Religious Law

Does Posner resort to a ‘cheap debater’s trick’ in skewering Scalia’s ‘majoritarian theocracy’?

According to Judge Richard Posner, Justice Antonin Scalia’s establishment clause jurisprudence is so deferential to religion that he would probably uphold the constitutionality of a sign on the White House lawn stating, “We are a CHRISTIAN country and if you don’t like it, GET OVER IT.” Scalia has never written…

Dec 8, 2015 7:18 AM CST

‘Pastafarian’ wears colander for driver’s license photo after state OKs exception to headgear rule

When Lindsay Miller initially tried to get her driver’s license photo taken with a pasta strainer on her head, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles balked. But, following an administrative appeal with the help of civil rights groups, the agency on Thursday permitted the self-proclaimed “Pastafarian” to don the metal…

Nov 16, 2015 1:00 PM CST

State AG’s civil suit claims church congregation failed to report congregant’s sex with teen

A judge is scheduled to hear arguments in a suit by Delaware’s attorney general that claims a Jehovah’s Witness congregation failed to report that one of its members had admitted having sex with a 14-year-old boy. The suit claims two elders with the Seaford Kingdom Hall in Sussex County failed…

Nov 9, 2015 11:25 AM CST

SCOTUS will hear challenge by nonprofits objecting to contraceptive-coverage opt-out procedure

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the opt-out procedure for religious nonprofits that don’t want to provide contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The consolidated case is the fourth time in five years that the Supreme Court will consider a legal challenge to the…

Nov 6, 2015 1:03 PM CST

Buying a bamboo floor? This company requires religious arbitration; courts uphold clauses

Religious tribunals are being used in U.S. cases that go beyond spiritual questions to sort out allegations ranging from financial fraud to wrongful death. Christian tribunals are getting a green light from courts, which are upholding contract clauses that require religious arbitration, the New York Times reports. Its story is…

Nov 3, 2015 8:18 AM CST

Parents, 4 others charged in fatal beating of teen at church

The parents of a 19-year-old man who was fatally injured during a prolonged Sunday-night beating at upstate New York church have been charged with manslaughter, because police do not believe they intended the so-called “counseling session” to kill their son, authorities say. In addition to the manslaughter charges faced by…

Oct 16, 2015 8:45 AM CDT

Kim Davis may have circumvented court orders with modified marriage-license forms, filing says

The deputy county clerk who is issuing same-sex marriage licenses in the office of Kim Davis is concerned because of alterations Davis made to the marriage license forms, according to legal filings made with the federal judge who temporarily put Davis in jail. The deputy clerk, Brian Mason of Rowan…

Sep 21, 2015 8:48 AM CDT

Businessman donates $10M to establish new Islamic law center at Yale Law School

A Saudi Arabian businessman with an estimated net worth of nearly $20 billion has donated $10 million to Yale Law School to establish an Islamic law center there. “The contemporary challenges of Islamic law are broadly relevant to political events throughout the entire Islamic world and those are developments that…

Sep 14, 2015 7:30 AM CDT

Pope Francis puts annulments on a fast track, says bishops can hear uncontested cases

Significantly reforming more than 300 years of Catholic practice, Pope Francis announced Tuesday that the process for obtaining a marriage annulment will be put on a fast track, effective Dec. 8. Under the new rules, “lack of faith” can be a basis for a church-recognized marriage dissolution. The local bishop—rather…

Sep 9, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

Muslim flight attendant files EEOC complaint, says she was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol

A Muslim flight attendant has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleges she was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol, even though her employer had previously agreed to an accommodation. Lawyers for flight attendant Charee Stanley filed the EEOC complaint last week, report Michigan Radio, the…

Sep 9, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Kentucky clerk who won’t issue same-sex marriage licenses is ordered to go to jail

Updated: A county clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, who refused to issue gay-marriage licenses has been held in contempt of court and taken into custody. The clerk, Kim Davis, appeared in court today before U.S. District Judge David Bunning. The Washington Post, the New York Times and the Courier-Journal have…

Sep 3, 2015 12:13 PM CDT

This group is defending Kentucky clerk and others who refuse to issue gay-marriage licenses

The Kentucky clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Kim Davis, may be the most high-profile government official currently represented by Liberty Counsel. But there are others. The nonprofit religious rights law firm also represents a former North Carolina magistrate, an Alabama probate judge, and a Texas…

Sep 3, 2015 8:52 AM CDT

Judge rules for group with moral, rather than religious, objections to contraceptive mandate

A federal judge has ruled on behalf of an anti-abortion group that contended it should be entitled to the same exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive-coverage mandate as religious organizations. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington, D.C., ruled (PDF) Monday on behalf of the nonprofit, March for Life,…

Sep 2, 2015 10:51 AM CDT

Defiant county clerk refuses to issue marriage licenses despite SCOTUS action

Updated: A county clerk in Kentucky who objects to gay marriage on religious grounds is continuing to refuse to issue marriage licenses, despite Supreme Court action on Monday. The order by the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay a federal judge’s injunction requiring the clerk, Kim Davis, to issue marriage…

Sep 1, 2015 7:36 AM CDT

First Amendment doesn’t protect baker who refused wedding cake to gay couple, appeals court says

A Christian cake baker in Lakewood, Colorado, has lost an appeal that claimed he had a First Amendment right to refuse to provide a cake for a gay couple to celebrate their wedding. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that baker Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop had an obligation to…

Aug 14, 2015 7:31 AM CDT