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.
-
opinion
I’m a Descendant of Holocaust Survivors. Why I’m Appalled at the Comparison of Christian Bakers to Nazis.
It’s November 1938, and the Nazis have confiscated a silk factory owned by the same Jewish family for over a decade, arresting the owner. Fast forward to 2014, and a state official has compared a Colorado Christian baker to the same group that took away what belonged to the Jewish silk factory owner—the father of… -
news
Sen. Mike Lee: Christian Baker Case About First Amendment, ‘Compelled Speech’
Sen. Mike Lee is warning that the case of a Colorado baker in legal peril for refusing to bake a specialty wedding cake for a same-sex couple’s commitment ceremony is about more than religious liberty or LGBT rights, but about whether the government can compel speech. “The government cannot force you to speak where you… -
news
Underreported: Christian Baker Reacts to Government Official Comparing Him to a Nazi
In 2014, Colorado Civil Rights Commissioner Diann Rice compared Jack Phillips, a Christian baker who was sued for declining to make a cake for a same-sex ceremony, to perpetrators of the Holocaust. She said: I would also like to reiterate what we said in … the last meeting [concerning Jack Phillips]. Freedom of religion and… -
news
Lawyers Ask Supreme Court to Hear Second Religious Liberty, Same-Sex Marriage Case
Less than one month after the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would review the case of a Colorado baker who declined to make a cake for a gay couple’s wedding celebration because of his religious beliefs about marriage, lawyers asked the high court to combine it with a similar case involving a florist from Washington… -
news
Christian Baker Fears Loss of ‘Everything’ Unless Supreme Court Upholds Right Not to Make Cakes for Gay Marriages
By deciding to hear the appeal of a Colorado baker, the Supreme Court could make its first ruling next year on whether government may coerce some Christians, Jews, and Muslims to use their creative gifts to celebrate same-sex marriage. The high court announced Monday that it would review the case of baker Jack Phillips, who… -
opinion
Religious Liberty Scores a Win at the Supreme Court
In a big win for religious liberty, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church’s case against the state of Missouri. The case involved discrimination by the state in giving out publicly funded grants. In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, seven members of the court agreed that Missouri had… -
opinion
Trump Nominee Not Hindered by Bernie Sanders’ Religious Litmus Test
No thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., President Donald Trump’s pick for the Office of Management and Budget is one step closer to his new job. After a faith-based grilling that left Sanders red-faced and Americans in shock, Russell Vought’s nomination squeaked out of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by the narrowest… -
news
Opposite Sides of Cultural War Meet to Debate Religious Liberty and Discrimination: Here Is What They Said
Amid the ongoing national debate about religious liberty and discrimination, two conservatives and a liberal wrote a book to present their views and discuss where Americans go from here. At an event last week at The Heritage Foundation, the three co-authors—Ryan T. Anderson, John Corvino, and Sherif Girgis—sat down to discuss their book, “Debating Religious… -
opinion
Sanders’ Religious Test Goes Against Founders’ Vision
What does a man’s theology have to do with the U.S. economy? A lot, if you’re Russell Vought. The respected economist, President Donald Trump’s pick for deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget, thought he’d have to answer some tough questions at his Senate hearing last week. But like most of us, he… -
opinion
Kentucky Court Ruling Protects Artist’s Free Speech, Religious Liberty
When should a business owner’s decisions be condemned as illegal discrimination? Imagine a print shop owned by a devout atheist. A Muslim woman, wearing a hijab, walks into the shop and orders a sign saying, “Allahu Akbar! Allah is greater than all!” Scenario A: The shop owner sees the woman’s hijab when she walks through… -
opinion
Trump’s Executive Order Fails to Address Most Pressing Religious Liberty Threats
President Donald Trump said he’d promote commonsense policies that would “Make America Great Again” and would stand up to politically correct bullying from the left. So why isn’t he doing that in the case of religious freedom? Twice now, he has failed to stand up for commonsense policy on religious liberty when liberal opponents lashed… -
opinion
The Key Questions, Comments From Supreme Court Justices in Religious Liberty Case
On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trinity Lutheran Church’s case against the state of Missouri—a case involving discrimination by the state in giving out publicly funded grants. Missouri has a grant program to offset the cost of resurfacing playgrounds with rubber surfaces made from recycled tires. This helps the state reduce the… -
opinion
Religious Liberty Increasingly Under Threat in India Amid Surge of Hindu Nationalism
Last week on April 5, a mob of Hindu vigilantes beat a man to death for transporting cattle in northern India. Cows are sacred in the Hindu religion, but India is a multicultural country with many non-Hindu citizens. This incident, along with the recent appointment of Hindu nationalist priest Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of… -
opinion
We Hear You: Religious Liberty, Same-Sex Marriage, and Wedding Cakes
Editor's note: We got a big reaction with our report on the appeals court date for the husband-and-wife Oregon bakers ordered by a state agency to pay $135,000 for declining to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. Here's a sampling to lead off our latest roundup of mail. —Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: How can Aaron… -
opinion
India’s New Restrictions on Religious Liberty Threaten Critical Aid to the Poor
In a sad development, the government of India is clamping down on religious liberty, and impoverished children stand to lose the most. Compassion International, a Christian organization that partners with local churches around the world to improve the lives of children in poverty, began shutting down its operations in India due to financial restrictions imposed… -
news
This Federal Agency Is Targeting a Family Business. A Religious Liberty Organization Is Calling on Trump to Protect It.
A religious liberty organization is asking President Donald Trump to sign a proposed executive order that would protect the religious freedom of a family-owned business and others like it from the punitive actions of an executive agency. “The Vander Boons are at risk of having their plant shut down and their employees left jobless because… -
news
Meet the New Leader of One of the Biggest Religious Liberty Organizations
“I am the guy that runs to the fight.” For Michael Farris, the decision to lead one of the biggest organizations advocating religious liberty was motivated by thinking that threats to religious liberty were reaching a crisis point in America. “If religious freedom falls, then other rights [will fall],” Farris tells The Daily Signal. “Free… -
opinion
Sean Spicer Knows the Importance of Religious Liberty. Now Trump Should Act to Secure It.
In a press conference last Thursday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about a draft executive order on religious freedom and the president’s thoughts on the topic more generally. His response was excellent. After the Obama administration tried for years to reduce religious freedom to “freedom of worship,” Spicer’s robust defense of free… -
opinion
Trump Should Rescind Obama’s Transgender Agenda and Protect Religious Liberty
The media was abuzz yesterday with rumors that President Donald Trump was preparing an executive order that would protect religious liberty in the aftermath of the redefinition of marriage. Trump should issue such an executive order, and he should rescind former President Barack Obama’s executive actions on sexual orientation and gender identity that created many… -
opinion
Lawmakers Miss Their Chance to Protect Religious Liberty
Victory. Those have been few and far between during the Obama era, but this week, conservatives can rightly say they secured a huge victory against the left’s radical agenda: America’s young women will not be forced to sign up for the Selective Service, the precursor to being included in a future military draft. Unfortunately, there…