{"id":17386,"date":"2016-12-15T07:01:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit-32620\/"},"modified":"2016-12-15T07:01:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T07:01:00","slug":"massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Church_pews_Credit_Elena_Dijour_Shutterstock_CNA.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state's transgender law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government can\u2019t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O\u2019Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>In July, Massachusetts added \u201cgender identity\u201d to its list of classes protected against discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>Then, the state\u2019s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender.<\/p>\n<p>Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted.<\/p>\n<p>Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail.<\/p>\n<p>Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission \u201cfailed to provide an exemption for religious institutions\u201d and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law \u2013 \u201cother than the woefully inadequate and confusing \u2018spaghetti supper\u2019 test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions \u201con a case-by-case-basis,\u201d ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, \u201ca pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church\u2019s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment\u2019s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,\u201d Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated.<\/p>\n<p>A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law.<\/p>\n<p>Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including \u201chouses of worship\u201d among the \u201cpublic accommodations\u201d that would be subject to the law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.\u00a0 Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,\u201d the state attorney general\u2019s office said in the letter to ADF.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,\u201d Holcomb stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMassachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches\u2019 freedom of religion and speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=ukWo1XKJ67Q:1XVp8oGhaCs:yIl2AUoC8zA\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/ukWo1XKJ67Q\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Church_pews_Credit_Elena_Dijour_Shutterstock_CNA.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\" target=\"_self\">CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state&#8217;s transgender law.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The government can&rsquo;t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O&rsquo;Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p>In July, Massachusetts added &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; to its list of classes protected against discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>Then, the state&rsquo;s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender.<\/p>\n<p>Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted.<\/p>\n<p>Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail.<\/p>\n<p>Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission &ldquo;failed to provide an exemption for religious institutions&rdquo; and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law &ndash; &ldquo;other than the woefully inadequate and confusing &lsquo;spaghetti supper&rsquo; test.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions &ldquo;on a case-by-case-basis,&rdquo; ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, &ldquo;a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church&rsquo;s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;All events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment&rsquo;s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,&rdquo; Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated.<\/p>\n<p>A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law.<\/p>\n<p>Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including &ldquo;houses of worship&rdquo; among the &ldquo;public accommodations&rdquo; that would be subject to the law.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Your lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.&nbsp; Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,&rdquo; the state attorney general&rsquo;s office said in the letter to ADF.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,&rdquo; Holcomb stated.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Massachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches&rsquo; freedom of religion and speech.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?a=ukWo1XKJ67Q:1XVp8oGhaCs:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/ukWo1XKJ67Q\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state&#039;s transgender law. &ldquo;The government can&rsquo;t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O&rsquo;Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn. &ldquo;The comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,&rdquo; he added. In July, Massachusetts added &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; to its list of classes protected against discrimination. Then, the state&rsquo;s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender. Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs. Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted. Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail. Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission &ldquo;failed to provide an exemption for religious institutions&rdquo; and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law &ndash; &ldquo;other than the woefully inadequate and confusing &lsquo;spaghetti supper&rsquo; test.&rdquo; Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions &ldquo;on a case-by-case-basis,&rdquo; ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, &ldquo;a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church&rsquo;s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.&rdquo; &ldquo;All events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment&rsquo;s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,&rdquo; Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated. A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law. Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including &ldquo;houses of worship&rdquo; among the &ldquo;public accommodations&rdquo; that would be subject to the law. &ldquo;Your lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.&nbsp; Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,&rdquo; the state attorney general&rsquo;s office said in the letter to ADF. &ldquo;No church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,&rdquo; Holcomb stated. &ldquo;Massachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches&rsquo; freedom of religion and speech.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state&#039;s transgender law. &ldquo;The government can&rsquo;t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O&rsquo;Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn. &ldquo;The comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,&rdquo; he added. In July, Massachusetts added &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; to its list of classes protected against discrimination. Then, the state&rsquo;s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender. Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs. Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted. Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail. Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission &ldquo;failed to provide an exemption for religious institutions&rdquo; and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law &ndash; &ldquo;other than the woefully inadequate and confusing &lsquo;spaghetti supper&rsquo; test.&rdquo; Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions &ldquo;on a case-by-case-basis,&rdquo; ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, &ldquo;a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church&rsquo;s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.&rdquo; &ldquo;All events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment&rsquo;s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,&rdquo; Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated. A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law. Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including &ldquo;houses of worship&rdquo; among the &ldquo;public accommodations&rdquo; that would be subject to the law. &ldquo;Your lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.&nbsp; Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,&rdquo; the state attorney general&rsquo;s office said in the letter to ADF. &ldquo;No church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,&rdquo; Holcomb stated. &ldquo;Massachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches&rsquo; freedom of religion and speech.&rdquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-15T07:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Church_pews_Credit_Elena_Dijour_Shutterstock_CNA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/\",\"name\":\"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-15T07:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-15T07:01:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state's transgender law. &ldquo;The government can&rsquo;t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O&rsquo;Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn. &ldquo;The comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,&rdquo; he added. In July, Massachusetts added &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; to its list of classes protected against discrimination. Then, the state&rsquo;s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender. Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs. Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted. Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail. Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission &ldquo;failed to provide an exemption for religious institutions&rdquo; and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law &ndash; &ldquo;other than the woefully inadequate and confusing &lsquo;spaghetti supper&rsquo; test.&rdquo; Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions &ldquo;on a case-by-case-basis,&rdquo; ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, &ldquo;a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church&rsquo;s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.&rdquo; &ldquo;All events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment&rsquo;s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,&rdquo; Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated. A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law. Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including &ldquo;houses of worship&rdquo; among the &ldquo;public accommodations&rdquo; that would be subject to the law. &ldquo;Your lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.&nbsp; Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,&rdquo; the state attorney general&rsquo;s office said in the letter to ADF. &ldquo;No church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,&rdquo; Holcomb stated. &ldquo;Massachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches&rsquo; freedom of religion and speech.&rdquo;\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit","description":"Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state's transgender law. &ldquo;The government can&rsquo;t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O&rsquo;Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn. &ldquo;The comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,&rdquo; he added. In July, Massachusetts added &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; to its list of classes protected against discrimination. Then, the state&rsquo;s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender. Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs. Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted. Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail. Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission &ldquo;failed to provide an exemption for religious institutions&rdquo; and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law &ndash; &ldquo;other than the woefully inadequate and confusing &lsquo;spaghetti supper&rsquo; test.&rdquo; Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions &ldquo;on a case-by-case-basis,&rdquo; ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, &ldquo;a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church&rsquo;s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.&rdquo; &ldquo;All events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment&rsquo;s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,&rdquo; Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated. A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law. Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including &ldquo;houses of worship&rdquo; among the &ldquo;public accommodations&rdquo; that would be subject to the law. &ldquo;Your lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.&nbsp; Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,&rdquo; the state attorney general&rsquo;s office said in the letter to ADF. &ldquo;No church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,&rdquo; Holcomb stated. &ldquo;Massachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches&rsquo; freedom of religion and speech.&rdquo;","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit","og_description":"Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state's transgender law. &ldquo;The government can&rsquo;t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O&rsquo;Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn. &ldquo;The comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,&rdquo; he added. In July, Massachusetts added &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; to its list of classes protected against discrimination. Then, the state&rsquo;s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender. Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs. Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted. Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail. Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission &ldquo;failed to provide an exemption for religious institutions&rdquo; and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law &ndash; &ldquo;other than the woefully inadequate and confusing &lsquo;spaghetti supper&rsquo; test.&rdquo; Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions &ldquo;on a case-by-case-basis,&rdquo; ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, &ldquo;a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church&rsquo;s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.&rdquo; &ldquo;All events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment&rsquo;s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,&rdquo; Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated. A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law. Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including &ldquo;houses of worship&rdquo; among the &ldquo;public accommodations&rdquo; that would be subject to the law. &ldquo;Your lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.&nbsp; Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,&rdquo; the state attorney general&rsquo;s office said in the letter to ADF. &ldquo;No church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,&rdquo; Holcomb stated. &ldquo;Massachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches&rsquo; freedom of religion and speech.&rdquo;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2016-12-15T07:01:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Church_pews_Credit_Elena_Dijour_Shutterstock_CNA.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/","name":"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-15T07:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-15T07:01:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 \/ 12:01 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Four Massachusetts churches pulled their lawsuit against the state Monday after they received religious exemptions from the state's transgender law. &ldquo;The government can&rsquo;t encroach on the internal, religious practices of a church. The language revisions that our lawsuit prompted should ensure that doesn&rsquo;t happen,&rdquo; Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Steve O&rsquo;Ban stated on Monday, after the lawsuit was withdrawn. &ldquo;The comments of commonwealth officials gave these churches reason for great concern, and so we are pleased wording changes have been made to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms these congregations and pastors have,&rdquo; he added. In July, Massachusetts added &ldquo;gender identity&rdquo; to its list of classes protected against discrimination. Then, the state&rsquo;s attorney general and its anti-discrimination commission interpreted the law to say that everyone had to have access to facilities like bathrooms based upon the gender they presently identify with, and not upon their birth gender. Church facilities that held any non-religious events like spaghetti dinners would be considered public accommodations and would have to comply, they said, despite their religious beliefs. Churches also could have faced action by the government if their pastors preached religious views on sexuality that opposed the gender identity anti-discrimination protection, Alliance Defending Freedom noted. Those not complying with the law could have been punished with $50,000 fines and up to a year in jail. Four Christian churches challenged the action in a district court, in October. They said the state legislature and anti-discrimination commission &ldquo;failed to provide an exemption for religious institutions&rdquo; and did not clearly define the standard they would use to determine if a church would be exempt from the law &ndash; &ldquo;other than the woefully inadequate and confusing &lsquo;spaghetti supper&rsquo; test.&rdquo; Rather, the commission said they would judge religious exemptions &ldquo;on a case-by-case-basis,&rdquo; ADF claimed in its complaint, adding that thus, &ldquo;a pastor, other church leader, or a court must guess as to which of the church&rsquo;s activities subject it to the severe sanctions of the Act.&rdquo; &ldquo;All events held at a church on its property have a religious purpose, and the government has no authority to violate the First Amendment&rsquo;s guarantees of freedom of religion and speech,&rdquo; Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, stated. A move to have a voter referendum on the law in 2018 received enough signatures to be on the ballot, but a poll from May showed a majority of respondents in favor of the law. Then in a Nov. 7 letter, the state announced that it had changed its guidance on the rule and would not be including &ldquo;houses of worship&rdquo; among the &ldquo;public accommodations&rdquo; that would be subject to the law. &ldquo;Your lawsuit caused us to focus on these issues and to make this revision to our website.&nbsp; Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention,&rdquo; the state attorney general&rsquo;s office said in the letter to ADF. &ldquo;No church should fear government punishment simply for serving its community consistently with its faith,&rdquo; Holcomb stated. &ldquo;Massachusetts officials made the right decision to respect these churches&rsquo; freedom of religion and speech.&rdquo;","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/massachusetts-churches-claim-victory-in-religious-freedom-lawsuit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Massachusetts churches claim victory in religious freedom lawsuit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}