WARSAW, Poland – Church representatives have accused the European Union of ignoring pledges to defend religious freedom, despite commitments set out in special 2013 guidelines.

WASHINGTON – The 2017 annual report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added three "entities" to its list of 28 "countries of particular concern," thanks to a law passed in December.

WASHINGTON – A new study categorizes what kinds of responses emerge when Christians around the world are persecuted, noting that, most often, Christians choose a strategy of survival.

WASHINGTON – Pro-life and religious freedom advocates cheered the Senate’s confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch on Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court, filling an almost 14 month-long vacancy.

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Responding to the case of a receptionist fired for wearing a hijab to work, the Court of Justice of the European Union has allowed a qualified ban on religious headscarves in the workplace.

MANCHESTER, England – The British Catholic Church has predicted that pharmacists could be forced to dispense lethal drugs under plans to prohibit conscientious objection on the grounds of religion.

OTTAWA – Trinity Western University will have an opportunity to defend its religious freedom and pro-traditional marriage community covenant before the Supreme Court of Canada.

WASHINGTON – The former U.S. religious freedom ambassador told a congressional subcommittee that leaked language of a proposed presidential executive order on religious liberty could cause "constitutional problems."

WASHINGTON – In a Feb. 16 statement, U.S. Catholic Church leaders said they were encouraged that President Donald Trump may be considering an executive order to protect religious freedom and said they would be grateful if he would move forward with the pledge that his administration would "do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty."

WASHINGTON – Saying “religious freedom in America has suffered years of unprecedented erosion,” U.S. Catholic bishops have posted an online letter for Catholics to send to President Donald Trump urging him to sign an executive order promoting religious freedom.

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump insisted that protecting religious freedom is a U.S. priority, while defending his recent halt of refugee admissions as a necessary step to protect that freedom.

VATICAN CITY – While violent persecution against Christians assails swaths of territory the Middle East and Africa, one Vatican official says that Western nations face a different type of oppression, marked by the push to eliminate religion from public life.

OTTAWA – Canada's former ambassador of religious freedom told a Senate committee that Canada’s focus on religious freedom has “diminished” since the Office of Religious Freedom was closed in May.

Beating the Christmas rush in Ottawa this year seems to mean wrapping up new transgender laws in time for the holidays. It’s hard to find anything merry about that.

OTTAWA – An Orthodox Christian father has lost a religious freedom and parental rights case before the Ontario Superior Court even though the judge agreed his rights were encroached.