Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Sareini v. Burnett, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4925 (ED MI, Jan. 22, 2010), a Michigan federal district court adopted recommendations of a federal magistrate (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123726, Dec. 21, 2009) granting summary judgement on some claims and denying it on others in a case in which a Shi'a Muslim inmate complained about restrictions on his religious exercise. The court dismissed a complaint that no separate Shi'a religious services were offered, but refused to dismiss claims seeking Halal meat, asking to be allowed to have certain religious items and accommodating observance of Muslim holidays.
In Mayo v. Norris, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5243 (ED AR, Jan. 22, 2010), an Arkansas federal district court adopted the recommendations of a federal magistrate (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123899, Dec. 18, 2009) and rejected a petition for a writ of habeas corpus by petitioner who objected on religious grounds both to his conditions of parole and his underlying conviction (after a negotiated guilty plea) for possessing methamphetamine. Petitioner quoted various Biblical verses that he said were inconsistent with the requirement he maintain a residence and not associate with convicted felons. He also argued that his sentence was harsher than what God's judgment would have been.
In Wilkerson v. Jenkins, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6602 (D MD, Jan. 27, 2010), a Maryland federal district court rejected an inmate's complaint that he was not permitted to wear his yarmulke outside his housing unit and that his work assignment interfered with his observance of the Sabbath.
In Ivory v. Tilton, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6557 (ED CA, Jan. 8, 2010), a California federal magistrate judge, while permitting plaintiff to proceed with retaliation and excessive force claims held that "plaintiff's allegations that 'Defendants' in general harassed him, called him Kosher boy in front of other inmates, both under heated and burned his food, deprived him of his Kosher meals on several occasions, and failed to provide him with proper eating utensils are not sufficient to state any claims." Plaintiff was granted leave to amend on the dismissed claims.
In Scott v. Padula, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6174 (D. SC, Jan. 26, 2010) a federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6173, Jan. 7, 2010), and denied a preliminary injunction to an inmate who wanted to have religious books pertaining to the Shetaut Neter faith while he is housed in the Special Management Unit.
In Lockamy v. Dunbar, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6893 (ED TX, Jan. 28, 2010), a federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124184, Oct. 6, 2009), and, among other things, rejected a RLUIPA challenge to application of prison contraband rules that precluded plaintiff from mailing religious articles torn out of a magazine (as opposed to sending the entire magazine) and a Christmas card that had been made from the back covers of copies of a prison publication.
In Yisrayl v. Walker, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6785 (SD IL, Jan. 27, 2010), an Illinois federal district court permitted an inmate who practices the African Hebrew Israelite faith to proceed on some of his claims-- that officials refused to serve him unleavened bread, refused to serve him a special holiday meal, denied him access to religious books, videos and a turban and have not hired a clergy member of his faith.
Parental Rights Terminated For 13 Children From Alamo Ministries Compound
Tennessee Adopts Curriculum Guidelines For High School Bible Courses
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Muslim Organization Objects To Remarks In Speech By California Mayor
Rifqa Bary's Parents Seek to Withdraw Settlement Consent Entered Last Week
Friday, January 29, 2010
FFRF Objects To Planned Mother Teresa Postage Stamp
North Carolina County's Sectarian Prayers Violate Establishment Clause
Air Force Academy Adds Chapel Space For Earth-Centered Faiths; Talks With Secular Student Group
Meanwhile, the Colorado Springs Independent yesterday reported [scroll down] that the Air Force Academy's Freethinkers group has apparently gained consent of administrators to affiliate with national Secular Student Alliance and move out from the Academy's Special Programs In Religious Education. The move came after SPIRE discouraged the group last spring from officially inviting atheist Christopher Hitchens. (Background.) Instead Hitchens met off campus with cadets. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]
DHS Secretary Meets With Faith and Ethnic Leaders
Court Says Pastor's Defamation Is Not Barred By 1st Amendment
If the organization is of a religious character, and the alleged defamatory statements relate to the organization's religious beliefs and practices and are of a kind that can only be classified as religious, then the statements are purely religious as a matter of law, and the Free Exercise Clause bars the plaintiff's claim. In defamation law terms, those statements enjoy an absolute privilege.
If, however, the statements--although made by a religious organization--do not concern the religious beliefs and practices of the religious organization, or are made for a nonreligious purpose--that is, if they would not "always and in every context" be considered religious in nature--then the First Amendment does not necessarily prevent adjudication of the defamation claim, but the statements may nonetheless be qualifiedly privileged under established Oregon law.
