International Court Hearing Begins On Genocide Charges Against Serbia

The International Court of Justice heard arguments Monday by Bosnia accusing Serbia of genocide. This is the first time that a state, rather than individuals, has faced trial for humanity's worst crime. The Canadian Press reports that the hearings come 13 years after Bosnia filed the lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro - the successor to Yugoslavia - charging it with a premeditated attempt to destroy Bosnia's Muslim population.

US Agency Says Iran Is Increasing Repression of Religious Minorities

Last Friday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a release expressing concern over the worsening situation for religious minorities in Iran. Jews, Baha'i, Christians and Shi'a and Sufi Muslims have all experienced increasing repression. Since 1999, the State Department, at the urging of the Commission, has designated Iran as a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act. (See prior posting).

Crosses Along Highways Are Proliferating, Professor Says

Today's Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune chronicles the research of Southwestern University communications professor Bob Bednar who is looking at the growing number of crosses that have been placed by roadsides across the country to memorialize individuals who have been killed in traffic accidents. A lawsuit is currently pending in Utah, brought by the American Atheists, challenging the placement of crosses on public rights of way. Bednar has found similar crosses in numerous states. Bednar argues that the crosses are an unconstitutional use of a religious symbol by public agencies. Recently, the Utah legislature approved a resolution supporting crosses erected to memorialize fallen members of the highway patrol (HCR 4), saying they are not religious symbols. Bednar agrees that crosses are becoming secularized symbols of memorialization, but he would like to see the cross returned to its Christian roots.

9th Circuit Permits Sikh Prisoner's Claim To Go Forward

In Murray v. Arizona Department of Corrections, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 4577 (9th Cir., Feb. 13, 2006), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court and permitted a Sikh prisoner to proceed with his claim that he was not allowed to engage in his religious practices and was discriminated against because of his religion.

2006 Christmas In Schools Controversies Begin

In Durango, Colorado, a high school student has created a controversy by formally asking the Bayfield School District Board to change the name of Winter Break to Christmas Break. Today's Durango Herald reports on the request which was made at last Tuesday's board meeting. Two ministers are among the board members. Janice McClain, a junior at Bayfield High, argued that the United States is an essentially Christian nation founded on Christian precepts and doctrine, and that the school district "is a Christian community". The board took no action, but board member Bill Faust promised not to ignore the issue. School superintendent Don Magill said, "I certainly understand her concern from a Christian perspective, but as a public institution, we need to be respectful of all faiths and those who profess no faith."

Utah Judge Removed By State Supreme Court For Polygamy

Yesterday, the Utah Supreme Court in the case of In re Inquiry of a Judge, The Honorable Walter K. Steed, (Feb. 24, 2006), upheld the recommendation of the state's Judicial Conduct Commission that Judge Walter Steed be removed from office because of his illegal practice of polygamy. The Associated Press reports that Steed has served for 25 years on the Justice Court in the polygamist community of Hildale in southern Utah. He has 3 wives and 32 children. Steed legally married his first wife in 1965. The second and third wives were married through religious ceremonies in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints's in 1975 and 1985. The three women are sisters. Reacting to the Supreme Court's decision, Steed said: "I had hoped that the court would see my case as an opportunity to correct the injustices that are caused by the criminalization of my religious beliefs and lifestyle. I am disappointed the court did not reach those issues in my case."

IRS Report On Improper Non-Profit Political Activity

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday released a report on its Political Activity Compliance Initiative. The AP says IRS exams of 110 organizations referred to the IRS for potential violations found nearly three out of four churches, charities and other civic groups actually violated tax rules in the 2004 election. Most involved only a single, isolated episode; but in 3 cases, the IRS found violations egregious enough to recommend revoking tax-exempt status. "It's disturbing not because it's pervasive, but because it has the potential to really grow and have a very bad impact on the integrity of charities and churches," IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said in an interview.

