Written by Don ByrdThe 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last week reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by an inmate who objected to religious content in an early release program. Randall Jackson, an atheist, claimed his First Amendment rights were violated when he was required to participate in a religious substance abuse treatment program as a condition of his early release on parole.
The District Court dismissed the case, but on appeal that ruling was overturned to allow the suit to continue.
Written by Don ByrdAll too often, school officials mistakenly believe the law requires them to bar all religious activity during the school day. Nothing could be further from the truth. The First Amendment guarantees the separation of church and state, but it also protects the rights of students to pray privately, and to engage in religious speech together to the same extent they are allowed to engage in non-religious speech.
In Tennessee’s Cannon County, that principle is being defended by the ACLU on behalf of a young student who simply wants to read the Bible at school at appropriate times.
Written by Don ByrdMississippi state senators are giving Religious Freedom Restoration Act legislation one more chance. Back in January, the Senate unanimously passed the bill, which would raise the standard for when the government can burden a person’s religious exercise. But that was before, in many states considering such legislation, the RFRA debate was flooded with concerns about discrimination. (See my earlier post, “What Happened in Arizona?”).
The Mississippi House responded by voting to send the RFRA portion of the bill back to be studied. The Senate, however, rejected that idea on Thursday. Read on for more…