In this case, the alleged defamatory statements--that the pastor had misappropriated money and had demonstrated a willingness to lie--would not "always and in every context" be religious in nature. Thus, even though the statements related to plaintiff's conduct as a pastor of the church, that fact does not render those statements absolutely privileged as a matter of law under the Free Exercise Clause. Rather, that fact gives rise to a qualified privilege.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Building Permit Charges Against Amish Farmer Dismissed on Free Exercise Grounds
UPDATE: Here it the full opinion in Town of Albion v. Stolzfus, (WI Cir. Ct., Jan. 7, 2010). [Thanks to Robert L. Greene.]
Indonesian Government Says 20% of Mosques Face Wrong Direction
Bill Proposed In California To Protect Clergy From Perfoming Same-Sex Marriages
No person authorized by this subdivision shall be required to solemnize a marriage that is contrary to the tenets of his or her faith. Any refusal to solemnize a marriage under this subdivision shall not affect the tax exempt status of any entity.According to LAist yesterday, both Equality California (press release) and the California Council of Churches back the measure.
1st Circuit Rejects Religious Persecution Claim By Chinese Woman Seeking Asylum
In West Bank, Mosques Become Part of Battle Between PA and Hamas
Qaradawi is considered a prominent scholar of Islamic law. He condemned Abbas for thwarting U.N. action on a report critical of Israel's 2008 incursion into Gaza. The rhetoric is heated. Qaradawi called for Abbas to be stoned in Mecca if it is shown that he instigated Israel against Gaza. The controversial PA sermons delivered in response called Qaradawi an ignoramus and a puppet of the government of Qatar.
Court Applies Ministerial Exception to Dismiss Suit by Catholic School Teacher
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Peres Addresses Bundestag On International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The Nazi rabid hatred cannot be solely defined as "anti-Semitic." This is a commonly-used definition. It does not fully explain the burning, murderous, beastly drive that motivated the Nazi regime, and their obsessive resolve to annihilate the Jews. The war's objective was to conquer Europe; not to settle scores with Jewish history. And if we constituted, we the Jews, a terrible threat in the eyes of Hitler's regime, this was not a military threat, but rather a moral threat. An opposition to the desire that denied our faith that every man is born in the image of God, that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and that all men are equal.
House of Lords Today Debates Religious Hiring By Faith Schools
Focus on Family Ad Featuring Tim Tebow Will Run During Superbowl
Father's Suit Against Family Planning Clinic Dismissed
German Family, Persecuted for Homeschooling, Granted Asylum In U.S.
Rabbis Urge AG Holder To Grant Rubashkin Pre-Sentence Release
Mr. Rubashkin has been an observant Orthodox Jew since birth. His dietary observances prevent him from eating food that is not certified as kosher or that is heated in a non-kosher appliance. He, therefore, has eaten only cold food while in prison....The Forward yesterday also reported on the rabbi's news conference.
He and his wife have ten children, six of whom live at home with their parents. They have an autistic 16-year-old son who has always been heavily dependent on his father. Mr. Rubashkin’s absence from his home at this time – when he is most needed to prepare his children in case he is sentenced to a lengthy prison term – is devastating....
Moreover, his friends and his religious community have offered to pay for a 24-hour private armed security guard that will, in effect, imprison him in his home until his sentencing. A total of approximately 8 million dollars in the equity of 43 homes has been offered as security for his appearance. And to demonstrate the intensity of their conviction that he will not flee, rabbis have offered Torah scrolls – that may not be assigned except for the most extreme and exigent needs – as security for his presence.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
French Parliamentary Report Urges Ban of Full Face Veil In Public Buildings and Transport
9th Circuit Rejects RLUIPA Zoning Challenge In Brief Opinion
Gnostic Center Fails Britain's "Public Benefit" Test To Be A Charity
To be a religion in charity law, there must also be a positive, beneficial, moral or ethical framework promoted, since a spiritually improving effect on its own is insufficient.... There was no evidence of shared morals or ethics amongst followers or the promotion of these by the Gnostic Center.Finally the Charity Commission rejected the argument that the Center promoted moral or spiritual welfare or improvement of the community for public benefit, finding no demonstrable impact of the Center's teachings and practices on society.
