Ohio May Be Next Battlefield On Intelligent Design

Ohio may become the next venue for the battle over the teaching of Intelligent Design in the public schools. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Ohio State Lantern reported that Americans United for Separation of Church and State is collecting documents from the state under a public records request in anticipation of filing a lawsuit against Ohio's Model Lesson Plan on Critical Analysis of Evolution if the state board of education does not change the model curriculum. Meanwhile, the Ohio Board of Education meets today for the first time since the federal court decision striking down Dover, Pennsylvania's policy on Intelligent Design. The Ohio Citizens for Science, along with faculty members from Ohio State University, plan to lobby the board to change the standards, even though the issue is not on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting.

Ohio State University Trustee Brian Hicks lobbied the Ohio Board of Education for the current science curriculum, which encourages the teaching of alternatives to evolution, when he was chief of staff to Governor Bob Taft. However, Ohio State University's Senate, and Faculty Council, as well as the Inter-University Council of Ohio (on which OSU President Karen A. Holbrook sits), have all passed resolutions opposing the state board's science standards and curriculum. Currently trustee Hicks will not answer questions about his position on intelligent design or the state board's science curriculum unless the same questions are presented to every member of the Board of Trustees.

Canadian Prime Minister Proposes Constitutional Amendment To Strengthen Religious Freedom

In Canada yesterday, the website of the Liberal Party reported that Prime Minister Paul Martin has proposed a constitutional amendment to end Parliament’s ability to invoke the "Notwithstanding Clause" in Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which presently permits Parliament to override the Charter's protections-- including its guarantee of freedom of conscience and religion-- for up to 5 years. Under the proposal, provincial legislatures would still be able to invoke the clause.

Cert. Denied In AmeriCorps Teacher Funding Case

The Associated Press reports that yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in American Jewish Congress v. Corporation for National and Community Service. (See prior posting.) At issue was whether the Corporation for National and Community Service may, through the Americorps program, provide education awards to teachers who teach religion as well as secular subjects in religious schools, and whether it may make grants of $400 per trainee to the religious organizations that oversee those teachers-- including six "faith-based" programs. Last year the D.C. Circuit held that the funding did not promote religion in violation of the Establishment Clause. Chief Justice Roberts did not participate in the decision on the petition. The American Jewish Congress expressed regret that its cert petition was not granted.

More on Michigan Decision Permitting Carrying of Kirpan

Today's Detroit, Michigan News reports that Wayne State University is reviewing its public safety policies on carrying of knives after a Detroit judge ruled a Sikh student's religious right were infringed when he was arrested for carrying a kirpan. Elaborating on an earlier report about the case, the paper reported on the opinion written by Judge Rudy Serra of the 36th District Court. He held that Detroit's knife ordinance was intended to apply to people carrying "a knife as a weapon or for some unlawful purpose," not someone like Sukhpreet Singh Garcha who was carrying a kirpan for religious reasons. "There is no question that forbidding him from wearing the kirpan imposes a burden," Serra wrote. "It would be similar to an ordinance that made it illegal to wear a cross or a Star of David."

Alito Hearings Live On Internet

Many PBS stations, as well as others, will be webcasting the Samuel Alito nomination hearings live, beginning at noon today. Here is the link to listen at Greater Washington DC's, WETA.

Religion Clause blog has had many background postings on Judge Alito and his views on religion clause issues. To see them, type in "Alito" as a search term at the top of this page and click on "Search This Blog".

Full Opinion Refusing To Amend Indiana Legislative Prayer Ban Now Available

Federal district Judge David Hamilton's full opinion refusing to amend his earlier order prohibiting sectarian prayer in the Indiana legislature has now become available. (See prior postings 1, 2 .) Largely unreported before was he fact that Hinrichs v. Bosma II, (Dec. 28, 2005), contains an interesting holding on standing. While most of the plaintiffs in the case based their claims on their standing as taxpayers, one, Anthony Hinrichs, also was a lobbyist who had listened to many of the prayers. After the trial of the case, Hinrichs' employer, Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation, fired him as a lobbyist because of the litigation and his position on legislative prayer. In its Dec. 28 decision the court held that even though standing of plaintiffs is now based only on taxpayer status, the court is not required to limit its injunction to merely prohibiting the expenditure of public funds on sectarian prayer, but can prohibit such prayers even if they are financed in other ways.

