baird told a U.S. audience that Canada went soft on defending fundamental rights like religious freedom some time after the Second World War, but he argued the Harper government is showing a stiffer spine now.
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012Muslim Brotherhood Signs Agreement with Egyptian Evangelicals17 Coptic evangelical leaders met with five Muslim Brotherhood counterparts and crafted a joint statement of common values, which both sides agree the new Egyptian constitution and government should uphold.
  • Wednesday, July 11, 2012Muslim Woman Sues Religious-Freedom Commission For DiscriminationSafiya Ghori-Ahmad claims the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom rescinded a job offer because she is Muslim. As Sarah Wildman reports, this isn’t the first time the commission has come under fire.
  • Tuesday, July 10, 2012Freedom Classroom Developing New Generation of Religious Liberty AdvocatesFreedom Classroom's eleven inaugural students visited Washington, D.C., last month, for a whirlwind course in civics, history, politics, and the spiritual tie-in.
  • Tuesday, July 10, 2012A Faithful Nation"This is not a political war at all. This is not a cultural war at all. This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies, Satan, would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country, the United States of America," proclaimed Rick Santorum to a group of Catholic college students in August 2008.
  • Tuesday, April 3, 2012New Faces at U.S. Int’l Religious Freedom Watchdog Include ‘Anti-Islamist’ Muslim, Leading Catholic ConservativeAn independent statutory body advising the U.S. government on international religious freedom issues is undergoing a process of change across the board, with the bulk of its commissioners – including some who have served for a decade – being replaced.
  • Tuesday, April 3, 2012Tibet Self-Immolation Wave Among History's BiggestDozens of Tibetans have set themselves on fire over the past year to protest Chinese rule, sometimes drinking kerosene to make the flames explode from within, in one of the biggest waves of political self-immolations in recent history.
  • Tuesday, April 3, 2012The Tragedy of Religious Freedom in SyriaThere is fear in some quarters that should the Assad regime fall, non-Muslim (and possibly non-Sunni Muslim) Syrians will suffer from a lack of religious freedom.
  • Tuesday, April 3, 2012Pope Urges More Religious Freedom in CubaPope Benedict XVI demanded more freedom for the Catholic Church in communist-run Cuba on Wednesday and preached against "fanaticism" in an unusually political sermon before hundreds of thousands at Revolution Plaza, with President Raul Castro in the front row.
  • Tuesday, April 3, 2012Arizona Immigration Law Threatens Religious Liberty, USCCB Argues in Court BriefThe United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the federal government in its dispute with Arizona over the state’s 2010 immigration legislation.
  • Wednesday, March 21, 2012Syria's Christians Fear Persecution, Being Forced Out If Assad Is RemovedA senior Syrian bishop who spoke with a Christian advocacy group, Aide to the Church in Need (ACN), recently said that as a Christian leader, he fears the danger of a mass exodus of the faithful, similar to the one that happened in Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the fall of Hussein.
  • Wednesday, March 21, 2012Menorah House Refused Sabbath Accommodations For Seventh-Day Adventist Workers and Fired ThemA Boca Raton nursing and rehabilitation facility will pay $125,000 to settle two religious discrimination lawsuits brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced Monday.
  • Wednesday, March 21, 2012US Report Criticizes Turkey for Serious Limitations on Religious FreedomAn annual government report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has added U.S. ally Turkey as well as Tajikistan to its list of the worst violators of religious rights.
  • Wednesday, March 21, 2012Supreme Court Declines Religious Liberty CaseThe U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will not hear a campus religious liberty case experts had hoped would give Christian groups more freedom to operate at secular schools.
  • Wednesday, March 21, 2012Congressional Scorecard to Hold U.S. Legislators Accountable for Religious Freedom DecisionsThe Open Doors USA Congressional Scorecard for International Religious Freedom of the 112th session of Congress was just released, ranking U.S. Congressmen and Senators on their promotion of religious freedom. Why assign a point value to a legislator's record on issues regarding international religious freedom? "Nearly everyone says that they care about religious freedom. But when it comes to actually taking action to help people who are being persecuted for their faith, we find that a lot of legislators weren't willing to take action." says Open Doors' Lindsay Vessey.
