Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Opinion In Hollywood, FL. Synagogue Case Finding Zoning Regs Vague
The court ordered that Hollywood Community Synagogue be granted the special exception that it formerly had, conditioned only on certain specific conditions regarding soundproofing and trash. It ordered that the city promptly enact a new Special Exception ordinance for places of worship with narrow, objective and definite standards to guide city officials. Finally it ordered that the issue of damages be placed before a jury.
This Week's Prisoner Free Exercise Decisions
In Buchanan v. Burbury, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48244 (ND Ohio, July 17, 2006), an Ohio federal district court granted a preliminary injunction in a RLUIPA case brought by an inmate who was an adherent of the Yahweh's New Covenant Assembly, a Sacred Name Sabbatarian faith group. The court ordered that plaintiff be provided with a kosher diet, he be excused from work on the Sabbath and his religion’s seven holy days, and that the group be given the opportunity to worship under the same requirements as other groups, which might require that it be removed from the prison’s Protestant catchment and placed into its own separate catchment.
Survey Of Religious Freedom In Africa
Friday, July 21, 2006
Hate Crimes Still In The News
Vodou Practitioner Gets Light Sentence
New Scholarly Articles Posted Online
Kathleen A. Brady, Religious Group Autonomy: Further Reflections About What Is At Stake (July 1, 2006).
From SSRN:
Richard W. Garnett IV, The Freedom of the Church , forthcoming in Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Vol. 4 (2007) .
Joel A. Nichols, Dual Lenses: Using Theology and Human Rights to Evaluate China's 2005 Regulations on Religion, forthcoming in Pepperdine Law Review, Vol 34 (2006). [Thanks to Legal Theory blog.]
Apparent New Mexican President May Bring Changes In Church-State Policy
Some Kosher Food Laws Problematic For Conservative Rabbis
Preliminary Injunction Denied In City Incentives For Baptist Convention
The city agreed to discount the price of its arena by $ 195,000, provide up to $100,000 for transportation costs, and provide $5,000 to feed hungry people in Baltimore at a pre-convention event involving representatives of the national convention. The court previously ordered that participants in the Feed the Hungry Event could not engage in religious solicitation or distribute religious materials as part of that city-funded event. With that safeguard in place, the court held that the incentives granted by Baltimore did not violate the Establishment Clause.
Interview With China's Religious Affairs Head
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Afghanistan To Re-Establish "Vice and Virtue" Department
Property Dispute Between New York Episcopal Parish and Diocese
Cert. Filed In California Sea Scouts Case
Article On Court-Stripping Legislation
Atheists Demand Apology For Army General's Remarks
Attorney Protests IRS Church Audit Procedures
Saudis Granted Waiver On Sanctions-- Progress On Religious Freedom Cited
These include policies designed to halt the dissemination of intolerant literature and extremist ideology, both within Saudi Arabia and around the world, to protect the right to private worship, and to curb harassment of religious practice. For example, the Saudi Government is conducting a comprehensive revision of textbooks and educational curricula to weed out disparaging remarks toward religious groups, a process that will be completed in one to two years. The Saudi Government is also retraining teachers and the religious police to ensure that the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims are protected and to promote tolerance and combat extremism. The Saudi Government has also created a Human Rights Commission to address the full range of human rights complaints.
First Amendment Does Not Require Accommodation Of Job Applicant's Beliefs
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
New Jersey Chief Justice Nixes Fugitive Safe Surrender Program
In Cleveland, fugitives were greeted by volunteers who handed out water and pretzels, while sheriff's deputies ran their names through computerized databases. Then they met with a judge and a public defender in the church's library, and generally released on bond. The New Jersey Supreme Court, however, is concerned about court procedures taking place in a religious facility. It is also concerned that it would appear that the court was working on behalf of the prosecutor and was not neutral. The court offered to have a judge available at the courthouse to process the fugitives, but U.S. Marshall James Plousis said that is inconsistent with the underlying concept of the program.
