Religious Liberty News
Stories on legal battles, faith in public life, and policies that affect religious freedom. The Daily Signal reports on challenges and victories surrounding First Amendment protections.
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Religious Liberty Commission Hears Testimony on Faith Conflicts in Health Care, Social Services
The Religious Liberty Commission held a hearing at the Museum of the Bible on March 16 to examine religious liberty issues in health care and social services. Across multiple panels, witnesses described professional and legal consequences they said followed decisions to practice their faith. Testimony came from parents, physicians, counselors, and faith leaders who addressed topics including gender…Reagan Campbell -
Museum of Bible Hosts First Meeting of New Religious Liberty Commission
The newly created Religious Liberty Commission held its first meeting on Monday at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. On the agenda for discussion by the commission was the history of religious liberty in the U.S. and the Supreme Court’s role in interpreting the rights to religious expression and exercise. “[I]t’s so vitally important…Jacob Adams -
‘UN-AMERICAN’: SPLC Uses ‘Terrorist Tactics’ to Silence Dissent, Religious Freedom Lawyer Says
This is the third in a three-part series on the movement for religious freedom in the U.S. legal system today. Check out the first part about how Christians who refuse to take a COVID-19 vaccine face “medical death row” here and the second part about the “rise of global censorship” here. NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Mike Farris, general…Tyler O’Neil -
Religious Freedom, Part 2: Lawyer Sounds Alarm About ‘Rise of Global Censorship’
This is the second in a three-part series on the movement for religious freedom in the U.S. legal system today. Check out the first part about how Christians who refuse to take a COVID-19 vaccine face “medical death row” here. NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Ryan Bangert, senior vice president at the religious freedom law firm Alliance Defending Freedom,…Tyler O’Neil -
Religious Freedom, Part 1: Americans Fight to Get Off ‘Medical Death Row’ Over Vaccination Status
This is the first in a three-part series on the movement for religious freedom in the U.S. legal system today. Stay tuned for the next two installments. NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, represents Americans in religious freedom cases who have been turned away from hospitals because they refuse to take a…Tyler O’Neil -
Leftist Group Smears Religious Freedom Summit; Democratic Co-Chair Responds
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Katrina Lantos Swett—founder of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice and a co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit, which took place in Washington, D.C., earlier this week—responded to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s attack on the summit in a statement to The Daily Signal on Friday. The SPLC,…Tyler O’Neil -
EXCLUSIVE: Religious Freedom Advocates Demand Answers on State Department’s Exclusion of Nigeria, India From Persecution List
FIRST IN DAILY SIGNAL: A group of international religious freedom experts are calling for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to testify before a congressional hearing about the State Department’s decision to exclude Nigeria and India from a list of nations with severe violations of religious freedom. In a letter sent Wednesday, first obtained by The…Mary Margaret Olohan -
Despite 5,000 Killings in 2023, Biden’s State Dept. Leaves Nigeria Off Religious Freedom Watch List for 3rd Year
For the third consecutive year, the Biden administration’s Department of State has left Nigeria off of its list of “Countries of Particular Concern,” a list that catalogs the countries around the world that have perpetrated or tolerated “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” The move comes despite the fact that Nigeria leads the world in…Dan Hart -
After 30 Years of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Law—and Our Liberty—Are Under Attack
Thirty years ago today, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, to protect what he called “the most precious of all American liberties.” Presidents of both parties have declared religious freedom to be one of our most fundamental freedoms, a “critical foundation of our nation’s liberty,” and “a fundamental…Thomas Jipping -
On 25th Anniversary, Religious Freedom More Important Than Ever
As the Biden administration pleads with Hamas to release more than 220 hostages, including 10 Americans, and Israel readies for a ground invasion of Gaza, a bipartisan group of more than a dozen current and former members of Congress spent Monday underscoring the continued need to promote religious freedom at home and abroad as a…Susan Crabtree -
Religious Liberty Succeeds Because It Taps Into America’s ‘Live and Let Live’ Instincts
There is still hope religious liberty will prevail in America even though many wish to tear it down, including some in government, according to the president of the religious freedom law firm the Becket Fund. Many religious liberty cases succeed because they tap into the “live and let live instinct” of Americans, Mark Rienzi told…Lucy Gilbert -
How God Used ‘Average Joe’ to Defend Religious Freedom: Coach Kennedy Explains in New Book
“Average” is not the adjective that comes to mind when talking about an American who took a religious freedom case all the way to the Supreme Court, but football coach Joe Kennedy says he identified with the word. “I’ve always looked at myself actually [as] below average,” Kennedy says. “I really had no idea that…Virginia Allen -
Religious Freedom Again in Legal Peril in Finland
“It is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts.” Such was the judgment of the Finnish court tasked with ruling on the case of Päivi Räsänen, a 28-year member of the Finnish parliament, former minister of the interior, medical doctor, grandmother, and Christian prosecuted for “hate speech.” Her “crime”? Publicly sharing her faith-based…Sam Brownback -
Judge’s Ordering Airline’s Lawyers to Take Religious Liberty Sensitivity Training Sends Left Into Tailspin
One of the Left’s favorite things to advocate for is diversity and inclusion training. It’s celebrated and even revered, and it’s demanded on social media, in workplaces, at corporations, and within educational institutions. But it seems the Left isn’t so happy when the tables are turned. Take the Monday ruling of a federal judge in…Nicole Russell -
Religious Freedom Wins in Court Case About Trans Medical Procedures
Doctors, other medical personnel, and hospitals with faith-based objections to transgender surgeries are celebrating a win against an Obamacare mandate this week as President Joe Biden declined to appeal a ruling to the Supreme Court. The case, called Sisters of Mercy v. Becerra, is the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s second successful challenge of what…Elise McCue -
Why America Must Recommit to Religious Freedom
We celebrate Thursday, Jan. 16, as Religious Freedom Day, the anniversary of the passage in 1786 of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Unfortunately, the percentage of Americans who have heard of the law, or the day that commemorates it, is shockingly small. Yet Thomas Jefferson, who authored the statute in the Virginia Legislature, listed…Stephanie Neville -
Christian Bakers Challenge $135K Fine for Quoting Bible Verse
Did Oregon officials violate their duty to remain neutral on matters of religion when they ordered Christian bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 for declining to create a custom same-sex wedding cake, a move that crushed the small, family-owned business? That’s the question that the Oregon Court of Appeals will answer after having…Keisha Russell -
Not All Findings of Religious Freedom Index Are Encouraging
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a leading nonprofit law firm defending religious freedom, is taking an innovative approach to evaluate the current state of religious freedom in America. Most assessments in this area focus on government actions such as laws, regulations, or court decisions that affect religious freedom. Becket’s first-ever Religious Freedom Index instead…Thomas Jipping -
Misguided Fairness for All Act Would Undermine Religious Liberty
Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The radical bill drew widespread opposition from conservatives, and with good reason, as it would enshrine radical gender ideology in federal law and decimate the religious…Andrea Jones -
Celebrating Our Religious Freedom at Thanksgiving
I was in my room at the famed Metropol Hotel in Moscow, Russia, next door to Red Square. It was April 2005 and I was preparing for a training workshop in advanced communication skills the following morning for personnel at the U.S. Embassy. Built in 1905, this five-star, czarist-style lodging house historically had borne testimony…Yvonne Davis