The righteousness in Hobby Lobby’s cause
Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2013
The government and others argue that the Greens’ religious beliefs are irrelevant because they’ve freely chosen to enter the rough-and-tumble world of commerce and that, in any event, the exercise of religion is for individuals, not corporations. But Hobby Lobby’s lawyers at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will be on solid ground when they explain to the court that both of these arguments are misguided.
What’s at Stake in the Little Sisters of the Poor Case Against Obamacare
Breitbart, December 4, 2014
For 175 years, the Little Sisters of the Poor have been inspired by their faith to take care of the elderly poor. But now the federal government wants them to choose between their faith and their ministry and is pushing hard in federal court to force them to decide. The stakes couldn’t be much higher for people who care about and enjoy religious liberty.
Read Becket Attorney, Daniel Blomberg’s full article here.
Obama’s Contraceptive Mandate Heads to Supreme Court
New York Post, November 29, 2013
In a brief filed this year, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty summed up Hobby Lobby’s predicament this way: “When the government threatens to ruin a family’s business unless they renounce their faith, the pressure placed on them is unmistakable. In other words, ‘Your business or your religion’ is just as effective a threat as ‘Your money or your life.’ ”
Supreme Court to take up Obamacare contraception case
CNN, November 26, 2013
Kyle Duncan, general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead lawyer for Hobby Lobby, called the Supreme Court decision to hear the case a “major step” for the Greens and their business, and “an important fight for Americans’ religious liberty.”
Justices Take Companies’ Cases Challenging Contraception Rule
New York Times, November 26, 2013
Kyle Duncan, a lawyer with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Hobby Lobby, said he was pleased that the justices had agreed to resolve the split among the federal appeals courts. “We hope the Supreme Court will vindicate the rights of family business owners,” he said.
New Jersey high schooler fighting atheists over ‘under God’
Keeping Faith
Taking on Obamacare’s Contraception Mandate
National Journal, November 24, 2013
At the Becket Fund, Kristina Arriaga’s role is to “crystallize” legal concepts for the general public, she said.
Keeping FAITH
Keeping FAITH
Keeping FAITH
Court: Contraceptive Mandate Splits Religion into Worship or Good Works
Christianity Today, November 22, 2013
Most of the action has been on the for-profit side (43 cases and counting), where—out of the 38 lawsuits decided on the merits of their complaints—32 have secured temporary bans against the mandate’s enforcement and 6 have been denied, according to a helpful scorecard kept by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Lawsuit challenges ‘under God’ in Pledge of Allegiance
USA Today, November 19, 2014
Joining the school district in its effort to have the lawsuit thrown out were lawyers for the Knights of Columbus, the American Legion, and the Becket Fund, a Washington, D.C., group that promotes religious freedom.
Will the Supreme Court Take On Contraception Coverage Challenge?
Roll Call, November 18, 2013
Adele Keim, legal counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said Hobby Lobby’s owners do not want to offer four drugs and devices in company health care plans: the emergency contraceptives Plan B and Ella and two types of intrauterine devices. The Becket Fund is representing the family businesses in the case.
‘Parsonage exemption’ safe, federal court rules, dismissing atheists’ complaint
Deseret News, November 17, 2014
In a statement, Becket Fund attorney Luke Goodrich also criticized the FFRF case. “When a group of atheists tries to cajole the IRS into raising taxes on churches, it’s bound to raise some eyebrows. The court was right to send them packing,” he said.
Eric Baxter on America’s Forum
Newsmax: America’s Forum November 13, 2014
Watch Becket Fund attorney Eric Baxter discuss Montgomery County Maryland Board’s decision to remove holiday labels from it’s calendar on America’s Forum here.
Court rejects atheists’ demand to end tax break for clergy housing
Religion News Service November 13, 2014
“This is a great victory for fair treatment of churches,” said Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of pastors from several major denominations.
Read the full article here.
Sikh woman wins settlement from US government over wearing religious knife
ACA Mandate Spurs Litigation Onslaught
National Law Journal, November 4, 2013
Chairman of Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is optimistic about religious freedom
This Woman Had a Religious Item Taken From Her at Her Trial–Despite Having Judge’s Permission to Carry It
Here’s What Chipotle and Boy Scouts Have to Do with the Constitution
‘Deseret News National Edition’: Africa and the 3 Ds, Becket Fund and religious liberty, Al Fox Carraway
Deseret News National Edition October 19, 2014
Fewer than a dozen attorneys work for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. But even with a small corps of lawyers, the firm is making its mark by seeking out and often winning cases that set law-changing precedents. They discussed their Supreme Court cases and why he is optimistic about the future of religious freedom in this country.
Watch the interview here.
Clement Marks Milestone of 75 Supreme Court Arguments
National Law Journal October 16, 2014
Also attending was “client 73,” as Clement described him: Mark Rienzi of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who was counsel for Hobby Lobby in the contraceptive mandate case, which Clement argued and won in March. “You would think that someone like Paul would be arrogant, full of himself, a hotshot, but he is none of those things,” Rienzi said. “The truth is, it was the easiest thing in the world to work with him.”
Read the full article here.
Despite efforts, the IRS can’t provide freedom from religion
Hobby Lobby president advocates for religious freedom at Cedarville University event
High court at odds over prisoner’s religious right to grow a beard
CNN, October 8, 2014
Holt is being defended in court by the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, the same nonprofit group that backed two Christian families in a separate high court challenge earlier this year.
The Beckett Fund noted that groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League, along with Catholic bishops, are now backing Holt.
Meet the Lawyers Fighting for Religious Freedom Today Before the Supreme Court
Why religious freedom for prisoners matters
Meet the Lawyers Fighting for Religious Freedom Today Before the Supreme Court
Supreme Court Likely to Allow Inmate to Keep Beard
Why All Faiths are Rallying Around a Beardless Muslim
Supreme Court Will Weigh Inmate’s Right to Grow a Beard
God’s Rottweilers
Politico Magazine October 5, 2014
“The Becket Fund is an extraordinarily ecumenical organization,” says Michael McConnell, a prominent religious liberty legal scholar at Stanford Law School. “It’s happenstance, of course, that a case is coming right on the heels of Hobby Lobby that will remind everyone that religious freedom is important and not—in most contexts—a culture war issue. But that’s been the Becket Fund’s position all along.”
Read the full article here.
Supreme Court to Hear Arguments Next Week on Muslim Inmate’s Right to Grow Beard
Supreme Court to hear Abercrombie & Fitch discrimination case
MSNBC October 2, 2014
There are other ways to read the comparison. In a 2013 blog post on a similar case against Abercrombie brought by a Muslim teenager in California, Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented Hobby Lobby, claimed it was the Obama administration being inconsistent, because in arguing that religious exemptions to laws didn’t apply to corporations, “the federal government has lately been arguing that religious freedom is incompatible with making money, at least in the HHS Mandate context….That is why it is such a pleasant surprise to see the Obama Administration’s EEOC fighting for the right to religious accommodations.” Of course, Abercrombie isn’t saying it has religious reasons to deny Elauf employment, it’s saying it has business reasons. The religious liberty in question belongs to Elauf and her right to get a job free from discrimination.
Read the full article here.
Justices to debate prisoner’s religious right to grow a beard
Religious Freedom in the Commercial Sphere
Stanford University Press September 30, 2014
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby addressed a seemingly narrow issue: whether the Obamacare regulation requiring corporate employers to provide insurance plans that cover contraception violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in cases where the employers in question have religious objections to some or all contraceptives. But the Court’s ruling also makes a crucial broader point: that people are not required to give up fundamental legal rights when they organize themselves into a corporate body. That principle has important implications for constitutional law. It is a vital protection for individual rights in a society where we unavoidably conduct much of our business and charitable activities by using corporate organizations.
Read the full article here.
Hobby Lobby support group backs Gilbert church in court case
N.J. case puts pledge, religion in spotlight
Philadelphia Inquirer September 24, 2014
Becket legal counsel Diana Verm said the words in the pledge are “a statement of our country’s political philosophy. It’s not a prayer.” Those words signify the belief that “our rights are secure because they don’t come from the state,” Verm said. “They come from a power higher than the state.”
Read the full article here.
N.J. family joins fight to keep ‘God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance
Teen Prepares for Major Court Battle With Atheists Over God and the Pledge: ‘It Is Not Their Right to Silence Me’
The Blaze September 23, 2014
“When I stand up, put my hand over my heart and say the Pledge of Allegiance, I am recognizing that my rights come from God, not from the government,” said Jones, who is being represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “If anyone wants to remain silent, that is their right. But it is not their right to silence me.”
Read the full article here.
Appeals Court Hears Case That Struck Down IRS’ Parsonage Allowance
Parsonage Supporters Encouraged By Seventh Circuit Oral Arguments
Forbes September 11, 2014
I reached out to my parsonage brain trust and so far have only heard from one source, who I think is who Tom Strode heard from. Luke Goodrich is the Deputy General Counsel of The Becket Fund. Mr Goodrich, who favors the exemption, was very encouraged by what he heard. For those who favor the constitutionality of the 60-year-old parsonage allowance, today’s oral argument went very well.
The Court was interested in the question of standing, asking several questions about why the plaintiffs should be allowed to litigate someone else’s tax treatment. But because a ruling on standing would merely delay the litigation—not resolve it—the questions about underlying Establishment Clause challenge have more enduring interest.
Read the full article here.
Nuns battling the Obama admin. make it official: Tweaks to birth control rule ‘change nothing’
Washington Times, September 9, 2014
“Merely offering the Little Sisters a different way to violate their religion does not ease their conscience,” said Adele Keim, counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Little Sisters. “Adding another layer of paperwork is a solution that only a bureaucrat could love.”
Obama Admin Renews Attempt to Force Little Sisters of the Poor to Obey HHS Mandate
After Losing to Hobby Lobby, Obama Fighting Nuns Over Birth Control Mandate
Obama Administration ‘Doubles Down’ on Fight Against Nuns
Suit to Restrict Pulpit Speech Dismissed
Muslim Prisoner’s Battle Over His Beard Will Be One of the Supreme Court’s Next Big Religious Liberty Cases
The Blaze, September 5, 2014
“On June 28, 2011, Mr. Muhammad, representing himself, filed a lawsuit seeking the ability to wear a half-inch beard in accordance with his faith,” according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the conservative legal firm representing him. “Mr. Muhammad lost in federal trial court and in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.”
But that hasn’t stopped his quest to maintain a short beard — one that he says would be in accordance with his Muslim faith.
With the Becket Fund and Douglas Laycock of the University of Virginia representing him, Holt appealed to the Supreme Court and the justices are currently allowing him to wear the one-half inch beard until his case is heard.
A Prisoner’s Beard Offers the Next Test of Religious Liberty for the Supreme Court
New York Times September 2, 2014
When the Supreme Court comes back from its summer break next month, it will pick up where it left off, returning to the subject of religious freedom. But the court’s focus will shift from corporations to prisoners.
Read the full article here.
Question of beard and religious freedom unites groups who’ve been opponents
Washington Post August 31, 2014
Religious groups and some civil libertarians were often at odds during the last Supreme Court term, but they have found common ground on a religious freedom case that the justices will take up as one of their first orders of business in October.
Read the full article here.
Windham argues Hobby Lobby’s religious freedom case before U.S. Supreme Court
ACU Today August 20, 2014
Attorney Lori (Halstead ’01) Windham has represented Amish builders penalized for their traditional construction practices, a Santeria priest prohibited from conducting animal sacrifice, and public school districts sued for accommodating religious expression. But one of her most significant, and certainly most publicized, cases won before the U.S. Supreme Court in June. Windham was a member of the legal team representing Hobby Lobby’s challenge of the Affordable Care Act contraception mandate.
Read the full article here.
What one man’s beard says about religious freedom work
Deseret News, August 26, 2014
For example, Holt v. Hobbs has marshalled the support of the two groups that June’s Hobby Lobby decision divided: The Becket Fund (which serves as part of Holt’s legal team) and the Obama administration…
The government’s support of Holt’s request shouldn’t be surprising, however. An infographic of the case, provided by the Becket Fund, reports that 41 prison systems in America already allow beards longer than Holt’s one-half-inch request.
Nice Try, Obama
Slate, August 26, 2014
Here’s why this new rule isn’t going to end the lawsuits anytime soon: Little Sisters and the others don’t want a new mechanism for alerting the government so a TPA can provide birth control. “The government has never offered a reason why it needed to coerce the Little Sisters and others to be a part of its contraceptive delivery system, nor any reason why it chose to treat the Little Sisters as less deserving of religious liberty than houses of worship,” Daniel Blomberg, a lawyer for the Becket Fund, which represents Little Sisters, emailed me. “It is disappointing that the government continues to treat religious ministries as not religious enough to deserve the same exemption it gives houses of worship.”
New Birth Control Rules Appear To Track Supreme Court Suggestion
The Washington Post August 25, 2014
Lori Windham, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing many of the religious organizations suing over the rules, said it’s not yet clear how those organizations will respond to the new option.
Read the full article here.
White House Tries To Reignite Birth Control Wars Because YOLO
The Federalist August 25, 2014
And Lori Windham, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty says:
Under pressure from hundreds of lawsuits, the government continues to retreat. After three losses in the Supreme Court and dozens of losses in courts below, the government continues to confuse the issues. The government issued over 70 pages of regulations, when all it needed to do was read the First Amendment.
Read the full article here.
Religious liberty coalitions shift – Obama backs Becket Fund’s client, previous allies go mute
Religion News Service August 25, 2014
Last spring, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty successfully defended Hobby Lobby against the Affordable Care Act’s “contraception mandate.” This fall, it will defend a Muslim prisoner wanting to maintain a beard (covered here on Corner blog)
Read the full article here.
New Obama Birth Control Fixes for Religious Groups
AP August 22, 2014
“We will be studying the new rule with our clients, but if today’s announcement is just a different way for the government to hijack the health plans of religious ministries, it is unlikely to end the litigation,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The fund has represented both Hobby Lobby and Wheaton College, an evangelical school whose case also made its way to the Supreme Court.
Read the full article here.
White House revises birth control rule to accommodate religious groups
Los Angeles Times August 22, 2014
It’s not clear whether the latest revision will satisfy the religious groups, which are seeking a full exemption from the mandate, like the one granted to churches. Lori Windham, lawyer for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Wheaton and others, said earlier Friday that the group was reserving judgment until the rule was published.
Read the full article here.
How the White House Is Changing Obamacare to Comply With Hobby Lobby
National Journal August 22, 2014
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has helped coordinate the legal challenges to the mandate, said it was still reviewing the proposal, calling it “the latest step in the administration’s long retreat” from the original mandate.
Read the full article here.
