Secretary Rice Talks About Religious Faith and Freedom

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday was interviewed by Tampa, Florida radio talk show host Bill Bunkley just before she spoke to the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina. BP News has released the full transcript of her interview that focuses on the role of faith in her life and moves toward religious freedom in the Muslim world.

UPDATE: Here is another interview with Secretary Rice on similar topics, this time with the editor of SBC Life.

California Supreme Court Will Review Doctors' Religious Defense

The Associated Press reports that yesterday the California Supreme court agreed to review the court of appeals decision in North Coast Women's Care Medical Group v. Superior Court. The case raises the question of whether two doctors being sued by a lesbian woman for refusing to perform intrauterine insemination on her can defend on the basis of their religious beliefs. The lower court held that the doctors could introduce evidence of their religious beliefs to show that their refusal was based on the fact that the patient was unmarried, rather than on the fact she was a lesbian. (See prior posting.)

Egypt To Ban Both Da Vinci Code Film And Book

Egypt's Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, told Parliament this week that Egypt will ban the film The Da Vinci Code for insulting religion. Ali Abu Shadi, director of Egypt's censorship board, said official action has not yet been taken because copies of the film have not yet been received in Egypt. Culture Minister Hosni also said that the government will go further and confiscate copies of the book version of The Da Vinci Code, even though it has been on sale in the country for over two years. The Associated Press reported yesterday that the moves come after Georgette Qelliny, a Coptic Christian member of Parliament, demanded that the action be taken. There has been increased tension between Muslims and Christians in Egypt recently. (See prior related posting.)

US Muslim Women Seek Religious Accommodations

USA Today carries an article on the efforts of some Muslim women in the United States to get both private and public groups to accommodate their belief in separation of the sexes in most contexts. Issues have arisen in connection with public swimming pools, gyms and women's basketball teams. In the American Muslim community there are disagreements on whether these requests for accommodation are an appropriate exercise of religious freedom, or are unduly alienating to non-Muslim Americans.

Bolivian Constitutional Rewrite Focuses On State Religion Issue

In March, Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a law calling for a special assembly to rewrite the country's constitution. (BBC News.) That has led to a lively debate on whether Catholicism should remain Bolivia's official religion, or whether the country should become a secular State. Spero News yesterday reviewed the competing positions. The ruling party, Movement to Socialism (MAS), wants to eliminate the special privileges enjoyed by the Catholic Church and move to a fully secular constitution. Another group, Democratic and Social Power, wants the current constitutional provision recognizing the Catholic Church to remain unchanged. The Catholic Church takes an intermediate position. It supports a provision granting "broad religious freedom," but with recognition of "the Catholic Church and perhaps other religions as part of the history of the formation of Bolivia." This general approach is also supported by the Bolivian Episcopal Conference and evangelical Christians organized as National Unity".

Temporary Injunction Saves Church Services In School Gym

A South Carolina federal district judge has granted a temporary injunction to the members of Gracepointe (Southern Baptist) Church, ordering Woodland High School in Dorchester, SC to continue renting its gymnasium to the group for Sunday services pending trial in a lawsuit filed by the Church. The Church has rented the gym for Sunday services at the rate of $250 per week since August 2005. The school has asked the Church to leave, saying that the rental arrangement was never intended to be a long-term one and that the Church is being subsidized through below-market rent. Yesterday's Charleston Post and Courier reports that Judge David Norton's ruling says that the school district's rental policy distributed to community groups says nothing about time limits for renting facilities and all community groups get the same low rental fee.

Ugandan Police Arrest Muslim Groom After Marriage To Hindu Bride

Police in Uganda have arrested Syed Sadiq, a Muslim, after he married Anju Bala in a mosque in Nsambya, Arua Municipality, on Friday according to the (Kampala) Monitor. That ceremony followed a civil ceremony before the Arua District Registrar. The bride is Hindu. Her family and the Hindu community complained to authorities that the marriage is illegal. They consider it impermissible for a Hindu to marry a non-Hindu. During the wedding ceremony the bride's family actually stormed the mosque, but they were held back by police. Then the two families filed competing complaints at the Central Police Station. The groom's family says the bride converted to Islam before the wedding. The bride's family says that if this is so, it was a forced conversion or the bride was mentally incompetent. The groom is still in jail, but the rival groups are besieging the police station arguing for and against his continued incarceration.

Recent Developments In Religious Land Use Cases

Newspapers around the country report on developments in a number of RLUIPA and other religious land use cases.

