Christian After-School Program Employee Not Covered By Unemployment Insurance

In By the Hand Club for Kids, NFP, Inc. v. Department of Employment Security, (IL App., Dec. 30, 2020), an Illinois state appellate court held that an organization that operates a Christ-centered after-school program to aid students is exempt from the Illinois Unemployment Insurance Act. The organization assists students with homework, provides tutoring and literacy program, health services and a meal program. It also provides chapel services and Bible reading. The court concluded that the organization is "operated primarily for religious purposes." Thus the court denied  an unemployment compensation claim by the group's former human resources director.  ADF issued a press release announcing the decision.

Suit Against Trump For Misleading Christians Is Dismissed For Lack of Standing

In Kelly v. Trump, (Del. Chancery, Nov. 2, 2020), a Delaware Chancery Court Master recommended dismissing as legally frivolous a suit against President Donald Trump alleging that he violated plaintiff's free exercise and Establishment Clause rights. The court said that plaintiff "has not shown an actual or concrete injury to her caused by Trump’s conduct....  Her contentions are too remote and vague to be actionable."  The court described plaintiff's allegations in part as follows:

Kelly’s main theory of her case is that Trump creates the illusion of being a devout Christian, while engaging in acts that Kelly contends are against the main tenets of Christianity. She claims that his actions substantially burden and injure her “free exercise of religion”... by [his] increased threat of government sponsored religious persecution.... Kelly alleges that ... he is misleading people, deceiving them to sin, and dooming them to hell. The primary harm Kelly claims is that, because Trump is leading people to hell, Kelly will not be able to love them for eternity. She also alleges that she is persecuted ... because of Trump’s support for one religious belief, and suppression of others....

Trump Sends Message To "The Return"

 As reported by CBN News, thousands of Christians gathered on the National Mall today for The Return: National and Global Day of Prayer and Repentance.  The event was organized by Messianic Jewish pastor Jonathan Cahn and featured numerous Christian speakers, including Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham. (CBN News). President Trump sent a written message (full text) to the event, which read in part:

On this inaugural National Day of Prayer and Return, the First Lady and I join millions of Christians here in the United States and around the world in prayer, as we turn our hearts to our Lord and Savior....

The trials and tribulations the American people have faced over the past several months have been great.  Yet, as we have seen time and again, the resolve of our citizenry—fortified by our faith in God—has guided us through these hardships and helped to unite us as one Nation under God.

8th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments On Qualified Immunity In Suit By Christian Student Group

 The U.S. 8sth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Business Leaders in Christ v. University of Iowa. (Audio of full oral arguments.) In the case, an Iowa federal district court granted a permanent injunction to a Christian student group that was denied Registered Student Organization status. The denial was based on the University's Human Rights Policy that prohibits discrimination, among other things, on the basis of sexual orientation. The court concluded that this violated plaintiff's free expression rights. However the court held that individual defendants in the case had qualified immunity in an action for damages against them because "the Court cannot say the constitutional issues were established 'beyond debate.'." (See prior related posting.)

Sudan Agrees To Separation of Religion and State As Part of Peace Deal

 Voice of America reports:

Sudan's transitional government has agreed in principle to separate religion and state after three decades of Islamic rule in the country.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abdel-Aziz Adam al-Hilu, the leader of the rebel SPLM-North faction, signed a declaration of principles in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Thursday evening [Sept. 3] that says, "The state shall not establish an official religion. No citizen shall be discriminated against based on their religion."

Christianity Today adds further details:

The agreement was signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, four days after a more inclusive peace deal was signed with a coalition of rebel groups in the Sudan Revolutionary Front in Juba, South Sudan.

The Juba agreement established a national commission for religious freedom, which guarantees the rights of Christian communities in Sudan’s southern regions.

British Court Says Foster Care Agency Can Serve Only Christians, But Cannot Exclude Gay Couples

In Cornerstone (North East) Adoption and Fostering Service Ltd. v. Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, (England & Wales High Ct., July 7, 2020), a British judge ruled that a Christian adoption and foster care agency does not violate the Equality Act or the European Convention on Human Rights by recruiting only Evangelical Christians to be foster carers. However it does violate both the Equality Act and the Convention when it refuses to place children with Evangelical Christian same-sex couples. Christian News reports on the decision.

Turkey's President Converts Hagia Sophia Museum Back Into A Mosque

AP reports on the controversial move by Turkey's President to change the status of a UNESCO World Heritage site:

The president of Turkey on Friday formally reconverted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship....