The Obama Administration Issues Revision #8 To The HHS Mandate
Right to grow a beard? SCOTUS grants very rare approval to hear a prisoner’s case
RNS August 19, 2014
The prisoner’s defense team comes from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The Becket Fund was also the legal force behind this year’s landmark Hobby Lobby case. In this case, the Becket Fund contends that the prison’s policy runs afoul of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a follow-up to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (cited heavily in the Hobby Lobby case). Becket also argues that since the prison allows beards for medical reasons, the decision to refuse Holt’s religious request is arbitrary, and therefore unacceptable.
Read the rest of the article here.
I’m from the government and I’m here to rewrite your sermon
Freshway Contraceptive Coverage Bar Allowed by Court
Bloomberg August 8, 2014
“To my knowledge, the D.C. Circuit is the first court of appeals to apply Hobby Lobby in a remanded HHS mandate case,” said Adele Keim, an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based, nonprofit religion advocacy group which represented Hobby Lobby in its legal challenge.
Read the rest of the article here.
Is the IRS Going to Censor Sermons at Your Church?
Daily Signal August 9, 2014
Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, agreed to answer questions about the case from The Daily Signal and explain the threat posed to Americans’ religious freedom.
Read the rest of the article here.
LDS attorney lists what Mormons need to know about religious freedom today
Deseret News August 8, 2014
Hannah Smith, who as senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has helped secure some major court victories for religious freedom recently, provided a thorough list of areas for concern in U.S. courts today.
Read the rest of the article here.
Atheists and Religious Battle Over the Right to Preach Politics in Church
VICE News August 6, 2014
“The FFRF was trying to force the IRS to censor churches’ speech and Father Malone and Holy Cross Anglican Church felt that they had a religious obligation to say the things that the FFRF wanted censored,” Daniel Blomberg, a legal counsel for the fund, told VICE News. “For instance, Father Malone believes that he has a duty to preach on the issue of the sanctity of human life and the need for his congregants to stand up for people who can’t speak for themselves, both the very, very young and the very old, and these issues can sometimes have political implications and direct political connections.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Three US states back EWTN religious liberty lawsuit
Catholic News Agency August 5, 2014
Lori Windham, senior council at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is defending EWTN in court, praised the states’ involvement.
“It sets a powerful example when three states stand up to support religious freedom for ministries like EWTN,” she said.
“These states recognize that they must protect religious freedom for their citizens. It’s time for the federal government to realize the same thing and stop fighting ministries like EWTN and the Little Sisters of the Poor.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Mountain Crest grad, lawyer, explains her role in Hobby Lobby case
The Herald Journal August 2, 2014
After Emily Hardman graduated from Mountain Crest High School in 2002, she eventually went on to law school and took a job with a law firm in Washington D.C. — never dreaming that within a few short years, her firm would win a United States Supreme Court case being discussed nationwide.
Read the rest of the profile story here.
Why should the government say whether churches can preach politics from the pulpit?
Women, Influence & Power in Law roundup
Inside Counsel July 30, 2014
As in-house legal departments around the country work to digest the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., Lori Windham, one of the lead attorneys on the Hobby Lobby team, may be ready for a well-deserved break after playing a key role in the case.
” IRS to Atheists: Okay, We’ll Investigate Pulpit Freedom Sunday Pastors”
Christianity Today July 25, 2014
However, the case has not yet been closed. Father Patrick Malone of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had been granted permission to intervene on the side of the IRS, and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (which represents Malone) has asked the court to dismiss the case but “with prejudice.” In other words, Becket argues the FFRF should not be able to sue the IRS again on this particular issue, while the FFRF argues that it should be able to do so.
CUA Prof Defends Religious Freedom in Court and Class
National Catholic Register July 24, 2014
It has been a banner term at the U.S. Supreme Court for Mark Rienzi, the Catholic University of America law professor and First Amendment litigator who helped secure key victories this summer in two closely watched cases.
Law firm in Hobby Lobby win is playing key role in religion cases
Los Angles Times July 21, 2014
The tiny Becket Fund for Religious Liberty was the legal power behind the high court’s decision last month to extend religious rights to corporations for the first time. Before that, the Washington firm’s attorneys successfully defended a church school’s religious right to be exempted from federal antidiscrimination rules and, in another case, even persuaded the progressive U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to keep “under God” in school recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Propaganda war continues in Hobby Lobby aftermath
Deseret News July 21, 2014
The Becket Fund’s Arriaga wrote Hobby Lobby’s health plan covers “all HHS-required contraceptive methods that do not have a demonstrated risk of destroying a newly created human life — including sterilizations for women.”
The War On Women Is A Complete Fiction
The Federalist, July 11, 2014
And after last week’s ruling in favor of the Green family’s religious liberty, it was a female lawyer for the Becket Fund, more than half of whose staff and whose executive director is female, who kicked off the all-female press conference.
She said, “Women like Barbara Green and Elizabeth Hahn fought for their religious freedom. And today, they won. Women like the Little Sisters of the Poor will continue that fight. Women’s voices are heard, standing up for religious freedom.”
Every photo in every mainstream publication captured a sea of women cheering in delight at the ruling, with the women of the Becket Fund standing triumphant with fists raised on the steps of the High Court.
Lawyer: Hobby Lobby Ruling Will Help Religious Nonprofits Win Exemptions
CNS News July 11, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling has opened a door for religious non-profits that also oppose the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate and its resulting accommodation authorizing third-parties to pay for abortion-inducing drugs, says Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
The ruling will strengthen the case of such groups, including the Little Sisters of the Poor and Wheaton College, as they attempt to get a hearing before the high court, Rienzi told attendees at a Heritage Foundation event in Washington this week.
The Becket Fund represented Hobby Lobby in its successful challenge of the contraceptive mandate.
Calif. Muslims see religious liberty burden in butchering rule
Catholic News Agency July 10, 2014
Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, encouraged non-Muslims to “stand up for the right of Muslims to engage in this.”
“That’s something that everyone should stand up for, even if they don’t personally stand to benefit,” he remarked to CNA.
Future murky for other mandate challenges
Religion News Service July 10, 2014
“The death knell is sounding for the HHS mandate,” said Lori Windham, an attorney at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Little Sisters of the Poor, as well as other religious groups that object to the Health and Human Services Department policy requiring birth control coverage.
Windham noted that in two rulings by lower courts also June 30, several of Becket’s faith-based clients received last-minute relief to shield them from complying with the mandate.
Justices to consider nonprofits’ contraceptives
Yahoo! News July 7, 2014
“Anything that forces unwilling religious believers to be part of the system is not going to pass the test,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents many of the faith-affiliated nonprofits. Hobby Lobby Inc., winner of its Supreme Court case last month, also is a Becket Fund client.
Religious freedom cases to fill Supreme Court docket
Faith-affiliated nonprofits’ contraceptive challenge is next health law case for Supreme Court
Christian School’s Relief on Contraception Coverage Could Embolden Others
Hobby Lobby sets a precedent for religious liberty
Court rules for religious freedom
Deseret News, July 1, 2014
The narrow ruling marks the first time the nation’s top court specifically extended religious freedom protections to a corporation, rather than
just individuals. And even if the high court had come down against Hobby Lobby, it was the kind of high-profile case that has set the Becket Fund apart since its founding. The firm looks specifically for opportunities to represent believers of all faiths — Muslims or, in the most recent case, evangelical Christians — who see their freedom to live their faith in jeopardy, with an eye toward not just protecting individuals, but also changing the law and the debate on issues of religious liberty.
Free to Choose vs. Cost-Free Access
White House to Justice Kennedy: No thanks to birth control advice
After Hobby Lobby: The next fronts in the contraception fight
July 1, 2014 – Washington Post
“Religious freedom groups are preparing for the next contraception coverage case, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Sebelius.”
The law firm behind the Hobby Lobby win
Supreme Court sides with employers over birth control mandate
Washington Post, June 30, 2014
“This is a landmark decision for religious freedom,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has played a leading role in representing challengers. “The Supreme Court recognized that Americans do not lose their religious freedom when they run a family business.”
Prof. Mark Rienzi: A good day for Hobby Lobby — and for the Little Sisters of the Poor and Mr. Muhammad, too
Washington Post June 30, 2014
Here are a few initial thoughts on today’s decision in Hobby Lobby from the perspective of a law firm — The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty — that has been litigating these cases against the Department of Justice across the country for almost three years, and was counsel for Hobby Lobby in this case. First I offer some highlights from the opinions by Justice Alito and Justice Kennedy, and then I point out some near-term effects on religious liberty litigation.
More Cases on Religion Await, With Eye on Opinion by Alito
New York Times June 3o, 2014
Mark L. Rienzi, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Hobby Lobby and the Little Sisters of the Poor, said that Monday’s ruling could help other groups challenging the contraceptive coverage provision.
Hobby Lobby ruling a win for nonprofit religious groups too?
US Supreme Court Backs Companies on Birth Control Mandate
Supreme Court, citing religious liberty, limits contraceptive coverage in Obamacare
Hobby Lobby stunner: Supreme Court issues long-awaited ruling in birth-control dispute
June 30, 2014 – The Washington Times
“The administration cannot force closely held private corporations to pay for contraception in their health insurance plans if it violates their religious beliefs, a divided Supreme Court ruled Monday, dealing a political and logistical setback to President Obama’s signature law.”
Decision Day: Hobby Lobby team ‘very confident’ ahead of Supreme Court ruling
Egyptian Court Sentences Christian Journalist to Prison for ‘Sectarian Strife’
Christian Post June 25, 2014
Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told The Christian Post that this was connected to Egypt’s “blasphemy and anti-incitement laws.”
“This incident shines a spotlight on the worldwide problem of blasphemy and anti-incitement laws,” said Rassbach.
“These laws have proven to be easily abused by those in power to suppress dissenters and religious minorities in general, and Christians in particular. No one should be surprised that this comes along with widely-reported attacks on freedom of the press in Egypt.”
After Hobby Lobby, what’s next?
The Hill , June 25, 2014
As a last resort, the Little Sisters, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (which also represents Hobby Lobby), filed a lawsuit challenging the contraception mandate—one of 51 suits on behalf of over 200 non-profit ministries. Although the Little Sisters make many of the same arguments as Hobby Lobby, a federal appeals court ruled against them in late December, and they filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on New Year’s Eve—just hours before the multi-million dollar fines would begin. Fortunately, the Supreme Court unanimously granted them a temporary reprieve, ordering the government not to enforce the mandate against them while their lawsuit moved forward. The case is now awaiting a decision from the federal court of appeals.
Court: Ground Zero Cross makes atheists sick? So what?
One News Now June 24, 2014
Eric Baxter, an attorney with The Becket Fund, tells OneNewsNow that the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals is asking the atheist organization to explain why its members should be able to sue in the first place. “What injury could they really claim to have had?” asks Baxter.
“All they have seen is – in the newspaper, actually – that the cross is going to be displayed in the museum. And the fact that they get indigestion over that is really not reason to invoke the power of the court to shut down the museum’s display.”
Judge Grants Colorado Christian University Injunction From Birth Control Mandate
The Christian Post June 24, 2014
Colorado Christian University is being represented by the Washington, D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is overseeing dozens of lawsuits against the HHS mandate. In a statement, Becket Fund senior counsel Eric Baxter called Blackburn’s decision “an important win for religious liberty.”
21 ways to defend religious liberty
Catholic News Agency June 24, 2014
Educate Yourself
1. Read “Our first, most cherished freedom” from the USCCB to understand all the ways religious liberty is threatened and how it can be defended. (There are other resources available at the USCCB site too, including fact sheets and documentation of unjust discrimination against Catholics and other Christians in the U.S. and internationally.)
2. Keep up with the status of religious liberty in our courts. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Alliance Defending Freedom are two law firms handling many of the religious liberty lawsuits wending their way through the American court system. Both organizations have worthwhile resources for understanding how religious liberty is threatened and what you can do about it.
Ground Zero Cross: Court presses atheist group to explain why artifact is ‘offensive’
Fox News June 23, 2014
The appeals court ruling Thursday cites an amicus brief filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that specializes in church-state law and protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.
“We’re thrilled that the court picked up on this issue,” said group lawyer Eric Baxter, whose brief argued that American Atheists had no right to bring a lawsuit in the first place. “Courts should not allow people to sue just because they claim to get ‘dyspepsia’ over a historical artifact displayed in a museum.”
Experts Weigh In On Upcoming Hobby Lobby Decision
Townhall June 23, 2014
The Supreme Court is set to make a decision in the famous Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby case by June 30 before it lets out for the summer, and religious employers are poised to see whether they will be allowed an exemption for their beliefs. Adele Keim of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Heritage policy analyst Sarah Torre discussed the implications of the HHS mandate and the case at a Thursday event co-hosted by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
Colorado Christian University Wins Big Victory Against Obama HHS Mandate
LifeNews June 23, 2014
“This is an important win for religious liberty,” said Eric Baxter, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who represents CCU in this case. “A university like CCU, whose employees and students share its religious convictions concerning the sanctity of life, should not be forced against its beliefs to distribute drugs that it deems to be morally wrong.”
EWTN to appeal after ‘troubling’ HHS mandate ruling
Catholic News Agency June 17, 2014
Lori Windham, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is defending EWTN in court, noted that more than 80 percent of cases have received rulings protecting religious freedom of those objecting to the mandate. “This decision is out of step with the overwhelming majority of decisions in similar cases nationwide,” she said.
Supreme Court won’t hear school graduation-in-church case
Deseret News June 17, 2014
Ironically, the case as far as one of the high schools involved, is now moot. Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which handled the case on behalf of the Elmwood district, said graduations are now held in a new, air conditioned and disability-friendly gym at the high school.
European court upholds Spanish bishop’s dismissal of ex-priest
Catholic Culture June 16, 2014
In a 9-8 decision, the European Court of Human Rights has upheld a Spanish bishop’s decision to dismiss an ex-priest from his position as a teacher of Catholic religion at a public school.
“In Spain, teachers who teach a particular religious community’s beliefs to schoolchildren serve at the discretion that community’s spiritual leadership to ensure parents and students are receiving instruction from those who share their convictions,” the Becket Fund explained. In 1997, after it became known that the ex-priest was part of a movement that dissented from Catholic teaching, the bishop chose not to renew his contract.
In Tennessee mosque fight, religious freedom trumps Islamophobia
Janesville Gazette, June 12, 2014
Moreover, many local religious groups rallied in support of the Muslim community. Students at Middle Tennessee State University helped form Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom, a grassroots effort to counter anti-mosque protests. And the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty—one of the nation’s most effective defenders of free exercise of religion for all—provided legal support.
2014 Canterbury Medalist – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Odyssey Networks June 11, 2014
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit institute that champions religious liberty through “the courts of law, the courts of public opinion and the academy,” recently bestowed its annual Canterbury Medal on Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks for his work in keeping religion alive in the public square. According to Sacks, “Religious liberty as it developed in America is, I believe, not just a great political achievement. It is also a great spiritual achievement because it is based on humility and self-restraint and the knowledge that this is one nation under God, because it involves asking each of us to make the great religious gesture of making space for difference.”
