Author name: Aidan

The Justice Department Is Keeping Secrets About Its New Religious Liberty Task Force Read More »

Attorney General Jeff Sessions made a spectacle of announcing his Religious Liberty Task Force last Monday, when he said a “dangerous movement” threatening people of faith must be “confronted intellectually and politically and defeated.” Hosting a Religious Liberty Summit inside the Department of Justice headquarters, Sessions had surrounded himself largely with players from the religious

Aug 7 2018

Gay Couple in New York Denied Marriage License by “Bigot” Law Clerk

Gay Couple in New York Denied Marriage License by “Bigot” Law Clerk Read More »

Move over, Kim Davis. There’s a new legal clerk refusing to do her job because of religion. A same-sex couple in the state of New York wanted to get married — which is their right and has been since 2011 — but their town’s clerk, Laurel Erickson, refused to grant them a marriage certificate. The couple, Dylan Toften and Thomas

Many Georgia school districts tell students: No sex until marriage

Many Georgia school districts tell students: No sex until marriage Read More »

No sex until marriage. That’s the message in many Georgia school districts, where sex education is abstinence based. Despite hundreds of student requests for science-based programs and several parent-led initiatives for curriculum change, abstinence-based programs still dominate the state’s schools. Georgia does not have a single sex ed curriculum. Instead, schools choose yearly if they

Maryland asks Supreme Court to protect cross on public land

Maryland asks Supreme Court to protect cross on public land Read More »

Maryland’s attorney general has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve a controversial cross-shaped memorial on public land, weighing in for the first time about the future of the Peace Cross that honors men killed in World War I. Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) this week filed an amicus brief in the case, which

Some Religious Groups Are Coming Out Against the “Religious Freedom Task Force”

Some Religious Groups Are Coming Out Against the “Religious Freedom Task Force” Read More »

The Trump administration’s taxpayer-funded “Religious Freedom Task Force” is “one-sided” and uses religion as a “sword” to deny vulnerable people basic human rights. Those aren’t the words of atheists but of religious groups in the U.S. We first wrote about this issue earlier this week, when we pointed out that a secular country like ours shouldn’t promote any particular

Not as many people are flooding into Ark Encounter as projected

Not as many people are flooding into Ark Encounter as projected Read More »

Visitors to the life-sized Noah’s Ark attraction near Northern Kentucky are sinking below the number of projected visitors advertised by the owners of the religious-themed park. The Ark Encounter sold a little more than 860,000 tickets between July 2017 and June 2018, according to open records obtained by The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the

New 'Religious Liberty Task Force' Highlights Sessions, DOJ Priorities

New 'Religious Liberty Task Force' Highlights Sessions, DOJ Priorities Read More »

On Monday the Department of Justice announced the creation of a Religious Liberty Task Force. NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with Emma Green, The Atlantic reporter, about the Trump administration’s legal emphasis on religious liberty. JEFF SESSIONS: A dangerous movement, undetected by many but real, is now challenging and eroding a great tradition of religious freedom. CORNISH: That

Cuomo Opens Investigation Into Denial of Marriage License to Gay Couple

Cuomo Opens Investigation Into Denial of Marriage License to Gay Couple Read More »

After a same-sex couple was denied a marriage license in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has not only opened an investigation into the case, he has offered to officiate the couple’s wedding in Albany. Dylan Toften and Thomas Hurd sought the license in Root, N.Y., about 50 miles from Albany. But the town’s clerk,

Trump administration says it’s time to stop punishment of anti-gay African countries

Trump administration says it’s time to stop punishment of anti-gay African countries Read More »

During the State Department’s Ministerial on International Religious Freedom last week, Mick Mulvaney — President Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget — suggested that the Trump administration would end the practice of punishing African countries for their laws that criminalize homosexuality. “Our US taxpayer dollars are used to discourage Christian values in other democratic