Land use activists normally reserve the “not in my backyard” declaration for halting the incursion of the most odious bad neighbors, like landfills, ostensibly in defense of property values or neighborhood safety. But what excuse do residents of Boca Raton, Fla., have for filing lawsuits to prohibit the construction of a Jewish synagogue?

For two years, the U.S. Supreme Court has been able to avoid the inevitable, but the justices will be asked, most likely this year, to define the meaning of “sex” in Title IX. 

Transgender schoolchildren and their attorneys argue gender identity is a protected class under the federal education nondiscrimination law, and judges mostly have agreed. A confluence of cases are headed to appeals courts across the country, pitting transgender students’ demands for access to the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice against schools’ attempts to maintain privacy for all students.

The U.S. Supreme Court opted Monday not to weigh in on a case challenging a new Mississippi law that provides a defense against adverse government action and private lawsuits over religious convictions about marriage, sexuality, and gender identity.

From city councils to the U.S. Supreme Court, free speech and religious liberty advocates continue to keep a watchful eye—and a hopeful attitude—on the conflicts spilling over into 2018. As the new year begins, I asked advocates in the areas of law, education, and public policy to forecast the challenges and anticipated triumphs for 2018. The respondents were Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute; Gregory Seltz, executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty; Matt Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel; Zach Greenberg, the Justice Robert H.

Legal challenges to Christians’ public expression of faith at work, home, school, and in ministry continued throughout 2017. And as the year drew to a close, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could affect them all.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal last week to hear a case seeking to expand the definition of “sex” in federal employment law to include sexual orientation only delays the inevitable court battle in the war on words. Similar cases are making their way through the lower courts with mixed results, which will force the high court or Congress to step in eventually.

Held captive by a determination to keep religion confined to churches and homes, the Freedom from Religion Foundation is demanding the Wisconsin Department of Corrections sever ties with an educational ministry that offers inmates a degree in Biblical studies.