Today's New York Times also covers the report and Commr. Everson's speech about it yesterday in Cleveland. The full text of the report and materials released along with it are online. Here is a summary of the alleged and determined violations from the Executive Summary:

• Charities, including churches, distributing diverse printed materials that encouraged their members to vote for a preferred candidate (24 alleged; 9 determined)
• Religious leaders using the pulpit to endorse or oppose a particular candidate (19 alleged; 12 determined)
• Charities, including churches, criticizing or supporting a candidate on their website or through links to another website (15 alleged; 7 determined)
• Charities, including churches, disseminating improper voter guides or candidate ratings (14 alleged; 4 determined)
• Charities, including churches, placing signs on their property that show they support a particular candidate (12 alleged; 9 determined)
• Charities, including churches, giving improperly preferential treatment to certain candidates by permitting them to speak at functions (11 alleged; 9 determined), and
• Charities, including churches, making cash contributions to a candidateÂ’s political campaign (7 alleged; 5 determined).

[Thanks to Blog From the Capital for the lead.]

Recent Publications On Church-State Issues

From SmartCILP:
Robert W. Gurry, The Jury Is Out: The Urgent Need For A New Approach In Deciding When Religion-Based Peremptory Strikes Violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments, 18 Regent Univ. Law Review 91-128 (2005-2006).

Symposium: Bankruptcy in the Religious Non-Profit Context, 29 Seton Hall Legislative Journal 341-557 (2005):

• Boozang, Kathleen M., Introduction - Bankruptcy In the Religious Non-Profit Context.
• Skeel, David A., Jr., "Sovereignty" Issues and the Church Bankruptcy Cases.
• Cafardi, Nicholas P., The Availability of Parish Assets for Diocesan Debts: A Canonical Analysis.
• Wells, Catharine Pierce, Who Owns the Local Church? A Pressing Issue For Dioceses In Bankruptcy.
• DiPietro, Melanie, The Relevance of Canon Law In a Bankruptcy Proceeding.
• Sargent, Mark A., The Diocese After Chapter 11.
• Carmella, Angela C., Constitutional Arguments In Church Bankruptcies: Why Judicial Discourse About Religion Matters.
• Brody, Evelyn, The Charity In Bankruptcy and Ghosts of Donors Past, Present, and Future.
• Davitt, Christina M., Student Article: Whose Steeple Is It? Defining the Limits of the Debtor's Estate In the Religious Bankruptcy Context.

Mirror of Justice has a review of Jay Sekulow's recent book, Witnessing Their Faith: Religious Influence on Supreme Court Justices and Their Opinions (Rowman & Littlefield, Nov. 2005).

Jury Award For Denying Religious Burial To Stillborn Fetus Upheld

Today's New York Daily News reports that a Brooklyn judge has upheld a $2 million jury award against Brooklyn Hospital Center in a case brought by a Nigerian couple whose 21-1/2-week stillborn infant's remains were disposed of by the hospital's pathology department instead of being turned over to the couple for a religious burial. The father is chief of the Ibo tribe in his homeland. The couple suffered severe emotional distress because they believe a soul wanders forever if a loved one is not interred in a tribal burial ground. The full opinion in Emeagwali v. Brooklyn Hospital Center (Sup. Ct. Kings County, Feb. 22, 2006) is available online.

Prisoner Free Exercise Decisions Newly Released

The Oregon federal district court has recently released its opinion in Alvarez v. Hill, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40494 (D. Ore., Dec. 14, 2005). It granted summary judgment to defendants, finding that restrictions placed on a Native American prisoner at Oregon's Snake River Correctional Institution did not substantially burden his exercise of religion. Plaintiff had challenged prison regulations relating to religious volunteers, the frequency with which inmates were allowed to attend the sweat lodge, drum ceremonies, and the restrictions on wearing headbands.

In Young v. Medden, (ED Pa., Feb. 23, 2006), a wide-ranging lawsuit against prison officials, a Pennsylvania federal district court permitted a prisoner to proceed with various claims alleging violation of his free exercise rights and of RLUIPA. Willie Young, a believer in African Traditional Spirituality claimed that officials at two different prisons interfered with his ability to practice his religion.

In McElyea v. Schriro, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6765 (D. Ariz., Feb. 13, 2006), an Arizona federal district court judge dismissed a Jewish prisoner's religious exercise claims, finding that the prisoner's "multiple frivolous motions and filings are malicious and vexatious and based on complaints which are designed to harass and antagonize the Defendants". His complaints centered primarily on his ability to observe certain rules regarding the Sabbath and kosher food, and on his objection to the prison's permitting persons to attend Jewish services who are not Jewish according to Orthodox Jewish religious law.