The decision sparked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians. Originally a cathedral, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque after Istanbul's conquest by the Ottoman Empire but had been a museum for the last 86 years, drawing millions of tourists annually.....

Turkey's high administrative court threw its weight behind a petition brought by a religious group and annulled the 1934 Cabinet decision that turned the site into a museum. Within hours, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree handing over Hagia Sophia to Turkey's Religious Affairs Presidency.

British Pastors Sue Challenging Government COVID-19 Orders Which Closed Churches

In Britain, a group of 26 Christian pastors and activists have filed suit challenging the closure of churches as part of the response to COVID-19, even though the government has allowed reopening of churches as of July 4.  The complaint (full text) in The Queen on application of Omooba v. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, (QB, filed 6/23/2020), contends in part:

The Claimants do not for a moment suggest that churches should have continued to operate as before notwithstanding the Coronavirus epidemic. Rather, the Claimants’ concern is that, as a matter of principle, the imposition of appropriate anti-epidemic measures in the Church is ultimately a matter for Church authorities rather than secular state authorities.

Christian Concern issued a press release announcing the filing. Free Thinker blog has additional reporting.

Supreme Court Denies Review To Deported Iraqi Christians, Yezidis, Kurds

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday denied review in Hamama v. Adducci,  (Docket No. 19-294, cert denied 7/2/2020). (Order List). According to the petition for certiorari:

Petitioners are Iraqis with final orders of removal who lived for years or decades in the United States under orders of supervision...  Petitioners and others similarly situated were suddenly detained and threatened with immediate removal, without the opportunity to challenge their removal in immigration court. Petitioners, who include Christians, Yezidis, Kurds, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq, faced likely torture and death in Iraq. After their final orders of removal were issued, country conditions in Iraq had changed drastically, such that Petitioners had strong claims for deportation protection under, inter alia, the Convention Against Torture. In order to assert those claims, Petitioners needed to move to reopen their final orders in the appropriate immigration court.... Petitioners requested a temporary stay of removal so they could access the immigration court system. The district court granted the stay, giving Petitioners 90 days after receipt of the necessary immigration court files to file motions to reopen in immigration court. The court of appeals reversed, holding that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) divested the district court of jurisdiction and that the elimination of jurisdiction was consistent with the Suspension Clause. 

Christian Evangelists May Move Ahead With Part of Their Challenges To Restrictions On Them At City Festival

In O'Connell v. City of New Bern, North Carolina, (ED NC, March 10, 2020), a North Carolina federal district court allowed two Christian evangelists to move ahead with certain of their claims of unconstitutional treatment at the city's Mumfest-- an annual fall festival held in the historic downtown district.  The court held that the city did not infringe plaintiffs' 1st Amendment rights in barring them from carrying a nine-foot tall cross, using a loud megaphone to proselytize, or distributing literature, all in violation of city ordinances. The court did however allow plaintiffs to move ahead with their free speech and free exercise challenges to an officer moving them from the roadway to the sidewalk and placing a beeping firetruck and then a beeping utility cart between them and festival attendees who had gathered in the intersection.  The court said in part:

Defendant Conway testified that he ... placed a beeping cart in between plaintiffs and festival attendees because people were “getting aggravated” and “becoming aggressive” towards plaintiffs’ group.... Defendant Conway testified that individuals waived a rainbow flag in plaintiff O’Connell’s face and yelled at him.... In the past, individuals threw Mountain Dew bottles at plaintiff O’Connell, threatened plaintiff O’Connell with violence, and assaulted the police officers guarding plaintiff O’Connell....  Because “[l]isteners’ reaction to speech is not a content-neutral basis for regulation,” the court applies strict scrutiny to defendant Conway’s decision to order plaintiffs to the sidewalk and place a beeping cart between them and festival attendees in 2015.

British Tribunal Denies Asylum To Disingenuous Iranian Convert To Christianity

Britain's appellate court that reviews decisions on visa and asylum applications and the right to enter or stay in the UK-- the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber-- has recently issued an interesting decision on how to treat a citizen of Iran who disingenuously converts from Islam to Christianity in Britain in order to create a basis for an asylum claim. In PS (Iran) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, (UKUT IAC, Feb. 20, 2020), the court concluded that such aperson does not run a real risk of persecution upon return to Iran, and therefore is not entitled to asylum in the UK. the court said in part:

PS has been out of Iran since 2013; he has claimed asylum on at least two occasions, variously asserting fear as a result of being caught up in the green movement protests, ‘honour’ based violence and latterly on the basis that he had converted to Christianity; he attended church between May 2015 and sometime in 2016 and was baptised after he had been going to that church for about two weeks; he has no known contact with the authorities prior to leaving Iran; he has no known connection with any persons of interest, nor any adverse social media content to be concerned about. He has no known connection with any organisation which could be connected by the Iranian government to the house church movement.  He may be asked to sign an undertaking promising that he will not undertake any Christian activities. There is no reason why PS would refuse. We find that he is likely to be judged to present a negligible risk to the security of Iran. He will be released fairly quickly and we are not satisfied that there is any risk of ill-treatment. PS may be placed under surveillance. Once the authorities are satisfied that he is not attending house church or attempting to contact known Christians he will be of no further interest to the authorities.  Accordingly, we find that PS does not face a real risk of persecution upon return to Iran and his appeal is dismissed. 

The Tribunal also issued a new Country Guidance based on this case. Law & Religion UK reports on the case at greater length.

2nd Circuit: Chinese Christian Convert Does Not Have Reasonable Fear of Persecution Upon Deportation

In Wang v. Barr, (2d Cir., Feb. 24, 2020), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the denial of asylum to a Chinese citizen who had converted to Christianity. It held that she failed to prove a well-founded fear of future persecution. The court said in part:

Wang argues that there is a reasonable possibility that the Chinese government will become aware of her religious practice because she intends to attend an underground church, and that there is a reasonable possibility that she will be persecuted as a result because the government has a pattern or practice of persecuting similarly situated Christians. ....

The State Department’s 2015 International Religious Freedom Report states that there are approximately 45 million Christians practicing in unregistered churches in China and that authorities in some areas of the country allow unregistered churches to hold services “provided they remained small in scale,” although authorities in other areas target and close such churches.... The news reports in the record concern abuses against people who are not similarly situated to Wang—who testified that she would attend services at an unregistered church, but not that she would take a leadership role, proselytize, or engage in other activism—or concern areas of China other than Wang’s native Fujian province.

Swiss Court Says Company's Logo Is Not Offensive To Christians

Swiss Info reports that Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court has ruled against the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property's attempt to prevent the company Jägermeister from expanding the use of its logo (a stag with a glowing cross between it antlers) beyond liquor and clothing items. The Institute argued that the logo was offensive to the religious views of some consumers. According to Swiss Info:

The court ... said ...: although the story behind the logo indeed stems from an old Christian tale, today the average consumer associates it clearly with the Jägermeister liqueur rather than revelation....

For the Swiss federal judges, ... the “intensive” use of the image by Jägermeister had “weakened its religious character” over time, and nobody was likely to be offended. 

The company is thus free to use it for all promotional activities and products in Switzerland including cosmetics, mobile phones, or telecommunications services.

[Thanks to Tom Rutledge for the lead.]

DOJ Sues Nebraska Village For Refusing Building Permits To Church

The Justice Department announced yesterday that it has filed suit in a Nebraska federal district court against the village of Walthill, Nebraska alleging violations of the "substantial burden" and "equal terms" provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.  The complaint (full text) in United States v. Village of Walthill, Nebraska, (D NE, filed 2/20/2020), alleges in part:

This civil action is based on the Village’s unlawful refusal to allow Light of the World Gospel Ministries, Inc...., a non-denominational Christian church, to construct a new place of worship on property it owns in a commercial (“C-1”) district of the Village by denying the Church necessary permits. 

... Since 2007, LOTW has operated religious services out of a small, 1,250 sq. ft. building ... on another lot in the C-1 district. The space is no longer adequate to serve its religious needs, and the unstable condition of a dilapidated building next to the church on the property made the space unsafe. The Village refused to permit LOTW to build its noncommercial religious property in the C-1 district, but has permitted noncommercial nonreligious entities to construct buildings in the C-1 district during the same time period.

Court Dismisses Challenge To City's Refusal To Fly Christian Flag

In Shurtleff v. City of Boston, (D MA, Feb. 4. 2020), a Massachusetts federal district court dismissed a suit challenging refusal by the city of Boston to fly a Christian themed flag on a flag pole outside city hall for a Constitution Day and Citizenship Day event sponsored by plaintiffs. The court held that the city's flag display constituted government speech that is not subject to the strictures of the First Amendment.  It also held that the city's actions did not violate the Establishment Clause or Equal Protection clause. The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals last June affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction in the case. (Full text of 1st Circuit opinion).

Brazil's Supreme Court Head Allows Video Satirizing Jesus to Be Shown On Netflix

AFP and AP report that the President of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court last Thursday overturned a lower court's preliminary injunction against the Netflix film The First Temptation of Christ. The film depicts Jesus in a gay relationship. In his decision last Thursday,  Judge Antonio Dias Toffoli said in part:

One cannot suppose that a humorous satire has the ability to weaken the values of the Christian faith, whose existence is traced back more than two thousand years, and which is the belief of the majority of Brazilian citizens.