In Boulder County, Colorado, Rocky Mountain Christian Church is seeking permission for a 15 to 20 year construction plan that would add an education building, a multipurpose chapel building, a gymnasium, a connecting gallery, and about 500 parking spaces. Yesterday's Longmont (CO) Daily Times-Call reported that the U.S. Justice Department has now entered the pending litigation in which Boulder County is challenging the constitutionality of RLUIPA's land use provisions.

The Orange County (CA) Register today reports that in Huntington Beach, California, lawyers for the city and Praise Christian Center are negotiating in a final attempt to settle a lawsuit, now on appeal, in which the church charges that the city violated RLUIPA in 2003 when it required the church to make various changes to a warehouse before using it a a church. These included a sprinkler system, soundproofing, and relocation of 3 parking spaces. The city prevailed at trial, but Praise Christian Center is appealing because the court refused to hear expert testimony on other situations in which the city did not require businesses to make like changes.

In Bedminster Township, New Jersey, under the prodding of a federal judge, the township is attempting to reach a settlement with Church of the Hills that has filed a RLUIPA suit because the township zoning board denied it a crucial variance it needs to proceed with its plans to quadruple the size of its facilities. Last fall, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief supporting the church. Yesterday, the Bernardsville News reported that the church has agreed to scale back its plans, and the township may now have more incentive to settle because its insurance carrier is no longer supporting its defense.

Finally, in Washington state, the Seattle Times reports today that a state court of appeals is being asked to grant an emergency stay of the order obtained by the city of Woodinville evicting 60 residents of Tent City 4. The tent city, sponsored by SHARE/WHEEL (a non-profit homeless advocacy group), is being hosted by Northshore United Church of Christ. One of the arguments on appeal is that the city's land-use code unconstitutionally infringes the church's right to religious expression. The city claims that Tent City 4 promoters did not follow proper permit procedures. In November, a RLUIPA claim was filed to challenge another Seattle suburb's regulation of a Tent City 4 encampment. (See prior posting.)

British Religious Groups Urge Enforcement Of School Prayer Requirements

In Great Britain, a group of religious leaders has written the new Secretary of State for Education, Alan Johnson, urging him to make sure that secondary schools carry out their obligation to provide daily collective worship for students. Britain's School Standards and Framework Act of 1988, Sec. 70 and Schedule 20, requires daily organized school prayer that is "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character". Parents can request to have their children excused from prayer, and religiously-affiliated schools have prayer in their faiths' traditions. The religious leaders said, according to today's Guardian Unlimited, that many secondary schools are ignoring the daily worship requirement, even though it makes a "major contribution ... to the spiritual and moral development of pupils". They said that more teacher training is required and that the government needs to issue a clear statement to schools setting out their legal obligations. However the British Humanist Association has urged the education secretary to press for a change in the law that would allow schools to have more inclusive student assemblies.

9th Circuit Permits Religious Health Care Providers To Intervene In Weldon Amendment Challenge

In State of California v. United States, (9th Cir., 2006), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has permitted the Alliance for Catholic Health Care, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Christian Medical Association and the Fellowship of Christian Physician Assistants to intervene in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Weldon Amendment-- a federal provision preventing federal, state and local governments from receiving certain federal funds if they discriminate against health care providers that refuse to provide, pay for, provide coverage for or refer for abortions. California sued to challenge the constitutionality of the Weldon Amendment because arguably its law requiring emergency health care providers to furnish medical services for any condition posing a threat to life or a threat of serious injury or illness would cause California to lose federal funds. Finding that the United States will not adequately represent the intervenors' position, the Court of Appeals reversed the district court and ordered that the intervenors be made parties defendant.

Today's Sacramento dBusiness News reports on a statement issued by the Alliance of Catholic Health Care praising the court's decision.

Alaska Tax Exemption Challenged As Favoring One Religion

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska is suing the state challenging a law passed in May that broadens the property tax exemption for clergy housing to include housing occupied by religious teachers who are not members of the clergy. The Associated Press says that the suit was filed Monday in state court in Anchorage. The broadened exemption in fact benefits only the Anchorage Baptist Temple. The Alaska ACLU says that the new law not just favors religion, but favors one religious institution.

