Today, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty issued an official commentary on proposed IRS regulations which affect the First Amendment rights of religious organizations. The proposed regulations, issued in response to a court decision striking down the IRS’s approval process for auditing churches,…

In his latest constitutional challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance, atheist activist Dr. Michael Newdow has appealed a loss in New Hampshire federal district court to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Newdow seeks to overturn Chief Judge…

The UN Human Rights Council today in Geneva adopted a Resolution on the Right to Freedom of Expression, which The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty noted is a step in the right direction toward protecting free speech because it excludes…

A New Hampshire federal judge dismissed atheist activist Michael Newdow’s constitutional challenge to recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in Hanover, New Hampshire public schools. Judge Steven McAuliffe ruled that the schools’ morning Pledge recitation—including the words “one Nation under…

Under pressure from civil rights organizations, Rappahannock Regional Jail officials stated they would stop censoring religious material in letters to inmates. The change in policy comes after The Becket Fund and other civil rights organizations protested the censorship of correspondence from…

[On July 31, 2009] the Fifth Circuit federal court of appeals in New Orleans ruled that Euless, Texas must allow Santeria priest Jose Merced to sacrifice goats in his home in Euless, Texas. Merced, who is represented by the Becket…

In defense of a family-owned pharmacy in the state of Washington, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty just filed a petition for a full, eleven-judge hearing at the 9th Circuit federal court of appeals. A three-judge panel of the same court ruled…

California pastor David Jones and his wife Mary Jones were questioned by San Diego County officials and threatened with fines over a weekly Bible study in their residence in Bonita, California, according to several news reports and televised interviews. The…

Last Thursday, Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput spoke on the role of religion in American life. “If we stick religion in the closet like a dangerously eccentric in-law,” he stated, “American public life can’t work as its Founders and Framers…

The Supreme Court in Kentucky will consider a case, University of Cumberlands v. Pennybacker, where the constitutionality of state programs to help religious institutions of higher learning is at stake. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed an amicus brief because…