Private: Strange Bedfellows Support Religious Freedom
Becket Fund explains defense of TN mosque
One News Now, June 6, 2014
Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, says Becket’s defense of the mosque was, in a way, a defense of all faiths.
Greens, Abedini to be honored at SBC meeting
Baptist Press, June 6, 2014
More than 300 parties –- some non-profit organizations and some for-profit corporations — have combined to file 97 lawsuits against HHS, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has led a diverse effort challenging the mandate. Conestoga Wood Specialties, owned by a pro-life Amish family in Pennsylvania, is a party with Hobby Lobby in the Supreme Court case, which deals only with for-profit companies. The cases involving non-profits have yet to work their way up to the high court.
Why Hobby Lobby is a family business
Deseret News, June 6, 2014
As a way of explaining what Hobby Lobby is, and how it works as a Family Business, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Hobby Lobby, shared a video that specifically looks at the history of the company owned by the David and Barbara Green family.
Florida appeals prison kosher food ruling
Jewish Journal, June 3, 2014
“It’s deeply saddening that the State of Florida would allow bureaucratic hard headedness to stand in the way of Jewish prisoners exercising a mandate of their faith,” Goodrich said. Especially when the vast majority of state prison systems allow kosher diets without problems of cost or security which Florida claims as its reasons for denying inmates kosher meals, he added.
Supreme Court won’t hear Tenn. mosque case
USA Today – June 3, 2014
Join the discussion: Is there a war on religion?
Deseret News, May 29, 2014
“When the government said to them, you’re going to have to fund contraception, sterilization, in violation of your deeply held religious convictions, the monks at Belmont Abbey College knew that they just couldn’t do that,” attorney Hannah Smith from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told NPR. “This is not just about health care. This is really about government coercion of religious individuals and institutions.”
Groups push military for more religious liberty
Washington Times, May 28, 2014
“The bottom line is that we do have more to do,” said Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “We have seen a series of problems in the military that have given rise to a number of concerns and direct congressional action. Congress has twice passed statutes that require the military to be more accommodating to religious beliefs and practices.”
Memorial Madness
National Review Online, May 26, 2014
Speaking at the American Legion’s 54th annual Washington conference in March, Eric Baxter, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, echoed Justice Kennedy, saying, “Crosses are not just a symbol of Christianity, but they are a widely known symbol of death and sacrifice.”
“Not every situation is the same,” he observed. “And our effort is to urge the courts to consider carefully, and weigh always, what is the religious liberty interest, what is [its] sincerity and history, against what is the government’s compelling interest in overriding that.”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Religious liberty’s under threat — on both sides of the pond
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 21, 2014
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks was praised by a Catholic cardinal and then blessed by a Mormon apostle.
The former British chief rabbi was being honored by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based public interest law firm that’s been busy representing clients — such as Hobby Lobby — who say their religious freedoms are being trampled by the government.
O come all ye faithful: New York’s most diverse dinner
Perhaps only the Becket Fund could pull off such an event, a glittering evening where men and women of strong (and conflicting) beliefs find common ground without watering down their principles.
Religious liberty honoree Rabbi Lord Sacks builds bridges among faiths
Deseret News, May 14, 2014
Rabbi Sacks’ interfaith work and his passion for religious freedom were recognized Thursday by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty with its 2014 Canterbury Medal, an annual prize recognizing “an individual who has ‘most resolutely refused to render to Caesar that which is God’s,’ ” the group said.
Atheists still ‘under God’ when it comes to Pledge of Allegiance in Massachusetts
Deseret News, May 9, 2014
“Today the (Massachusetts) Court affirmed what should have been obvious — ‘God’ is not a dirty word,” Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said in a statement.
US atheists’ group sues over inclusion of ‘Ground Zero Cross’ in new 9/11 museum
The Telegraph – May 9, 2014
“It was the towering charred steel beam shaped like a Christian cross that became a symbol of solace and hope after it was found jutting out of the smouldering debirs of the World Trade Centre. But the so-called Ground Zero Cross is now at the centre of a church-state row as a leading US atheists’ group sues over its inclusion as centrepiece in the new National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum.”
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Public Prayer
Supreme Court endorsed legislative prayer for second time in 30 years
‘Big Mountain Jesus’ Stands Strong
National Review – May 6, 2014
“The future of a Montana memorial statue honoring locals lost in World War II will be decided in court.”
Supreme Court Decision On Official Prayer Will Not End Public Debate
TIME, May 5, 2014
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty called Monday’s ruling a “great victory” for religious freedom. “Prayers like these have been taking place in our nation’s legislatures for over 200 years,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Town of Greece case. “They demonstrate our nation’s religious diversity, and highlight the fact that religion is a fundamental aspect of human culture.”
Meet. Pray. Legislate.
New York Post, May 5, 2014
As the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty noted in its brief, the Founders never considered legislative prayer an establishment of religion.
Supreme Court approves sectarian prayer at public meetings
Atheist Group Seeks Removal of 60-Year-Old War Memorial “Big Mountain Jesus”
Contraception mandate turning into abortion mandate? Column
USA Today, April 29, 2014
During a recent Supreme Court argument over the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptives mandate, Justice Anthony Kennedy cut to the heart of the government’s argument. “Under your view,” he told Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, “a for-profit corporation could be forced to pay for abortions.” After some verbal fumbling, Verrilli conceded: “you’re right.” But, he quickly added, there is nothing to fear because there “is no law like that on the books.” Not yet.
‘Under God’ in court: Pledge of Allegiance draws new lawsuits
Deseret News, April 24, 2014
The first two suits were rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States on procedural issues, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Conestoga, Hobby Lobby, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act Explained
The Jurist, April 24, 2014
Alliance Defending Freedom represents the Hahns and Conestoga Wood Specialties, and the Becket Fund represents the Greens and Hobby Lobby.
‘Under God’ in court: Pledge of Allegiance draws new lawsuits
Deseret News National April 24, 2014
The 1954 change, enthusiastically supported by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, added the words “under God” before the closing phrase “with liberty and justice for all.” Those words have become the target of many, and so far unsuccessful, legal challenges. This week, a humanist family in New Jersey’s Monmouth County went to court challenging the use of those two words, according to the New York Daily News.
Why New Jersey atheists don’t want Pledge of Allegiance in school
Associated Press, April 22, 2014
Proponents of the pledge have argued that the solution is to allow students to opt out of the pledge. Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe the pledge constitutes idolatry, have been sitting out the pledge for a very long time, notes Eric Rassbach of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, one of two defense attorneys in the Massachusetts case.
New Jersey humanists challenge ‘under God’ pledge in schools
Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2014
“People have a right to opt of the pledge if they have an objection to it,” Eric Rassbach, an attorney at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.
New Jersey school district sued for using ‘under God’ in Pledge of Allegiance
New York Daily News April 22, 2014
A family in Monmouth County lashed out against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District with a lawsuit on Monday, claiming that asking children to recite the words “under God” during the Pledge of Allegiance is tantamount to discrimination.
New Jersey humanists challenge ‘under God’ pledge in schools
Los Angeles Times April 22, 2014
The cases in state courts follow unsuccessful challenges of the “under God” phrase in federal courts. The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t directly weighed in on the issue’s merits, but several lower courts have rejected the argument that the phrase violates the Constitution’s ban on government-established religion.
Secular Group Files Lawsuit in New Jersey Against ‘Under God’ in Pledge
” New Jersey lawsuit seeks to ban Pledge of Allegiance”
Religion News Service April 21, 2014
The American Humanist Association is suing a New Jersey school district for its recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public classrooms.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of a local family in central New Jersey, asserts the mandatory recitation of the pledge is discriminatory against nonbelievers because it includes the phrase “under God.”
N.J. school district sued over ‘under God’ in pledge
USA Today April 21, 2014
A family is suing a New Jersey school district and its superintendent, seeking to have the phrase “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance that students recite every day. A lawsuit against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District filed in Superior Court in Monmouth County, N.J., on behalf of the family, who wish to remain unidentified, and the American Humanist Association claims that the practice of acknowledging God in the Pledge of Allegiance discriminates against atheists, in violation of New Jersey’s constitution.
Family-owned pharmacy leans on Hobby Lobby ruling for support
World Magazine August 14, 2014
The state appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case was put on hold in December 2013 until the Supreme Court ruled in the Hobby Lobby case. The Becket Fund and the Alliance Defending Freedom, representing the pharmacy, filed a joint brief on July 28. Read the full article here.
Clergy Out In Force To Defend Their Housing Tax Break
Forbes, April 10, 2014
Their brief includes an interesting bar graph on page 50 showing other housing allowances (most notably Section 134 covering the military) representing billions and billions towering over 107′s dinky $0.7 billion.
FEULNER: Honoring Hobby Lobby, Conestoga Wood Specialties for living their faith
Washington Times, March 31, 2014
The Becket Fund (representing the Green family) notes that tens of millions have been excluded from this mandate for other reasons.
Access to Birth Control Is Not an Issue in the Hobby Lobby Case, Lawyer Says
US top court weighs religious rights over birth control
Agence France Presse, March 24, 2014
Lori Windham of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is defending Hobby Lobby, said that “what is at stake here is whether you’re able to keep your religious freedom when you open your family business.”
Health-Law Contraceptive Case Skews Ideological Lines on High Court
If the contraception mandate passes, it will ruin a core U.S. ideology
Washington Post, March 21, 2014
Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, they went to court, and now the case has made it to the Supreme Court.
Are Firms Entitled to Religious Protections?
Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2014
A lawyer for Hobby Lobby, Lori Windham, says that the public-health interest can’t be that significant given that the law exempts from the contraception requirement employers who haven’t altered their health plans since the law passed.
In U.S. contraception case, a question of corporate rights
Religious challenge to health care law hits high court
USA Today, March 19, 2014
“We see companies act on ethical and philosophical and moral views every day of the week,” says Mark Rienzi, an attorney with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Hobby Lobby in court.
Atheists want iconic 17-foot cross removed from 9/11 museum
Fox News – March 9, 2014
“Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told MyFoxNY that the cross is part of the story of 9/11.”
American Atheists Work To Keep WTC Cross Out Of 9/11 Museum
CBS New York, March 6, 2014
“Museums don’t censor history, they don’t make up history. They tell history as it happened and the cross is part of the history and the plaque is not,” Eric Baxter with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said.
Little Sisters of the Poor formally file appeal in birth control case
Baltimore Sun, February 24, 2014
In January, the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction shielding the organization from the requirement, and the Little Sisters are appealing to 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to extend that protection. They are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm based in Washington.
Colorado nuns file challenge on birth control
Associated Press, February 24, 2014
The nuns’ appeal, spearheaded by attorneys for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, says that still violates their beliefs.
The White House’s War on Women of Faith
Christian Post, February 12, 2014
The nuns own legal representation, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is headed by a woman and is more than half female. That’s a better gender ratio than the president’s White House.
Little Sisters case shows how Obama administration is not respecting religious freedom
Washington Examiner, February 12, 2014
As Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund, said: “But why on earth would the government be fighting the Little Sisters all the way to the Supreme Court if it did not think its own form had any effect?”
Religion News in Brief
Associated Press, February 12, 2014
Kyle Duncan of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty says Hobby Lobby’s brief has now been filed at the Supreme Court. The justices will hear arguments March 25 involving challenges to the mandate by Hobby Lobby and Mennonite-owned Conestoga Wood Specialties.
Court Orders Florida to Serve Kosher Meals to Inmates
The Jewish Voice, February 5, 2014
“Florida is an outlier,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents inmates around the country. “It’s a holdout. I don’t know why it’s being a holdout. It is strange that Florida, of all places, is placing a special burden on Jewish inmates. It’s just stubbornness.”
Citizens United is ‘very important’ to Hobby Lobby’s attempt to take down HHS mandate
Washington Examiner, February 6, 2014
Arriaga said that Citizens United is “very important” to Hobby Lobby’s argument. “But we’re not only resting on Citizens United,” she said
Little Sisters Continue Legal Fight Against HHS Mandate
Amicus Briefs in HHS Mandate Cases
National Review Online, January 29, 2014
Thanks to the Becket Fund (counsel for Hobby Lobby), all the Supreme Court amicus briefs (for both sides and for no side) in the HHS mandate cases are available here.
Two-thirds of briefs filed with Supreme Court in Hobby Lobby case support the company
Washington Examiner, January 29, 2014
“The broad support shows that Americans of many faiths and backgrounds want to see religious freedom protected,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at the Becket Fund. “Religious freedom is important to Democrats and Republicans, to Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others.”
US military expands accommodations for religious attire
Charity gets win for now over Obamacare on contraception
Battle at the Supreme Court: Obama vs. The Nuns, Part 2
Supreme Court says nuns are exempt for now from Obamacare contraceptives rule
Court gives nuns a compromise on health care issue
Associated Press, January 24, 2014
Their nuns’ lawyer, Mark Rienzi of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said they were delighted to hear about the court’s decision. “It made no sense for the Little Sisters to be singled out for fines and punishment before they could even finish their suit,” he said.
In Nuns’ Suit, Justices Block Key Mandate in Health Law
Supreme Court grants temporary reprieve from contraceptive mandate
Supreme Court blocks contraceptives rule for religious groups
Florida prisons to serve kosher food
The Telegraph, January 22, 2014
“Most states do provide kosher diets, even Texas where there are about 25-30 Jewish inmates,” said Eric Rassbach, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Of the remaining states that don’t, they tend not to be ones with a big Jewish population. I don’t think there is a large number of observant Jewish inmates in North Dakota.
You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Love a Kosher Prison Meal
New York Times, January 20, 2014
“Florida is an outlier,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has represented inmates around the country. “It’s a holdout. I don’t know why it’s being a holdout. It is strange that Florida, of all places, is placing a special burden on Jewish inmates. It’s just stubbornness.”
Obamacare lawsuit forces order of nuns into the public eye
Los Angeles Times, January 18, 2014
“They didn’t think they had any other choice,” said Daniel Blomberg, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Where Free Speech Collides With Abortion Rights
When The Right To Religion Conflicts With A Changing Society
NPR All Things Considered, January 11, 2014
“The sisters, under the new Health and Human Services mandate, are being forced by the government to either sign a form allowing a third party to provide contraceptives and abortion-causing drugs to their employees, or they’re being threatened with fines,” says Becket Fund director Kristina Arriaga.
Obama’s War on Poor Nuns
Do the Little Sisters of the Poor Have a Case Against Obamacare?
U.S. News & World Report, January 9, 2014
“We are delighted that the Supreme Court has issued this order protecting the Little Sisters,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the nuns. “The government has lots of ways to deliver contraceptives to people – it doesn’t need to force nuns to participate.”