  • Wednesday, March 21, 2012USCIRF Identifies World’s Worst Religious Freedom ViolatorsThe U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a federal government commission that monitors global religious freedom, released its 2012 Annual Report and recommended that the Secretary of State name the following nations “countries of particular concern” or CPCs: Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
  • Thursday, March 8, 2012NASA Worker's Lawsuit Charges Discrimination Over Intelligent DesignA NASA mission specialist allegedly demoted for his beliefs about intelligent design is suing Jet Propulsion Laboratories in a civil trial to begin in Los Angeles March 7. David Coppedge was a lead information technology specialist on the laboratories' Cassini mission to Saturn before his demotion and it suing his employer on the grounds of religious discrimination.
  • Thursday, March 8, 2012Quiet Fade-Out for Obama’s Faith CouncilThree years into his presidency, Obama’s marquee council of faith advisers has gone dark.
  • Thursday, March 8, 2012Illegal Aliens or Refugees? 100,000 Burmese Chin Christians in IndiaSome 100,000 ethnic Chins from Burma have fled torture and religious persecution in their homeland to take refuge in Mizoram state in eastern India.
  • Thursday, March 1, 2012Manitoba-Saskatchewan Conference Lends Legal Support in Religious Liberty AccomodationLocal conference Religious Liberty department assists church member in seeking exemption from trade union membership.
  • Thursday, March 1, 2012Richardson, Tx. Congregation Hosts Multiple Religious Liberty Events Featuring IRLA Secretary GeneralDr. John Graz, director of the Public Affairs & Religious Liberty department of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church, was the featured speaker at several recent events in the North Dallas suburbs.
  • Thursday, March 1, 2012Santorum Wrong to Reignite 'Freedom of Worship' ControversyRick Santorum has a distinguished record as a champion of religious liberty, but he has tarnished his credibility by repeating a baseless accusation that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are subtly truncating America's historic commitment to advancing religious liberty abroad.
  • Thursday, March 1, 2012Rick Santorum: JFK’s 1960 Speech Made Me Want to Throw UpSantorum also said he does not believe in an America where the separation of church and state is “absolute.” Photo by Gage Skidmore.
  • Tuesday, February 21, 2012Amish Man's Letters Sway Lawmakers on Buggy IssueThe simple, heart-felt letters of an old-fashioned Amish man are being credited for the Senate's quick passage of a bill that would allow Kentucky's Amish residents to use reflective tape on their horse-drawn buggies instead of the bright orange triangular signs that they object to on religious grounds. Photo by Utente:TheCadExpert.
  • Tuesday, February 21, 2012Convergys Settles EEOC Suit for Religious DiscriminationConvergys Customer Management Group will pay $15,000 and furnish other relief to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC charged Convergys with violating federal law by refusing to hire a call center job applicant who could not work on Saturdays due to his religious beliefs.
  • Tuesday, February 21, 2012Supreme Court of Canada Rules: Exemption From Religious Studies Class Not an OptionCatholic parents lose battle to keep children out of multi-faith course at Quebec schools.
  • Tuesday, February 21, 2012Turkey Urged to Allow Greater Religious FreedomThe spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians said Monday that Turkey's new constitution should grant equal rights to minorities in the country and safeguard religious freedoms.
  • Thursday, February 16, 2012Chinese Blocked Visit by U.S. Religious Freedom Envoy, Experts SayChinese officials denied a visa to a top State Department envoy and refused to meet with her to discuss issues of religious freedom days before this week’s high-profile visit to Washington by China’s vice president, according to rights advocates and others. Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton.
  • Tuesday, February 14, 2012Birth Control and Religious Liberty: An Adventist PerspectiveWhat principles should guide the Adventist Church's response to the current debate in the United States about government-mandated health insurance coverage for contraception? The Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department, along with the Office of General Counsel, reviews some long-standing values that will help chart our course.
  • Monday, February 13, 2012Obama: Religious Liberty will be Protected; Women Will Still Be Able to Get ContraceptionPresident Obama moved to contain a growing political crisis Friday by altering a new birth control rule that had angered Catholics and ignited a debate across the political spectrum about the bounds of religious freedom. Under the new arrangement — the details of which have yet to be finalized — women who work for such organizations would still be guaranteed contraceptive coverage. But they will obtain it directly from their insurance companies, which must provide the coverage without charging an additional premium.