On Christmas Eve, the Brazilian headquarters of Porta dos Fundos -- the company that produced the film-- were pelted with Molotov cocktails.

State Insurance Regulators Target Trinity Health-Care Sharing Ministry

NPR reported earlier this week on enforcement actions by insurance regulators in Texas, Colorado, Washington and New Hampshire against Aliera and its affiliate Trinity HealthShare for violating rules relating to health-care sharing ministries. These plans for sharing health care costs of members are significantly cheaper than standard health insurance policies. Most of the Christian affiliated ministries will not cover abortion services, and offer prayer hotlines for members. The October 30 press release from the New Hampshire Insurance Department announcing its enforcement action states in part:

Trinity represents itself as a health care sharing ministry, which would be exempt from state insurance regulation. A legal health care sharing ministry is a nonprofit organization in existence since December 31, 1999, whose members share a common set of ethical or religious beliefs and share medical expenses among members. [Trinity was not formed until 2018 and did not show it is faith based and limited its membership to those with common beliefs.]

The Department’s Consumer Services Division received dozens of complaints and concerns from consumers. Some people believed they were buying health insurance and did not know they had joined a health care sharing ministry. Many people discovered this when their claims were denied because their medical conditions were considered pre-existing under the plan, or were not covered because they were deemed inappropriate for a “Christian lifestyle.” 

[Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

6th Circuit Rules In Firefighter's Claim of Retaliation for Religious Speech

In Hudson v. City of Highland Park, Michigan, (6th Cir., Nov. 22, 2019), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in part reversed a district court's dismissal of claims by a firefighter that he was dismissed in retaliation for his religious views.  The court summarized the facts:

Hudson worked for the Highland Park Fire Department from 2002 to 2015. Over time, he developed a reputation for two things: being an effective firefighter and being outspoken about his Christian faith. According to Hudson, the other firefighters had reputations too—for watching pornography in communal spaces and engaging in extra-marital affairs at the fire station. All of this created tension. He criticized their behavior, and they responded with disrespectful comments about his religious practices and sexual orientation. The back and forth went on for five years.

Hudson was fired after he claimed extra hours on his time sheet and reported he had worked the same shift for two different employers. The 6th Circuit held, however, that Hudson had shown enough to avoid dismissal on the pleadings of his claim that the Chief had fired him because of his speech. The court however affirmed the dismissal of his Title VII religious discrimination claim, saying in part:

Employees are free to speak out about misconduct in the workplace without subjecting themselves to discharge for rocking the boat.... Employees are no less free to root legitimate criticisms about the workplace in their faith than in any other aspects of their worldview. For many people of faith, their religion is not an abstraction. It has consequences for how they behave and may require them to be witnesses and examples for their faith. That reality does not permit differential treatment of them because they criticize behavior on moral grounds stemming from religious convictions as opposed to moral grounds stemming from secular convictions. “Let firemen be firemen” is not a cognizable defense to Title VII claims based on gender discrimination, race discrimination, or faith-based discrimination.

Even so, Hudson’s disparate treatment claim fails.... He cannot show that the city’s justification for his discharge amounted to a pretextual basis for discriminating against him because of his faith. The fire department put forth a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for treating Hudson differently. He falsified his time-sheets while other firefighters did not.

Judge Kethledge, dissenting in part, would have affirmed the dismissal of Hudson's claim that he was fired in retaliation for his speech. Judge Stranch dissented in part, contending that Hudson should have been allowed to move ahead on his hostile work environment claim which the majority held should be dismissed.

Ministerial Exception Requires Dismissal of Elementary Teacher's Pregnancy Discrimination Suit

In Hutson v. Concord Christian School, LLC, (ED TN, Nov. 4, 2019), a Tennessee federal district court dismissed an employment discrimination suit brought by an elementary teacher at a Baptist school.  The teacher's contract was not renewed after she became pregnant out of wedlock. The court held that the ministerial exception doctrine requires dismissal of plaintiff's claims.

"Prosperity Gospel" Minister Joins White House Staff

New York Times reported last week that Florida-based evangelist Paula White will join the White House staff in an official capacity. She will work in the Office of Public Liaison as an adviser to the administration's Faith and Opportunity Initiative. White has been part of President Trump's informal religious advisers.  As a proponent of the "prosperity gospel", White is controversial among some Evangelicals.