An exchange between CNN’s Don Lemon and former congressman Beto O’Rourke demonstrates the way the media and politicians oversimply conflicts between religious freedom and nondiscrimination. The First Amendment without question protects rights of individuals and religious institutions, to support or oppose conceptions of marriage according to the dictates of their faith, and to peacefully express those views. That is not a controversial position.
Gov. Bill Lee declared October 10, 2019, to be a voluntary “Day of Prayer, Humility, and Fasting” in the state. Such proclamations are generally not surprising or unusual, and they have held up under constitutional scrutiny. But, that doesn’t mean they are a good idea.
Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC involves a transgender woman’s claim that her firing violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sex. In requesting review by the Supreme Court, the funeral home did not raise RFRA arguments.
Can states require that religious organizations providing foster care services through government contracts must refrain from discriminating?
Last week, House subcommittees held the first-ever oversight hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Trump administration’s travel ban, which restricts travel to and from several majority-Muslim countries.
Speaking at a United Nations event on religious freedom, President Donald Trump called on world leaders to bring an end to all forms of religious persecution, announced his administration would add $25 million to U.N. efforts to protect religious sites and relics, and repeated a false claim about the Johnson Amendment.
