Religious Freedom

This case involved a local citizen and the ACLU who sued to have a Ten Commandments Monument declared unconstitutional.  The district court ruled in favor of the county, holding that the monument did not violate the constitution.  The citizen and the ACLU appealed.

The owner of a floral business in Richland, Washington, has served and employed homosexual and lesbian people for many years. When she refused to participate—designing floral arrangements—in a homosexual wedding she was sued by Washington’s Attorney General.

Free speech is essential to our universities. Without it, and the diversity of opinions and associations it fosters, the mission of higher education is thwarted. When a group of college students wanted to set up a table to promote Turning Point USA—a non-profit organization that educates students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government—an administrator stopped them, citing the universities’ speech policy.

Our Lady of Guadalupe School and St. James School are both under attack for firing teachers who were deemed unqualified for their positions. The mission of these schools is to provide faith-based education for their students, along with a strong academic curriculum. Yet, in one case, the teacher was unwilling to follow the guidelines of a newly implemented program and in the other, her performance was low.

The First Amendment right to freedom of speech is being narrowly viewed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority by not allowing advertisements for Christmas events to be posted. Yet, advertisements for a video game with a warning that it involved extreme violence and sexual themes, is permissible.

Atheists brought suit challenging a monument to those who died in World War I, the Bladensburg Cross; claiming that since it is a religious symbol, it should not stand on public display and that its upkeep should not be funded by the government.

Many believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman. So when the bakers at “Sweet Cakes by Melissa” in Gresham, Oregon were asked to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding, the bakers felt, because of their religious convictions, they could not do so.

The owner of a bed and breakfast was standing on her belief that renting a room to a same-sex couple would go against her religious convictions.  Yet, Hawai`i’s Intermediate Court of Appeals has penalized her for not allowing the couple to stay at her B & B.