The court also clarified that the injunction purposely did not require the Speaker of the House to obtain advance assurances from those offering legislative prayers that they would be non-sectarian, nor does it require the Speaker to interrupt a prayer if it turns out to be sectarian. But the Speaker must give pointed advice about sectarianism in inviting individuals to deliver prayers. Finally the court clarified what is a "sectarian" Christian prayer. "Prayers are sectarian in the Christian tradition when they proclaim or otherwise communicate the beliefs that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, or the Savior, or that he was resurrected, or that he will return on Judgment Day or is otherwise divine. "

Prime Minister Sharon's Treatment and Jewish Law

Brian Murphy, the Associated Press Religion Writer, has put together an interesting article on the Halachic (Jewish law) issues that surround decisions on the future medical treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who recently suffered a massive stroke. Even though Sharon led a secular lifestyle, his treatment is likely to become involved in religious disputation.

Jewish law forbids doing anything to hasten death, but it is permissible to remove an "impediment" standing in the way of the natural end of life. Rabbis remain divided over what constitutes an unreasonable obstacle to death. Murphy speculates that any need for life-sustaining equipment could open the kind of religious showdowns in Israel that gripped the United States last year over Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who died her feeding tube was finally removed.

There are also disagreements among rabbis on how Jewish law defines death. In 1986, Israel's Chief Rabbinate ruled that brain death controlled, but some other rabbis take the position that death occurs only when there is both no respiration and no "movement" in the body. They consider a heartbeat to be movement, even if maintained through life-support. After six years of debate, last month the Israeli Knesset finally passed legislation allowing terminally ill patients to refuse life support. But the law contains an unusual provision: the equipment can only be turned off by an automatic timer to avoid having a health care worker do it. The law has not yet gone into effect.

Danish Muslims Seek Government Action Against Paper For Drawings

Danish Muslims are attempting to get governmental officials to take action against a mass-circulation newspaper, the Jyllands-Posten, over 12 drawings that appeared in the paper last September. They depicted the Prophet Muhammad in different settings, including one showing him wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb. The local attorney general in the city of Viborg, the seat of the High Court of Western Denmark, has refused to prosecute. Local Muslims now plan to petition the federal attorney general to take action. If that does not lead to results, a suit could be filed before the European Human rights Commission, according to Islam Online that reported on the situation yesterday.

US Troops In Afghanistan Given Cards On Muslim Practices

The New York Times today reprints excerpts from the wallet-sized cultural sensitivity cards that the military has distributed to all 19,000 American troops in Afghanistan. Much of the text is devoted to understanding and respecting Muslim religious practices. The cards were distributed in order to prevent incidents like the burning of the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters in October that created backlash in the Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia Accuses Iraq In Distribution of Hajj Permits

In Saudi Arabia, the Hajj begins today. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Pilgrim Affairs has accused Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated government of distributing pilgrimage permits on a sectarian basis to favor Shi'ites over Sunnis. The report appears in yesterday in Malaysia's Star. Sunni Islam prevails in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry has also accused Iraq of exaggerating its population in order to get more pilgrims admitted. The comments came after reports in the Arab media that Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari claimed Saudi authorities had not allowed some Iraqi pilgrims into the country.

New Books Focus On Impact of Religion On Law and Policy

Two new books are discussed at length in reviews made available online. At Mirror of Justice, Patrick Brennan has posted his review of David Yamane's new book, The Catholic Church in State Politics: Negotiating Prophetic Demands & Political Realities (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005).

In Tikkun Magazine, Michael Lerner writes a lengthy Editorial titled "Hostile Takeover: Theocracy in America". It reflects the thesis of his new book The Left Hand of God: Taking Our Country Back from the Religious Right (Harper San Francisco, February 7, 2006). [Thanks to Jesus Politics for the lead.]