Bangladesh Takes Next Step To Ban Religious Political Parties
Federal Court Applies Younger Abstention In Challenge To Maine's Charitable Solicitations Act
House of Lords Votes To Keep Broader Discrimination Exemptions For Religious Organizations
In the House of Lords, Bishop Scott-Joynt and Baroness O'Cathain, an evangelical, proposed amendments to retain the 2003 exemptions. (Christian Today). According to Christian Institute, in three separate votes yesterday (216- 178, 195-174 and 177-172), the peers voted to approve Lady O'Cathain's amendments.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Malaysian Court Overturns Book Ban on Academic Essays on Muslim Women
Christians In Nigerian City Charge Military With Genocide
Ban on Burqa Debated In France, Britain
Meanwhile, in yesterday's London Times, Dominic Lawson published a powerful op-ed opposing suggestions by the UK Independence Party that the burqa be banned in Britain. He writes that the view of Muslims being portrayed by those who support a ban is reminiscent of these lines from Adolph Hitler in Mein Kampf: "As I was once strolling through the inner city, I suddenly happened upon an apparition in a long caftan with black hair locks. Is this a Jew? was my first thought ... but the longer I stared ... the more my first question was transformed into a new conception: is this a German?"
Recent Articles and Books of Interest
From SSRN:
- Lance McMillian, Atticus Finch as Racial Accommodator: Answering Malcolm Gladwell's Critique, (January 16, 2010).
Other articles:
- Richard F. Duncan, The "Clearest Command" of the Establishment Clause: Denominational Preferences, Religious Liberty, and Public Scholarships that Classify Religions, (South Dakota Law Review, forthcoming).
Recent Books:
- Michael Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier: French Missionaries and the Roman Catholic Priesthood in the United States, 1789-1870, (Oxford Univ. Press, Dec. 2009).
- Tariq Ramadan, What I Believe, (Oxford Univ. Press, Sept. 2009).
- Beate Meyer, Hermann Simon & Chana Schutz (eds.), Jews in Nazi Berlin: From Kristallnacht to Liberation, (Univ. of Chicago Press, Dec. 2009).
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Italian Judge Removed In Dispute Over Crucifixes In Courtrooms
Appellate Court Allows Church Parking Lot Over Historical Preservation Objections
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Edwards v. Bruno, 2009 Conn. Super. LEXIS 3305 (CT Super., Nov. 9, 2010), a Connecticut trial court rejected claims of a Jewish prisoner that he was not given a reasonable opportunity to pursue his faith at Passover. He was given 7 pounds of matzoh, seder food prepared by an ordained rabbi, and a one-on-one seder conducted by the Protestant chaplain (who was also a Messianic rabbi).
In Rubio v. Diaz, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3776 (WD TX, Jan. 15, 2010), a Texas federal magistrate judge dismissed free exercise and RLUIPA claims by an inmate who complained that his writing material, including his Bible and his Bible study correspondence, were confiscated pursuant to a subpoena generated by an investigation by the Texas Rangers. He claimed his personal Bible had the names and addresses of his family members in it, and he needed it to communicate with them. He says it also had sentimental value to him.
In Canada v. Ray, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4115 (WD VA. Jan. 19, 2010), a Virginia federal magistrate judge recommended that a Muslim inmate be permitted to move forward with his claim that his free exercise rights and his rights under RLUIPA were violated when he was required to either face discipline or take a tuberculosis skin test which he claimed contained alcohol or pork products, both forbidden by Muslim law.
In Reynolds v. Newcomer, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123469 (WD LA, Dec. 21, 2009), and in Carr v. Newcomer, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123559 (WD LA, Dec. 21, 2009), a Louisiana federal magistrate judge concluded that inmates' religious exercise was not substantially burdened, and recommended that the claims in two similar cases be dismissed as frivolous. Plaintiff claimed they have been denied the right to receive religious material such as Bibles, books, and magazines; and that the warden allows Pentecostalists and other Christian "sects" to proselytize inmates in the dormitory's common day room. One of the plaintiffs also claimed that shortly after his arrival at the prison, his religious pendant -- a gift from his grandfather -- was confiscated and that he was denied a Bible shipped to him because it was improperly packaged.
In Windham v. Pierce, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4518 (SD TX, Jan. 21, 2010), a Native American inmate challenged the requirement he take a test before being transferred to a Native American designated prison. When he was transferred without taking the test, he objected that there is no volunteer to lead services and the circle is inactive. His first claim was dismissed as moot, and his second was dismissed without prejudice because it should be brought in a different venue.
