Shortly after taking the oath of office on Monday [January 20th], President Trump signed a multitude of executive orders repealing the Biden administration’s promotion of radical gender ideology, ending the weaponization of government against religious and pro-life Americans and safeguarding free speech.

First Liberty President & CEO Kelly Shackelford discusses how these actions will help protect people of faith and the free exercise of religion. Watch below:

Five Major Executive Orders That Will Impact Religious Liberty

1. … Continue Reading

If you don’t know what the after party is, you should, because it could determine who wins the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the presidency this year.

Indeed, this movement is so insidious and potentially so powerful that it could determine the direction of the United States for decades to come. If you care about issues such as border security, confiscatory taxes, sex trafficking, how we educate our children, religious liberty, the right to bear arms, private property, energy independence, women’s right to have their own athletic competitions, drag queens grooming first graders in our public schools, and whether or not you can buy a gas stove, you should care about the after party.… Continue Reading

I’ve been writing about Denver-area baker Jack Phillips for over a decade now. It’s clear to me he’s going to be badgered into the grave by authoritarians intent on punishing him for thought crimes. From the first time his name appeared in the news until this day, the media have misled the public about him, about the case and about the law.

The latest chapter in Phillips’ Kafkaesque saga involves a transgender lawyer named Autumn Scardina, who demanded Phillips create a pink cake with blue frosting to help celebrate a gender transition.… Continue Reading

This episode of Illinois Family Spotlight features remarks from Ariella Del Turco on the topic of religious liberty in the first half, along with a question and answer segment with Ambassador Sam Brownback during the second half.

Arielle Del Turco is the director of Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council (FRC) and is the co-author of FRC’s “Hostility Against Churches” report.

Sam Brownback is the former governor of Kansas, formerly representing Kansas in the U.S.… Continue Reading

In this episode, Illinois Family Spotlight features remarks and insights made by the honorable Sam Brownback that took place during an IFI Forum on religious liberty.

Sam Brownback served as governor of Kansas, represented the people of Kansas in the U.S. House & Senate during President Trump’s administration, served as the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and is currently the chairman for the National Committee for Religious Freedom.… Continue Reading

This past week a group defining themselves as Secular Democrats of America submitted a 28-page letter to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden calling on them to expunge religion from all sectors of American public life and to “re-educate” Christian Americans that they should keep their “religious dogma” to themselves.

In their document, titled “Restoring Constitutional Secularism and Patriotic Pluralism in the White House,” congressional Democrats Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Jared Huffman of California and Jerry McNerney of California bemoan life under the Trump administration:

“The constant entanglement of religion and government … sweeps far beyond hot-button ‘culture war’ issues … It permeates every aspect of government policy — health care, public and private education, foreign policy, tax policy, environmental policy, military policy, and more …”

They continue:

“[Government] decisions should be guided by science and evidence … We believe that now is the right time to make a case for reviving a Jeffersonian approach to governance that favors reason … and to disentangle government policy from the influence of … religious interests that have become dangerously entrenched at all levels of government.”

John Kasich wants people to believe he is supporting Joe Biden for president because his “conscience” compels it.

Assuming Kasich is being honest about this, a rational observer can draw only one conclusion: He is a moral idiot.

On Monday, the Columbus Dispatch ran a story with this headline: “Kasich Says Conscience Led Him to Biden.”

In an interview with that paper, this former Republican governor of Ohio presented himself as a moral hero for backing the former vice president.… Continue Reading

Sometimes, the facts of a case have an emotional appeal in addition to a strong constitutional basis. Espinoza v. Montana certainly qualifies.

Kendra Espinoza, a hard working (three jobs) and determined single mom, decided to take her two daughters out of the local public schools and enroll them in Stillwater Christian School in Kalispell, Montana. She explained that she “wanted them to be able to read the Bible and be taught how to pray, and taught from that faith-based perspective.”… Continue Reading

Give me your young, your old, your faithful masses yearning to worship freely. This revision of The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus could well be the rallying cry of Pastor Steve Cassell of The Beloved Church in Lena, Illinois. On this edition of Spotlight, Pastor Steve joins me for a timely discussion regarding the perilous intersection of COVID-19, governmental “authority,” and Constitutionally-guaranteed personal liberties.

Pastor Steve and I consider how churches and people of faith should respond to Illinois’ lockdown and examine the dangerous precedent that could be established by our governor’s abuse of his executive power.… Continue Reading

While numerous businesses have been designated as “essential” and allowed to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois’ governor has deemed houses of worship for all faith traditions as non-essential entities, denying people of faith access to these facilities for corporate worship and prayer.