GAO Report Reviews Faith-Based Initiative
Titled Faith-Based and Community Initiative: Improvements in Monitoring Grantees and Measuring Performance Could Enhance Accountability, the full report has just been posted on the GAO's website. Here is part of the Report Abstract:
Since 2001, federal agencies have awarded over $500 million through new grant programs to provide training and technical assistance to faith-based and community organizations and to increase the participation of these organizations in providing federally funded social services.... Most of the agencies provided grantees with an explicit statement on the safeguard prohibiting the use of direct federal funds for inherently religious activities. If these activities are offered, they must be offered separately in time or location from services provided with direct federal funds and must be voluntary for the beneficiary. However, we found that Justice's regulation and guidance related to these activities is unclear for its correctional programs. We also found that only four programs provided a statement on the rights of program beneficiaries and only three provided information on permissible hiring by FBOs.
While officials in all 26 FBOs [Faith Based Organizations] that we visited said that they understood that federal funds cannot be used for inherently religious activities, a few FBOs described activities that appeared to violate this safeguard. Four of the 13 FBOs that provided voluntary religious activities did not separate in time or location some religious activities from federally funded program services....
[I]t is unclear whether the data reported on grants awarded to FBOs provide policymakers with a sound basis to assess the progress of agencies in meeting the initiative's long-term goal of greater participation of faith-based and community organizations. Moreover, little information is available to assess progress toward another long-term goal of improving participant outcomes because outcome-based evaluations for many pilot programs have not begun.
Americans United Criticizes Upcoming House Vote On 2 Bills
UPDATE: On Wednesday afternoon, the House of Representatives passed the Pledge Protection Act by a vote of 260-167. Here is the roll call vote. It now goes to the Senate where the Associated Press reports that its fate is uncertain. On Wednesday afternoon, the House also passed the bill authorizing the federal government to take title to the Soledad Veterans Memorial. The roll call vote was 349 yes; 74 no; 3 present. (10news.com report.)
Church Homeless Shelter Housing Code Trial Will Begin In Florida
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Recent Prisoner Decisions On Claims By Muslim and Atheist
In Kaufman v. Frank, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47840 (WD Wis., July 13, 2006), a state prison inmate who was an atheist claimed that his rights under the First Amendment and RLUIPA were violated by: (1) references to God in the Wisconsin Constitution; (2) a state statute granting inmates access to Bibles; (3) prohibitions on sex offenders changing their names; (4) the prison's refusal to allow him to possess a silver circle emblem representing Atheist beliefs; (5) its refusal to authorize study groups for atheist and agnostic inmates; and (6) its refusal to make donated atheist literature available in the prison library. The court permitted plaintiff to proceed only as to claims that the Establishment Clause was violated by the prison's making Christian literature, but not literature about atheism available, and its excluding free non-religious items and publications while permitting other inmates to receive free religious items and publications.
Retired Professor Wants Anti-Evolution Issue On Oshkosh Wisconsin Ballot
Evangelist Argues Lack of Jurisdiction After Indictment For Tax Fraud
Hovind is accused of paying employees of his Creation Science Ministry in cash and calling them missionaries to avoid withholding payroll and FICA taxes. His wife is also charged. For years Hovind has claimed that he is employed by God and has no income or property because everything he owns belongs to God. Hovind believes that man and dinosaurs inhabited the earth at the same time and has offered a $250,000 reward to anyone who can furnish satisfactory proof of evolution.
Muslim Group Claims Zoning Discrimination
Arkansas Supreme Court Dismisses Claims Against Parochial School As Involving Religious Doctrine
Monday, July 17, 2006
Religious Objections Impede Prosecution Of US Soldiers In Iraq Murder Case
Colorado City Will Limit Display To Christmas Trees
Suits Against Las Cruces For Using Crosses In City Logo Pending
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Minister In Congress Opposes Amendment To Ban Gay Marriage
US Senate Urges Russia To Protect Unregistered Religious Groups
Church Files RLUIPA Challenge In Southfield Michigan
Recent Law Review Articles Of Interest
Susan J. Becker, Many Are Chilled, But Few Are Frozen: How Transformative Learning in Popular Culture, Christianity, and Science Will Lead To the Eventual Demise of Legally Sanctioned Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities in the United States, 14 American University Journal of Gender Social Policy & the Law 177-252 (2006).