  • Wednesday, February 8, 2012Faith in the Public Sector? Young Adventist Professionals Speak OutDo individual Seventh-day Adventists have a contribution to make in the public sector? The answer is a resounding “Yes,” according to a group of young Adventist professionals from the Washington DC area who are making their mark in both government and public advocacy.
  • Wednesday, February 8, 2012NARLA Urges SoS Clinton to Assess Religious Issues Involved in Nigeria's Ongoing ViolenceThe North American Religious Liberty Association (NARLA) joined several faith and public policy organizations in composing a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, requesting her immediate attention to the escalating sectarian violence in Nigeria.
  • Wednesday, February 8, 2012In Nigeria, Escalating Religious Conflict Impacts Adventist ChurchThe Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria is seeing a drop in church attendance and some church closures amid worsening religious conflict in the country. An upsurge of attacks against Christian churches by the extremist group Boko Haram beginning late last year has led to ongoing sectarian violence between Muslim and Christian groups in northeastern Nigeria.
  • Tuesday, February 7, 2012Romney Continues Attack on Obama over "Religious Liberty"Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday stepped up the Republican charge that President Obama is infringing upon "religious liberty" by requiring faith-based organizations provide birth control coverage for their employees.
  • Tuesday, February 7, 2012Gingrich Vows to Fight Religious PersecutionSpeaking at a mega-church on the edge of Las Vegas, Newt Gingrich decried what he says is a decades-long war against religion in the United States and argued that other faiths are given tolerance while Christianity is persecuted, and said he is running because the nation’s very future is at stake.
  • Tuesday, February 7, 2012Worshippers Kicked Out Of N.Y. School On PrincipleFor years, small churches have been meeting in New York City public schools. Some want cheap rental space, and others are part of a "church planting" movement. The idea is to "plant" congregations, often in unconventional settings, to attract the unaffiliated. A federal court last year ruled that these school gatherings violate the separation of church and state. The congregations now have one week left to vacate.
  • Friday, February 3, 2012NAD President Attends National Prayer Breakfast North American Division president, Dan Jackson, was “honored and humbled” to attend yesterday’s 60th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
  • Thursday, February 2, 2012Columbia, Md. Congregation Honors Local State Delegate on Religious Liberty SabbathSpecial guest Elizabeth Bobo, member of the Maryland House of Delegates, reminded church members of the importance of protecting our freedoms of worship and choice, and thanked them for her annual subscription to Liberty magazine.
  • Tuesday, January 31, 2012Federal Job Bias Claims Rise in 2011 - Religious Discrimination Has Largest IncreaseFederal job discrimination complaints rose to an all-time high last year, led by an increase in bias charges based on religion and national origin. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received nearly 100,000 charges of discrimination during the 2011 fiscal year, the most in its 46-year history. That's a slight increase over the previous year, which had 25 fewer complaints. Charges of religious discrimination jumped by 9.5 percent, the largest increase of any category.
  • Monday, January 30, 2012Ozarks Electric Cooperative Sued By EEOC For Religious DiscriminationOzarks Electric Cooperative Corporation, an electric power supplier located in Fayetteville, Ark., violated federal law by firing an employee because of her religious practices, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. According to the EEOC’s suit (Case No. 5:12-cv-05014-JLH, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Fayetteville Division), Julia Solis, a call center customer service representative and a Jehovah’s Witnesses, requested one day off to attend a religious convention. The company denied the request and finally fired Solis for this, the agency said.
  • Monday, January 30, 2012Expelled EMU counseling student wins OK to sue after refusal to advise gays, lesbiansAn Eastern Michigan University student who was expelled from a counseling program because she refused to counsel gays and lesbians about their lifestyles won a key victory today in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Monday, January 30, 2012Pope Benedict Warns of 'Grave Threats' to Religious LibertyPope Benedict XVI warned today of a “grave threat” to religious liberty in the United States that requires American Catholics to respond with intelligence and courage. The Pope said he was particularly concerned with “certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.”
