Catch up on the latest and most important religious freedom headlines around the web.
How A New Supreme Court Case Could Affect Religious Liberty
In an op-ed for The Washington Examiner, Doug Seaton writes: Gerald Groff was a USPS employee and a devout Christian who requested that he be given religious accommodation by not working Sundays. He was initially granted permission, but USPS subsequently backtracked on their word and began scheduling Groff for Sunday shifts, which he could not work in good conscience.
Perspective: George Washington’s Farewell Speech and Why It Matters Today
Deseret News reports: George Washington’s “Farewell Address”—the 1796 sendoff in which he announced his retirement from the presidency and offered parting counsel to the American people—is justly famous. It ranks as one of our greatest state papers. It belongs to the canon of American literature.
What is less known is that Washington’s great political sermon was actually his second valediction. And on his first retirement, when he surrendered command of the Continental Army in 1783, Washington penned a farewell message intended to guide his country on the tumultuous journey from hard-won independence to stable and prosperous self-governance.
ACLU Hails First ‘After-School Satan Club’ Meeting at Virginia Elementary School ‘A Victory for Free Speech And Religious Liberty’
Insider.com reports: Students at B.M. Williams Primary School in Chesapeake, Virginia school held their first After-School Satan Club meeting after being put on hold for months. The ACLU described it as “a victory for free speech and religious liberty.” The club was formed last fall in response to the Good News Club, another student club run by the Child Evangelism Fellowship.
Sen. Wyden’s Vile Attack on the Federal Judiciary
National Review reports: On the U.S. Senate floor, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon launched a vile attack on federal District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Supreme Court. In a prepared speech, Sen. Wyden lambasted Kacsmaryk as a “lifelong right-wing activist,” a “partisan ideologue,” an “anti-abortion zealot,” and “the most lawless judge in the country.” He called one of his cases “a rigged game.”
Attorney For Teen Suspended After Opposing Trans Ideology Says Religious Freedom ‘Essentially Dead’ In Canada
Fox News reports: A lawyer for a Canadian Catholic high school student who was reportedly suspended for opposing transgender ideology said his client’s legal battle shows freedom in the country is quickly eroding.
“I think it’s representative of where the culture is at, where society is at, and where our government institutions are at up here,” attorney James Kitchen told Fox News Digital of the case against 16-year-old Josh Alexander. Alexander, who describes himself as a born-again Christian, was first suspended in November for organizing protests at his school against biological males in girls’ bathrooms and arguing in class that God created two unchangeable genders.
Nonstop Worship Service at Kentucky College Set To End After Attracting Thousands
The Washington Post reports: After almost two weeks of 24-hour worship, a revival at Asbury University in Wilmore, Ky., will end, the school said. Thousands traveled to the university’s chapel to take part what is being called the “Asbury Revival,” which began after morning service on Feb. 8. Word quickly spread after worshipers shared videos on social media showing people praying with their hands extended above them, holding hands with strangers and crying to worship music.
The revival at the Christian school, which has fewer than 1,700 students and is located about a half-hour outside Lexington, drew national and international attention, attracting groups of students from at least 22 colleges and universities to its campus.
Justice Department Reaches Settlement in Religious Discrimination Suit Against Lansing, Michigan
The city of Lansing will pay $50,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to a former employee who claimed religious discrimination, the Department of Justice announced. Under a consent degree with the DOJ, the city is required to submit to the department for approval religious accommodation and retaliation policies as well as proposed training programs for the policies. The DOJ sued the city last year in response to a detention officer being fired in 2018 after she informed human resources and the Lansing Police Department she couldn’t work from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday because of her observance of the Sabbath as a Seventh-day Adventist.
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