Baltimore Funding of Faith-Based Hunger Program Opposed

After issuing a statement last week opposing the state of Maryland's spending $150,000 on transportation to attract the National Baptist Convention to Baltimore, now Americans United for Separation of Church and State has sued the city of Baltimore that is planning to give the United Baptist Missionary Convention of Maryland (UMBCM) $297,500 to support its Bags of Love outreach program. Today's Baltimore Sun says that funds will be spent to distribute over 1,000 bag lunches at area shelters and missions on Saturday before the Convention begins. The suit claims that funding the anti-hunger program violates the separation of church and state because the bags of food being distributed also contain a Bible and "salvation tracts". (AU Release.) However, Rev. Theresa Mercer says now that city finding is being used, that UMBCM is no longer planning to include Bibles or other religious materials in the food bags. Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said that his group would need to look at the revised plans to decide whether to withdraw the suit.

Newdow Loses "In God We Trust" Challenge; Pledge Case Still Pending

Yesterday in Newdow v. Congress of the United States, (E.D. Cal., June 12, 2006), a California federal district court rejected Michael Newdow's challenge to the constitutionality of "In God We Trust" as the national motto and its use on coins and currency. The court held that Newdow had standing to bring the challenge, finding that Newdow adequately alleged injury-in-fact, causation and redressability. The court dismissed Congress and its Law Revision Counsel as defendants, finding that they are immune from suit under the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution (Art. I, Sec. 6), since the claim against them is merely that they enacted and published an unconstitutional law. However the court proceeded to the merits of the claim against other defendants (the Secretary of Treasury, the Director of the Mint, the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the Pacific Justice Foundation which intervened as a defendant).

In passing on the merits, the court held that it was bound by a 1970 Ninth Circuit decision (Aronow v. United States, 432 F.2d 242 [LEXIS Link]). Relying on that, the court rejected Newdow's Establishment Clause claim, finding that the motto has no theological or ritual impact, but rather merely has spiritual, psychological and inspirational value. The court similarly rejected Newdow's Free Exercise and RFRA claim that his right to exercise his Atheistic beliefs has been burdened by the government's endorsement of monotheism. It said that "In God We Trust" is a secular motto. It also rejected Newdow's attempt to rely on a 1977 Supreme Court decision striking down a New Hampshire requirement that auto owners display license plates with the motto "Live Free or Die".

Meanwhile Michael Newdow has another important case pending before the 9th Circuit-- a challenge to the inclusion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. (See prior posting.) Howard J. Bashman has an interesting article in Law.com yesterday discussing the technical question of whether the panel of 9th Circuit judges who hear this appeal will be bound by a prior 9th Circuit decision that found the Pledge's use of "under God" to be unconstitutional. That decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court on the ground that Newdow lacked standing. Bashman argues that this had the effect of erasing the 9th Circuit's prior determination on the merits, even though the district court in the case now on appeal upheld Newdow's claim on the ground that it was sill bound by the 9th Circuit determination. If the Supreme Court's dismissal on standing grounds did not wipe out the 9th Circuit's substantive holding, the current 3-judge panel is also bound by the holding of the earlier 3-judge panel.

Will Britain Require Clergy To Bless Gays and Give Them Communion?

A posting last week discussed some of the concerns that religious groups in England have about proposed British government regulations banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in furnishing goods and services. Those concerns related to services offered by religiously affiliated organizations. Today LifeSiteNews reports the Church of England is suggesting that the regulations could have a much more direct impact on core functions of the Church itself. It says that under the proposed regulations it will be illegal for churches to deny gay and lesbian couples use of churches for civil commitment ceremonies, and clergy would be required to bless same-sex couples. It says that communion falls under the definition of services, so it would be illegal for a clergyman to deny communion to homosexuals.

In fact it seems unlikely that the final regulations will be this broad. Here is what the March 2006 Consultation Paper said about the issue:

Churches, mosques and many other religious organisations advance their faith or belief through activities such as worship, teaching and preaching, officiating in marriage, conducting baptisms and giving sacraments to members of their religious community. We recognise that there may be circumstances where the new regulations could impact on aspects of religious activity or practice in the light of the doctrines of some faiths concerning sexual orientation and the beliefs of their followers. We need to consider therefore the application of the regulations in these areas.

We are interested to hear views on the impact that the regulations may have in these areas, particularly where the regulations may impede religious observance or practices that arise from the basic doctrines of a faith. Any exceptions from the regulations for religious organisations would need to be clearly defined and our starting point is that these should be limited to activities closely linked to religious observance or practices that arise from the basic doctrines of a faith.

