News & Commentary

When injustice doesn’t impact us directly, it can be easy to say “what’s the harm? It’s not a big deal.”It’s a much different experience when you’re the one left out, facing discrimination, or pushed out of public spaces.When government officials insist on promoting a particular faith, citizens who don't share those religious beliefs suffer. All too often that pain is minimized, even ignored. “It’s not a big deal, right?”It’s a big deal.Every citizen should feel welcome and represented at their city hall. When you walk into city hall to pay taxes or meet with your city council member, it’s important to feel like your government won’t favor another person based on religion, race, or anything else.That’s why Warren’s city hall is a more welcoming place for its residents, after a federal judge agreed with us and ended the city’s policy of allowing only a “prayer station” operated by a church group in the public space.For six years, the city permitted volunteers at the “prayer station” to distribute religious pamphlets, offer to pray with passersby and discuss their religious beliefs with those who approach the station. In just the same way, a Warren resident asked to reserve the same space to have philosophical discussions with passersby who express an interest in a secular belief system rather than a religious one. Warren officials didn’t like that idea. They didn’t like the man’s point of view. They didn’t agree.City officials are now required to provide access to the building for a “reason station” to be run by a resident with non-religious beliefs. No official, not even the mayor, can pick and choose which belief systems residents are permitted to be heard.But one of the key elements that make America great is that government officials can’t silence or exclude other points of view just because they don’t like them personally.That’s always been the goal of the ACLU’s work on freedom of religion and belief: to guarantee that everyone is free to follow and practice their faith – or no faith at all – without governmental influence or interference.

As debate over "religious freedom restoration acts," or RFRAs, heat up around the country and here in Michigan, the threat of religion being used to discriminate grows exponentially. And not only would businesses, nonprofit groups and individuals be empowered to legally discriminate in the name of their faiths, as we've previously warned. That discrimination could come at the expense of the common good.  

With a history of civil liberties stretching back almost a century, the ACLU has got plenty of amazing cases for #TBT. Every Thursday, we'll be sharing updates on cases pulled from our archives of work in Michigan and beyond.

Moms Jami and Krista Contreras of Oak Park, Michigan brought their six-day-old newborn into a Roseville pediatric practice for a wellness checkup. The couple was turned away. Why?

The idea of charging some customers less than others for water might seem counter-intuitive at first, but once economist Roger Colton explains why it makes good business sense, his reasoning is difficult to dispute.

In a recent night when temperatures hovered near zero, Aliya Moore and her two school-aged daughters bundled up for the 20-minute drive from their home in northwest Detroit to the Frederick Douglass Academy, a public school not far from Midtown.

Update: Because of members and supporters like you, lawmakers have delayed voting on this discriminatory legislation. We'll keep you posted if this package of bills is reintroduced.

Barbara Hernandez was only 16 years old when she was tried as an adult and convicted of murder after her abusive boyfriend killed a man.

The ACLU of Michigan is tracking hundreds of legal cases and pieces of legislation that impact your civil liberties at any given moment, covering all concerns from free speech to government abuse. That's why we like to point out a few cases that made the news each week, to keep our members and supporters up to date on threats in your neighborhood.