Aretha Franklin performs at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Nov. 7, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Need to know: Friday, August 17, 2018
DO NOT PUBLISH: Aretha Franklin started with gospel, ended with soul at age XXX
(RNS) — At age 14 and much later in life, the R&B singer recorded gospel songs at her father's Detroit church.
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Connecticut Supreme Court slams religious liberty
Perhaps the Justice Department's new Religious Liberty Task Force would see it that way. I'd say that what Trinity Christian School v. Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities shows is how far today's free exercise maximalists are prepared to go.
Back in 2011, Andrea Sokolowski had the job of keeping an eye on pre-schoolers after they were dropped off and before they were picked up. was fired from her job keeping an eye on pre-school children on either end of the day's activities at Trinity Christian school, a ministry of Trinity United Methodist Church in Windsor. The reason? She was pregnant and unmarried.
Sokolowski the proceeded to file a complaint of illegal discriminatory practice with the state human rights commission, which found in her favor. The .
The School has claimed that Connecticut's religious freedom statute exempts it from even being considered
The School has taken the position that Connecticut's religious freedom statute allows
the Court did was to affirm
The Court noted that "The plaintiff further contends that the legislative history ‘‘strongly supports’’ the view ‘‘that the legislature did not intend for the statute to serve [merely] as an affirmative defense but, rather, intended [it] to shield the employment practices of religious institutions with immunity."
Renny: "The exchange makes clear that members of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary clearly understood their task to be the restoration of a regime of religious freedom protections that were in place prior to the Smith decision and that allowed for a workable balance between religious exemptions and the state’s obligation to apply its laws in an evenhanded way."
When bill returned in 1993, "restoration" was gone, bill titled "An Act Concerning Religious Freedom"
