Yesterday was the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, as created by a United Nations Resolution (full text) adopted earlier this year. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a statement (full text), saying in part: Commemorating victims of violence based on religion or belief is critical, but that’s only the beginning of the world’s work to achieve justice for the survivors…

KGW8 News reports that the federal court trial of an Oregon man, Michael Bowman, on misdemeanor charges of willful failure to file a tax return has ended in a mistrial.  Bowman has not filed a return since 1999 because he refuses to have any of his funds go toward funding abortions. Charges were filed against him in 2017. Bowman argues that the 1st Amendment, RFRA and the Oregon Constitution protect his decision on religious grounds…

In Missionary Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit, Inc. v. Rouillard, (CA Ct. App., Aug. 6, 2019), a California state appellate court held that the state’s Department of Managed Health Care did not violate the state Administrative Procedure Act when it notified seven health care service plans that they must cover abortions. The state statute does not require compliance with the rule-making process for a  regulation “that embodies the only legally tenable interpretation of a provision…

In Espinosa v. Dzurenda,  (9th Cir., Aug. 22, 2019), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismisse as moot a challenge to a prison’s failure to recognize Humanism as a Faith Group. While the appeal was pending, the prison changed its policy and permanently recognized Humanism on an equal basis with other faith groups.  Nevada Independent reports on the decision.…

Relying on New York’s Child Victims Act which has created a one-year window for old child sex abuse cases to be filed, 38 men filed a lawsuit today against Yeshiva University High School and its parent organization, Yeshiva University, as well as various administrators of the schools. The suit alleges repeated sexual molestation of plaintiffs by a high administrator (who eventually became principal), a Judaic studies faculty member and a dorm counselor. The 120-page complaint…