religious freedom

Years ago in a Breakpoint commentary, Chuck Colson described the jury selection process in the trial of Jack Kevorkian, the doctor accused of helping at least 27 of his patients kill themselves. Kevorkian’s lawyer attempted to bar anyone who said their Christian faith forbids suicide from serving on the jury, claiming that belief made them unfairly biased.

Religion has been increasingly relegated to the private sphere. Christians are welcome to participate in public life only if they leave their faith at home … [but] [t]he logic of Kevorkian’s defense attorney could be applied to any criminal trial. If potential jurors can be excluded for believing that assisted suicide is immoral, what will be the next step? Will the attorneys of accused murderers be permitted to exclude jurors whose religion teaches that life is sacred? 

More than 25 years later, that dismal hypothetical seems less hypothetical.

A coalition of pro-life pregnancy centers filed suit Tuesday against Vermont state officials over a new law that limits their advertising and restricts what such nonprofits can do.

A small group of Christians in San Francisco, California, have engaged in a legal battle over the removal of a 28-foot cross monument that was erected more than five decades ago.

In 1792, a group of New York bankers gathered by a famous tree on Wall Street and signed the landmark “Buttonwood Agreement.” Against a backdrop of speculation and deceit, the document signaled a return to openness, fair dealing, and integrity among New York’s financial sector. Eventually, the Buttonwood Agreement became the basis for the New York Stock Exchange. Today, corporate America faces a different crisis of values. 

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is rejecting requests from a liberal group to remove the drawing of a cross outside the governor's mansion, asserting that the depiction is constitutional and also an expression of her family's faith.

On Friday, the Supreme Court delivered a smashing victory for free speech. Lorie Smith is the founder of 303 Creative, a graphic design company that, among other services, creates custom websites for weddings. Concerned that a Colorado law would force her to design websites for same-sex weddings or take on other projects that would violate her deeply held religious beliefs, Smith filed a pre-enforcement challenge, asking the court to weigh in on whether the law violated her freedom of speech and conscience.

The state decided that Lorie did not have the right to choose which messages she uses her talents to express. Friday, however, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision and ruled in favor of Lorie Smith. 

The Supreme Court is generating headlines around the world, but your next act of faithful obedience will echo in heaven. The culture wars are dominating our culture, but you cannot measure the eternal significance of present faithfulness.

Faith-based hospitals and doctors won a major legal victory Tuesday when the Biden administration gave up in its attempt to force medical professionals to perform procedures, including gender transition surgeries, that violate their conscience.

A Toronto pitcher who sparked controversy with comments about Target and LGBT Pride Month has been cut from the team.

A school board in Maine has rejected a church's application to hold worship services at a high school as part of a long-term lease.