Free Republic

A federal judge on Monday ordered Iowa state officials to allow a local Satanic Temple organization to hold a holiday event in the rotunda of the state Capitol after years of rejecting their application. The court order is the latest in a back-and-forth between the religious organization and Republican state officials, who intend to appeal the judge’s decision, according to Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office. Iowa’s Republican leaders have barred the Satanic Temple Iowa’s holiday observances in recent years, citing the state Capitol building’s policies that prohibit gratuitous violence and obscene displays. The Satanic Temple and the leader of its...

IOWA CITY, Iowa - A federal judge has ruled that the University of Iowa was wrong to strip a Christian student group of its registered status after the organization barred a gay student from a leadership position. U.S. District Judge Stephanie M. Rose on Wednesday granted a permanent injunction banning the university from rejecting the status of the group, Business Leaders in Christ, The Des Moines Register reported. Rose found that the university had unevenly applied its human rights policy by allowing other groups to limit membership based on religious views, race, sex and other protected characteristics. "Particularly when free...