Groups react to birth control injunction
Washington Jewish Week, January 8, 2014
“This is a serious issue for religious liberty. You can’t pick and choose your own religious liberties,” he said. “Religious liberty is a core principle we’ve benefited from in the Jewish community.”
Health Law Challenge Opens Up New Front
New York Times, January 1, 2014
Mark Rienzi, a lawyer with the Becket Fund, said he welcomed the development. “The government has lots of ways to deliver contraceptives to people,” he said. “It doesn’t need to force nuns to participate.”
Catonsville nuns suing over federal contraceptive requirement
Baltimore Sun, December 23, 2013
Daniel Blomberg, an attorney for the Becket Fund, said the religious-employer exemption is so narrow that it’s “stunning.”
Court: Obama must rewrite contraception mandate to accommodate religious liberty
New York Catholic Nonprofits Win Permanent Injunction in HHS Case
Taking on Obamacare’s Contraception Mandate
Supreme Court to decide whether to tackle religious liberty, contraception mandate
Deseret News, November 23, 2013
Lori Windam, an attorney for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Hobby Lobby, said their case will answer critical questions on the limits of RFRA’s protections signed into law 20 years ago. “You have a government regulation forcing people to either follow their faith or paying enormous fines,” she said. “If RFRA can’t protect people from that, how much power does RFRA really have?”
Sikh Fired by IRS Over Blade Sees Suit Revived
RFRA needed now more than ever
Associated Baptist Press, November 8, 2013
The Baptist Joint Committee, a religious-liberty watchdog group that represents 15 national and regional Baptist bodies including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, co-sponsored the event with the Christian Legal Society, American Jewish Committee, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute.
Greece v. Galloway Could Bring Down a Valuable American Tradition
PolicyMic, November 7, 2013
First, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a claim arguing that legislative prayer was present even before and during the Revolutionary War and has “remained a widespread and accepted practice.”
Supreme Court case examines prayer at public meetings
Little Sisters of the Persecuted
RealClearReligion, November 5, 2013
I hope they choose the class action suit filed by the Becket Fund for Religious liberty on behalf of the Little Sisters of the Poor and hundreds of Catholic nonprofit ministries who cannot in good faith comply with the mandate.
Court Rules Contraception Mandate Infringes on Religious Freedom
New York Times, November 1, 2013
However, the question of companies’ rights is just a “procedural technicality,” said Eric Baxter, a senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has represented other high-profile challengers to the ban, including the craft store chain Hobby Lobby.
Catholic TV Channel Files New Lawsuit Against HHS, Aided by Ala. Attorney General
Christian Post, October 31, 2013
Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel for the Becket Fund, told The Christian Post that his organization was happy to have the support of the state of Alabama.
“We welcome Alabama as a crucial ally in protecting EWTN’s religious liberty. Having a well-respected partner like the attorney general helps reveal the glaring and growing problems with the HHS Mandate,” said Blomberg.
EWTN, State of Alabama File New Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate
National Catholic Register, October 28, 2013
“The government says that only churches are religious enough for the government to respect their rights of conscience. This is an insult to EWTN, which exists to serve its church,” said the Becket Fund’s Windham.
Southern Baptist Convention challenges law that health plans cover contraception
The Tennessean, October 14, 2013
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Oklahoma by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Locke Lord LLP, is the 74th against the government over its mandate, the groups said.
GuideStone sues HHS on Obamacare abortion mandate
Baptist Press, October 14, 2013
“The government’s refusal to treat these ministries as ‘religious employers’ is senseless,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund, in a written release. “These people spend their lives teaching and preaching their religious faith — if they do not qualify as ‘religious employers,’ the government needs to get a new definition.”
Iowa business defends denial of same-sex wedding
Associated Press, October 8, 2013
There is no specific punitive action in the case, said the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is defending the Odgaards. But the suit said the Odgaards “may be exposed to financial punishment and other forms of official coercion” by the commission.
Religious group sues over same-sex marriage dispute
Quad-City Times, October 7, 2013
“The Odgaards have long hired and served gays and lesbians, and are happy to serve all persons regardless of their sexual orientation,” said Emily Hardman. “The only remedy they are seeking is not to be forced by the government to host a religious ceremony that would violate their own beliefs. The Iowa Civil Rights Act supports this remedy, as it expressly states that the Act is not intended to force individuals to recognize same-sex marriage.”
Tenth Circuit Panel Rules in Favor of Colo. Company Against Abortion Pill Mandate
Christian Post, October 4, 2013“I that hope other courts will follow its example protecting religious liberty for Americans who create jobs and own family businesses,” said Becket Fund’s Lori Windham.
Little Sisters Fight for Religious Freedom
National Review, October 2, 2013
Last week, the Sisters, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, filed the first class-action court case against the mandate.
Little Sisters of the Poor join first class-action lawsuit against HHS mandate
Atheists Order Florida City to Remove 131-Year-Old City Seal Due to Cross Symbol; Legal Group Says Court Decision Would Be ‘Subjective’
Christian Post, September 27, 2013
Little Sisters of the Poor sue over Obamacare fines, contraception requirement
Washington Examiner, September 24, 2013
“The Sisters should obviously be exempted as ‘religious employers,’ but the government has refused to expand its definition,” Becket Fund senior counsel Mark Rienzi said.
Gay Marriage Collides with Religious Liberty
Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2013
“Wherever government is giving you access to something, licensing the power to perform certain acts, government can abuse that position to promote a particular point of view,” says Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
High court may take up religious challenge to birth control coverage
Los Angeles Times, September 19, 2013
“The United States government is taking the remarkable position that private individuals lose their religious freedom when they make a living,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the group, which also represents Hobby Lobby Stores. “We’re confident that the Supreme Court will reject the government’s extreme position and hold that religious liberty is for everyone — including people who run a business.”
Des Plaines sued after rejecting plans for mosque
Chicago Tribune, September 17, 2013
Luke Goodrich, a lawyer for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty who represented an embattled mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 2010, said minority groups tend to face more difficulties in zoning disputes.
Second court backs Obama birth control mandate
Washington Times, September 17, 2013
“This just sets it up for Supreme Court review,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing some of the employers who object to the mandate.
Retail and Religion
New York Post, September 13, 2013
Our friends at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sum it up well: “In a a religiously diverse country people of different faiths will have different needs…”
‘Under God’ likely to remain in pledge despite latest challenge, attorney says
NBC News, September 8, 2013
The deputy counsel of the Washington, D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Rassbach described himself as a Presbyterian, and said he doesn’t remember saying the pledge in middle or high school. The Becket Fund has represented members of many other religious groups in the past, as well as atheists, he said.
Pledge of Allegiance challenged in Massachusetts Supreme Court
NBC News, September 5, 2013
“Most people do not view reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as saying a prayer,” Rassbach said. “It would be terrible to enshrine in the law this kind of allergy to God that the plaintiffs have.”
SJC hears atheists’ challenge to ‘under God’ in Pledge of Allegiance
Boston Herald, September 4, 2013
Mass. court hears Pledge of Allegiance challenge
Associated Press, September 4, 2013
Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told the justices that the phrase “under God” has a long history as an expression of a “political philosophy” and is not a religious declaration.
SJC to weigh wording of pledge
Boston Herald, September 3, 2013
“We feel confident that our arguments are the right ones, and we’re certainly hopeful that they’re persuasive to the justices,” said Eric Rassbach with the Becket Fund. “We represent some kids that are actually in the Acton-Boxboro School District that would like to keep saying the pledge.”
‘Under God’ part of Pledge of Allegiance under review in Massachusetts
CNN, September 3, 2013
“They’re grasping at straws” said Eric Rassbach of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the attorney arguing to leave the pledge as it is. “They know they would lose again if they tried it under the First Amendment, so now they are trying a new tack.”
Defending the Faithful
California Lawyer, September 2013
The Becket Fund is perhaps best known for its role in fighting the mandate in the federal Affordable Care Act that employee health insurance cover contraceptives, bringing no fewer than eight high-profile lawsuits.
Ave Maria University Files Second Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate
The Christian Post, August 30, 2013
“Unfortunately, the government failed to keep its promise–the new regulations still force Ave Maria against its conscience to participate in the government’s scheme for facilitating access to contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs and devices,” said Eric Baxter, senior counsel at the Becket Fund.
Mass. Supreme Court to hear challenge to Pledge of Allegiance
Religion News Service, August 30, 2013
“You would then see a rash of state court lawsuits challenging the pledge all over the country,” said Eric Rassbach from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.. “A win for us would completely avoid that unnecessary harm. And it would affirm that it is not discriminatory to have the words ‘under God’ in the pledge.”
Ave Maria President: We Want Our Day in Court
Catholic Education Daily, August 29, 2013
“Ave Maria is still forced to provide free access to contraceptive and abortifacient drugs and devices against their religious beliefs,” said Eric Baxter, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Ave Maria University in this matter.
N.M. court reflects culture’s ‘seismic shift’ to sexuality-based ‘state-established religion’
Baptist Press, August 26, 2013
The Becket Fund wrote an amicus brief on behalf of Elane Photography, saying that the First Amendment protected the photographers’ free speech rights.
Churches changing bylaws after gay marriage ruling
Associated Press, August 24, 2013
Eric Rassbach with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said it is unlikely the government would try to force a pastor to perform a same-sex marriage, but churches that rent out their facilities to the general public could face problems if they refuse to rent to gay couples.
Out of Enclaves, a Pressure to Accommodate Traditions
Fighting the good fight for religious right
Deseret News, August 18, 2013
The Becket Fund’s executive director and lifelong freedom fighter Kristina Arriaga de Bucholz talks about religious liberties and the challenges faced.
Supporters of prayer at government meetings file briefs with Supreme Court
Deseret News, August 6, 2013
Nearly two dozen state attorneys general and more than 30 U.S. senators have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court, which is hearing its first case in three decades involving prayer at government meetings.
Religious Objections To Health Law Multiply
National Law Journal, August 5, 2013
Religion-based challenges to the new health care law likely will bring the controversial reforms back to the nation’s high court before the end of the coming term.
Supreme Court Will Re-Examine Prayer at Government Meetings
Christianity Today, August 5, 2013
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has urged the court to uphold the Town of Greece’s prayer policy.
High court may be near HHS mandate review
Baptist Press, July 30, 2013
Kyle Duncan, general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told Baptist Press, “That split is likely to deepen as other courts of appeals weigh in. It seems to us that the Supreme Court needs to resolve the issue. The split’s only going to get deeper.”
Contraceptive mandate divides appeals courts
Washington Post, July 26, 2013
“It looks like we’re heading for a Supreme Court review,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is active in opposing the contraceptive mandate.
Federal judge grants injunction in Hobby Lobby’s lawsuit over birth-control requirement
Washington Post, July 19, 2013
Kyle Duncan, Hobby Lobby’s lead attorney, argued that requiring the company to comply with the mandate would be a burden to religious exercise. The U.S. Department of Human Services has granted exemptions from portions of the health care law for plans that cover tens of millions of people and an injunction for Hobby Lobby would be in the public interest and would not burden the government, he said.
US Senate May Take Up Bill to Lift FEMA Ban on Aid to Churches
Christian Post, July 15, 2013
Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told The Christian Post that he supports the Senate bill. “FEMA has long been categorically banning houses of worship from competing for disaster relief funds on the same terms as other similar eligible nonprofits,” said Blomberg.
Hobby Lobby wins a stay against birth control mandate
Reuters, July 19, 2013
“There is a substantial public interest in ensuring that no individual or corporation has their legs cut out from under them while these difficult issues are resolved,” [Judge Joe] Heaton said at a hearing, according to the Becket Fund.
European court upholds Romanian church’s right to approve, bust unions
Deseret News, July 10, 2013
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, called the ruling one of the most important on European religious liberty in years.
“True autonomy for religious organizations of all sorts is becoming even more important as Europe and America become increasingly religiously diverse,” said Stanford University law professor Michael McConnell, who signed the brief. “In this area, government governs better when it governs less.”
Issues Surrounding Freedom of Religion
Rasmussen Reports, July 1st, 2013
We take time to discuss issues surrounding freedom of religion with Kristina Arriaga, executive director of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and Daniel Mach from the ACLU.
Judge: Hobby Lobby won’t have to pay fines
USA Today, June 29, 2013
“The opinion makes it very clear what is a valid religious belief and what is not,” said Emily Hardman, spokeswoman for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The group is representing the companies and their owners, the Green family.
Contraceptives Stay Covered in Health Law
New York Times, June 28, 2013
Eric C. Rassbach, a deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has represented plaintiffs in that case and others challenging the law, said the final rule did nothing to meet the objections of his clients. “The government tinkered with some mechanisms in the rule, but did not really get at the religious conscience questions,” Mr. Rassbach said. “So there is a fundamental conflict that will have to be resolved in court.”
Obama administration issues regulations on contraceptive coverage
Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2013
“Unfortunately, the final rule announced today is the same old, same old,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents several plaintiffs suing to overturn the contraceptive mandate.
Montana: Ski-mountain Jesus statue can stay, judge rules
Los Angeles Times, June 27, 2013
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a 6-decade-old, 6-foot-tall Jesus statue could stay on a small patch of federal land in the Flathead National Forest in Montana after an atheist and agnostic group argued that the statue violated the 1st Amendment separation of church and state.
Court rules Hobby Lobby can challenge health law, won’t have to pay fines
Associated Press, June 27, 2013
In a health care decision giving hope to opponents of the federal birth-control coverage mandate, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Hobby Lobby stores won’t have to start paying millions of dollars in fines next week for not complying with the requirement.
Supremes’ quiet hit on ObamaCare
New York Post, June 26, 2013
In an amicus brief, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty explained why this case is about much more than prostitution and AIDS: “The expansion of the modern regulatory state has increasingly led to financial involvement of the government with private organizations — including churches, religious universities, and religious charities — in ways that potentially give the government power over those organizations. Tax exemptions, which have been treated by this Court as tantamount to the provision of funds, are a prominent example . . .
Judge: Jesus Statue Can Stay on Montana Mountain
Associated Press, June 25, 2013
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which defended the monument in court, applauded the “commonsense” decision. It argued the statue is a far cry from creating a state religion and not every religious statue runs afoul of the Constitution.
Religious Liberty for the Rest of Us
The Huffington Post, June 12, 2013
This article features Odyssey Networks’ video of our 2013 Canterbury Medal Dinner.
Crucified ‘Skeleton Santa’ and ‘Flying Spaghetti Monster’ vs. Christianity
Christian Post, June 10, 2013
If a city includes a nativity scene in its holiday display, must it also include a sign mocking the Christmas story as a toxic myth? If the scene has an angel, must it have a devil, too?