David S. Caudill, Arthur M. Goldberg Family Chair Lecture: Augustine and Calvin: Post-Modernism and Pluralism, 51 Villanova Law Review 299-309 (2006).
Jennifer L. Monk & Robert H. Tyler, The Application of Prior Restraint: An Alternative Doctrine for Religious Land Use Cases, 37 University of Toledo Law Review 747-779 (2006).
Gregory C. Pingree, Rhetorical Holy War: Polygamy, Homosexuallity, and the Paradox of Community and Autonomy.,14 American University Journal of Gender Social Policy & the Law 313-383 (2006).
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Routine Judicial Mix-Up Gets Attention Because Of Religious Content
Conscientious Objection By Medical Providers Creates Victims
Brother of FLDS Leader Gets Lenient Sentence
Mosque Zoning Decision Unleashes Anti-Islamic Feelings
At the June commission meeting, Dozier called Muslims "dangerous," said they were "terrorists." Another black minister warned they would "try to convert young black men." The protest continued at last Tuesday’s commission meeting. Dozier, a former NFL player with a law degree who has been prominent in Republican politics in Florida arrived at City Hall with a "church security force" to protect him from "terrorists." Speaking at the meeting, he said "People in the neighborhood feel less safe knowing Muslims are invading."
Dozier is supported by two other black ministers and four local Jewish supporters, led by Joe Kaufman, founder of "Citizens Against Hate" and the "Republican Jewish Coalition of South Florida." However the Muslim group’s zoning request is backed by Willie Larson, head of Broward County’s NAACP chapter; Andrew Louis, head of the county’s Democratic Black Caucus; and a number of elderly Jewish residents of the Holiday Springs Condominiums who were aided by members of another local mosque after Hurricane Wilma hit last year.
Meanwhile last Monday Florida Governor Jeb Bush, upset with Dozier’s statements, asked him to resign from the judicial nominating committee to which Bush had previously appointed him. Dozier did so, saying “I’m saddened but I’m not giving up the fight.” (See prior posting on Rev. Dozier.)
Friday, July 14, 2006
Kyrzyg Officials Criticized For Welcome To Unification Church
Evolution Is Issue In August Kansas Primaries
Senate Resolution Marks Upcoming 50th Anniversary of National Motto
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That Congress— (1) commemorates the 50th anniversary of the national motto of the United States, ‘"In God We Trust";
(2) celebrates the national motto as— (A) a fundamental aspect of the national life of the citizens of the United States; and (B) a phrase that is central to the hopes and vision of the Founding Fathers for the perpetuity of the United States;
(3) reaffirms today that the substance of the national motto is no less vital to the future success of the Nation; and
(4) encourages the citizens of the United States to reflect on— (A) the national motto of the United States; and (B) the integral part that the national motto of the United States has played in the life of the Nation, before and after its official adoption.
Clergy Resign From Katrina Fund In Protest
Yesterday the Washington Post reported that the co-chairs of the advisory committee-- Bishop T.D. Jakes and the Rev. William H. Gray III-- have resigned. A third committee member, Rev. William J. Shaw, resigned last week end. Some reports say that 8 of the 9 advisory committee members have submitted resignations. The advisory committee says that the staff of the Fund is ignoring their recommendations. Gray said that the board and staff would concur with the committee's recommendations in meetings, but then would act in the opposite way. Jakes and Shaw resigned when the staff refused to explain why, without committee knowledge, they sent $35,000 to a church that had not been inspected to determine its need.
Recent Books Of Interest On Religion and Politics
Patrick M. Garry, Wrestling With God: The Court's Tortuous Treatment of Religion ,(Catholic University of America Press, May 2006).
Jonathan Bartley, Faith And Politics After Christendom: The Church As A Movement for Anarchy, (Paternoster Press, Sept. 2006).
Dan Wakefield, The Hijacking of Jesus: How the Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice and Hate, (Nation Books, March 2006).