Illinois Family’s Monte Larrick recently spoke with Pro-Life Action League’s Ann Scheidler at a May 1st prayer vigil, held outside Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, to protest Governor JB Pritzker’s overreach.… Continue Reading

Let’s start by giving credit where it’s due.

It’s admirable that houses of worship can adapt so quickly in times of crisis. Millions of Americans are staying spiritually engaged thanks to the incredible effort of churches and faith leaders who harnessed the power of technology, social media and the Internet. Even more remarkable is that churches surpassed virtual attendance records even though the quarantine forced them to transition overnight to online services.… Continue Reading

State Representative Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) recently introduced HB 4870 would mandate the HPV vaccination for ALL Illinois students at the 6^th grade level.… Continue Reading

I support the right of people to believe what they do and say what they wish — in their pews, homes and hearts.

Following his presentations, Stonestreet took questions from the audience ranging from pending Supreme Court rulings, division in America, Facebook, and even Kanye West.… Continue Reading

Keeping a candidate’s policy positions straight isn’t easy when the candidate appears to come out on both sides of an issue. Sometimes it is due to a simple mistake, as people can misspeak without even realizing it.

When the issue is taxpayer funding of abortion, however, a person is either for it or against it. The same comes to religious liberty and conscience rights. There is no middle ground, even though some candidates would love for there to be some.… Continue Reading

Roughly four years ago, then Prime Minister David Cameron announced that MP’s would decide whether or not to redefine the meaning of marriage. The announcement came as somewhat of a surprise as David Cameron had not made any mention whatsoever in his pre-election manifesto (or platform) signalling his intention to initiate this possible shift.

In the ensuing chaos leading up to the vote, David Burrows MP, a mild-mannered supporter of the ‘Coalition for Marriage’, had excrement thrown at his house.… Continue Reading

Sanctuary city jurisdictions are local governments that seek to trample upon and undermine the federal government’s constitutional role in enforcing immigration law by offering cover to illegal aliens. However, another sort of “sanctuary” legislation in the U.S. seeks to continually and legally trample the human conscience to protect abortion.

Religious groups in Missouri are now suing to overturn a St. Louis “abortion sanctuary” city ordinance that would have disastrous effects on the freedoms of religion, speech, and association.… Continue Reading

In a move vigorously applauded by social conservatives and simultaneously denounced by same-sex “marriage” advocates, President Donald Trump has appointed Roger Severino to head the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights.

Severino formerly served as the Director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society. As Director, his three main focuses where on religious liberty, marriage, and life issues.

His track record of defending religious liberty, natural marriage, and the sanctity of life go further back then his time at the Heritage Foundation.… Continue Reading

Written by Todd Starnes

Christians are under fierce attack across the fruited plain and some of the nation’s most prominent conservative leaders are urging President Trump to take immediate action.

More than 150 members of the Council for National Policy are calling on the president to issue an executive order “protecting the practical exercise of religious freedom.”

“For the last eight years, Americans of all backgrounds have suffered the loss of their religious freedoms because of destructive Obama-era policies,” the CNP wrote in a letter to the president.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael Gryboski

Americans are divided as to whether religious freedom or LGBT rights should be favored when the two concepts conflict with one another.

Recent findings from the Pew Research Center show the American public near evenly split on whether or not a business can refuse to service a same-sex wedding on religious grounds.

Out of a sample of about 4,500 adults, Pew found that 48 percent of respondents believed that businesses which provided wedding services should be allowed to refuse to service gay weddings if the owner has religious objections.… Continue Reading

Written by Ilya Shapiro

Plenty of libertarians were wary of seeing former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld as the Libertarian Party’s nominee for vice president. Even those of us who haven’t had anything to do with the LP would like to see the party represented by, you know, libertarians. Weld, who seems like a nice man and was apparently a decent governor, is the living expositor of the difference between a libertarian and someone who’s “socially liberal and fiscally conservative.”… Continue Reading

Written by Maggie Gallagher
On June 26, a narrow majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices struck down the traditional definition of marriage, ruling all 50 states must recognize same-sex unions as marriages.

The four dissenters included the usually mild-mannered Chief Justice John Roberts, who called the majority opinion “dangerous to the rule of law”: “The majority’s decision is an act of will, not legal judgment. The right it announces has no basis in the Constitution or this Court’s precedent.”… Continue Reading

Written by Maggie Gallagher

Rod Dreher is right: the rage of the powerful against Indiana for daring to pass a state RFRA without the consent of the LGBT community marks a dramatic cultural and political inflection point,as I have pointed out in National Review. For the first time, a vanilla religious liberty bill similar to those passed in 19 other states was deemed “antigay” per se, and powerful corporations rushed in to punish the people of Indiana economically for their moral views on liberty.… Continue Reading