"D.C. City Council Violates Catholic Schools' Right to Free Exercise of Religion"

firstthings.com One might think that the District of Columbia, our nation’s capital, would be particularly vigilant in defending the freedoms fundamental to American life. Unfortunately, the District’s City Council has now seen fit to intervene into the life of religious institutions and insist that such institutions handle some topics in ways amenable to the Council’s opinions. In December 2014, the District Council unanimously adopted the “Human Rights Amendment of 2014.” Among other things, the act states that while a religiously-affiliated school can deny funding and recognition to gay and lesbian student groups, it cannot deny access to its “resources and facilities” to such groups on the same basis as to groups officially funded and recognized. The act tries to walk a narrow path. Courts have said that religious schools cannot be forced to recognize or fund groups that oppose their teachings, but the District insists that such religious freedom does not extend to the use of the school’s facilities, for example, rooms to hold meetings or permits for rallies...