Faith-Based Funding Goes To Secular Programs In New York

Today's Westchester, New York Journal News says that most of the programs in New York that have been listed by the White House as receiving money in 2003-04 under the President's Faith-Based Initiative are not really religious programs. While the recipient organizations have a religious affiliation in their title, the funded programs are non-sectarian social welfare programs without a religious component.

BJC Analyzes Alito's Religion Decisions; Will Blog Hearings In Real Time

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Freedom on Friday issued its analysis of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's views on church-state issues. It concludes, "Alito's church-state record is mixed. While some of his free exercise opinions suggest a strong commitment to protecting religious rights, his record on applying the Establishment Clause to protect religious freedom is less promising."

Senate hearings on Alito's nomination are scheduled to begin Monday. Don Byrd, who writes BJC's "Blog from the Capital", will be live-blogging the hearings, with special emphasis on the religious liberty and church-state issues that are addressed in the hearings.

Impact of Dover Intelligent Design Case Debated

Around the country, the implications of the Kitzmiller case-- which struck down the teaching of intelligent design in the Dover, Pennsylvania school system-- are being debated. On Friday, the Akron, Ohio Beacon Journal reported that Lawrence Krauss, a professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University, told an Akron Press Club audience that Ohio's model lesson plan on the teaching of evolution is unconstitutional if the approach of Kitzmiller is applied. Most of Ohio's model lesson plan, called Critical Analysis of Evolution, is "directly from the book Of Pandas and People, which was the book that was shown in the Dover trial to be based on religion, not science," Krauss said. However, Ohio Department of Education spokesman J.C. Benton disagreed. He argued that unlike the Dover plan, Ohio's lesson plan does not mention intelligent design nor require that it be taught.

UPDATE: The Columbus Dispatch reports (Jan. 8) that pressure is growing for Ohio's state board of education to reconsider its controversial science standards.

Meanwhile, in California, school officials are faced with the question of whether it is permissible to teach intelligent design in a philosophy class, instead of in biology. The Associated Press on Friday reported that in Lebec, California, the school board, by a 3-2 vote, approved the teaching of a 4-week winter session class titled "Philosophy of Design". The course, offered by Frazier Mountain High School, is being taught by a minister's wife. Three experts on intelligent design are scheduled to speak while two evolution experts listed as guest speakers for the course are in fact not coming. One disagrees with the course, and the other listed guest speaker died in 2004. Glenn Branch, deputy-director of the National Center for Science Education said, "It doesn't matter if they label it philosophy, science or home ec. For this to be endorsed as scientifically credible is a violation of church-state separation." State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who has opposed teaching intelligent design as science, however, said "In a true philosophy class, if it's one of many concepts being discussed, I have no problem."

UPDATE: AP reported on January 10 that a suit on behalf of 11 parents has been filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State challenging the Frazier Mountain High School course. UPDATE: Here is the text of the complaint. [Thanks to Dispatches From the Culture Wars.]

British Liquor Laws Impede Purchase of Altar Wine

The London News Telegraph reported Friday that Britain's new liquor laws which allow pubs to be open longer hours have had an unanticipated effect in another area. New licensing provisions for stores selling alcoholic beverages have made it more difficult for churches to buy wine for the altar. All but three of the 30 Christian bookshops run by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, have stopped selling wine, and now the St Albans Diocesan Resources Centre, Herts, is also giving up. Many churches now have to buy wine in supermarkets.

German Muslims Challenge Questioning of Visa Applicants

In Germany, the Central Council of Muslims is challenging a regulation imposed by the Democratic Christian/Liberal-controlled German Federal state of Baden-Wertenberg. It requires every foreigner applying for a visa who wants citizenship in the state to answer a questionnaire about religious beliefs. Reports this week in Expatica and from Presna Latina differed somewhat in details. Apparently the questions are submitted to every applicant, but special attention is given to those from any of the 57 countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference . Questions include ones such as, "Imagine that your adult son comes to you and says he is homosexual and plans to live with another man. How do you react?" Other questions include views on a wife obeying her husband; whether Muslim men are willing to be treated by female doctors in Germany; and views on forced marriage and changing religion. The state's Interior Ministry officials defend the questions, saying a segment of Muslim society in Germany does not view its faith as something which can conform to the nation's constitution.

