When Magnolia, Texas, decided in 2018 to raise its water rates, everyone in the small town felt the pinch. But the increase squeezed churches even more because the city levied additional fees on nonprofit groups, schools, and places of worship.
At first, Gerald Groff’s supervisors accommodated his request not to deliver mail on Sundays because of his evangelical Christian faith. But then the U.S. Postal Service entered into a contract with Amazon, agreeing to deliver the online retailer’s packages on Sunday, and Groff’s accommodation ended. Supervisors levied progressively harsh discipline on him for failing to show up for work on the Sabbath, and he eventually resigned in January 2019 after about seven years of working as a mail carrier in Lancaster, Pa.
A federal appeals court on Thursday said a 34-foot cross in a Florida public park will not have to come down after all. The court reversed its earlier decision after the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back for another look. The cross’s 75-year presence in Pensacola’s Bayview Park doesn’t violate the establishment clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, ending a challenge by four atheists.
New York | In New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities, the question of fair enforcement of coronavirus lockdowns hangs in the air
