Free Republic

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear arguments Wednesday over whether a Health and Human Services mandate can force religious-based hospitals to perform sex-reassignment procedures that could cause "harm" to patients, plaintiffs say. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden's administration restored federal protections for gay and transgender people, allowing them to sue for "sex discrimination" in healthcare. The Religious Sisters of Mercy, along with other faith-based hospitals and medical providers, argue its facilities "routinely provide top-notch care to transgender patients," contending the HHS mandate should not force it to provide potentially "harmful" procedures such as sex-reassignment surgery...

Christian artists Breanna Koski (L) and Joanna Duka say they cannot create art for events that celebrate same-sex marriage. | (Photo: Alliance Defending Freedom) A pair of Christian artists cannot be forced by a city ordinance to make wedding invitations for same-sex marriages, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday.In Brush & Nib v. City of Phoenix, Arizona’s highest court ruled that Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, cannot be compelled by a local antidiscrimination ordinance to provide their services to same-sex weddings.Writing for the majority, Justice Andrew Gould concluded that the city of Phoenix “cannot...

Immigration and prison officials have seized Bibles and other holy books from immigrants detained at a federal prison in California, where they are being subjected to dangerous and inhumane conditions with no freedom to practice their respective faiths, the American Civil Liberties Union says in a lawsuit. The ACLU said, as part of a coalition of civil rights groups, it has filed a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Prisons for violating the constitutional rights of the roughly 1,000 immigrants detained at the federal prison located in a desert in Victorville....

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on Monday in a closely watched religious rights case involving limits on public funding for churches and other religious entities as the justices issue the final rulings of their current term. The nine justices are due to rule in six cases, not including their decision expected in the coming days on whether to take up President Donald Trump's bid to revive his ban on travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries in which an emergency appeal is pending.

You might not be surprised to learn that 84 percent of church-going Christians send their children to public schools. Nevertheless, you may be astonished to learn that half of all public school teachers consider themselves church-going Christians. These two tidbits come from Barna Research. Nevertheless, we’ve had controversies throughout the country whenever valedictorians attempt to quote scripture or young students try to attach religious messages to candy canes at Christmas. These dramas unfold because frequently teachers do not know the rules governing religious expression in public schools, which allow all of the above to occur, according to Eric Buehrer, president...

The month of June was a depressing one for conservatives. The Supreme Court’s 50-state mandate for gay marriage and the upholding of Obamacare were a disaster for religious liberty, and social conservatism seemed to be in retreat.But an encouraging new poll shows that by a margin of 4 to 1, Americans favor religious freedom and liberty over gay rights in the current culture war.The poll, conducted by Caddell Associates, asked questions regarding legal cases where religious liberties have been under assault.Via the Washington Examiner: “Suppose a Christian wedding photographer has deeply held religious beliefs opposing same sex marriage. If...

In the new climate of liberal intolerance, conservative Christians can’t even find refuge by agreeing with Elizabeth Warren. Just ask Michael Lindsay, president of Gordon College. On July 1, 2014, he signed a letter to President Obama — writing as an individual rather than in his institutional capacity — exercising his most basic First Amendment right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The letter, signed by a number of Christian leaders and scholars — including the CEO of Catholic Charities and Rick Warren, famous pastor of Saddleback Church — dealt with the president’s then-imminent executive order banning...

PLANO, Texas (BP) -- Plano Citizens United, a coalition of churches and civic leaders, cleared the first hurdle this week in rescinding a city ordinance that legal experts said would stymie free speech and religious liberty, while opponents of a similar ordinance in Houston prepare to take their fight to court. With no preexisting ministerial alliance in place, Plano churches were caught unprepared when the city council, led by Mayor Harry LaRosilier, passed an ordinance Dec. 8 creating a protected class of citizen based on sexual orientation and gender identity. With help from the Houston pastors' coalition, opposition to the...

Gay rights trump religious rights. That’s the rule of law in New Mexico after the U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider whether a wedding photographer was within her rights when she refused to film a gay couple’s commitment ceremony. The high court’s decision not to hear the case lets stand a New Mexico Supreme Court decision that the owners of Elane Photography violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws. As one New Mexico justice ominously noted, Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin “are compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives.” The state’s demand that the Huguenins...

I have heard for years that we are now living in a post Christian America, and after looking at our culture, I would have to agree. Since nature abhors a vacuum, U.S. citizens have been seeking other forms of worship as opposed to the faith of our fathers. I can think of no other object of devotion that attracts greater adoration today than sodomy, as the Bible calls it. Judge Robert Bork, who wrote Slouching Toward Gomorrah, must have had an idea that the United States would soon be Reclining In Gomorrah, hence his objections to the obvious decline...