In Jihad v. Fabian, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4749 (D MN, Jan. 21, 2010), a federal district court approved a magistrate's recommendations (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123652, Dec. 23, 2009) and refused to grant a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction in response to plaintiff's complaints regarding impediments to his practice of Islam. Plaintiff, claiming a violation of his free exercise rights and of RLUIPA, alleged that authorities failed to provide a Muslim chaplain and enough Islamic services; prohibited religious meetings without a volunteer present; failed to provide Halal meals and a location where he can perform five daily salat (prayers); and prohibited him from wearing a Kufi (prayer cap) or an Islamic medallion outside of his clothing.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Mother Who Starved Children, Relying on God, Convicted of Endangerment
Philippines Makes Eid'l Adha a National Holiday
Tribal Government Funds Rebuilding of Catholic Church On Reservation
Pope Keeps Cardinal Bertone On As Secretary of State
California Proposes Halal and Expanded Vegetarian Diets For Prisons
Friday, January 22, 2010
Passenger's Tefillin Leads To Security Scare and Emergency Landing
Group Urges Action To Appoint International Religious Freedom Ambassador
Also yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a letter it sent earlier this month to President Obama urging him to designate Vietnam a "Country of Particular Concern" under the IRFA. It also asked him to press Congress to pass the proposed Vietnam Human Rights Act (S. 1159/ H.R. 1969). USCIRF had already recommended adding Vietnam to the list in its 2009 Annual Report issued last May. (See prior posting.)
Bible References On Rifle Sights Will End
Alaska Appellate Court Says Religious Belief in Marijuana Was Not Sincere
Court Holds Church Can Tear Down Historic Rectory
Suit Challenges Regulation of Spiritual Counsellors As Fortune Tellers
Diocese Challenges Designation of Church As Historic District
Egypt's High Administrative Court Overturns Ban On Niqab In University Exams
Freedom to wear the niqab is guaranteed by human rights and constitutional liberties, and a girl's right to dress the way she sees fit in accordance with her beliefs and her social environment is a firm right that cannot be violated.The court added, however, that a student must show her face when asked to do so for security reasons. The decision reverses one handed down by a Cairo court earlier this month. (See prior posting.)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Supreme Court Decision Impacts Those Seeking Asylum Because of Religious Persecution
Court Rejects Claim of Religious Exemption From Income Taxes
Rifqa Bary Remains In Foster Care, Agrees to Counseling
Japan's Supreme Court Says City's Gift of Site For Shrine Is Unconstitutional
Hundreds Killed In Muslim-Christian Violence In Nigeria
Visa Bans for Two Muslim Scholars Lifted
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Free Exercise Claim Growing Out of Auto Search Dismissed
Vatican Issues Guidelines For Scheduled Mideast Synod
18. Political conflicts in the region have a direct influence on the lives of Christians, both as citizens and as Christians. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories makes daily life difficult with regard to freedom of movement, the economy and religious life (access to the Holy Places is dependent on military permission which is granted to some and denied to others on security grounds). Moreover, certain Christian fundamentalist theologies use Sacred Scripture to justify Israel's occupation of Palestine, making the position of Christian Arabs even more sensitive.
19. In Iraq, the war has unleashed evil forces within the country, religious confessions and political movements, making all Iraqis victims. However, because Christians represent the smallest and weakest part of Iraqi communities, they are among the principal victims, with world politics taking no notice.
20. In Lebanon, Christians are deeply divided at a political and confessional level, without a commonly acceptable plan of action. In Egypt, the rise of political Islam, on the one hand, and the disengagement of Christians from civil society on the other, lead to intolerance, inequality and injustice in their lives. Moreover, this Islamisation also penetrates families through the media and school.... In many countries, authoritarianism or dictatorships force the population - Christians included - to bear everything in silence....22. In the Middle East, freedom of religion customarily means freedom of worship and not freedom of conscience, i.e., the freedom to change one's religion for belief in another. Generally speaking, religion in the Middle East is a social and even a national choice, and not an individual one. To change religion is perceived as betraying a society, culture and nation, founded largely on a religious tradition.