This Won’t Turn Out Well
Weekly Standard, June 7, 2013
All eyes are on the Hobby Lobby case, just argued by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty before the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Obama, God, and the Profits
Christian Post, June 6, 2013
Becket Fund counsel Mark Rienzi explains the flaws in the Obama administration’s legal defense of the HHS contraceptive-coverage mandate: “The lawyers have it all wrong. Earning money doesn’t suddenly give the government the right to extinguish your constitutional rights.”
Obama and lawyers differ on religious liberty stance
Deseret News, June 5, 2013
Are President Obama and his lawyers on the same page when it comes to religious liberty? A lawyer for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty doesn’t think so.
Religious liberty advocates call for faiths to join forces
Deseret News, June 1, 2013
Hannah Clayson Smith, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty who is also a member of the Deseret News editorial advisory board, said proponents of religious freedom have scored several major victories over the past year.
Obama’s Public Rhetoric vs. Defense of the HHS Mandate
National Review Online, May 31, 2013
Law professor (and Becket Fund lawyer) Mark Rienzi explores the gap “between President Obama and his lawyers over whether profit-making businesses can pursue goals other than making money.”
Rutherford County Wins Appeal on Mosque Approval
Tennessean, May 30, 2013
A Tennessee Appeals Court ruled Wednesday that Rutherford County provided proper public notice before approving construction of a mosque.
Religious Freedom: A Civil-Rights Issue
National Review Online, May 29, 2013
There were also many groups and institutions that submitted comments, including the Becket Fund…
Appeals courts mull ‘Obamacare’ contraception mandate
Washington Times, May 26, 2013
Adele Keim, a lawyer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, attended the Denver arguments while her colleague, Kyle Duncan, delivered arguments on behalf of the Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby. She said it was clear that the eight judges — it was an “en banc” hearing, so all of the circuit judges attended instead of only three — were taking the matter seriously.
Hobby Lobby Has Its Day in Court; Argues Case for Religious Freedom
Christian Post, May 24, 2013
Kyle Duncan, general counsel for The Becket Fund, argued the case Thursday for the Green family, who own Hobby Lobby and the Christian bookstore Mardel, in Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, and the government was represented by the Justice Department. Each side had 30 minutes to present their arguments to the court.
Case to Watch: 10th Circuit takes up challenge to contraceptive mandate
Reuters, May 23, 2013
“That indicates to us the court considers the issues to be really important and worthy of devoting the full resources of the court,” said Hobby Lobby’s lawyer, Kyle Duncan of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit law firm. The Justice Department, which is defending the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, did not respond to a request for comment.
Birth control coverage up for federal appeal
The Associated Press, May 23, 2013
“They ought to be able — just like a church, just like a charity — to have the right to opt out of a provision that infringes on their religious beliefs,” said Kyle Duncan, who will argue before the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Green family, the founders of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. and a sister company, Christian booksellers Mardel Inc.
Other companies besides Hobby Lobby challenging health law’s contraception mandate
The Associated Press, May 23, 2013
Thirty-one private companies have sued to overturn the regulation on similar grounds. Their cases are pending. Hobby Lobby is the best-known; most of the others are smaller, family-run and privately held, so they do not have to run legal strategy by shareholders like larger, publicly traded firms do.
Hobby Lobby takes birth-control mandate fight to federal appeals court
The Associated Press, May 23, 2013
Hobby Lobby’s lawyer argued that the Greens shouldn’t face fines for not complying with mandatory contraceptive coverage simply because their business makes a profit. The stores are a “profit-making company, yes, but also a ministry,” Kyle Duncan argued.
Does using a church facility for graduation ceremony violate the Constitution?
The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 20, 2013
Among the parties involved in the case are The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Kosher prison food lawsuit goes forward
The Miami Herald, May 18, 2013
The denials force him, as an Orthodox Jew, “to choose between his religious practice and adequate nutrition,’’ said Luke Goodrich, Deputy General Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The fund filed an appeal for Rich after a federal district court last year dismissed the suit, which now returns to district court.
Mormon apostle Oaks honored for his fight for religious freedom
The Salt Lake Tribune, May 17, 2013
The event was an annual award ceremony sponsored by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest organization “dedicated to protecting free expression of religious traditions,” according to a release on the LDS Church website.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks Honored for Championing Religious Freedom
LDS Newsroom, May 16, 2013
Elder Oaks said while there are discouraging trends with religious freedom, there are also some encouraging signs, including the successful work of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and advocacy by many influential religious leaders, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pastor Rick Warren, whom Elder Oaks quoted as saying, “Religious liberty is going to be the civil rights issue of the next decade.”
Elder Oaks promotes strengthening the free exercise of religion
Deseret News, May 16, 2013
Religious teachings and religious organizations are vital to a free society and deserve its special legal protection, Elder Dallin H. Oaks affirmed in a speech May 16 upon receiving the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s highest honor, the Canterbury Medal, during a program held in the Pierre Hotel on New York City’s Fifth Avenue.
New Law Clinic Handles Religious Liberty Cases
Stanford Magazine, May/June 2013
Funded in part by a $1.6 million gift from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit focused on protecting religious expression, the clinic originated as an idea of Law School professor Michael McConnell’s. It opened to praise from religious leaders and scholars from as far away as Australia, as well as some notes of criticism.
The Power Of Appeal: City council overturns planning commission’s decision on resort
The Tribune News, May 14, 2013
She referenced a letter sent to the city written by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberties, the nation’s leading religious liberties law firm located in Washington D.C., that said: “Because the city has already approved the site for a place of significant assembly—a large riverfront resort—RLUIPA prohibits the city from refusing to approve the church’s proposal on the basis that the resort will be used for religious purposes or that the applicant is a church.”
Court reinstates Fla. inmate kosher meals lawsuit
The Associated Press, May 14, 2013
“Prisoners surrender many of their physical rights at the jailhouse door, but they do not surrender the fundamental right of conscience,” said Goodrich, who is deputy general counsel at the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Bureaucratic stubbornness should not prevent a handful of prisoners from peacefully following the centuries-old commands of Judaism.”
Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2013
“You will see a wave of threat letters going out to school districts” if the appeal is turned down, predicted Luke Goodrich, a lawyer for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Becket, national school groups, and lawyers for 15 states backed the school district’s appeal to the Supreme Court. They said holding school events in church buildings is common around the country, and they argue that the mere presence of religious symbols does not “establish” an official religion.
Air Force says Proselytizing Crosses the Line
Fox News, May 2, 2013
Daniel Blomberg, with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told Fox News he was glad to see the Dept. of Defense issue a clarification, but expressed alarm at the Air Force statement. “The Air Force spokesman’s statement sounds like the government can ban servicemen and women from talking to one another about their faith,” he said. “And that couldn’t be more wrong. The Air Force must follow the Department of Defense’s example to immediately correct its statement to avoid chilling Airmen and women’s religious liberty.”
Does a prisoner have a right to a mohel? School’s new clinic takes on religious liberties case
ABA Journal, May 1, 2013
Launched in January, the Religious Liberty Clinic at Stanford Law School represents clients in disputes related to religious beliefs, practices and customs. In addition to helping the Jewish prisoner, students are representing Seventh-day Adventists terminated from their baggage handler jobs for refusing to work on Saturdays; drafting an amicus brief on behalf of a Native American prisoner forbidden from practicing a sacred pipe ritual; handling land-use issues related to the building of a mosque; litigating a dietary accommodation case for Jewish and Muslim prisoners; negotiating school release times for religious instruction; and handling zoning issues for a church that offers shelter and meals to the homeless.
Asma Uddin to Lead Working Group at U.S. Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar
Altmuslimah, May 1, 2013
Asma T. Uddin to lead working group at U.S. Islamic World Forum: “Rethinking the ‘Red Line’: The Intersection of Free Speech, Religious Freedom, and Social Change” working group at the 2013 U.S.-Islamic World Forum, which will be held June 9-11 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha, Qatar.
Attorneys General Demand Broader Religious Exemptions to Contraception Mandate
The Heartland Institute, April 30, 2013
Windham says the struggle over the contraceptive mandate is “one of the most important issues facing our nation today” and one of the most important legal battles the Becket Fund has been involved in. “It’s going to ask the question of what the government’s powers are and how much it can restrict religious freedom,” Windham said. “Even people who don’t share the same beliefs … should be concerned, because this is going to decide where the lines are drawn.”
German homeschoolers face harassment, jail
Baptist Press, April 23, 2013
Eric Rassbach of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty agrees. Rassbach co-wrote a Becket Fund amicus brief in favor of the Romeikes. He says the German law not only contradicts an American sense of religious liberty, “I don’t think it fits with the overall idea of human rights.”
Commenting period ends for HHS mandate
National Catholic Reporter, April 22, 2013
Kristina Arriaga, executive director of the Becket Fund, a group that focuses on religious liberty issues, told NCR that her organization remains skeptical of the current proposals.
Public comments indicate few like Obamacare rule on birth control
Deseret News, April 19, 2013
“Under the accommodation … religious organizations would still be forced to facilitate access to products and services that many of them believe to be deeply immoral, even though the obligation for procuring separate insurance policies covering these services would ostensibly fall on insurers or third-party administrators,” stated comments submitted by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing eight clients in seven separate lawsuits over the mandate.
George: How hostile to religion must the state be?
The Washington Times, April 18, 2013
Every winter, the federal courts host a spate of lawsuits over local Christmas and Hanukkah displays. We now face a similar prospect every spring, as school districts will be sued over field trips and graduation venues. Let’s hope the Supreme Court takes the Elmbrook case and spares us and our school districts and students unnecessary expenses.
Frum Dress Codes v. Human Rights?
The Jewish Week, April 17, 2013
Additionally, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Washington, D.C. firm specializing in First Amendment religious issues, the largest such firm in the country, is monitoring the case and told The Jewish Week that “it wouldn’t be out of the question” for Becket to offer assistance “if the case proceeds. We often get involved at the appellate stage.”
Montana Hutterite colony asks Supreme Court to hear religious liberty case
Deseret News, April 10, 2013
“The state of Montana is needlessly attacking a group of communal farmers who are simply following 500 years of Hutterite religious tradition,” said Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “The state should be applauding the Hutterites’ thriving, productive and self-sustaining farming community, not trying to regulate it out of existence at the behest of corporate lobbyists.”
Tens of Thousands Beat Deadline to Protest HHS Mandate
National Catholic Register, April 8, 2013
The Becket Fund said in its comment that the federal government has exempted thousands of businesses from the mandate for political reasons through the grandfathering provision of the Affordable Care Act and that there is no excuse for not extending similar exemptions to private employers for religious reasons.
Blackwell: The illiberalism of assailing traditional marriage
The Washington Times, April 6, 2013
As the recent, large batch of cases against the Department of Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate demonstrates, America has a diverse and principled religious population of citizens willing to fight for the right to express their faith in all aspects of life.
The Constitution and graduation ceremonies in church
Yahoo News, April 5, 2013
As public high schools around the country make their final plans in coming weeks for spring graduation ceremonies, a case the Supreme Court has been pondering might have an influence on the place they choose for handing out diplomas. It is said to be a fairly common practice to hold such ceremonies in churches. That may, or may not, be a constitutional problem.
Contraception Mandate Likely Headed To Supreme Court, Experts Say
The Huffington Post, April 5, 2013
The most prominent of those cases — Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius — took a significant step forward last week, when the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Hobby Lobby’s request to expedite the case and hear it en banc (by all judges on the court). Kyle Duncan, the attorney representing the Christian-owned Hobby Lobby against the Department of Health and Human Services, said he expects one or more of these cases to catch the Supreme Court’s attention soon.
Federal court to hear Hobby Lobby arguments in May
The Oklahoman, April 3, 2013
A panel of nine federal appeals court judges will hear oral arguments in Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.’s fight against part of the Affordable Care Act on May 23 in Denver.
13 State Attorneys General Want Broader Exemptions for Obamacare Mandate
Newsmax, April 3, 2013
As many as two dozen lawsuits have been filed against the contraception mandate by private businesses — and many have been granted temporary injunctions while their actions are pending, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Hutterite Lawsuit Against Montana Department of Labor Appealed to U.S. Supreme Court
KGVO, April 3, 2013
“This case involves the right of internal church governance,” explained Goodrich. “Hutterites have been living in accordance with their religious beliefs for 500 years. They all take a vow of poverty, they hold all of their possessions in common, and they vow not to use the secular legal system against each other. But the new workers compensation law would violate all of those teachings because it would create a property right for individual members, which all members vow not to have.”
13 attorneys general push Obama on contraception mandate
The Washington Post, April 2, 2013
At least two dozen suits by private businesses have been filed against the contraception mandate, and 16 have been granted a temporary injunction while the lawsuits are pending, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is spearheading much of the opposition to the mandate.
Becket Fund’s Kyle Duncan on Fox News
Is a high school graduation in a Wisconsin church unconstitutional?
Minnesota Public Radio, April 1, 2013
The Supreme Court today released its orders for the week without any decision on whether to hear the Wisconsin case, after an appeals court ruled that Elmbrook School District’s decision on where to hold its graduations violates the separation of church and state, partly because students could opt not to attend their graduation if they didn’t want to be “immersed in religion.”
Federal appeals court grants Hobby Lobby’s request to speed court case
The Oklahoman, March 30, 2013
Typically, appeals cases are heard by a panel of three judges, but Hobby Lobby had asked the full court to hear the case — a request that federal appeals courts seldom grant, said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is defending Hobby Lobby in its lawsuit.
Same-sex & the Supremes
New York Post, March 26, 2013
As the amicus brief for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty notes, legislatures are “more adept at balancing competing social interests, including religious liberty.” The Becket Fund brief takes no position on same-sex marriage. But it is interesting because it answers a question often asked: Why should anyone care about anyone else’s right to marry?
Mass. Supreme Court to Hear Suit Against ‘Under God’ in Pledge
Christian Post, March 25, 2013
Aiding the effort to keep “under God” in the Pledge was The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented Defendant-Intervenors the Joyce family, whose children are students in the Acton-Boxborough School District. Eric Rassbach of The Becket Fund told The Christian Post that “disagreement does not mean discrimination.”
Court moves forward with atheist family’s suit against Acton schools over ‘God’ in Pledge
The Lowell Sun, March 25, 2013
The Becket Fund For Religious Liberty, which has thrown its support behind the Acton-Boxboro Regional School District, was involved in three previous federal court cases regarding removing “under God” from the Pledge, according to published reports. They were Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, Calif., 2000 to 2004; Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District, Calif., 2005 to 2010; and Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Hanover School District, New Hampshire, 2007 to 2011. All of the school districts have kept “under God” intact in the Pledge.
Bill to Provide Sandy Relief to Houses of Worship Stalled in Senate
Breitbart, March 22, 2013
Daniel Blomberg, Legal Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which provided Congress with a legal analysis of the proper role of the Establishment Clause in disaster funding, told Breitbart News that despite outreach to the Senate by the House’s co-sponsors for urgent action to stop FEMA’s discrimination against houses of worship, the Senate has not responded.