Robin Meyers, Why the Christian Right Is Wrong: A Minister's Manifesto for Taking Back Your Faith, Your Flag, Your Future, (John Wiley & Sons, May 2006).
Shmuel Bar, Warrant for Terror : The Fatwas of Radical Islam, and the Duty of Jihad , (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. , April 2006).
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Sikh Transit Employee Protests Use Of His Photo
Seizure of Marijuana Does Not Violate Religious Freedom
Amish Farmer's Beliefs Not Infringed By Milk Regulations
Suit Seeks Identity of Bloggers Who Claimed Abuse by Rabbi
Tendler, who denies the charges against him, has been expelled from the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America and was later sued for sexual harassment a former congregant. He is seeking to learn the identities of four bloggers who wrote about his case on: rabbinicintergrity.blogspot.com/, jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/, jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com/ and newhempsteadnews.blogspot.com. Tendler claims that defamatory materials about him have been posted. A report in today's Forward says that blogs and message boards are increasingly being used by Orthodox Jewish women to report allegations of sexual misconduct by rabbis.
Malaysia's School No-Turban Rule Upheld
Ohio Science Education Standards Again Challenged
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Sikh Funeral Pyre In Britain May Have Violated Law
Ohio Now Requires School Display of Donated US or State Motto
NY Appellate Court Dismisses Satmar Case As Involving Doctrinal Dispute
A dissent by Judge Robert Spolzino argued that "the by-laws of the congregation here provide the neutral principles of law upon which the authority of the grand rebbe with regard to the corporate governance of the congregation can be determined."
This decision continues the current balance of power in the Satmar community, with the Williamsburg group led by Rabbi Zalmen and the Kiryas Joel faction led by Rabbi Aaron.
UPDATE: Here is the full opinion in In re Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar, Inc., v. Kahana, (App. Div., 2nd Dept., July 11, 2006). There was a companion decision in Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar of Kiryas Joel, Inc. v. Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar, Inc., (App. Div., 2nd Dept., July 11, 2006), that challenged the transfer of a 50% interest in the Williamsburgh congregation's cemetery to the Kiryas Joel congregation. The court held: "The transfer ... is ... bound with this leadership dispute and it is clear that, at least in part, it was made to advance the interests of one of the competing Satmar factions and not to advance religious or charitable objects generally. Under these circumstances it cannot be said that the transfer was in the best interests of the Brooklyn Congregation and accordingly we decline to exercise our discretion to approve it, thereby restoring the status quo ante." Judge Spolzino concurred in the result. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]
Court Upholds School Fees For Good News Club
Free use was permitted for school-related organizations, organizations offering joint programs with the school, and, in the original version of the policy, others where the school found a fee waiver to be in the school's best interest. After suit was filed against it, the District eliminated the waiver provisions, but grandfathered in free usage for groups that had been using school facilities in the past. The court found these to be valid classifications, and rejected CEF's free speech, free exercise, equal protection and establishment clause arguments.
In deciding the case, the court also dealt with standing, mootness and 11th Amendment arguments.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Ohio Charity Rule Amendments Will Impact Faith-Based Groups
An accompanying press release explains that "the rules are aimed at reducing the potential for problems such as excessive executive compensation and expense reimbursements by charities and hospitals, or conflicts of interest in business contracts let by governing boards... The proposal is also designed to foster best practices by charitable hospitals and other proprietary charitable organizations in billing, collection, and charity care, and to set standard guidelines in Ohio for reporting how charitable organizations benefit the community so the public can make meaningful comparisons of their charitable activities. [It requires] ... larger charitable organizations to either adopt a set of policies prescribed in the rules or publicly disclose their board-approved conflicts of interest, whether they have allowed insiders to approve their own compensation, all payments to board members by the charity, insider loans, and the like."
Rabbinic Court Challenges Israel's Supreme Court
Suit In Dominican Republic Challenges Concordat With Vatican
Ohio Governor's Race Focuses On Christian Voters
After the Blackwell campaign accused Strickland of having a record of voting against issues that are important to Christian conservatives, Strickland's campaign spokesman said that Strickland opposes using religion "to divide Ohioans against one another".