  • Wednesday, January 25, 2012Judge Rules Christian Facility Cannot Ban Same-Sex Civil Union Ceremony on its Own PremisesA New Jersey judge ruled against a Christian retreat house that refused to allow a same-sex civil union ceremony to be conducted on its premises, ruling the Constitution allows “some intrusion into religious freedom to balance other important societal goals.”
  • Wednesday, January 25, 2012Missouri Senate Debates Separation of Church and StateA Missouri Senate proposal would allow state funding to go to religious institutions. The possibility is sparking debate over its impact on the separation of church and state.
  • Tuesday, January 24, 2012Md. Gov. O'Malley Hosts Meeting With Gay Marriage Supporters & Religious LeadersA measure to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland focuses more carefully on protecting religious freedom than a bill that failed last year, Gov. Martin O’Malley said Tuesday after hosting a breakfast with supporters at the governor’s residence. O’Malley, a Democrat who is making same-sex marriage a priority of his legislative agenda this year, said bill drafters were especially sensitive to protecting religious freedom in hopes of persuading lawmakers — as well as the state’s voters — to support the legislation.
  • Wednesday, January 11, 2012China Warns US Not to Meddle in Its AffairsChina warned the United States on Wednesday against using religious incidents as a pretext to interfere in its domestic affairs, after the U.S. expressed concern over a series of self-immolations by Tibetans.
  • Wednesday, January 11, 2012Supreme Court Sides in Favor of Religious OrganizationsToday the Supreme Court decided what is likely the most important religious liberty case to come down in the past two decades.
  • Tuesday, January 10, 2012Has Obama Waged War on Religion?Are Americans' religious liberties are under attack? Photo credit: Pete Souza
  • Monday, January 9, 2012Q&A Jimmy Carter on his Faith-Filled PresidencyHow Christianity played a role in the former President’s office.
  • Monday, January 9, 2012Christian Persecution Outlook Grim in IndiaWatchdog groups are sounding the alarm on increasing acts of violence against Christians in India at the hands of the country's Hindu community.
  • Thursday, January 5, 2012NYC Churches Ousted From Municipal Housing. Pastors Under Arrest.Over the Christmas holidays, several local directors of facilities of the New York City Housing Authority notified religious groups, mostly Christian churches, that they could no longer rent community rooms and other facilities.
  • Thursday, January 5, 2012Catholic Charity Rejects Gov't Funding to Maintain Religious LibertyA Catholic charitable organization has rejected government funding so it can uphold traditional Christian teachings and serve the poor with less bureaucratic red tape. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Tulsa has chosen to rely strictly upon the donations of private individuals and institutions.
  • Thursday, January 5, 2012Atheists Face Uphill Climb with New Political PartyFounder Troy Boyle says the party stands for no governmental favoring of religion — including no religion.
  • Thursday, January 5, 2012The Third Party InterestWith the rhetoric and rancor rising in the campaign for the White House, the election has increasingly become a call to the faithful, with candidates attempting to outdo one another in appealing to religious voters.
  • Thursday, January 5, 2012Dispute Over Crosses Cast Light on Four Fallen MarinesThe controversial hilltop memorial at Camp Pendleton honors two enlisted men and two officers, three of whom helped erect a cross there in 2003 before going to Iraq.
• 2011
  • Tuesday, December 20, 2011Religious Freedom In China At Lowest Point Since Tiananmen Square CrackdownReligious freedom is nonexistent in China, ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu told the European Parliament recently.
  • Tuesday, December 20, 2011Indonesians in NJ fear deportation despite dealDemocratic U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney of New York and Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey are co-sponsoring the Indonesian Family Refugee Protection Act, which would allow Indonesians who fled religious persecution in their homeland and meet other criteria the opportunity to reapply for asylum.
  • Tuesday, December 6, 2011Churches to Lose Use of School Space After a Legal Push FailsA small Bronx evangelical church on Monday lost the final round of its 16-year legal battle to force New York City to permit religious worship services in public schools, setting the stage for the city to eject dozens of churches and religious organizations that have been using schools for prayer.
