Religious Freedom News

More than 30 faith traditions were represented at the inaugural International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., held between July 13 and 15. The aim of the summit was to create a coalition of organizations that fight for international religious freedom for everyone, everywhere, all the time. Here are seven takeaways from the summit:  …

The Supreme Court’s recent decision, Fulton v. Philadelphia, is justifiably getting mixed reviews. Catholic Social Services sued the city of Philadelphia, through the Philadelphia Archdiocese, for canceling its 50-year contract with the Catholic social services agency because it refuses to certify same-sex couples as foster families for the purpose of foster care. The Supreme Court…

The Biden administration is making a stark departure from past administrations in how it talks about, and treats, religious freedom. In his remarks May 12 on the release of the 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, Secretary of State Antony Blinken correctly asserted that “religious freedom is a human right,” one at the heart of…

To say that the Equality Act, which the U.S. Senate will soon take up after its passage in the House, has changed over the years is a huge understatement. The first version of this legislation, introduced in 1994, prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation, but did not apply to religious organizations. Today, however,…

A recent New York Times column suggested, among other things, the appointment of a cross-agency government task force to deal with disinformation headed by a “reality czar.” Apparently, George Orwell’s “1984” is no longer considered a cautionary tale, but for some has become an instruction manual. Truth be told, a government that even considers the…

There’s no denying that 2020 has been a trying year. Churches all over the nation closed their doors because of COVID-19. Rioters burned and looted businesses in cities from Portland, Oregon, to Kenosha, Wisconsin. And a contested election has left many Americans concerned for the country’s future. Amid the trials and tribulations of this year,…

Exactly how have COVID-19 restrictions on churches and other places of worship affected First Amendment freedoms? What happened when the Supreme Court last week blocked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s limits on religious gatherings? What about the situation in California, where Godspeak Calvary Chapel’s pastor, Rob McCoy, reportedly turned his church into a “strip club”…

During the course of the COVID-19 crisis, an ongoing, and very legitimate, national debate has continued about the wisdom of lockdowns. The decision to shut down social and commercial activity in the name of health is itself arbitrary. Then, the decision to decide what to shut down and what not to shut down, what activities…

This article is an excerpt from the “2020 Mandate for Leadership: A Clear Vision for the Next Administration.” It looks back at policy decisions made by the Trump administration over the past four years. You can purchase your copy of “Mandate 2020” here. Free Speech Three changes have occurred over the past four years. First, in…

The Supreme Court strengthened the separation of church and state Wednesday and, for once, that’s a good thing. The “separation” most people think of was created by the Supreme Court by interpreting the First Amendment’s ban on an “establishment of religion” far too broadly. That has fueled a campaign to keep religion, and even religious…

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Monday in a pair of consolidated cases, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel, that will examine the so-called ministerial exception. That’s a legal doctrine that protects freedom of religion by exempting religious institutions from the application of anti-discrimination laws to employees…

Billions of people around the world exercised their religious freedom during Holy Week, but a new United Nations report threatens to undermine both this freedom and women’s rights. The report of Ahmed Shaheed, the U.N. expert responsible for protecting religious freedom, advances a “progressive” agenda of abortion and new “rights” based on membership in sexual identity groups. It seems…

“There’s a lot of hostility to religious beliefs,” says Joe Grogan, director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House. “These views are protected by the First Amendment and people who are offended by public expressions of faith need to get over it,” he adds. In this exclusive interview at the White House, Grogan…

The meaning of religious freedom came home to me, fittingly enough, by the dawn’s early light, slanting through a dormitory window in China many years ago. I was one of 10 young people spending a summer teaching English as a second language classes at an agricultural college 3,000 miles west of Beijing, in what’s known…

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…

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…