7th Circuit Orders Preliminary Injunction: SIU Must Recognize Christian Legal Society
The majority opinion said that CLS had demonstrated a likelihood that it would succeed on the merits. First, it is unclear that CLS in fact violated the language of the University's non-discrimination policies. The EEO policy applies to the university itself, and the majority doubted that this encompassed student organizations. Second, the majority held that it is likely that CLS will succeed in showing that its right of expressive association has been unconstitutionally infringed. SIU's only interest appears to be in suppressing particular ideas expressed in CLS's statement of faith. Finally, the majority said it was likely that CLS could show that the University's policy has violated its free expression rights because the policy has been applied in a discriminatory manner. It appears that other student organizations that exclude members based on religious belief or gender have not been denied recognition.
Judge Wood's dissent argued that the trial court had not abused its discretion in denying CLS a preliminary injunction. He disagreed with the majority's conclusions about CLS's likelihood of success on the merits, emphasizing the lack of evidence on crucial issues at this stage of the proceedings. He concluded: "If CLS wanted to forbid membership to all African-Americans, or to mixed-race wedded couples, or to persons of Arabic heritage, surely SIU would be entitled at a minimum to say that [it]... would have to sustain itself without any state support-- even if it could root such a membership policy in a religious text..... [T]he indirect impact of ... recognition of a student group maintaining such a policy is that SIU ... may be seen as tolerating such discrimination. Given that universities have a compelling interest in obtaining diverse student bodies, requiring a university to include exclusionary groups might undermine their ability to attain such diversity."
An AP story in the Washington Post discusses the decision. Jeremy Richey's Blawg has links to all the briefs that were filed in the case and to recordings of oral arguments. The 7th Circuit had previously granted CLS an injunction to reinstate it as a recognized group while the appeal was being argued. [Thanks to Ted Olsen at Christianity Today, and to Rory Gray for leads.]
Monday, July 10, 2006
Pakistan's Hudood Ordinance Amended
New York Has First Hasidic Police Recruit
New York City Aids Private Religious Schools
Strict Sharia Being Introduced In Somalian Courts
A leading Mogadishu cleric has said that Muslims who do not pray five times a day should be killed.
Alliance Defense Fund Profiled
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Recent Publications of Interest
- Catharine P. Wells, Who Owns the Local Church? A Pressing Issue for Dioceses in Bankruptcy, (forthcoming in Seton Hall Legislative Journal v. 29, no.2 (2005)).
- R.L. Eisgruber & D. Mariah Riah Zeisberg, Religious Freedom in Canada and the United States, (International Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp. 244-268, 2006).
- Symposium: Borrowing the Land: Cultures of Ownership in the Western Landscape, 83 Denver University Law Review 943-1093 (2006).
Symposium: Catholics and the Death Penalty: Lawyers, Jurors & Judges, 44 Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 277-378 (2005).
FLDS Member Convicted On Sex Charges In Polygamous Marriage
July Trial In Marijuana Charges Against Church of Cognizance Founders
The Quaintances are relying on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision earlier this year in the UDV case to support their free exercise claims. However Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, says the federal government is in a stronger position to win against the religious use of marijuana than it was for the hallucinogenic tea involved in UDV because of the prevalence of marijuana and the federal government's concern about a marijuana drug problem.
India's Supreme Court Orders Protection For Intermarrieds
It said: "If the parents ... do not approve of such inter-caste or inter-religious marriage the maximum they can do is ... cut off social relations with the son or the daughter, but they cannot give threats or commit or instigate acts of violence and cannot harass the person who undergoes such ... marriage. We, therefore, direct that the administration/police authorities throughout the country will see to it that if any boy or girl [who is not still a minor]... undergoes inter-caste or inter-religious marriage ..., the couple are not harassed by any one nor subjected to threats or acts of violence, and any one who gives such threats or harasses or commits acts of violence ... is taken to task by instituting criminal proceedings by the police against such persons...."
