A Tennessee bill that requires schools in Tennessee to prominently display the motto of “In God We Trust” is currently headed to the governor for his signature. This legislation, which is referred to as the National Motto in the Classroom Act, was passed by 81 of 99 members of the house. Prior to the Read More

  A teenager recently initiated a legal action against a religious private school in Texas after the teenager experienced bullying of a racist nature. The student claimed that the school did not make any efforts to stop the bullying, but the school claimed that its religious doctrine makes it immune from legal actions in these Read More

  Members of an Ohio community have initiated an action against a group that tried to pressure a high school to ban its tradition of school prayer before sporting events. The Freedom from Religion Foundation reports that the organization received a complaint from two concerned citizens who alleged serious violations of the constitution by the Read More

  Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, a Christian church in Nevada, recently announced that its First Amendment rights are being violated by a rural school district ban on promotional flyers that the church wants to distribute at school programs. This announcement was made in a letter that was sent to the Lyon County School District seeking Read More

  A federal judge recently dismissed a lawsuit by two West Virginia residents and the Freedom from Religion Foundation that challenged the legality of a weekly Bible class in elementary and middle schools located in Mercer County, West Virginia, because the class is no longer being taught. United States District Judge David A. Faber argued that Read More

  The Montana Department of Revenue has announced that it will continue to fight against a court ruling that money from a tax credit program can benefit religious schools. The most recent action in this case is that the Montana Department of Revenue has filed an appeal with the Montana Supreme Court. In 2015, a Read More

  East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, recently announced that it would remove religious icons from its chapel. The university’s president, however, announced that she would first receive feedback from faculty, community members, and students. The president of East Central University went so far as to express regret on making the decision too quickly without Read More

The Second District Court of Appeals recently ruled that a Roman Catholic elementary school principal is unable to pursue a sex bias and retaliation case against the Archdiocese of New York because the principal  is barred by a “ministerial exception.” The Facts of the Case The case involved St. Anthony’s School, which is located in Read More

  The United States Supreme Court announced at the end of June that the court will hear a case involving a bakery owner who refused to make a cake for a couple on the basis of the baker’s religious views concerning same-sex couples. The case is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court in October. Read More

The First Amendment of the United States constitution effectively gave us the separation of church and state that we know today. The First Amendment contains two cornerstone clauses by which the founding fathers emphasized this separation. The Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause prevent Congress from prohibiting the exercise or the regulation of religion. Read More