Recently a court in San Diego upheld the rights of four members of the San Diego Fire Department who had objected to the Department’s requiring them to participate in a Gay Pride Parade.
The good news is that the court sustained one of the most basic of American liberties.
The bad news if that the administrators of [...]
In 2002 the Catholic Bishops of the United States appointed a National Review Board to evaluate the “causes and context” of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. The Board was composed of twelve lay people and included two judges and several lawyers including a law school dean and a civil rights attorney.
In [...]
In 1534 Henry VIII declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church in England. That was a long time ago and we assume such things can no longer occur, at least not in the United States. The First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty seems to provide protection against government assuming power over religion.
However, in [...]
In 2004 the federal government appropriated funds to assist with the refurbishment of the California Missions. Both California Senators approved. Yet the California State Attorney General’s Office opposed the assistance on the grounds that it would aid religion. The Missions—possibly the best known and most visited public monuments in the State–are designated California Historical Monuments. [...]
Thomas Jefferson listed on his tombstone three accomplishments: his authorship of the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the founding of the University of Virginia.
He did not list his authorship of the phrase, “the wall of separation between Church and State,” but that phrase has gained him as much notoriety as [...]
On January 5, 2009 the California Supreme Court handed down a decision in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. St. James, Newport Beach, had separated itself from the diocese over a doctrinal issue involving homosexuality and claimed ownership of the church property. The Diocese of Los Angeles sued, declaring that the property was [...]
In a 1990 decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia–Employment Div. v. Smith—the U.S.Supreme Court reversed course and held that a “valid and neutral law of general applicability” applies to all, even to those who claim that it violates the free exercise of their religion. As long as the law did not target an individual or [...]
In the fall of 2008 the Alliance Defense Fund, an evangelical organization, promoted a campaign called “Politics from the Pulpit”, encouraging ministers to preach on political issues and endorse candidates. This was intended as a challenge to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule forbidding tax-exempt organizations to endorse political candidates.
Use of the pulpit to preach [...]
Article VI of the Constitution specifies that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” That has worked very well to protect most Americans, except Catholics. For centuries Catholics have been judged on beliefs they presumably hold rather than on the actions they [...]
The religious liberty provision of the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” is an explicit declaration that the federal government has no authority in religion and is confined to secular matters within its limited and specified jurisdiction.
Despite this prohibition, modern constitutional law is [...]