Friday's Times of India covers the decision.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Atheist Law Center Disbanded
German Ban On Muslim Teacher Wearing Headscarf Found Discriminatory
DC Circuit Says In Chaplain Case That Establishment Clause Violation Creates Per Se Irreparable Injury
The district court had denied the motion for an injunction, in part because plaintiffs had not demonstrated irreparable injury. The Court of Appeals, however, held that the Navy's violation of the Establishment Clause constituted per se irreparable injury. It remanded the case to the trial court for it to determine whether plaintiffs had also shown the other 3 elements necessary for a preliminary injunction: likelihood of success on the merits, the injunction will not substantially injure other parties and that it will further the public interest.
Justice Kennedy Stays Order To Remove Mt. Soledad Cross
[T]he equities here support preserving the status quo while the city's appeal proceeds. Compared to the irreparable harm of altering the memorial and removing the cross, the harm in a brief delay ... seems slight. In addition, two further factors make this case "sufficiently unusual" ... to warrant granting a stay. First, a recent Act of Congress has deemed the monument a "national memorial honoring veterans of the United States Armed Forces" and has authorized the Secretary of the Interior to take title to the memorial on behalf of the United State if the city offers to donate it. Sec.116, 118 Stat. 3346.... Second, San Diego voters, seeking to carry out the transfer ... have approved a ballot proposition authorizing donation of the monument to the United States. While the Superior Court ... has invalidated the ballot proposition [on state constitutional grounds,] ... if the state appellate court reverses ... and allows the memorial to become federal property, its decision may moot the District Court's injunction, which addresses only the legality under state law of the cross' presence on city property....Today's San Diego Union-Tribune has a story on Justice Kennedy's decision.
[Thanks to SCOTUS Blog for the link.]
Friday, July 07, 2006
Kerala Government Probe of Actress' Visit To Indian Temple May Be Started
Delaware School District Remains At Center Of Prayer Debate
Lawsuits against the school district are pending challenging the Board's continuing practice of opening school board meetings with a prayer, its extensive pattern of school-sponsored prayer at graduation, and its promotion of Christianity in other contexts. (See prior postings 1, 2.) Last week, Jews on First published a long account of the charges against the school district and reported that the Jewish family that filed the 2004 lawsuit against the district felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, out of fear of retaliation.
Jews For Jesus New York Subway Ads Are Controversial
Church Sues To Keep Offering Classes In Its Building
HUD Charges Apartment With Religious Discrimination
Fraud and Emotional Distress Claims Dismissed On First Amendment Grounds
Judge's Accommodation Of Religious Needs Of Defendant Upheld
Thursday, July 06, 2006
House Hearings On Religious Minorities In Middle East
Parties Agree, But Judge Postpones Hearing On Chabad vs. Hollywood, Florida
The settlement still has to be approved by U.S. district Judge Joan Lenard, who could call a public hearing to allow neighborhood residents to voice their opinions on the settlement. (Miami Herald, July 6). This morning, Judge Lenard postponed the hearing that had been scheduled for today on the settlement. (Bradenton Herald).
UPDATE: Yesterday, four homeowners in the neighborhood filed a request asking Judge Joan Lenard to permit them to argue against the propposed settlement between Chabad and the city of Hollywood. (Miami Herald).
Australian Schools Object To Newly Mandated Salaries For Chaplains
Priest Sues Community College For Religious Discrimination
Recent Prisoner Cases
In Gray v. Johnson, (WD Va., June 30, 2006), a Virginia federal district court rejected an inmate's Establishment Clause challenge to the Therapeutic Community Program (a 12-step program for those with a history of substance abuse) in which the inmate was required to participate in order to accrue good conduct time. Plaintiff John Martin claimed that fellow participants pressured him to adopt religious beliefs during mandatory group meetings. However the court found that TCP serves the important, secular purpose of rehabilitation, and that there is no indication that the program failed to strike the necessary constitutional balance between the inmates' right to speak and their right to be free from state-sponsored religious indoctrination. (See prior posting on Magistrate Judge's recommendations.)