Conservative Ohio Board Member Defends Removing Intelligent Design

Conservative Republican Martha Wise was the leader in getting Ohio's Board of Education last week to remove references to Intelligent Design from Ohio's science curriculum standards. (See prior posting.) On Wednesday, she wrote a fascinating op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer:

I believe in God the creator. I believe in freedom. I believe in America, and the state of Ohio, and the Republican Party, fiscal conservatism, fairness and honesty. These values guided me last week to lead the Ohio Board of Education to remove creationism from our state's Science Standards and Model Curriculum.

You may ask: Why would being a creationist make me want to remove "critical analysis"/"intelligent design" creationism from the standards? It's simple, really: It is deeply unfair to the children of this state to mislead them about the nature of science. The future of Ohio's prosperity depends on a well-educated workforce that understands science. The future of religious freedom in this country depends on the electorate understanding that modern science is not a threat to faith....

Our board had to decide whether to waste millions of taxpayer dollars to hear a federal judge tell them the same thing Judge Jones told the Dover, Pa., board. We chose to stand up for kids, for the state of Ohio, for freedom of religion, and for the integrity of science. The public trusts us to uphold first-class standards and to protect democracy and religious freedom. So, we set aside our differences and did the right thing for Ohio and Ohio's children.

Israel Supreme Court Appoints Mediator In Dispute Over Museum Construction

Israel's Supreme Court has appointed retired Justice Meir Shamgar as a mediator to resolve a dispute over the building of a museum on the site of a ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. Rather ironically, the museum is being built by the U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center to promote interfaith tolerance. The Wiesenthal Center says that the cemetery was deemed abandoned under a ruling of a Muslim judge. BBC News yesterday reported that the court ordered a suspension of construction work for 30 days while the mediator tries to fashion an acceptable compromise.

Convicted Sex Offender Raises Religious Objections To Electronic Monitoring

In Davis City, Iowa, a state trial judge faces an unusual problem of religious accommodation. According to today's Des Moines Register, Scott Smith was ordered, under Iowa's sex offender registry law, to wear an electronic monitor as a condition of his probation after he served 210 days on work release. But Smith says this will infringe on his religious beliefs. Smith was a leader in the Brotherhood of Christ when he was charged in 2003 with sexual abuse and indecent contact with two teenage girls. Brotherhood of Christ members, including Smith's wife and children, live in a largely self-sufficient Iowa community that prohibits the use of electricity, claiming that using electricity in daily life can cause people to disobey God. Smith lives in a home without electricity, telephone or running water on land adjacent to church property. His family visits him there. Brotherhood of Christ leader, Ron Livingston, said the court-ordered electronic monitor in the home could adversely influence Smith's children and take away from the teachings of the community. Livingston testified that Smith has been told he might be allowed back into the fold if he follows its religious requirements.

Hindu Board Calls For Murder Of Controversial Artist

WebIndia123 today has a rather astounding report from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It says that after the state's Haj Minister, Haji Yaqub Qureshi, offered a reward of 510 million Rupees (approx. $11.5 million) to anyone who killed the Danish cartoonist who drew the now-infamous caricatures of Muhammad, the state's Hindu Personal Law Board decided to follow suit. It announced a similar reward for anyone beheading prominent artist M.F.Hussain. Hussain is charged with portraying Hindu deities and Bharat Mata in the nude. His painting was displayed on a website, and in an exhibition in New Delhi. Ashok Pandey, president of the Hindu Personal Law Board was quoted as saying:

Those who are endangering religion and nation, should be eliminated for everyone's good. Anyone who kills Hussain for making obscene paintings of goddess Sarswati and Bharat Mata, the Danish cartoonist, those in the German company printing pictures of Ram and Krishna on tissue paper and the French filmmaker desecrating Lord Shiva will be given Rs 51 crore in cash.

Hussain has apologized and withdrawn the picture from auction.

HHS Settles With ACLU In Challenge To Funding Of Abstinence Program

Yesterday it was announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has entered a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union in a case challenging the constitutionality of federal funding of an abstinence-only sex education program know as "The Silver Ring Thing". (ACLU release.) The ACLU charged that the program was using taxpayer funds to promote religious doctrines. HHS already suspended funding of SRT in August 2005, saying that the program "may not have included adequate safeguards to clearly separate in time or location inherently religious activities from federally-funded activities." In yesterday's settlement (full text), HHS agreed that it will not fund SRT's program as currently structured. In any future applications for federal funding, SRT must comply with prohibition on using federal funds to support inherently religious activities. In addition, HHS agreed to closely monitor any grant applications by SRT for the next two years. The Alliance Defense Fund, which had intervened in the case to support SRT, said that it was pleased that SRT would be permitted to apply for funding in future years. (Report from The Reality Check.)

