Free Republic

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/September/10-crt-1058.html FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, September 21, 2010 Justice Department Issues Report on 10th Anniversary of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act WASHINGTON - The Justice Department today issued a report marking the 10th anniversary of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), showing that the law has had a positive impact on protecting the religious freedom of a wide range of faith groups, and had a particularly significant impact protecting the religious freedom of minorities. RLUIPA protects places of worship and other religious uses of property from discrimination...

A businessman cited for displaying a gospel message on his own property is suing the town of Gouverneur, New York, accusing it of violating the U.S. Constitution's protection of free speech and private property rights.

Render Unto Caesar Author: Deborah Baxtrom Publishing date: 12/31/2002 7:32 am Illustration by Jack Slattery Religion squared off with consumerism in Cypress, California, last May when the Cypress City Council voted unanimously to seize, through use of the city’s power of eminent domain, 18 acres of land owned by the Cottonwood Christian Center in order to build a Costco discount store. “The city is trying to feed its voracious appetite for property taxes,” said Patrick Korten, a vice president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an organization helping to represent Cottonwood in the case. “If they get away with...

Over the course of the past week, the Terri Schiavo case made headlines with its swift and unsuccessful journey through the federal courts. The string of court defeats might have left the impression that the case was doomed from the outset. Yet the litigation's failure may owe more to a poor tactical choice by the lawyers advising the Schindlers--Terri's parents--than to the case's underlying merits. The original Schindler complaint included a variety of federal constitutional and statutory claims. Each of them was weak at best, as was quickly reflected in federal district judge James Whittemore's ruling that the Schindlers had...

A lawsuit by a group of prison inmates in Ohio is raising the difficult question of when the government's accommodation of religious beliefs may go too far. At issue in the case set for oral argument at the US Supreme Court Monday is whether the granting of religious exemptions from certain laws or regulations when they clash with religious beliefs amounts to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by government. The case is particularly significant for minority religions and their adherents who rely on such accommodations to practice their faith freely without government interference. Lawyers for the inmates warn that if...

CASSADAGA, FL - On September 5, 2002, the Volusia County Council approved a settlement agreement that ends a federal lawsuit filed by Dunamis Community and Outreach Ministries and grants to the church the right to locate in Cassadaga, Florida. The settlement makes Dunamis the first Christian church to locate in Cassadaga, which describes itself as a "metaphysical mecca." Dunamis is represented by Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, and Erik W. Stanley, Litigation Counsel for Liberty Counsel.Believing that God had led it to minister to the community of Cassadaga, Dunamis purchased property 0.8 of a mile...