The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sent a letter Wednesday requesting that the Jacksonville City Council halt the practice of opening each council session with a Christian prayer. In the letter, the ACLU called the prayer that begins bi-weekly council meetings, “unconstitutional” and said it “divides the community rather than uniting it.” Councilman Don [...]
Members of the House of Representatives heard testimonies regarding the recent deportation of Christians ordered by authorities in Morocco in recent weeks. In March, about 50 U.S. Christians were deported after they were accused of breaking a Moroccan penal code that prohibits individuals from trying to convert Muslims. Last Thursday, during a congressional human rights [...]
In its 11th hearing of a case of alleged slander by two Christians closed just minutes after it opened, due to lack of any progress. Prosecutors accuse Protestant Christians, Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal, of slandering the Turkish nation and Islam under Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code, reports the Christian Post.. “They are [...]
An Illinois man is threatening to sue a group restoring an 11-story cross on southern Illinois’ highest point if it doesn’t repay $20,000 it got from the state. Rob Sherman, a retired radio-host and self-proclaimed atheist, contends it is illegal and inappropriate to use grant money received from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic [...]
A bill calling for a ban on the face-covering Islamic veil was presented to France’s Cabinet on Wednesday asking for fines, imprisonment, and in some cases, citizenship classes. French lawmakers unanimously passed the resolution on Tuesday by 434 to 0, laying the groundwork for a planned law forbidding the face-covering veils in public, including the [...]
An Arizona court Tuesday overturned the conviction of a Phoenix pastor, who was sentenced to jail for ringing church bells. The Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County reversed the conviction of Bishop Rick Painter of Christ the King Liturgical Charismatic Church in the wake of a federal court’s determination last month that the city [...]
A federal judge has found the National Day of Prayer instituted by Congress unconstitutional, saying it violates the Establishment Clause. In response to a 2008 challenge from the Freedom From Religion Foundation regarding the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that laws passed [...]
The Mayor and Council Members of Gilbert, Ariz., unanimously agreed Monday evening that the town must not regulate Church services and “religious assembly” in homes; a move prompted after a Church received a cease and desist letter from a city official that said they could not meet in their home for religious purposes. The controversial zoning [...]
According to city of Gilbert, Ariz., officials, their zoning ordinance bans churches from meeting, holding Bible studies, or having any other activities in private homes, regardless of their size, nature. In November 2009, city officials sent a cease-and-desist letter to a pastor and his wife of Oasis of Truth Church ordering them to terminate all religious [...]
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed an appeal Wednesday regarding a court decision that restricts a North Carolina county from opening public meetings with prayers calling on the name of a deity. In the case, Joyner v. Forsyth County, federal judge James A. Beaty ruled on January 28 that Forsyth County’s invocation policy is [...]