Non-Buddhists Object To New Broadcast Services In Bhutan

In the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, the government, with the aid of the International Telecommunications Union, has begun to offer nationwide satellite television services. Yesterday's Asia News reports that while Bhutanese authorities see this as a landmark, minority religious groups are protesting that it is a tool to entrench Buddhist cultural hegemony over the country and keep control over other groups. Kamali Chetri, a nurse, complained that with programming that is largely Buddhist in content, "the gap between the Buddhist majority and immigrant Hindus, Christians and Nepalese animists is bound to grow. It doesn't really foster co-existence."

O Centro Impacts Peyote Charges In Utah

Today's Deseret News reports that the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah has announced it is dropping felony peyote distribution charges against the founders of a Utah County-based Native American Church. While the announcement came one day after the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protected a Brazilian church's use of hoasca, the decision to drop the peyote charges stemmed from an agreement with prosecutors signed two weeks ago by James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney and his wife, Linda Mooney. The agreement provided that charges would be dropped in exchange for the Mooneys agreeing to refrain from possessing, buying, using or distributing peyote "until they become members of a federally recognized tribe or there is a definitive clarification of the law regarding the use of peyote by court ruling or legislative action." Under the agreement, the Mooneys can be re-indicted on the same charges if they violate its terms. The statute of limitations were also waived on the charges.

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the O Centro case, Mooney now says he will seek to have the court throw out his agreement with prosecutors and confirm his right to use peyote in religious ceremonies. Mooney says that while he fights his agreement, members of his church should be free to resume their ceremonies without his participation. However U.S. District Attorney Criminal Division Chief Richard Lambert took the position that federal law still requires anyone who uses peyote for religious purposes to be a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe. "Congress has spoken on this," Lambert said, pointing out that unlike hoasca, which is unregulated, Congress has specifically regulated peyote. He said that anyone using peyote who is not a member of a federally recognized tribe, including members of Mooney's church, is still breaking the law.

Dispute Over Muslim Census In Indian Armed Forces

India's Supreme Court has set March 6 as the date to hear a challenge to a proposed census of Muslims serving the the armed forces of India. Yesterday's edition of The Hindu reported that the Court refused a plea to speed up its hearing on the case brought by Lt. Gen R. S. Kadyan, a former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff, who contends that the census would be divisive and would undermine the secularism of the armed forces. However the case may be moot. Yesterday the UPI reported that India's Defense Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, told the upper House of Indian Parliament that the armed forces would be excluded from the survey. The controversy began after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a committee, headed by former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Rajinder Sachar, to study the status of the country's Muslim minority and suggest ways to improve their social mobility. (Background).

Competing Opinions On Constitutionality Of Utah's Proposed Voucher System

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that on Wednesday, the Utah School Boards Association released two legal opinions that say H.B. 184, a school voucher bill before the Legislature, is unconstitutional. Former Utah Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Zimmerman said HB184 violates prohibitions in Utah's constitution against using public funds for religious education (Art. I, Sec. 4, Art. X, Sec. 9). A second opinion, by attorney Harold G. Christensen, says that the voucher bill violates Utah's constitutional provisions providing for the creation of a public education system (Art. X, Sec. 1). Parents for Choice in Education disagrees, citing a legal opinion by attorney Maxwell A. Miller taking the position that the Utah constitution supports indirect funding for private education.

Catholicism Making Gains In Vietnam

Yesterday's Christian Science Monitor chronicles the quiet gains that Catholicism is making in Vietnam-- a country that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has categorized as a "country of particular concern" because of its more general lack of religious freedom. Of the country's six official religions, Catholicism ranks second behind Buddhism, claiming 5 to 7 million followers. It is gaining popularity among young urban Vietnamese who are enjoying the country's rapid economic growth. While Vietnam still does not have diplomatic relations with the Holy See, senior Vatican emissary Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe visited Vietnam in November ordaining 57 new priests at Hanoi's cathedral. Sepe also met with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan. For many, Catholicism is still associated with the French colonizers whose rule ended in 1954.