Athieist Leader Profiled

Yesterday's Contra Costa Times profiles Pacifica, California resident Jim Heldberg, founder of San Francisco Atheists, and national affiliation director of American Atheists. Commenting on his affiliation efforts, Heldberg says: "The more the religious right takes over the government, the more people come to find us."

Local Indian Council Enforces Hindu Marriage Ban

An AP report from India on Saturday indicated that in the village of Oindh, the panchayat (local council) has enforced the Hindu ban on marrying within one's Gotra (assigned lineage or clan). Even though the marriage is not illegal under Indian civil law, the council took custody of a 10-day old baby of a couple from the same Gotra who married last year in Mumbai. The panchat ordered the couple to live separately and fined the husband 60,000 rupees that will be used to raise the couple's son.

Ontario Party Calls For Public Funding of Religious Schools

This week, Canada's Law Times reports that the platform of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party calls for direct funding of the province's 100 private faith-based schools. Currently the only religious schools to receive government funding are Catholic ones. At an estimated cost of $400 million, proponents say this would integrate the province's diverse student body into the mainstream. (See prior related posting.)

Fiji Will Not Impose Sunday Closing Laws

Fiji's interim government says that it will not impose a Sunday closing requirement in the country despite a call by the Methodist church for a ban on commercial activities on Sundays and Christian holidays. FBCL News reports that Local Government Minister Jone Navakamocea said the country's Constitution protects the right to work on any day of the week.

Canadian Court Permits Suit Against Jehovah's Witnesses To Proceed

On Friday, the Alberta Court of Appeals held that a father can proceed with his wrongful death lawsuit against the Watchtower Society and its elders for allegedly misrepresenting the nature of chemotherapy and blood transfusion treatment to his 17 year old daughter, telling her that they would not cure her leukemia. In Hughes (Estate) v. Brady, (Alb. Ct. App., Aug. 31, 2007), the court held that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provisions protecting religious freedom do not protect the right to impose religious beliefs on third parties. Refusing to dismiss the claims at the pleading stage, the court said:

Whether religious views provide a defence to or justification for misrepresentations that cause bodily harm or death should only be decided on a full factual record. It is not "plain and obvious" that a sincerely held religious belief would be an answer to a claim where application of the religious doctrine is said to have caused a death. In any event, the pleadings will not require any examination of the "truth" of the respondents’ beliefs about blood transfusions.... The record indicates that the respondents are opposed to transfusions as a matter of faith, not because they are experimental or ineffective.... [O]bjective validity of the belief of the respondents that blood transfusions are prohibited by scripture is not an issue in this litigation ... even though the respondents may raise their sincerely held religious beliefs as a defence or justification.

Yesterday's Calgary Sun in additional background on the case says that the trial court last year had held that the allegations were merely an attack on Jehovah's Witness beliefs.

Sikh Charges Discrimination After JP Forces Him To Remove Turban In Court

On Friday, the ACLU of Texas announced that it had filed suit in state court under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act on behalf of Amardeep Singh, a member of the Sikh faith. In June 2006 Singh appeared in the courtroom of Justice of the Peace Albert Cercone to defend a speeding ticket. The bailiff told Singh he would need to remove his turban. Singh says he tried to explain the religious significance of the turban, but was ignored. According to yesterday's Dallas News, Cercone says that Singh made no mention of his religious concerns. Cercone argues that the request was necessary for security reasons since Justice of the Peace courts do not have metal detectors. The complaint in the case is available online. Singh has also filed with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Tibet Criticizes China's New Order On Buddhist Reincarnates

Tibet's government today issued a lengthy statement criticizing China's recent Order on Management Measures for the Reincarnation of 'Living Buddhas' in Tibetan Buddhism. Phayul reprints the statement issued by the Kalon for Religion and Culture of the Central Tibetan Administration. The statement says that China's Order is "replete with contradictory statements and wild claims ... [and] will serve as a big tool for the Chinese government to brutally repress the innocent Tibetans under their tyrannical rule...."

Salt Lake City's New Mayor Will Need To Deal Wtih "Religious Divide"

Anticipating November's election, today's Salt Lake Tribune says that the next mayor of Salt Lake City will need to deal with the city's "religious divide". Salt Lake has become increasingly non-Mormon. The LDS Church will be seeking various permits as it enters a $1 billion development of City Creek Center on the city's downtown mall. Other issues, such as reform of the city's liquor laws, also pose tensions. David Richard Keller, associate professor of philosophy at Utah Valley State College says: "The mayor has to try to lay down a fundamental assumption: Is Salt Lake City going to reflect LDS values, or is it going to be a pluralistic American city that welcomes some things that may not be consistent with LDS morality? "

Virginia City Gives Temporary Permit To Buddhist Monks

Virginia Beach, Virginia's City Council last week voted to give a temporary 12-month permit to a three Buddhist monks to continue to hold services in their home in a residential area on Sundays and on three Buddhist holidays-- with numbers limited to 20 on Sundays and 50 on holidays. Today's Hampton Road Pilot reports that in January master monk Thanh Cong Doan asked the city to allow the Buddhist Education Center of America Inc. to operate out of his home. Another proposal to build a 6,000 square foot pagoda on their front lawn was dropped after neighbors complained. The monks hope to use the next 12 months to convince neighbors that they should drop their complaints.