The Religious-Liberty Rights of Profit-Making Businesses
Same-Sex-Marriage Cases Hold Implications for Schools
Education Week, March 25, 2013
Meanwhile, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based group that often defends religious speech by students in public schools, filed a brief on the side of same-sex-marriage opponents that expresses concern for students who might object to gay marriage on religious grounds.
Seminary joins contraceptive mandate fight
For-Profit Free Exercise
First Things, March 12, 2013 Continue reading “For-Profit Free Exercise”
Westminster Theological Seminary Sues Federal Government over HHS Regulations, Files Motion to Intervene in the Becket Fund Lawsuit
Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby seeks to speed court process on health care appeal
Colorado mortgage company files suit against birth control mandate
Oklahoma legislator’s bill criticizes districts suing parents over school vouchers
Ramirez: Seeking Refuge: Where Do The Persecuted Go?
The Big Fight
Legatus Magazine, March 1, 2013
Continue reading “The Big Fight”
Suits hit contraception rule’s ‘religious burden’
POLITICO, February 25, 2013 Continue reading “Suits hit contraception rule’s ‘religious burden’”
HHS’ Flawed Egalitarian Logic
National Catholic Register, February 23, 2013 Continue reading “HHS’ Flawed Egalitarian Logic”
U.S. legislators come to Hobby Lobby’s defense in contraception lawsuit
Groups file briefs in support of Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby
Obamacare and birth control: Religious ties split coverage
House Approves Storm Aid for Religious Institutions
Becket Fund: No Justification for Banning Federal Aid to Churches Hit by Sandy
U.S. House votes to send aid to religious institutions damaged by Hurricane Sandy despite division between church and state
House Counters FEMA, Approves Sandy Aid to Houses of Worship
Birth control mandate lawsuits make case for systematic disrespect toward religion
Catholic bishops reject Obama offer on contraceptive coverage
Knives for Cakes but Not for Sikhs
Real Clear Religion, February 7, 2013 Continue reading “Knives for Cakes but Not for Sikhs”
Religious groups mull Obama’s latest birth-control compromise
Contraception Opt-Out Offer
The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2013 Continue reading “Contraception Opt-Out Offer”
Critics Want More Exemptions From U.S. Birth-Control Rule
Obama offers faith groups new birth control rule
Birth Control Rule Altered to Allay Religious Objections
Religious Groups Remain Concerned About Contraception Mandate
Obama proposal allows contraceptives to go under stand-alone insurance policy
Obama reopens rift with religious groups
POLITICO, February 1, 2013 Continue reading “Obama reopens rift with religious groups”
A new plan for birth control coverage
Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2013 Continue reading “A new plan for birth control coverage”
Contraception Rule Revised by Obama Administration
Obama administration offers religious colleges opt-out for contraception rule
Proposal to amend ObamaCare contraceptive rule met with skepticism
White House tries for new compromise on birth control
Obama offers compromise on birth control health coverage
Schools Tussle Over Sex Standards
Christianity Today, January 28, 2013 Continue reading “Schools Tussle Over Sex Standards”
Flood of Suits Fight Coverage Birth Control
Becket in front page print edition of the NYT, January 27, 2013.
Continue reading “Flood of Suits Fight Coverage Birth Control”
Obama birth control mandates loosens lawsuits
Here they stand
World Magazine, January 25, 2013 Continue reading “Here they stand”
Unlikely Coalition Fights Contraception Mandate
Roll Call, January 24, 2013 Continue reading “Unlikely Coalition Fights Contraception Mandate”
At Stanford, Clinical Training for Defense of Religious Liberty
Employers challenging health law contraceptive provision
Taking Stock on National Religious Freedom Day
Stanford Inaugurates Nation’s Only Legal Clinic for Religious Freedom
‘Obamacare’ contraception mandate hits legal hurdles
States are battlefields for religious liberty
Stanford Law School launches religious liberty clinic
Stanford Law School Launches Nation’s Only Religious Liberty Clinic
Elmbrook Church graduation case could go to Supreme Court
Elder Oaks honored for contributions to the cause of religious freedom
Conversations: Stanford’s Religious Liberty Clinic
Illinois pharmacist ruling praised as conscience victory
Ave Maria University President to Continue Fighting Health Care Law’s Contraception Mandate
Illinois Decides to Not Appeal; Pharmacists’ Court Victory Stands
Hobby Lobby, government ask for delay in case over health care law, contraception
Pharmacist Conscience Rights Under Attack
Could Obamacare Go the Way of McCain-Feingold?
Jesus statue challenge salvaged by local atheist
‘Under God’ Under Scrutiny, Again
Supreme Court Directs Appeals Court to Address Challenge to HHS Mandate
Hobby Lobby Teeters On the Brink Of Obamacare
Hobby Lobby appeals morning-after pill decision
Supreme court tosses challenge to Lindsey Nicole Henry law
Pakistani Christian Girl Imprisoned for Blasphemy Acquitted by Court
The Surprising Christian Organizations Suing the Government
Appeals court hears arguments over worship in NY public schools
SJC to hear Pledge of Allegiance Case
Challenge to school credit for Bible study in SC refused
Md. Archbishop: Church Unable to Live With HHS Mandate
Group’s faith rule stirs clash at Tufts University
Carney: Re-elected, Obama takes aim at religious liberty
ACA now faces contraception test
Hobby Lobby asks federal judge to block portion of Obamacare; says it violates religious freedom
Religious Freedom Is No Mere Hobby: Shocking Arguments Made By Obama Administration in Largest HHS Mandate Suit Yet
DOJ: Business Owners Have No Religious Freedom Rights
State Supreme Judicial Court agrees to hear school Pledge of Allegiance case
Massachusetts high court to hear Pledge of Allegiance challenge
Hobby Lobby Injunction Against HHS Mandate set for Court
What kind of religion is free in the public square?
Contraception rule opponents feel ‘momentum’ after VP debate
Ave Maria looking at health care options after 23 percent premium hike
East Texas university sues government over ‘Obamacare’
Sojourners Expands Billboard Campaign in Response to Toledo Mosque Arson
Elmbrook schools name lawyers in church graduation case
Should Emergency Contraception Be A Guarantee?
Amendment 8 pits religious groups against backers of church-state separation
Jewish inmate requests kosher meals from federal appeals court
Texas Inmate Demands Kosher Food
For This Employer, Faith Is No Hobby
Conscience rights for pharmacists upheld in Illinois ruling
Religious Freedom Forum in NY Commits to Protecting Marriage, Life
Illinois cannot make pharmacists give ‘morning after’ pill-court
Lawsuit by Hobby Lobby is assertion of First Amendment rights
Nashville Diocese sues over health law’s insurance mandate on contraceptives, morning-after pills
Ramirez and Schlesinger: Pakistan government robs child of her dignity
Hobby Lobby sues over morning-after pill coverage requirement in health reform law
Constitutional Experts Call Obama’s Abuse Of Power Historic
Atheists vs. the 9/11 Cross
Not-So-Safe Harbor: Wheaton vs. President Obama’s HHS
Federal judge allows mosque opponents to intervene
Muslim man sues over having to remove cap
HHS revises mandate third time; foes say it misses the point
Contraception fight not just ‘a Catholic thing’
Christian Groups Support Kosher for Jewish Prisoners in Fla. Court Case
Attorney makes defending religious liberty his mission
Birth Control Mandate Begins; Poll Shows Catholics Mostly Agree With Bishops’ Concerns
Becket Fund’s Lori Windham on CBS Radio
Cross the Crux of Steubenville Showdown With Atheist Group
Catholic Business Owners Seek Injunction to Halt HHS Mandate Compliance
Bitter Fight Over Tennessee Mosque Isn’t Over
U.S. News – July 19, 2012
Judge Allows Muslims to Use Tennessee Mosque
Muslim congregation seeks court order to use mosque for Ramadan
Q & A: Philip Ryken on Wheaton’s Contraception Mandate Lawsuit: ‘A Last Resort’
WSJ: An Evangelical-Catholic Stand on Religious Liberty
By: President Philip Ryken (Wheaton) and President John Garvey (CUA) Continue reading “WSJ: An Evangelical-Catholic Stand on Religious Liberty”
Leading Protestant college sues over birth control mandate
Appeals court upholds off-campus religious classes
Obama vs. Religious Freedom: Why his administration threatens your right to worship
Washington Post: Affordable Care Act ruling promises religious fights for the foreseeable future
“It seems to me the administration has won one legal challenge and there are 23 others waiting in the wings” –Mark Rienzi, Becket Fund Continue reading “Washington Post: Affordable Care Act ruling promises religious fights for the foreseeable future”
Groups opposed to contraception mandate will push forward with lawsuits
Groups Vow to Continue Fighting for Religious Liberty as Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act
The other ‘mandate’: Foes of contraception rule to sustain legal battle if ObamaCare upheld
Coptic Solidarity Hosts Policy Conference on Egypt
Link to article, June 25, 2012
50 years later: High court’s school prayer ruling still fuels religious liberty debate
Deseret News, June 24,2012
Judge Says ‘Under God’ in Pledge Isn’t a ‘Religious Truth’
Wall Street Journal, June 12th, 2012 Link to article
Superior Court judge affirms use of Pledge of Allegiance ‘under God’ in Mass. schools
Boston.com June 11, 2012 Link to article
Big Government as the rival and enemy of religion
Washington Examiner, June 10, 2012. Link to article
Jim Crow-era measures used against vouchers
The Oklahoman, June 7th, 2012 Link to article
The Becket Fund defends multiple Oklahoma families against Tulsa-area public school districts suing under these unjust measures. Visit our case page for more information.
Religious Liberty Group to Defend Mont. Jesus Statue Against Atheists Demanding Its Removal
Christian Post, May 31, 2012. Link to article
Knights of Columbus defend Montana Jesus statue against lawsuit
Catholic News Agency, May 31, 2012. Link to article
Activists gather to plot defense of ‘religious liberty’
Washington Post, May, 2012. Link to article
Groups call on Georgetown to withdraw Sebelius invitation
Fox News, May 9th, 2012 Groups call on Georgetown to withdraw Sebelius invitation
Beyond Church And State: School Vouchers And The Blaine Amendment
Jewish Press, April 18, 2012. Link to article
Legal experts expect Supreme Court to eventually uphold Henry law
Tulsa World, April 17, 2012 Link to article
Obama obfuscates on church regulation
Birth control rule won’t apply to all student plans at colleges, White House says
New front in birth control rule battle: the courts
Furor on dictate over contraception coverage intensifying
Obama’s Baffling Catholic Decision: Birth Control Trumps Religious Freedom
Obama’s Baffling Catholic Decision: Birth Control Trumps Religious Freedom
Contraceptive mandate could face tough sledding in Supreme Court
Feds: Religious employers must cover the pill
“The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a powerhouse law firm based in Washington that tackles religious freedom issues, predicted in a statement that religious groups “will never pay for abortion drugs in violation of their religious beliefs.”” – Associated Press Continue reading “Feds: Religious employers must cover the pill”
Churches Are Exempt From U.S. Requirement to Cover Contraception, HHS Says
…But religious-affiliated organizations are not. Becket Fund lawsuits move forward.
Continue reading “Churches Are Exempt From U.S. Requirement to Cover Contraception, HHS Says”
Defending the Rights of Religious Expression for Everyone — From Anglicans to Zoroastrians (Bill Mumma in the National Catholic Register)
The Becket Fund’s new president, William Mumma, discusses key threats to religious liberty.
by THOMAS L. McDONALD
William Mumma– The Becket Fund
They boast of working to protect the free expression of all faiths, “from Anglicans to Zoroastrians.”
Established in 1994, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a nonprofit, public-interest legal and educational institute whose lawyers have defended dozens of cases in which the government has infringed upon the religious rights of Americans.
Recently, the Becket Fund took up the case of Belmont Abbey v. Sebelius, in which Belmont Abbey College is challenging the interim final rule of the Health and Human Services Department requiring all insurers to cover contraceptives and sterilizations.
Earlier this year, William Mumma took over as president of the fund when founder Kevin “Seamus” Hasson stepped down for health reasons. Mumma is president and CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA, as well as chairman of the board of trustees for Georgetown University’s Tocqueville Forum on the Roots of American Democracy.
Mumma recently spoke about the rapid increase in attacks by the government on religious liberty at the local, state and federal level.
The Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] recently mandated coverage of medical services forbidden by the Church. How are the new regulations different from the old, and upon what legal grounds can the Becket Fund oppose them?
The new regulations are totally unprecedented, in that they will eventually require almost every employer in the country to provide contraceptives and some abortion-inducing drugs to their employees for free. The Obama administration included a very narrow religious exemption, but it wouldn’t cover most religious organizations. Nor would it cover any religious individuals who are prohibited by their religion from buying these drugs for their employees.
The Becket Fund opposes these regulations as a direct and totally unnecessary attack on religious freedom. If the government thinks everyone needs these drugs, it should give them out directly or work with willing distributors. But the Constitution and federal law prohibit the government from forcing unwilling individuals to violate their religion. Worse, there is absolutely no need for the regulations — contraceptives aren’t exactly hard to come by in our society, and 90% of insurance plans were covering them before Obamacare.
HHS recently defunded the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services trafficking victim assistance program, on the grounds that it would not provide as essential service — the “full range of reproductive services.” Is this just the beginning of a new assault on Catholic social agencies, and how can the Church defend her role in providing these services?
I think it is the continuation of a problem that has been going on for a while now. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of social services in the country and probably the world. But, of course, there are some kinds of help the Catholic Church can’t provide, like referring for abortion or placing a child for adoption in a same-sex family.
That shouldn’t really be a problem — there is no reason the government couldn’t let the Church provide the kinds of help it can provide (which is really almost everything), and then work with others for the handful of things the government wants to do that the Church cannot. But, instead, governments have recently been using the Church’s opposition to some services to ban them from providing any. That doesn’t help anyone.
What can the Church do to defend her role? I think it needs to publicize and talk about the issue plenty, and make clear that the administration will face litigation when it discriminates against Catholics or any other religious group.
What are the current threats to religious liberty from the movement towards same-sex ‘marriage,’ and how can we defend ourselves against them?
The religious-liberty concern is that if same-sex “marriages” are permitted the government will make it illegal for religious people and institutions to say they don’t want to participate in the marriage. In a diverse society, obviously, different people will have different religious and moral beliefs about things. It is one thing for the government to say the government will recognize same-sex unions. But it is quite another to say it will force unwilling people to be part of them even if it violates their religion.
Protecting against this threat requires several things. First, we need to make clear that people who hold traditional views of marriage are not ignorant, mean bigots, but people of good will who are relying on thousands of years of human history and religious tradition. Second, we need to be active in state legislatures so that where same-sex “marriages” are permitted by statutes the statutes themselves provide broad and express protections for religious liberty. And third, where necessary, we need to be prepared to zealously defend religious liberty in court.