23. Conversion is seen as the fruit of a proselytism with personal interests attached and not arising from authentic religious conviction. Oftentimes, the conversion of Jews and Muslims is forbidden by State laws. Christians, though also subjected to pressure and opposition from families and tribes - even if less severely - remain free to change their religion. Many times, the conversion of Christians results not from religious conviction but personal interests or under pressure from Muslim proselytism, particularly to be relieved from obligations related to family difficulties.
British Equality Commission Opens Consultation on Equality Guides
British Proposal Would Permit Religious Same-Sex Commitment Ceremonies
UPDATE: The House of Lords passed the amendment by a vote of 95-21 on March 2. London Times.
Cert. Denied In Kindergarten Bible Reading Ban
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
NY Prison Chaplain Administrator Charges Discrimination
Recent Articles of Interest
- Robert C. Blitt, Should New Bills of Rights Address Emerging International Human Rights Norms? The Challenge of 'Defamation of Religion', (January 18, 2010).
- Bruce Garen Peabody, Analogize This: Partial Constitutional Text, Religion, and Maintaining Our Political Order, (Cardozo Law Review, Forthcoming).
- Steven Paul Goldberg, Neuroscience and the Free Exercise of Religion, (Law and Neuroscience: Current Legal Issues, M. Freeman, ed., Oxford University Press, 2010).
- Michael W. Schwartz, Wahhabism and the First Amendment , (Commentary, 2010).
- The January 2010 Issue of Church & State (from Americans United) has recently appeared.
Military Contractor Secretly Placing Biblical References On Rifle Sights
Tom Munson, Trijicon's director of sales and marketing said there is nothing wrong with the inscriptions and that the issue was raised by a group that is "not Christian." Apparently the practice was called to the military' attention by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. MMRF's founder, Mikey Weinstein, says members of his group that currently serve in the military have complained about the inscriptions, saying that commanders have referred to the weapons with these sights as "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ." Interfaith Alliance issued a statement calling on the Defense Department to conduct an immediate investigation and to take appropriate action if Trijicon broke any laws.
India's Supreme Court Refuses To Order Constitution Amended To Clarify Status of Sikhs
Ohio High Schoolers Fight Removal of God From School Mission Statement
Lawsuit Asks Court To Uphold Removal of Church Directors
Monday, January 18, 2010
Obama Speaks At D.C. Church About Dr. King's Legacy
Even as Dr. King stood in this church, a victory in the past and uncertainty in the future, he trusted God. He trusted that God would make a way. A way for prayers to be answered. A way for our union to be perfected. A way for the arc of the moral universe, no matter how long, to slowly bend towards truth and bend towards freedom, to bend towards justice. He had faith that God would make a way out of no way....
There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught, and change is so painfully slow in coming, and I have to confront my own doubts. But let me tell you -- during those times it's faith that keeps me calm. ... It's faith that gives me peace. The same faith that leads a single mother to work two jobs to put a roof over her head when she has doubts. The same faith that keeps an unemployed father to keep on submitting job applications even after he's been rejected a hundred times. The same faith that says to a teacher even if the first nine children she's teaching she can't reach, that that 10th one she's going to be able to reach. The same faith that breaks the silence of an earthquake's wake with the sound of prayers and hymns sung by a Haitian community. A faith in things not seen, in better days ahead, in Him who holds the future in the hollow of His hand. A faith that lets us mount up on wings like eagles; lets us run and not be weary; lets us walk and not faint.
So let us hold fast to that faith, as Joshua held fast to the faith of his fathers, and together, we shall overcome the challenges of a new age.... Together, we shall seize the promise of this moment. Together, we shall make a way through winter, and we're going to welcome the spring. Through God all things are possible.
NY Appeals Court Says Breakaway Church Property Belongs to Prebyterian Church USA
the Book Of Order, a component of the constitution of PCUSA, contains language specifying that all property held by a particular church is held in trust for the national denomination. The neutral principles approach requires the courts to "look to the constitution of the general church concerning the ownership and control of church property" .... [D]efendants, in opposition to the plaintiffs' motion, failed to demonstrate that PCUSA is not hierarchical, or that cases involving hierarchical religious organizations do not apply here.[Thanks to Joseph Landau for the lead.]
