Coach Joseph Kennedy was fired from his job as a high school football coach in the Bremerton School District after he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet personal prayer. The school allowed other on-duty employees to engage in personal secular conduct at the time but would not allow Coach Kennedy to engage in his personal religious conduct. The Free Exercise and Free…
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Peter Vlaming, a high school French teacher in Virginia, was terminated from his job at West Point High School because he could not comply with the school board’s ultimatum that he use male pronouns to refer to a female student who identified as male. Mr. Vlaming extended every reasonable accommodation to his student, including using the student’s preferred name and attempting to avoid…
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Dr. Nicolas Meriwether, a philosophy professor, was punished by Shawnee State University because he declined a male student’s demand to be referred to as a woman, with feminine titles and feminine pronouns. Dr. Meriwether offered to use the student’s first or last name, but Shawnee State University and the student demanded the professor speak and act contrary to the truth, his philosophical…
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The Independence Law Center filed this case because county officials were forcing a church to pay taxes on their entire property and building as if they were a for-profit corporation – something no church should have to do. The result: a big win, which means that rather than paying unjust taxes in the tens of thousands of dollars, those funds can go directly to advancing the church’s…
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Summary On March 15, 2018, Philadelphia stopped placing foster children with families working with Catholic Social Services (CSS), which was just one among 30 foster agencies in the City. The City terminated the contract with CSS and made it illegal for CSS to continue providing any foster care services unless it abandoned its longstanding religious beliefs and instead endorsed the City’s…
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Summary Pittsburgh enacted a law that bans speech and advocacy—even prayer—in painted zones outside medical facility entrances. The city then chose to paint such zones outside only two facilities in the entire metropolitan area, Pittsburgh’s two abortion clinics, and enforced the ban against pro-life speech only. When the city leaders enacted the ordinance, Pitts. Code §…
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