The Justice Department is also attacking the “ministerial exception,” which allows churches to make employee decisions without undue interference from the state. Testimony in the Hosanna-Tabor case, [in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission challenged the rights of a Lutheran school to fire an employee on religious grounds,] raised the chilling prospect that the government could potentially decide that the Church’s male-only priesthood is, in fact, a matter of discrimination. Does the Obama administration have any grounds for this novel assertion of power, and how can we defend against it?
At the oral argument in this case it was no surprise to hear Justice [Antonin] Scalia express shock at the aggressively anti-religious position taken by the government. But it was a bit surprising, and very heartening, to hear Justice [Elena] Kagan also chide the government for taking what she called “amazing” positions against religious liberty.
Under the law, as the Constitution is written and has been understood for more than two centuries, the government has absolutely no basis for this position. I think the question of the all-male priesthood is an important reminder of why we need the religion clauses in the Constitution — if religion doesn’t get special protection, then the government can just decide that its interest in eliminating sex discrimination is more important than the Church’s interest in following centuries of Church doctrine.
Are there sufficient current protections for health-care workers to refuse to collaborate in medical services they find morally unacceptable, or are these protections being eroded?
We have some very strong conscience protections that, when properly enforced and respected, go a long way toward protecting religious objectors. However, it is important to note that protecting conscience in the health-care field is in everyone’s interests. If we start saying that you can only operate a hospital or be a practicing ob-gyn if you will perform abortions, the result will be fewer hospitals and doctors.
What are the issues in the Belmont Abbey case, and what is at stake should they lose?
Belmont Abbey is a small, Catholic liberal arts college located in Belmont, N.C. Founded in 1876 by Benedictine monks, Belmont Abbey’s mission is to “educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things God may be glorified.” True to its roots, Benedictine monks continue to financially sponsor and govern the college. As a Catholic institution, the college is subject to the Church’s provisions which govern its colleges and universities, one of which proclaims that an essential characteristic of a Catholic college is fidelity to the Christian message as it comes through the Church.
One of those messages is the Church’s teaching that sterilization, contraception and abortion are against God’s law. So when the government recently mandated that all private group health plans cover sterilization and contraception (including abortifacients), Belmont Abbey knew that it could not follow both the government’s mandate and its Church’s teachings. Faced with this dilemma, the college decided to ask the court to remove this substantial burden to its religious freedom. What is at issue in this case, then, is the protection of Belmont Abbey’s right of conscience.
There is much at stake in this case. Particularly in the medical and insurance fields, people will be forced to choose between violating their religious convictions and violating the law. That is a terrible position for the government to put someone in. Imagine you are a 50-year-old pharmacist and your governor says that you have to violate your religious convictions and sell ella [an “emergency contraception” which some people say can act as an abortifacient] or lose your license and the only profession you’ve ever known? Or imagine you are a nurse and the hospital says you must assist in late-term abortions or lose your job?
Particularly in a bad economy, these predicaments impose powerful government coercion on people to give up their religious convictions as the price of keeping their jobs or participating equally in society. Fortunately, the Constitution and state and federal laws make it illegal to put people in these positions.
Also, it is important to note that the monks didn’t ask for this lawsuit — the administration gave them no choice. They either have to violate their religious convictions by providing these drugs or they have to kick their students and employees off of health insurance and pay steep fines. So HHS brought the war to the monks, not the other way around.
Why is the phrase “under God” so important that the Becket Fund would take a case to the Supreme Court in order to protect it?
Our Declaration of Independence sets forth the American view that we are inherently free, that we have inherent rights simply by virtue of being members of the human species, and that those rights are not given to us by government, but come from God. Our Pledge of Allegiance honors that history and reminds schoolchildren every day of the original understanding of our rights. It is also an important reminder to government that government cannot simply take our rights away.
The push by radical anti-religionists to expunge every mention of God from our nation does all of us a deep disservice. A belief in God rather than government as the source of our liberties is a founding principle of this nation that should never be de-emphasized.
To view the original story in the National Catholic Register, click here.
WSJ: The Church of Kathleen Sebelius
In the church of Kathleen Sebelius, there is little room for dissent. “We are in a war,” the Health and Human Services Secretary declared to cheers at a recent NARAL Pro-Choice America fund-raiser. Give the lady her due: Her actions mostly match her words.
Mrs. Sebelius’s militancy explains the shock her allies are now feeling after last Wednesday’s decision to overrule the Food and Drug Administration on Plan B, a morning-after pill. The FDA had proposed allowing over-the-counter sales, which would give girls as young as 11 or 12 access without either a prescription or a parent. Now the secretary’s allies are howling about her “caving in” to the Catholic bishops.
On this score they needn’t worry. Notwithstanding the unexpected burst of common sense on Plan B, the great untold story remains the intolerance so beloved of self-styled progressives. In this Mrs. Sebelius has proved herself one of the administration’s most faithful practitioners: here watering down conscience protections for nurses and doctors who don’t want to participate in abortions; there yanking funding for a top-rated program for victims of sexual trafficking run by the Catholic bishops, because they will not sign on to the NARAL agenda; soon to impose a new HHS mandate that will require health-insurance plans to cover contraception, sterilization and drugs known to induce abortion.
Thus far, attention has mostly focused on the politics. One reason is that even Catholics who supported President Obama on his signature health bill recognize the contraceptive mandate as a bridge too far. These include the Catholic Health Association’s Sr. Carol Keehan, whose well-publicized embrace of the Affordable Care Act gave the president critical cover when he needed it. Others simply question whether forcing Catholic hospitals to drop health insurance for their employees rather than submit to Madam Sebelius’s bull is really the image the president wants during a tough re-election year.
Then there are the Catholic bishops. Just two years ago, many seemed to regard ObamaCare as a compassionate piece of legislation if only a few provisions (e.g., conscience rights and abortion funding) could be tweaked. Now they are learning the real problem is the whole thing is built on force—from the individual mandate and doctors’ fees to the panels deciding what treatment grandma is entitled to. The awakening has led to a new bishops’ committee on religious liberty, and tough, unprecedented criticism.
Predictably the press has been treating all this as a purely Catholic battle. If the church looms large here, that is because Catholic institutions have always been at the fore of social service. Still, it would be nice to come across a story that recognized that even if HHS were to widen the religious exemption (it’s so narrow Jesus Christ wouldn’t qualify) the new contraceptive mandate would still be imposed on non-Catholic as well as Catholic individuals and insurers.
Whether you approve or disapprove of contraception or sterilization is beside the point. Today nine out of 10 employer plans offer what Mrs. Sebelius wants them to. The point is whether it is right or necessary for Mrs. Sebelius to use the federal government to bring the other 10% to heel.
There was a day when liberals and libertarians appreciated the importance of upholding the freedoms of people and groups with unpopular views. No longer. As government expands, religious liberty is reduced to a special “exemption” and concerns about government coercion are dismissed, in the memorable words of Nancy Pelosi, as “this conscience thing.”
“Religious liberty is better seen as more a liberty issue than a religion issue,” says Bill Mumma of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “The more we drive religious and private associations off the public square, the more that space will be occupied by government.”
Of course, some might answer that they object to lots of things their money underwrites—say, the war in Iraq. Mrs. Sebelius’s HHS rule, however, doesn’t involve tax dollars: It involves forcing Americans to spend their private dollars on things they deem unconscionable. How far this is from the understanding in 1776 that the way to uphold liberty and keep these conflicts to a minimum was to keep government small and limited.
A new TV ad from CatholicVote.org features a little girl. “Dear President Obama,” she says. “Can I ask you a question? Why are you trying to force my church and my school to pay for things that we don’t even believe in?”
It’s a good question. Apparently it’s not enough that contraception be legal, cheap and available. As Mrs. Sebelius illustrates, modern American liberalism cannot rest until those who object are forced to underwrite it.
Read more about this case here.
WSJ article found here.
NRO: Pharmacists’ Conscience Rights on Trial
by Ed Whelan
December 9, 2011
An important case for the cause of religious liberty is on trial in federal court in the state of Washington. In Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky, owners of a family pharmacy, called Ralph’s, inOlympia, and two individual pharmacists, Rhonda Mesler and Margo Thelen, are challenging regulations that require them to dispense the drug Plan B.
Plan B is intended to be taken following intercourse by a woman or girl who wants to avoid becoming pregnant. According to its manufacturer, Plan B can operate either to prevent conception (i.e., in a genuinely contraceptive manner) or to prevent implantation of an already fertilized egg (i.e., as an abortifacient*).
The pharmacy owners and the two individual pharmacists are Christians whose religious beliefs forbid them from participating in the destruction of an unborn human life. They believe that dispensing Plan B constitutes direct participation in the destruction of human life.
Ralph’s does not stock Plan B. Before the challenged regulations were adopted in 2007, Ralph’s informed customers who requested Plan B of nearby pharmacies where they could purchase the drug, and it offered to call the pharmacies on their behalf. There are more than thirty pharmacies within five miles of Ralph’s that stock and dispense Plan B.
Rhonda Mesler and Margo Thelen are longtime pharmacists who were employed by other pharmacies. They both informed their employers when they were hired that they could not dispense Plan B for reasons of conscience. Because no other pharmacists were on duty during their shifts, they, with their employers’ permission, referred customers seeking Plan B to one of many nearby pharmacies. But, under the 2007 regulations, that accommodation is no longer permitted. Thelen has already lost her job, and Mesler will likely lose hers if the regulations are not struck down.
Pharmacies in Washington, as elsewhere, routinely refer customers to other pharmacies when they receive requests for drugs that are not in stock. Even for drugs that are in stock, they sometimes exercise the discretion to refer customers to other pharmacies where, for example, the customer’s insurance creates hassles related to reimbursement and forms of payment.
The primary—and very important—legal question that plaintiffs present is whether, under the FreeExercise Clause of the federal Constitution, the state of Washington may prohibit them from engaging in referrals for reasons of religious conscience when it has long permitted, and continues to permit, pharmacies to engage in a wide variety of referrals for secular reasons. In other words, can the 2007 regulations really be said to be “neutral and generally applicable” under the Supreme Court’s test in its 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith?
A resolution of this question in favor of plaintiffs might also promote the practice of referrals as a model for resolving various clashes between non-discrimination laws and religious conscience.
I will explore these points more fully in subsequent posts.
Let me highlight that I have drawn in this post, and expect to draw in subsequent posts, from the trial brief submitted by the outstanding lawyers at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who are representing plaintiffs.
* There is a rhetorical dispute over how best to label this second means by which Plan B is said to operate. Some call it contraceptive, but that is clearly wrong, as it occurs after conception. There is an argument that the term “abortifacient” should be reserved for drugs that operate after implantation, but for most opponents of abortion the morally relevant fact is that this second means of Plan B destroys the life of an already existing human embryo. That’s why I believe the term “abortifacient” (rather than, say, the more obscure term “contragestative”) fairly conveys this second means.
Read more about the case here.
National Review Online article.
Conscience Cause: Will the President Make a Call for Liberty?
The president was bragging to the crowd about the contraceptive mandate when he made his “Darn Tootin’!” comment. He might have thought it was a funny response, and it did get him some cheers. But the mandate is no laughing matter to Belmont Abbey, or to the millions of Americans whose religious convictions forbid them from distributing drugs that cause abortions. |
Activists Bemoan Low Priority Given to Religious Freedom
By Lauren Markoe| Religion News Service, Updated: Wednesday, October 26, 4:59 PM
WASHINGTON — Religious freedom advocates on Wednesday (Oct. 26) lamented America’s failure to protect the faithful abroad, saying things have gotten worse, not better, since the issue first gained traction more than a decade ago.
The soul-searching session, sponsored by the conservative Family Research Council, brought together panelists from government, academia and nonprofit groups who painted a dismal global picture of religious persecution, and weak U.S. attempts to combat it.
“What a parade of horrors,” said Georgetown University professor Thomas Farr, shaking his head at the statistics and anecdotes reeled off by other panelists: Coptic Christians massacred in Egypt, dissidents jailed in China, a pastor burned to death in Nigeria.
Farr, who in 1999 became the State Department’s first point man on international religious freedom, added another sobering statistic: According to a 2011 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 70 percent of the world lives in countries with high restrictions on religion.
That same Pew study showed religious persecution on the rise globally, a trend all the more discouraging to panelists because Congress in 1998 passed the International Religious Freedom Act, which aimed to boost U.S. efforts to help religious freedom bloom abroad.
“The situation has grown so much worse in the past 13 years,” said Tina Ramirez, director of international and government relations at the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
And though forum organizers came down particularly hard on the Obama administration for failing to prioritize religious freedom, panelists also found fault with his two predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
The view from the White House is more optimistic. Joshua DuBois, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said the administration’s record on defending the dignity of people with different religious backgrounds has been “extraordinarily strong.”
“It’s an issue of deep passion for the president and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” he said.
Dubois pointed to Obama’s appointment of an interagency working group on religious freedom at the White House to assure that the issue is not isolated in one office. “They are reaching out across government and saying that religious freedom is everyone’s responsibility,” he said.
At the forum, several panelists said U.S. foreign policymakers at the very least need to speak more strongly against the abuse of religious minorities.
Elyse Anderson, foreign policy director for Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., one of the staunchest congressional advocates for religious freedom, acknowledged circumstances abroad can often supersede the United States’ ability to improve the lot of oppressed religious groups.
“Our leverage may be limited,” she said, “but it most certainly exists.”
To that end, she suggested making U.S. foreign aid conditional on measurable improvements in religious freedom.
Farr said training on protecting religious freedom should be mandatory for Foreign Service officers, and said the ambassador-at-large for religious freedom should report directly to the secretary of state.
But most importantly, Farr continued, the U.S. needs to embrace the strategic reasons to safeguard religious freedom abroad, because humanitarian appeals for the oppressed have failed.
Farr called for making explicit connections between religious freedom and counterterrorism, pointing to research showing that religiously tolerant societies make poor breeding grounds for terrorists.
What if Osama bin Laden had been raised not in an intolerant Saudi Arabia, Farr asked, but one in which Saudis were exposed to a marketplace of religious thought? “Would 9/11 have happened?”
To access the original posting of this piece, please click here.
The Cult of Anti-Mormonism
The Cult of Anti-Mormonism
The faith of Romney and Huntsman is a target of liberals and conservatives.
By William McGurn
Here’s some advice for Republican candidates appearing at Tuesday’s presidential debate at Dartmouth College. When you are asked, as you will be asked, what you make of the Christian pastor who called the Mormon faith a “cult,” there’s only one appropriate answer.
It comes from the last sentence of Article VI of the Constitution, and it reads as follows: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that.
