W. Dist. N.C.: Religious Pro-Life Demonstrators may proceed in challenge to COVID Order on religious, not free-speech grounds. The court granted a motion to dismiss Global Impact Ministries, Cities4Life, and Cities4Life’s president’ claims against Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, to the extent they were based on the First Amendment’s Free Speech clause. But it allowed the prochoice group to proceed in its challenge based on the Free Exercise clause, pointing to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the government’s permitting secular activities during the relevant period. Religion Clause has more details here. Read the order here.
Category: Evangelical Christians
“Chicago suburb seeks to block church’s winter homeless shelter”
“Chicago suburb seeks to block church’s winter homeless shelter.” Religion News Service covers the lawsuit here.
“Federal judge dismisses lawsuit claiming disabled son baptized against their wishes”
“Federal judge dismisses lawsuit claiming disabled son baptized against their wishes.” The News-Herald reports here on DeFibaugh v. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Northeast Ohio Board of Trustees, No. 1:17-CV-645 (N.D. Ohio Oct. 16, 2017). The boys’ parents were represented by the American Atheists Legal Center.
Group challenges schools chartered by religious colleges
A nonprofit organization in Monroe County, Indiana, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana challenging a statute that authorizes religious colleges and universities to sponsor charter K–12 schools. The challenge is based on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The suit asserts that permitting a faith-based institution to review a school’s proposed curriculum and decide whether to authorize a charter violates the federal constitutional principle of separation of church and state. Continue reading “Group challenges schools chartered by religious colleges”