First Liberty Institute yesterday sent a letter (full text) to the U.S. Army complaining about the Army’s order to a private faith-based company that is licensed to produce Army-themed products. (Press release). The Army instructed the company to remove Biblical verses from its popular Shields of Strength (SoS) dog tags. Since 9-11, SoS has produced over 4 million dog tags, the most popular carrying the words of Joshua 1:9: “Have I not…

Just minutes after a new New Jersey law went into effect opening a 2-year window in which previously time-barred sex abuse cases can be filed, suit was filed in a New Jersey state trial court against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. The complaint (full text) in Bellocchio v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, (NJ Super. Ct., filed 12/1/2019), states claims for sexual battery against McCarrick, and for negligence…

Last month, the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a Public Warning (full text) to Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley. The Nov. 12 warning reads in part: Beginning on about August 1, 2016, Judge Hensley and her court staff began giving all same-sex couples wishing to be married by Judge Hensley a document which stated “I’m sorry, but Judge Hensley has a sincerely held religious belief as a Christian, and will…

According to the New Haven Independent, a Connecticut trial court judge yesterday sentenced Rabbi Daniel Greer, a once-prominent New Haven religious leader, to 12 years in prison, with 8 years after that on probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.  The 79-year old rabbi was convicted on four counts of risk of injury to a minor. The convictions grew out of a series of rapes of a male high…

NPR reported earlier this week on enforcement actions by insurance regulators in Texas, Colorado, Washington and New Hampshire against Aliera and its affiliate Trinity HealthShare for violating rules relating to health-care sharing ministries. These plans for sharing health care costs of members are significantly cheaper than standard health insurance policies. Most of the Christian affiliated ministries will not cover abortion services, and offer prayer hotlines for members. The October 30 press release from the New Hampshire…

In Birmingham City Council v. Afsar, (EWHC, Nov. 26, 2019), a trial judge in the High Court in the British city of Birmingham held that an injunction should be issued limiting the manner in which demonstrators can protest an elementary school’s curriculum on LGBT issues. According to the court: The case has been pleaded and argued in various ways, but at its heart is the argument that the School’s teaching policy – described by the…

Last week an Indiana state trial court judge ruled that three Christian educational and advocacy organizations lack standing to challenge the constitutionality of Indiana’s version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that excludes from its coverage conduct that discriminates, among other things, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The court also held that plaintiffs’ claims are not ripe for adjudication. WIBC News reports on the decision. Here is the complaint filed in…