The Mormon issue arose Friday, when a Dallas pastor introduced Texas Gov. Rick Perry to a gathering of social conservatives in Washington. Shortly thereafter the same pastor, Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church, told a group of reporters that Mormonism was a “cult” and definitely “not Christian”—a not so veiled reference to the GOP front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Since then, the press has had a field day trying to get the other Republican candidates on record whether they share Mr. Jeffress’s theological understanding.
This is not the first time Mr. Romney has seen his faith become an issue in a GOP presidential contest. In December 2007, on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, the New York Times ran a story quoting Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, as asking, “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” Mr. Huckabee went on to beat Mr. Romney in those caucuses, and some say Mr. Romney’s Mormonism cost him among the evangelicals who flocked to Mr. Huckabee.
This time around, Republicans have not one but two presidential candidates from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The other, of course, is former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Still, public allusions to the Mormon faith remain sensitive, as the media attention generated by the cult remark indicates.
Partly this has to do with white evangelicals, who are an important bloc in the Republican coalition. Thus many stories on the issue of Mr. Romney’s Mormonism invoke a striking May survey from the Pew Research Center. According to this survey, 34% of white evangelicals report themselves “less likely” to vote for a Mormon for president.
That’s fair enough as far as it goes. The same Pew survey, however, shows something much less reported. This is that, overall, more Democrats than Republicans are hostile to a Mormon candidacy (31% to 23%). More interesting still is Pew’s finding that when it comes to this particular animus, “liberal Democrats stand out, with 41% saying they would be less likely to support a Mormon candidate.
As disappointing as these attitudes might be, far more alarming for Mormons are the attacks on Mormon property and Mormon livelihoods just three years ago that registered barely a peep among the same media now so obsessed with Mr. Jeffress. These attacks happened during the 2008 campaign in California over Proposition 8, a state referendum to ban same-sex marriage. When opponents of the measure found that Mormons had contributed heavily to its passage, ugly attacks followed.
LDS temples in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City received envelopes filled with white powder, provoking an anthrax scare. A Book of Mormon was burned outside an LDS chapel in Denver. Other Mormon chapels were vandalized.
Individuals fared even worse. The head of the Los Angeles Film Festival was forced to resign after his contribution was made public. Ditto for a fellow Mormon who ran the California Musical Theater. A former gold medalist who served as U.S. chef de mission for the 2012 Olympic Games in London likewise stepped down. A 67-year-old woman who had donated just $100 stopped working at the restaurant her mother owned to spare it further protest.
Hannah Smith of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty puts it this way: “At the heart of the First Amendment is the freedom to participate in the political process regardless of faith,” she says. “When people of any faith face retribution—either through violence or intimidation or loss of their livelihood—as a direct result of that participation, America has lost something.
So it’s good to see Republican feet now being held to the fire on an issue the Founders resolved in 1787. Even more encouraging would be a press willing to give attention to very real concern among politically active Mormons: whether a Romney nomination would mean LDS members staying on the sidelines out of fear of the kind of attacks on their property and their livelihoods that their co-religionists experienced with California’s Proposition 8 and its aftermath.
So amid all the coverage given to Pastor Robert Jeffress, ask yourself this question. If you were a Mormon, which would you consider the real threat to your liberty: what some Dallas Baptist says about your faith—or organized attacks intended to intimidate and drive you off the public square?
USA Today- In Hosanna-Tabor, government should butt out
Led by the non-sectarian Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Hosanna-Tabor’s defenders know that a decision against the church could have terrible consequences for freedom of conscience in America. Continue reading “USA Today- In Hosanna-Tabor, government should butt out”
UC Hastings’ “The Faculty Lounge” – Obama Justice Department Wants to Eliminate the Ministerial Exception
Next week the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC. The case involves the scope of the ministerial exception from federal employment discrimination laws, or so we thought until the Obama administration’s Justice Department filed a brief contending that the ministerial exception ought not exist. The ministerial exception is rooted in the nation’s constitutional commitment to religious liberty, in the form of permitting religious institutions to select their clergy and govern themselves internally free of governmental edicts. See, e.g., Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevic, 426 U.S. 696 (1976). The case involves the discharge of a teacher at a religious school who taught a full secular curriculum, but was also a minister (employed as a “called teacher” — one who has committed to the faith), regularly held prayer and worship services for students, and taught religion classes daily. The Sixth Circuit ruled that the teacher was not a ministerial employee and thus the ministerial exception was inapplicable. The issue presented to the Supreme Court was limited to the scope of the exception, but that has not deterred the DOJ from contending that the exception ought to be junked. The DOJ’s brief is here. In essence the DOJ thinks that the ministerial exception is not constitutionally required or, if it is, it should be limited to people who perform “exclusively religious functions and whose claims concern their entitlement to occupy or retain their ecclesiastical office.”
If the ministerial exception were to be scrapped altogether, the Roman Catholic church could not limit its priesthood to men, the Jewish rabbinate must be opened to women, Islamic clerics could not be limited by sex or ethnicity, and, presumably, non-Catholics could become priests, Anglicans could become rabbis, born-again Christians could become imams, or at least have a legal right to seek the job free of religious discrimination. Perhaps because the DOJ knows, at bottom, that this is nonsense (and contrary to the First Amendment) it offers its fallback position. But even that shrinkage of the ministerial exception would have a profound impact on employment by religious organizations of people — like the teacher at issue in Hosanna-Tabor — who combine secular and religious duties as a profession of the faith. The DOJ brief is an indication of an underlying hostility to religious autonomy on the part of the Obama administration.
Beliefnet – Supreme Court to consider whether churches can hire, fire without government interference
Does a church have the right to hire or fire the preacher without worrying about government interference?
If a Catholic priest decides he doesn’t accept the authority of the Pope, can the diocese recall him without worrying about the National Labor Relations Board? Can the local Baptist church fire a youth minister who announces he speaks in tongues and all the high schoolers will go to hell if they don’t?
While the question seems obvious, it goes before the U.S. Supreme Court next week with a bit of a twist. Does the same ”ministerial exception” apply to other employees? During the opening week of its new term, the court will hear oral arguments in what some observers say is the most important religious liberty case in decades — Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In question is a 40-year-old constitutional doctrine known as the “ministerial exception.” It’s an interpretation of the First Amendment guaranteeing that the government may not meddle in the free exercise of religion.
The question before the justices, writes Lauren Markoe for the Washington Post, is whether the exemption protects churches and other religious institutions from government interference in their employment decisions:
Few would dispute that a religious congregation should be unfettered when it chooses to hire or fire clergy. But what about other church employees?
“Advocates for the ministerial exception argue that religious institutions, in their hiring and firing, should be regulated as little as possible,” said Ira C. Lupu, a professor at The George Washington University School of Law who specializes in church-state cases. “On the other side are those concerned that a particular group is cast outside the various protections of civil rights laws.”
“The doctrine upheld by lower courts for four decades protects religious organizations,” writes Hannah C. Smith for Salt Lake City’s Deseret News , ”by exempting them from certain employment rules (anti-discrimination laws) relating to their ‘ministerial employees.’ The doctrine reflects the long-standing recognition of church autonomy in hiring and firing ministers without government interference.”
The issue is not as simple as it might seem, notes Smith, who clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court and is a member of the Deseret News’ editorial advisory board. She is also senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which will appear before the court in the case. She notes:
This freedom enables the church to define and control its leadership, beliefs, character and message. The question the Supreme Court will consider is who counts as a “ministerial employee” and thus whose employment status is within the sphere of the church’s autonomy.
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical School is a small, church-run evangelical Lutheran school in suburban Detroit. Its former fourth grade teacher— Cheryl Perich — was hired to teach an academic curriculum. But she was also hired to teach her students religion classes, lead class prayer, lead scriptural devotionals, attend school-wide chapel services with her class, infuse religion into the secular subjects she taught and be a good Christian role model to her students. In short, her job was to instill the Lutheran faith in the next generation in her classroom.
Perich took an extended leave of absence because of illness. The church hired a replacement. Following church doctrine based on 1st Corinthians, chapter 6, the church requires members and employees to follow an internal procedure for disputes.
“So when Perich threatened to take the church to court” instead of following the internal procedure, “she did so contrary to church teaching,” writes Smith. “The church released Perich from her call as a commissioned minister and teacher for insubordination and disruptive conduct in violation of church teachings.”
But can they do that? She filed a discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — seeking to be reinstated as a teacher at the school — over the objections of the church that runs the school. The church says that she was a “ministerial employee” and that her defiance of the church’s belief in resolving religious disputes out of court justified firing her.
A trial court ruled in the church’s favor. An appeals court sided with Perich.
Why is this big? Smith observes:
The Supreme Court long ago recognized that government may not tell churches whom to choose as their clergy, or how to transfer power from one leader to another, or whether to reinstate a religious leader who has been found unfit by the church. Courts may not reverse decisions made by religious tribunals or choose sides in a religious controversy. And the Supreme Court has been right.
If the First Amendment means anything, it means that the government is entirely incompetent to decide matters of religious faith, doctrine and practice.
Indeed, because of that constitutional protection written into the Bill of Rights, Mormons can require that their missionaries be Mormons, Lutherans can refuse to put Hindu priests in their pulpits and the Catholic Church can require that all nuns be female.
Smith notes:
If, as the EEOC urges, the Supreme Court decides the ministerial exception should not exist at all, the floodgates open for lawsuits claiming all sorts of “discrimination” by religious institutions that heretofore had been accepted as a legitimate form of religious expression.
More likely, the Supreme Court will recognize the danger of eliminating that exception and will uphold the doctrine as grounded in our constitutional history and applicable to the teacher in this case. Whatever the outcome, the decision will likely have a significant impact on the level of autonomy of many religious institutions in this country.
The Washington Post- Supreme Court to weigh churches’ hiring rights
““The purpose of the ministerial exception is to protect the right of religious institutions to choose their religious leaders,” said Luke Goodrich, Deputy National Litigation Director for the Becket Fund.
Continue reading “The Washington Post- Supreme Court to weigh churches’ hiring rights”
Christian Post – Should Religious Institutions Follow Anti-Discrimination Laws? Supreme Court Decides
Should religious institutions have to follow anti-discrimination laws? That’s the question the Supreme Court will address on Oct. 5, when one of the most important religion cases in decades will be presented.
he case concerns “ministerial exception,” a 40-year-old legal doctrine that protects churches and other religious institutions from government interference in their employment decisions.
According to the Religion News Service, the case began when the teacher of a Lutheran elementary school in Redford, Mich., claimed she was fired in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Cheryl Perich taught third and fourth graders at Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran School. In 2004 she was diagnosed with narcolepsy and received medical consent to return to work after being on disability leave.
Perich ran into problems when she tried to return to the school.
According to RNS, the school asked Perich to resign after they hired a substitute. When she threatened to sue, the congregation fired her.
Hosanna-Tabor, which is now closed, hired Perich as a “called teacher” and it was her duty to “advance the religious doctrines of the congregation that operated the school.”
However, Perich taught secular subjects in addition to religion.
That contract clause made her a “commissioned minister” which falls into the ministerial exemption category of the law.
Attorney Luke Goodrich of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the church, said, “The purpose of the ministerial exception is to protect the right of religious institutions to choose their religious leaders.”
“Advocates for the ministerial exception argue that in religious institutions, in their hiring and firing, should be regulated as little as possible,” Ira C. Lupu told RNS.
Lupu is a professor at The George Washington University School of Law, who specializes in church-state cases.
The dispute is not over whether or not a religious congregation should be unregulated when it chooses to hire or fire clergy. The case will challenge the employment decisions regarding secular workers, like teachers and office employees.
In 2008, Perich lost her first suit in federal court, but the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in her favor last year.
While Goodrich is representing the church, The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the government’s side.
“While faith communities surely have the right to set religious doctrine and decide which ministers best advance their religious beliefs and practices, they shouldn’t get a blank check to discriminate or retaliate against their employees,” said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief in RNS.
One of the most hard-hitting questions facing the court is this: should the government be allowed to decide which employee duties are “religious” and which are not?
“I’ll tell you what makes this case really interesting,” said Lupu. “The last time the Supreme Court heard a case about internal church disputes was more than 30 years ago. This makes for a certain amount of unpredictability.”
Tulsa World- Union, Jenks school districts file lawsuit on vouchers
“It is outrageous that these school districts are now suing parents simply for taking advantage of a scholarship opportunity that the state has now enacted twice,” said Eric N. Kniffin, legal counsel for the Becket Fund. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represents the defendants in the separate lawsuit in federal court.
Continue reading “Tulsa World- Union, Jenks school districts file lawsuit on vouchers”
The Wall Street Journal- Religion and the Cult of Tolerance
“The Becket Fund is involved in this case because it’s not just about one little Lutheran school in suburban Detroit,” says Fund attorney Eric Rassbach. “It’s about the ability of people of all faiths to work out their relationship with God and one another without the government looking over their shoulder.”
Continue reading “The Wall Street Journal- Religion and the Cult of Tolerance”
The Washington Times: Faith groups call for greater efforts to promote tolerance
Tina Ramirez, Becket Fund Director of International and Government Relations, comments on religious persecution at a conference held at the Washington Times. Continue reading “The Washington Times: Faith groups call for greater efforts to promote tolerance”
Detroit Metro Times: Court and Cross Michigan case puts church v. state before the U.S. Supreme Court
Additional coverage of Hosanna Tabor, our latest groundbreaking Supreme Court case. Continue reading “Detroit Metro Times: Court and Cross Michigan case puts church v. state before the U.S. Supreme Court”
San Antonio Express: Leon Valley Church Wins Zoning Fight
The Becket Fund’s Lori Windham was quoted in a piece by the San Antonio Express regarding Elijah Group’s recent victory in a federal appeals court. Continue reading “San Antonio Express: Leon Valley Church Wins Zoning Fight”
National Catholic Register: ‘God’ Is Alive (in the Pledge of Allegiance)
Eric Rassbach, National Litigation Director at the Becket Fund, was recently interviewed by the National Catholic Register regarding a recent court decision to keep ‘ God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance. Continue reading “National Catholic Register: ‘God’ Is Alive (in the Pledge of Allegiance)”
EWTN News: Proposed bill would effectively ban US Catholic adoption agencies
The Becket Fund’s Lori Windham was recently quoted in a piece by EWTN regarding a proposal before Congress that could have far reaching effects on the continued operation and practices of Catholic adoption agencies. Continue reading “EWTN News: Proposed bill would effectively ban US Catholic adoption agencies”
The Christian Post:Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer and Living Like a True Christian
The Christian Post covered the Becket Fund’s Sixteenth Anniversary Canterbury Medal Dinner with a tribute to this year’s medalist, author Eric Metaxas. To read the complete story, click here.
Continue reading “The Christian Post:Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer and Living Like a True Christian”
USA Today: Hosanna-Tabor case to test our church-state divide
Read about a case the Becket Fund’s is preparing to bring before the Supreme Court in USA Today. Continue reading “USA Today: Hosanna-Tabor case to test our church-state divide”