USCIRF Chairman Says He Found Some Hopeful Signals In Turkmenistan

Radio Free Europe yesterday featured an interview with Michael Cromartie, Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom following the visit of a USCIRF delegation to Turkmenistan. Cromartie said: "In Turkmenistan, you still have a repressive situation, but you at least have some signals that the government is aware of that and wants to do better. But their feet have to be held to the fire and it must be measure over time.... We heard the words, but we didn't see the evidence." (See prior related posting.)

Texas Seminary Wins Challenge To State Education Rules In State Supreme Court

HEB Ministries, Inc. v. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (TX Sup. Ct., Aug. 31, 2007) involved a challenge under the U.S. and Texas Constitutions to the state's regulation of post-secondary religious seminaries. Fort Worth's Tyndale Theological Seminary sued after it was ordered by the Higher Education Coordinating Board to stop issuing degrees, to change its name, to offer refunds of students' tuition, and to pay a $173,000 fine. The school's violations stemmed from its calling itself a "seminary" and its awarding recognition to graduates us words like "degree", "associate", "bachelor", "master" and "doctor".

The 8 justices hearing the case produced 3 separate and lengthy opinions—concurring and dissenting in different portions of the major opinion written by Justice Hecht. This created shifting pluralities and majorities for different portions of the primary opinion. Justices variously discussed establishment clause and free speech challenges, as well as free exercise issues.

Six of the 8 justices who heard the case held, in an opinion by Justice Hecht, that the state is incapable of determining what is "genuine" religious study and what is not, so that the statutory restriction on the use of the name "seminary" by schools offering only religious studies violates state and federal free exercise guaranties. Justice Wainwright joined by Justice Johnson would have gone further and struck down the restriction without regard to whether the curriculum of the religious institution was primarily religious.

Three justices joined with Justice Hecht in holding that restrictions on the words that a religious institution may use to refer to completion of religious programs of study is so broad that it violates state and federal Free Exercise guarantees. Justices Wainwright and Johnson held that these restrictions do not violate Free Exercise provisions, but do violate First Amendment protection of commercial speech.

Justices Jefferson and Green in their separate opinion took the position that regulating the titles used to recognize graduates is a legitimate attempt to prevent a seminary from issuing a degree that misrepresents the nature of the education provided. The Dallas News reported today on the case.

Court OK's Religious Exclusion In Military Community Service Program

Under federal law (10 USC 1143a and 32 CFR Part 77), former members of the military may earn additional service credit for retirement by working with public or community service organizations. However, work with religious organizations that involves religious instruction, worship services or proselytizing does not count. In Bowman v. United States, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64203 (ND OH, Aug. 30, 2007), an Ohio federal district court rejected an equal protection challenge to the exclusion of religious service brought by a former member of the Air Force who later worked as a youth minister. The court held that the government's purpose of providing benefits to community and public service organizations and its concern with avoiding an establishment clause violation were rational reasons for the exclusion.

Group Asks Kenya's High Court To Declare Jesus' Crucifixion Illegal

Interfax today reports that in Kenya, a group called Friends of Jesus has filed a petition in Kenya's High Court asking it to declare Jesus Christ's conviction for blaspheming the Holy Spirit null and void and his crucifixion illegal. A spokesperson for the High Court suggested that the statute of limitations might not be a bar to the suit because it involves human rights matters. Some lawyers suggested that the suit should have been filed in the International Criminal Court in the Hague, while others say it should be dismissed because the conduct at issue did not take place in Kenya.

Christian Evangelists Permitted To Preach Inside Pentagon

Truthout reports today that another use of Pentagon facilities by evangelical Christian groups has been uncovered by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. In 2005, in connection with its two-week "D.C. Crusade", the North Carolina-based H.O.P.E. Ministries International was permitted to conduct two services in the Pentagon courtyard where employees eat their lunch. Evangelist David Kistler was permitted to preach, but could not invite employees to openly respond to his invitation to them to accept Jesus. This past June, H.O.P.E. was invited to speak at a prayer breakfast at the Pentagon, and the next day in the Pentagon auditorium. Kistler wrote in his organization's newsletter that "three souls were saved among those who attended those events". Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said H.O.P.E Ministries' presence inside the Pentagon was a violation of required church-state separation.