  • Tuesday, December 6, 2011Nurses Don't Have To Assist In Abortions, Hospital Agrees"No nurse is compelled to have direct involvement in a procedure to which she or he objects based on his/her cultural values, ethics and/or religious beliefs," Jeffrey Tolvin, a spokesman for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey said in a statement on Friday (Dec. 2).
  • Wednesday, November 30, 2011Montreal Accused of Religious Persecution in Fight to Close SynagogueThe City of Montreal was in court this week to shut a 30-year-old Hasidic synagogue in the central-Montreal borough of Outremont because it's operating in a residential zone — a move that is fomenting divisions between Jews and non-Jews in the area.
  • Tuesday, November 29, 2011Trial Begins for Pharmacists Who Refused to Dispense Morning After PillThe fight over whether Washington State pharmacies should be required to distribute "morning-after" contraceptives begins in a Seattle federal courtroom Monday.
  • Tuesday, November 29, 2011New Jersey Nurses Charge Religious Discrimination Over Hospital Abortion PolicyIn a lawsuit filed in federal court Oct. 31, 12 nurses charge that the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey violated state and federal laws by abruptly announcing in September that nurses would have to help with abortion patients before and after the procedure, reversing a long-standing policy exempting employees who refuse based on religious or moral objections.
  • Monday, November 28, 2011Ten Commandments Dispute in Va. Headed to Federal CourtA long-simmering battle in Virginia over the separation of church and state heads to federal court Monday, with a southwestern county school board fighting for the right to display the Ten Commandments in a public high school.
  • Tuesday, November 8, 2011Bishop Warns Congress on Threats to 'Freedom'Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of a new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the bishops have been vilified for their religious beliefs against abortion, gay marriage and birth control.
  • Wednesday, November 2, 2011RLUIPA Investigation Closed After Town Allows Church to Meet and Amends Zoning CodeOn October 27, the Civil Rights Division closed its investigation of Schodack, New York under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) after the town agreed to allow a church to move into space it had rented and amended its zoning code to treat religious assemblies equally with nonreligious assemblies.
  • Wednesday, November 2, 2011Chaplains Refuse to Perform Same Sex MarriagesTwo groups representing 2,000 Protestant and Catholic military chaplains have refused to perform homosexual marriages because they say it violates their beliefs. Photo credit: United Methodist News Service
  • Sunday, September 25, 2011Adventist Church Participates in Canadian Office of Religious Freedom Stakeholders' ConsultationsOn October 3, 2011, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honorable John Baird, held a meeting with representatives of Canada's diverse faith community. The purpose of the meeting was to, in his words, "exchange ideas on a key priority" for the Government of Canada: "establishing an Office of Religious Freedom."
  • Thursday, October 20, 2011Lone Senator Holding Religious Freedom Commission 'Hostage'The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is a small commission that monitors religious freedom. Last month, the House of Representatives voted 391–21 to reauthorize the USCIRF. The Senate, however, has not voted because one anonymous U.S. Senator is blocking a vote. If the Senate fails to act by November 18, the USCIRF will cease to exist.
  • Thursday, October 20, 2011Egyptian-Americans Protest in DC for Fellow Coptic ChristiansHundreds of Egyptian-American protesters marched from the White House to the the U.S. Capitol Wednesday to show solidarity with their fellow Coptic Christians who were killed recently in Egypt.
  • Sunday, September 25, 2011MLK Memorial Celebrates Its Namesake's Race, SpiritualityMartin Luther King, Jr.’s status as an American icon was cemented Sunday following the dedication of a memorial in his honor. Now standing tall near the Tidal Basin, the memorial symbolizes his defense of civil rights and religion in the eyes of Washington D.C.’s African American and Christian communities.
  • Sunday, September 25, 2011Supreme Court tackles church-state conflict involving schoolsThe Supreme Court justices struggled Wednesday to resolve a profound church-state conflict concerning whether the nation's civil rights laws protect teachers at religious schools.
  • Wednesday, October 19, 2011Controversies Over Mosques and Islamic Centers Across the U.S.37 proposed mosques and Islamic centers that have encountered community resistance in the last three years. In many cases, the opposition has centered on neighbors' concerns about traffic, noise, parking and property values - the same objections that often greet churches and other houses of worship as well as commercial construction projects.