Pope's Visit To Rome Synagogue Focuses Debate On Pius XII's Actions In WW II
In Italy and other parts of Europe, many religious people risked their lives to save thousands of Jews from certain death, without asking anything in return. This is why the silence of Pius XII before the Shoah still hurts because something should have been done. Maybe it would not have stopped the death trains, but it would have sent a signal, a word of extreme comfort, of human solidarity towards those brothers of ours transported to the ovens of Auschwitz.In his address at the Rome Synagogue yesterday (full text) the Pope set out the Vatican's view of its record:
The extermination of the people of the Covenant of Moses, at first announced, then systematically programmed and put into practice in Europe under the Nazi regime, on that day tragically reached as far as Rome. Unfortunately, many remained indifferent, but many, including Italian Catholics, sustained by their faith and by Christian teaching, reacted with courage, often at risk of their lives, opening their arms to assist the Jewish fugitives who were being hunted down, and earning perennial gratitude. The Apostolic See itself provided assistance, often in a hidden and discreet way.Last December, Pope Benedict issued a decree moving Pius XII closer to beatification, a move that sparked anger among some Jewish groups. (AP, 12/23/2009). Israel on Sunday asked Pope Benedict to open the Vatican archives to researchers to clarify Pope Pius XII's actions. (Reuters).
Sunday, January 17, 2010
RLDS Church Wins Trademark Infringement Claims
Pope Seeks Civil Recognition of Catholic Church In Turkey
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Blackwell v. Madison Parish Correctional Center, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2515 (Jan. 13, 2009), a federal district court accepted a magistrate's recommendations (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123042, Dec. 4, 2009) and dismissed as frivolous free exercise and RLUIPA charges by an inmate who complained that the correctional facility did not offer Jehovah's Witness religious services.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
DoD Report on Ft. Hood Shooting Includes Recommendations on Religion In Military
Finding 2.3: DoD standards for denying requests for recognition as an ecclesiastical endorser of chaplains may be inadequate.... This limited authority to deny requests for designation as ecclesiastical endorsers could allow undue improper influence by individuals with a propensity toward violence.....Today's Wall Street Journal discusses the report.
Finding 2.7: DoD policy regarding religious accommodation lacks the clarity necessary to help commanders distinguish appropriate religious practices from those that might indicate a potential for self-radicalization....
Finding 4.9: The lack of published guidance for religious support in mass casualty incidents hampers integration of religious support to installation emergency management plans.
President Proclaims Today "Religious Freedom Day"
The Virginia Statute was more than a law. It was a statement of principle, declaring freedom of religion as the natural right of all humanity -- not a privilege for any government to give or take away. Penned by Thomas Jefferson and championed in the Virginia legislature by James Madison, it barred compulsory support of any church and ensured the freedom of all people to profess their faith openly, without fear of persecution. Five years later, the First Amendment of our Bill of Rights followed the Virginia Statute's model, stating, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .".
Supreme Court Will Review Release of Names of Referendum Petition Signers
Friday, January 15, 2010
6th Circuit Upholds Courthouse Display Including 10 Commandments
Judge Moore, dissenting, said: "The County's asserted purpose here—that the Display was posted for educational or historical reasons—is a sham and should be rejected." She also concluded that the display sent an unmistakable message of endorsing religion.
Liberty Counsel, (which represented Grayson County) urged in its press release on the decision: "Pray that the Lord continues to bless Liberty Counsel as we continue to battle the ACLU in other cases." The Lexington Herald-Leader, reporting on the decision, said that plaintiffs in the case are reviewing the decision to decide whether to file an appeal.
UPDATE: The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that on Jan. 18, just days after the decision, the Ten Commandments were reposted on the Grayson County Courthouse walls. Rev. Charles Shartzer and 200 others joined county officials for the ceremony, at which Shartzer said: "We have Christian leadership. We have leadership that is not ashamed to stand up for God, not ashamed to have this display in our courthouse."
Scientology Sues Atlanta Suburb Over Zoning Denial
Appeals Court Upholds Religious Objection To Autopsy On Executed Prisoner
The court held that under Tennessee's law on preservation of religious freedom (TN Code Ann. Sec. 4-1-407), the Medical Examiner is required to establish by clear and convincing evidence under the specific facts of the case that performing an autopsy is essential to further a compelling governmental interest. While there is a compelling interest to conduct some kind of investigation as to every inmate who is executed in order to assure against cruel and unusual punishment, where a religious objection is raised to an autopsy, that may be part of the investigation only if the compelling interest standard is met. Religious objections might be overruled when the execution was not without incident, the prisoner did not react to the drugs as expected, and there is a need to understand why. Even then, the autopsy needs to be limited to the procedures necessary to understand what happened. UPI reported on the decision yesterday.