Swedish Paper Creates New Muhammad Caricature Controversy

SFGate reports today on a new Muhammad caricature controversy, this time in Sweden. The newspaper Nerikes Allehanda recently published a picture, drawn by artist Lars Vilks, of what was apparently the head of the Prophet Muhammad on the body of a dog, standing in the middle of a traffic circle. Both Pakistan and Iran have summoned Swedish diplomats to complain about the drawing. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying: "Regrettably, the tendency among some Europeans to mix the freedom of expression with an outright and deliberate insult to 1.3 billion Muslims in the world is on the rise.... Such acts deeply undermine the efforts of those who seek to promote respect and understanding among religions and civilizations." Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed "Zionists" for the drawing.

Australia's Herald Sun reported earlier this week that the drawing was part of a series that Swedish art galleries had declined to display. Nerikes Allehanda defended its publication of the drawing, criticizing the galleries for unacceptable self-censorship.

UPDATE: On Friday, some 300 Muslims in Sweden rallied outside the offices of Nerikes Allehanda to protest the cartoon publication. (AP).

More On Church's Tax Breaks In Italy and EU Competition Law

Yesterday London's Times Online published additional details on the demand by the European Commission that Italy justify the tax benefits it gives to the Catholic Church. (See prior posting.) The EU's Competition Commissioner has received complaints that the arrangements amount to illegal state aid to EU businesses. The problem stems from a decision in 2005 by then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to extend the Church's property tax exemptions to buildings the Church uses for businesses such as hostels and health clinics. Last year the Italian government backtracked somewhat by limiting the tax exemptions to activities that "are not exclusively commercial", but that still allows exemptions where the religious activity on a property in minimal. The EU request has led to political charges of "anticlericalism" from the Right, and to charges from the Left that the Italian government has given the Church a "privileged position".

Political Asylum Being Sought By Christians From Muslim Middle East

Petitions for asylum in the United States by Christians from Middle Eastern countries who fear persecution if they return seem to be a growing issue. Three cases have recently been in the news. WorldNetDaily reported yesterday on the campaign being organized to prevent the deportation of Onsy and Fadia Zachary, an elderly Christian couple from Egypt who have been in the United States since 1998. Supporters say that Onsy Zachary escaped from Egypt in 1970 after being imprisoned and tortured for refusing to convert to Islam. His ability to stay in the U.S. is complicated by an assault conviction here, for which he is now completing a jail term. The couple fears imprisonment and torture if they are returned to Egypt.

On Thursday, according to the AP, a Pennsylvania federal court heard arguments in the long-running legal battle by Sameh Khouzam to avoid deportation back to Egypt. The Coptic Christian says he fled Egypt eight years ago to avoid religious persecution. His lawyers say Egyptian authorities arrested, beat and sodomized him when he refused to convert to Islam. Egypt, however, says Khouzam is a convicted murderer. U.S. officials have obtained assurances from Egypt that Khouzam will be treated humanely when he returns, but Khouzam's lawyers say that such assurances are meaningless.

In Harlingen, Texas, an Iraqi Christian who illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico in 2006 has been granted political asylum by an immigration judge, according to an AP report yesterday. Amar Bahnan Boles-- who was arrested as he swam the Rio Grande-- told the judge that he faces physical brutality if he is deported to Iraq.

Las Vegas Policemean Sues For Right To Wear Yarmulke and Beard

Represented by the ACLU of Nevada, an Orthodox Jewish detective on the Las Vegas police force has sued in federal court for the right to wear a yarmulke (skullcap) and a close-cropped beard while on duty. Yestereday's Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that as Detective Steve Riback became more religiously observant, the Metropolitan Police Department seemed to change its rules. Riback began on the force as an undercover agent where he wore a beard and a baseball cap as part of his disguise. When he moved to his present non-uniformed desk job, the Metropolitan Police Department had a policy against beards, but would grant medical waivers. It did not have a policy against wearing head coverings, but in May it changed its civilian clothing policy to prohibit wearing of hats indoors. When Riback pointed out that officers were permitted to wear International Fellowship of Christian Police Officers pins that featured an open Bible,the Department banned wearing of the pins rather than expand permissible religious attire. The suit claims religious discrimination and retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint.

China Bans Religious Discrimination In Employment

China's legislature, the National People's Congress, yesterday adopted a new Employment Promotion law. Among its provisions is one that permits job applicants to sue if they have been discriminated against on the basis of religion, or on various other grounds. Yesterday's People's Daily Online reports that after January 1, job seekers can sue if they were subjected to discrimination because of sex, age, religion, race or physical disability.

Paper Carries Essays On "Islam and State"

Today's Christian Science Monitor carries four interesting essays expressing divergent views on "Islam and State". Author Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im writes an essay titled I Need a Secular State. Harvard professor Jocelyne Cesari's essay is Burqas and Ballots. From Damascus, Danish Institute Director Jorgen S. Nielsen writes The Leery Arab Street. Finally, Bill Warner, director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam, writes an essay titled Political Islam's Ethics.