White House Criticizes Religious Leader's Comments About Ariel Sharon

Haaretz today reports that White House spokesman Trent Duffy sharply criticized Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson for suggesting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and some West Bank settlements. On his radio program, The 700 Club, Robertson said: "[Sharon] was dividing God's land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU, the United Nations, or the United States of America. God says, 'This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.'" White House spokesman Duffy's reaction was: "Those comments are wholly inappropriate and offensive and really don't have a place in this or any other debate." (Transcript of Duffy's statement.)

People for the American Way has a transcript and video of Robertson's remarks on its website. Subsequently according to CBN, a Robertson spokesperson issued a statement about Robertson's comments, criticizing "People for the American Way, who have a clear left-wing political agenda and who, on an ongoing basis, lift [Robertson's] comments out of context and widely circulate them in an attempt to discredit him."

Law School Clinic Loses In 8th Circuit In Refusal To Represent Client

In Wishnatsky v. Rovner, decided yesterday by the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, the University of North Dakota Law School's clinical program has lost the first round of a battle in its refusal to represent a client who wished to challenge the display of a statue of Themis, the Greek goddess of justice, on the top of the Grand Forks County court house.

Martin Wishnatsky had previously, in a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, criticized the law school clinic for taking a case seeking removal of the 10 Commandments from public property. He then requested assistance from the clinic to develop a lawsuit on the same basis challenging the pagan statue, claiming that viewing it made him feel like a second-class citizen. The clinic refused, saying that its current case load and limited resources precluded it from taking new cases at the time. But the clinic's director, Laura Rovner, added in her letter to Wishnatsky, "your persistent and antagonistic actions against the Clinical Education Program and faculty involved would adversely affect our ability to establish an effective client-attorney relationship with you and would consequently impair our ability to provide legal representation."

Wishnatsky sued, claiming that the denial of legal services on the basis of his criticism of the clinical program and its director violated his free speech and equal protection rights. The federal district court agreed, but yesterday the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's judgment on the pleadings. It said: "No concern about the operation of traditional government functions supports a rule that permits institutions of higher education -- traditionally bastions of free speech and the vigorous exchange of ideas -- to discriminate on the basis of viewpoint in the administration of a clinical legal program." The appellate court added that while "decisions of a clinical program about which cases and clients to accept in an academic environment should be entitled to substantial deference", its justifications are factual defenses and should not be disposed of in a motion on the pleadings. (Here is AP coverage of the case.)

Justice Sunday III Host Criticized For Political Ties

On Tuesday, Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a release criticizing Philadelphia Pastor Herb Lusk, who, on Sunday, is hosting the "Justice Sunday III" rally. The event, which will be held at Lusk's Greater Exodus Baptist Church, will be broadcast nationwide. It is designed to rally support for the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr. Americas United said that Lusk has a long history of partisan activity on behalf of Republicans and has been awarded more than $1 million in "faith-based" grants by the Bush administration. Yesterday's New York Times explored Lusk's background further.

Rev. Barry W. Lynn, exeutive director of AU, said: "Government funding too often sucks churches into partisan politics. After all, if church leaders want to keep the pipeline to tax funding open, they had better back administration policies."

Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum will be among those speaking at the Justice Sunday rally, according to yesterday's Pittsburg Post-Gazette.

Church's Libel Suit Rejected

Harvest House Publishers v. The Local Church, decided January 5 by a Texas state court of appeals, has rejected a libel claim by a church against a publisher and two authors who included the church in The Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions. The court held that merely being labeled a "cult" is not actionable because the truth or falsity of the statement depends on one's religious beliefs which should not be tried in a court of law. Similarly accusing a church of accepting occult powers or promoting idolatry are statements concerning religious beliefs that cannot be proved true or false. While some of the characteristics of cults discussed in the book may have been defamatory, the court held that it cannot reasonably be found that those characteristics were attributed to every group discussed in the book.