Catholic News 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- In the midst of his Cabinet deliberations, President-elect Donald Trump flew to Ohio Thursday to meet with victims and families after the latest U.S. outbreak of violence, a somber duty that became all too familiar to his predecessor....
BEIRUT (AP) -- The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):...
St. Paul, Minn., Dec 8, 2016 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Owners of a video production company have filed suit against a Minnesota law they say could punish them if they decline to film a same-sex “wedding” ceremony or to state their objections in promotional materials.“Filmmakers shouldn’t be threatened with fines and jail simply for disagreeing with the government,” said attorney Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group supporting them. “Every American – including creative professionals – should be free to peacefully live and work according to their faith without fear of punishment.”Carl and Angel Larsen run the St. Cloud, Minn. video production company Telescope Media Group. They said they aim to enter the wedding business but want to be clear on their website and other promotional materials that their company “cannot make films promoting any conception of marriage that contradicts ...
St. Paul, Minn., Dec 8, 2016 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Owners of a video production company have filed suit against a Minnesota law they say could punish them if they decline to film a same-sex “wedding” ceremony or to state their objections in promotional materials.
“Filmmakers shouldn’t be threatened with fines and jail simply for disagreeing with the government,” said attorney Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group supporting them. “Every American – including creative professionals – should be free to peacefully live and work according to their faith without fear of punishment.”
Carl and Angel Larsen run the St. Cloud, Minn. video production company Telescope Media Group. They said they aim to enter the wedding business but want to be clear on their website and other promotional materials that their company “cannot make films promoting any conception of marriage that contradicts its religious beliefs that marriage is between one man and one woman, including films celebrating same-sex marriages.”
They said current law would compel them to produce videos “promoting a conception of marriage that directly contradicts their religious beliefs.”
Minnesota law bars the denial of wedding services like cake decorating, wedding planning, or other commercial activities by “individuals, nonprofits or the secular business activities of religious entities,” the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says.
Penalties for violating the law include payment of a civil fine, triple compensatory damages, punitive damages up to $25,000, a criminal penalty of up to $1,000 and a possible 90 days in jail.
State officials can use “testers” who pose as potential customers to investigate discrimination complaints. The tactic in 2014 resulted in a settlement with a venue that was accused of refusing to host a same-sex wedding.
Defenders of the couple characterized the matter as a question of artistic freedom.
“The Larsens can’t publicly depict stories about the exclusive benefits of marriages between one man and one woman because Minnesota officials have categorically stated that conducting business in this way would violate the law,” charged Caleb Dalton, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom.
“The problem with this is that the government must allow artists the freedom to make personal decisions about what content they will create and what content they won’t create.”
The Larsens’ lawsuit says they would also decline to convey messages promoting racism or racial division, sexual immorality, the degradation of women or the destruction of unborn children.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A decades-long trend of rising life expectancy in the U.S. could be ending: It declined last year and it is no better than it was four years ago....
BOSTON (AP) -- A federally backed effort to stem the rise of homegrown extremists is underway in Massachusetts, nearly three years after the White House announced the initiative on the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured hundreds....
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) -- As Iraqi forces advanced toward the al-Salam hospital in Mosul earlier this week, encountering only light resistance from Islamic State fighters, commanders decided to seize the facility instead of sweeping the neighborhoods along the road leading to it....
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Federal officials investigating a fire that killed 36 people during a party at an Oakland warehouse plan to bring in engineers to examine the building's electrical system, as they try to pinpoint the cause of a blaze that has cast a spotlight on similar artists' colonies around the country that offer cheap housing but unsafe living conditions....
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- For protesters fighting the Dakota Access pipeline, the messages from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation are confusing: The tribal chairman tells demonstrators that it's time to leave their camp and go home. Another leader implores them to stay through the bitter North Dakota winter....
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Dylann Roof's mother suffered a heart attack not long after prosecutors described how her son planned a cold and calculated killing of nine black church members in a racially motivated attack, the white man's attorney said in court documents Thursday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When President-elect Donald Trump tapped Reince Priebus as his chief of staff, Republican leaders cheered the prospect of a close ally having a top White House job....