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed SB1062 that would permit merchants to refuse service based on religious beliefs. Of course it was assumed it was generally aimed at businesses that have moral objections to serving gays, particularly in the context of wedding products and services. This has been an issue in the courts of other states previously, and because those cases haven’t turned up in Arizona yet, Brewer offered that as part of the reason why she was vetoing this bill. Free market proponents seem to be split on this issue, some pointing out that businesses shouldn’t be forced by the...

Andrew Koppelman, a long time supporter of gay rights and gay marriage, argued that those who disagree with him should have the freedom to live according to those beliefs. "I've worked very hard to create a regime in which it is safe to be gay. I would also like that regime to be one in which it is safe to be a religious dissenter," Koppelman said to the applause of a group of mostly conservative lawyers. Koppelman, professor of law and political science at Northwestern University School of Law, was speaking on a panel, "Religious Liberty & Conflicting Moral Visions,"...

BURLINGTON, Vermont (Reuters) - A Mennonite minister was found guilty on Tuesday of aiding a kidnapping by helping a woman flee to Nicaragua with her daughter to evade court orders giving visitation rights to her former lesbian partner. The case drew widespread attention as gay rights groups and evangelical Christian groups took opposing sides in the legal battle between the two women over Isabella Miller-Jenkins, now 10. Federal prosecutors say Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Virginia, helped orchestrate Lisa Miller's flight to Canada and Nicaragua in 2009 with her daughter out of Christian solidarity with her decision to reject homosexuality...

I have heard the over exaggerated claims from liberals that they fear the Religious Right turning America into a Christian theocracy. They are devout disciples of the concept of “separation of church and state”. They are thankful for the ACLU keeping America from sliding down a slippery slope into the dreaded state of a Christian theocracy. Of course these fears are not based in reality. While most Christians want to share their faith with others and hope to convert people, the modern practice of Christianity does not seek to force their religion on anyone. Inviting someone to church, or expressing...

Variety reviewer Robert Koehler (formerly of the L.A. Times) recently reviewed a new documentary titled "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater." The main driver behind the project is his granddaughter, C.C. Goldwater, and it's scheduled to air on HBO on September 18. The list of interviewees underlines it's not a big right-wing project: it includes Walter Cronkite, Ted Kennedy, Al Franken, Helen Thomas, James Carville, Bob Schieffer, Andy Rooney, Julian Bond, Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, John Dean, and erstwhile Goldwater Girl Hillary Rodham Clinton. A few righties appear (Richard Viguerie, George Will) and some more centrist GOP types do, too...

Religious rights undermined By Clint Haggart When the Supreme Court of Canada and previous Liberal government said same-sex marriage will be recognized in Canada, they said churches will never be forced to perform one of these marriages. Unfortunately, there will come a time when the gay rights movement will push the issue in court and will likely win. It wouldn’t be the first time gay rights groups tried to screw Canadians of faith. In 1999, Scott Brockie, a Christian printer, refused to publish gay rights literature saying it was in clear violation of his Christian beliefs. He, in fact, had...

Ehrlich appointee fired over remark Transit official equates gay lifestyle with deviancy By Jennifer Skalka Sun reporter Originally published June 16, 2006 WASHINGTON -- Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. fired one of his appointees to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority yesterday after the board member asserted on a local cable talk show that homosexuals lived a life of "sexual deviancy." The termination came a few hours after Metro board member Robert J. Smith, an architect and unsuccessful Republican candidate for the General Assembly from Montgomery County, was publicly confronted by a transit board colleague. Board member Jim Graham, a...

The current use of the “wall of separation” between church and state as a legal defense for the removal of the expression of American religious culture from governmental institutions and the prohibition of the free exercise of individuals working within them goes contrary not only to the original intent of the Founders and the Framers but also to the religious, political, and legal history and traditions of the United States of America. Courts, county school boards, teachers, and individuals, unwittingly devoid of the knowledge of the substantial role religion (primarily Protestant Christianity) played in the birth and formation of the...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 10:30 a.m. EST House Eyes IRS Rules on Religious Speech Support is building in the House of Representatives to lift IRS restrictions banning political speech from the pulpit. The Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, also known as HR 235, would give clergy the freedom to discuss politics with their congregations without putting their church's tax exempt status in jeopardy. Rep. Walter B. Jones, who sponsored the measure, has picked up 165 co-sponsors for his legislation, with House Speaker Denny Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay said to be sympathetic. Under the...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A13530-2002Aug29?language=printer Here we go again.