by Jorge Gomez • 3 minutes
With the New Year underway, we have tremendous expectations that 2025 will be another landmark year for religious liberty in America.
The last few weeks have been filled with encouraging victories. In December alone, we were happy to announce multiple wins with huge impact. Those include a federal court victory for houses of worship in New Jersey. We successfully defended an 8th grade student in New York so he could start a Bible study club with his friends and classmates. We also won for Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, Texas so they could begin construction of a facility to care for victims of sex trafficking.
2024 ended on a very positive note. Now, looking ahead, we’re in a position to build on this momentum. We have many new battles that we’re fighting, including these three cases that we’ll be arguing in court this January.
Please pray for our clients, attorneys as well the judges who will be hearing each of these cases.
Bangor Christian School and Crosspoint Church
Maine keeps trying to exclude our client, Bangor Christian School (BCS), and other religious schools from participating in the state tuition program, despite our U.S. Supreme Court victory in Carson v. Makin that held states cannot discriminate against parents who want to send their children to religious schools under government student-aid programs.
In anticipation of their loss at the Supreme Court, Maine officials passed a bill to require BCS to violate its sincerely held religious beliefs in order to participate. This “poison pill” imposes requirements that will prohibit BCS from teaching from its religious perspective or considering an admissions applicants’ alignment with the school’s statement of faith and religious educational mission. Banning religious schools with traditional Biblical beliefs from participating in school choice programs violates our Supreme Court victory in Carson.
A federal district court ruled against our clients. Still, the district court’s decision emphasized that our lawsuit raises important legal questions. The judge recognized that the threat of significant penalties and the forced decision between the school’s religious beliefs and participation in the school choice program are enough to let our case move forward.
Now, we have an opportunity argue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. We’ll explain to the court that Maine’s law is unconstitutional and should not stand. The Constitution and legal precedent are clear: BCS and all religious schools should be treated the same as everyone else. This will be an important precedent for the whole country.
We’ll be in court on January 9th for a hearing in our case involving Heather Rooks, a member of the Peoria Unified School Board in Arizona. She is being prohibited from quoting Bible verses during school board meetings, even during her time of free expression.
First Liberty and the law firm Gibson Dunn filed a federal lawsuit in the fall of 2023, arguing that the school district’s ban on religious expression is viewpoint discrimination and that it’s illegal to single out religious voices for censorship.
We’ll explain to the court the school district’s governing board must follow the law and allow Heather to speak freely without religious discrimination. We have asked the court to issue a final judgment protecting Heather’s constitutional rights.
On January 31st, we’ll argue on behalf of our client, Zachary Hebb, at the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit.
Zachary’s religious beliefs compel him to share his faith and provide alternatives to abortion with those seeking to terminate their pregnancy. He shares this life-affirming message with individuals visiting the Asheville Health Center. He offers tangible aid for keeping babies, informs listeners about adoption and shares his Christian faith using an amplifier and speaking in a conversational tone at a volume level appropriate for the area.
The City of Asheville, North Carolina conspired with Planned Parenthood to put in place an amplification ban that would put a buffer zone around the health clinic. The city eventually passed an ordinance that effectively bans Zachary from being able to express his message simply because it is pro-life.
Our attorneys filed a federal lawsuit, and the district court ruled favorably for Zachary, finding that Asheville’s amplification ban violates the First Amendment and his right to free speech. In response to the lower court decision, the city filed an appeal to the Fourth Circuit.
We’ll argue at the Fourth Circuit that public speech in a public place is protected by the First Amendment. We’ll make the case to the court that it’s unconstitutional to censor religious Americans simply because they express a message the government does not like.
The stakes for our First Freedom are higher than ever. Decisions in each of these will affect houses of worship, religious schools, public employees and everyday Americans—including YOU.
The battle for our First Freedom is far from over. We need your continued support and prayers. God is opening new doors and giving us opportunities to impact the future of our country. Can we count on your continued support in 2025 to keep winning big for religious freedom?
Please donate to First Liberty today.
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