Ideas

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's new term already includes several religious-liberty cases. On Oct. 1 the justices agreed to hear Missionaries of St. John the Baptist v. Frederic. Catholic priests in Park Hills, Kentucky, want to build a Virgin Mary grotto beside their church. The Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a ban on it. The question is whether that ban is a substantial burden under the federal land-use law RLUIPA, given that a smaller shrine could go elsewhere. The court also granted Grand v. City of University Heights, Ohio, over threats against religious gatherings in a home. It will hear a Colorado Catholic preschool's challenge to anti-discrimination conditions on its universal pre-K program, reportedly on Nov. 3. Religious-liberty groups say the court is restoring neglected protections. Critics say it is eroding church-state separation. Rulings are expected by next summer.

NASHVILLE — Tennessee's three Catholic bishops joined Episcopal and Lutheran bishops in a letter dated Oct. 1. It asks Gov. Bill Lee to commute the death sentence of Christa Pike and not try to execute her again. Pike, 50, survived two doses of lethal injection on Sept. 30. She was convicted in the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, and she is the first woman Tennessee has tried to execute in about two centuries. The bishops say accountability need not require another death. Lee has suspended executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review. Her lawyers allege in a court filing that the IV lines were misplaced. Pike's Buddhist adviser was in the chamber. Her case follows the failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May. The state said its protocol had worked as designed.