Written by Don ByrdOn Tuesday, the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in 2 cases regarding the contraception coverage mandate for employers providing health insurance. The plaintiff companies argue the requirement forces their owners to violate their religious beliefs. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, they claim, prohibits the government from placing such a burden, even on for-profit companies.
As this Associated Press preview demonstrates, expressing the owners’ faith through company policy is not new for Hobby Lobby.
Written by Don ByrdIn the newest issue of the BJC’s Report From the Capital, General Counsel K. Hollyn Hollman discusses highly controversial religious freedom legislation vetoed by the Arizona Governor because it raised discrimination concerns. The proposal and the ensuing media storm cast an unfortunate shadow on RFRA legislation.
In her column, Hollman offers reasons why the Arizona bill escalated from a proposal to strengthen religious liberty protection into a culture war clash. In this climate, she suggests, proposals like the Arizona law are likely to cause more harm than good to the cause of religious liberty.
Read the full post for an excerpt…
Written by Don ByrdThe Salvation Army has agreed to pay more than $450,000 to a pair of former employees and institute a program to notify employees in federally funded programs of their religious freedom rights.The employees complained about being required to disclose their religious affiliations despite working in publicly funded areas of the organization, and were later forced out of their jobs for questioning those policies, according to the complaint.
Written by Don ByrdA church-state kerfuffle erupted last week as reports went viral claiming an Air Force cadet was forced to remove a Christian message from the hallway white board outside his room after religious freedom gadfly Mikey Weinstein reported complaints from other cadets to military officials. Dispute over just what happened and the extent of cadets’ religious freedom traveled quickly through conservative religious outlets and didn’t take long to reach Washington.
The Washington Post reports that in a House hearing about the Air Force budget Friday, the Secretary was confronted about the incident.
Written by Don ByrdRFRA is getting a bad rap these days. The 1993 federal legislation, which has spawned more than a dozen state-law copycats (or near copies), has served the cause of religious liberty well by protecting religious exercise incidentally but substantially burdened by the government. Its measured approach accomplishes that protection while safeguarding against allowing religion to be a trump card against government regulation. Unfortunately, misguided state amendments and hot-button cultural issues have stretched RFRA’s reach, and the rhetoric surrounding it, almost beyond recognition.
Writing in Slate, Emily Bazelon makes the strong argument that RFRA and religious liberty are worth defending, despite the recent spate of bad press both have received.