Fallaci Trial On Defaming Islam Begins Today In Italy

In Italy today journalist and author Oriana Fallaci goes on trial charged by Muslim activist Adel Smith with defaming Islam, according to Mainichi Daily News. The charges grow out of a 2004 book, The Force of Reason, in which Fallaci says "To be under the illusion that there is a good Islam and a bad Islam or not to understand that Islam is only one ... is against reason." Fallaci is being tried under an Italian law that prohibits "outrage to religion". The author, who lives in New York, will not attend today's hearing in the city of Bergamo. The AP reported earlier that Italy's Justice Minister sides with Fallaci, saying that she has expressed deep criticism of Islam, but not defamation.

A La Carte Cable Proposal Splits Evangelicals From Christian Broadcasters

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that a plan to change cable television rules to require "a la carte" service is strongly supported by evangelical Christians, but is opposed by Christian broadcasters. Sen. John McCain is likely to introduce legislation to mandate the approach which is backed by a February Federal Communications Commission report. A la carte packaging would permit cable subscribers to pay only for channels they wish to receive, and would preclude cable providers from forcing customers to take packages which include other channels. Evangelicals see this as a way to avoid receiving and paying for channels that carry programming they find offensive. Christian broadcasters, however, fear that this will prevent channel surfers from having conversion experiences after accidentally coming across a Christian broadcast. Only those who are already Christians are likely to pay for these channels in advance.

Recent Law Review Articles

Recent articles (from SmartCILP):

Anthony R. Benedetto, The Impact on "The Vanishing Trial" If People of Faith Were Faithful To Religious Principles of Settling Disputes Without Litigation, 6 Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal 253-278 (2006).

Jenna Blackwell, The Role of Religion In Child Custody Disputes, 5 Appalachian Journal of Law 17-33 (2006).

Toni M. Massaro, Religious Freedom and "Accommodationist Neutrality": A Non-neutral Critique, 84 Oregon Law Review 935-1000 (2005).

Shelley Ross Saxer, Government and Religion As Landlord and Tenant, 58 Rutgers Law Review 409-450 (2006).

David Hollander, Jewish Law For the Law Librarian, 98 Law Library Journal 219-252 (2006).

Court Upholds Refusal To Transport Prisoner For Religious Conversion

Beasley v. Konteh, 2006 WL 1554582 (N.D.Ohio, June 8, 2006) is an interesting prisoner free exercise case decided by a federal district court in Toledo, Ohio. Convicted murderer James Beasley claims that he is an Orthodox Jew. However because he was neither born Jewish nor converted, local Jewish organizations do not consider him Jewish for purposes of furnishing him pastoral care services. So Beasley seeks to be formally converted, which a local rabbi is willing to do. However this requires that Beasley be transported to a local synagogue where he can undergo immersion in a mikvah as part of the conversion ceremony. Prison authorities refuse to transport Beasley out of the prison because of administrative and security concerns. The court upheld the warden's decision, saying that neither the Constitution nor federal statutes require that a prisoner be allowed to leave prison to participate in a religious ceremony.

The court, however, did permit Beasley to move ahead with his claim that prison authorities threaten to cut his beard and sidelocks in violation of his religious beliefs, though prison officials say they are now treating him as Jewish and have granted him an exception to the prison's grooming regulations. Yesterday's Toledo Blade covered the decision.

Iran Sets Up "Office of Religious Blogs"

The American Foreign Policy Council's newsletter, Iran Democracy Monitor , in its June 9, 2006 edition, reports that the Iranian government has created an "Office of Religious Blogs". Based in Qom, the Office provides research, training, and support to clerical bloggers operating inside Iran. It says it has already trained 500 bloggers to use of the Internet to disseminate a pro-regime message to Iranians who are increasingly using the Internet.

Texas Democrats Appeal To Progressive Christians

Following the Texas Republican Party Convention last week that was filled with appeals to conservative Christians, this weekend the Texas Democratic Party held its convention and sought ways to identify with progressive Christians. Today's Dallas Morning News reports that buttons worn by delegates featured the religious symbol of a fish along with the Democratic Party donkey. At a workshop sponsored by the Texas Freedom Network, Rev. Brett Young said, "Caring for the poor is a religious issue. Feeding the hungry, watching out for the indigent, standing up for people who are hurting – from a religious perspective, the way we respond to poverty is a litmus test of true morality." Young said that Republicans are trying to define moral values as merely opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Democrats need to emphasize that social justice, programs for the needy and protection of the environment are also moral values.