Blasphemy Defendant In Pakistan Murdered Outside Court House

Pakistan's Daily Times today reports that in Multan, Pakistan, Abdul Sattar Gopang (also known as Tari) was stabbed to death outside the Muzaffargarh district court as he was about to attend the trial in a blasphemy suit brought against him. The killing occurred even though Gopang was being protected by a team of policemen. On Saturday, Muslim clerics refused to officiate at Gopang's funeral and his family had to hire a religious seminary teacher to perform the funeral. Charged in the killing are Muhammad Imran Waheed, a student, and Muhammad Iqbal Khan, a vendor. A spokesman for the Muslim group, Tehrik Khatm-e-Nabuwat said that his group will provide full financial and legal support to the accused assassins. He said: "We are proud of them for accomplishing this noble task."

Meanwhile, Gopang's younger brother has also been arrested for hurling a brick at Maulana Abdul Rasheed, the complainant in the blasphemy case, and Rasheed has been taken into protective custody.

South Carolina Released Time Credit Act Becomes Law

On June 2, the governor of South Carolina signed the state's Released Time Credit Act which permits high schools to give students an elective credit for participating in off-site religion classes. (See prior postings 1, 2.) Here are excerpts from the text of the new law:

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds that: ...The free exercise of religion is important to the intellectual, moral, civic, and ethical development of students in South Carolina, and that any such exercise must be conducted in a constitutionally appropriate manner.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina: Section 59-39-112. (A) A school district board of trustees may award high school students no more than two elective Carnegie units for the completion of released time classes in religious instruction ... if:

(1) ... the released time classes ... are evaluated on the basis of purely secular criteria that are substantially the same criteria used to evaluate similar classes at established private high schools for the purpose of determining whether a student transferring to a public high school from a private high school will be awarded elective Carnegie units for such classes.... and

(2) the decision to award elective Carnegie units is neutral as to, and does not involve any test for, religious content or denominational affiliation.

(B) For the purpose of subsection (A)(1), secular criteria may include, but are not limited to ... (1) number of hours of classroom instruction time; (2) review of the course syllabus ...; (3) methods of assessment used in the course; and (4) whether the course was taught by a certified teacher.

The State reports that now released time groups are quickly moving to get more high schools to approve their programs.

Funding Of Hunger Program OK'd With Disclaimer

Earlier this week, Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit to stop the city of Baltimore, Maryland from funding today’s Bags of Love outreach program designed to furnish food to the hungry in Baltimore. The program is sponsored by the United Baptist Missionary Convention as a lead-in to the National Baptist Convention's 2006 Congress on Christian Education that begins Monday. (See prior posting.) Now that UBMC has eliminated most of the overtly religious aspects of Bags of Love, the court has refused to interfere with the funding of the event, according to today’s Baltimore Sun. However the court did order organizers to read a statement to all participants before the food distribution began to make clear that there is no effort to use the event to proselytize.

New York Governor Signs Law On Swastikas, Burning Crosses

On June 7, New York Governor George Pataki signed Assembly Bill 7027 that makes placing a swastika on another person’s property without permission a Class E felony. It similarly punishes burning a cross in public view. UPI reported on the new law yesterday.

Las Vegas School Cuts Mike On Valedictorian

In Las Vegas, Nevada, officials of the Clark County School District are defending the action taken by administrators at Foothill High School’s graduation ceremony Thursday when the class valedictorian departed from her prepared speech that had been approved by administrators and began reading from a version that contained religious and Biblical references. Administrators cut off the microphone. This drew jeers from the audience in attendance at the graduation being held in a Las Vegas casino. Today's Las Vegas Sun reports on the events.

Administrators had earlier reviewed Brittany McComb’s speech and cut out six references to God or Christ, two biblical references, and a detailed reference to Christ’s crucifixion. The high school’s policy does not permit the school to censor religious references by speakers who have been chosen "on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria'. However, school district lawyer Bill Hoffman said that while the regulation allows students to talk about religion, they cannot cross over into the realm of preaching or proselytizing. School officials said that permitting McComb to continue would have amounted to school sponsored proselytizing. McComb responded: "People aren't stupid and they know we have freedom of speech and the district wasn't advocating my ideas. Those are my opinions. It's what I believe.'

Preliminary Injunction In Church Challenge To Rec Area Fees

Alliance Defense Fund reports that yesterday a San Diego, California federal district court issued a preliminary injunction (full text of order) in a suit challenging the policy of the city of San Diego in charging higher rentals to religious groups for their use of the Kearney Mesa Recreation Area that it charges secular community groups. (See prior postings 1, 2.) The injunction will require the city to charge Canyon Ridge Baptist Church the lower Community Group rate until the merits of the church’s claims are decided by the court.

Jewish School Fits Unemployment Tax Exemption

In Bleich v. Maimonides School, (Mass Sup. Ct., June 16 2006), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court yesterday ruled that Maimonides School, an Orthodox Jewish day school, is exempt from the state’s unemployment tax as "an organization which is operated primarily for religious purposes and which is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches." The court held that even though the school is largely self-governing, it still meets the requirement that it is “principally supported” by Jewish religious organizations. It “derives substantial support from area synagogues and other Jewish organizations” in recruiting students, faculty and administrators as well as obtaining funding.

Japanese Lawmakers Urge Secular Shrine For War Dead

According to yesterday’s Shanghai Daily, an organization of 135 members of Japan's Parliament have asked the government to build a non-religious memorial to Japan's war dead to replace the controversial Yasukuni Shrine which is also a Shinto Temple. The shrine's Book of Souls lists the names of 2,466,532 Japanese and former colonial soldiers killed in Japan's various wars since the middle of the 19th century. (Wikipedia.) A number of court suits have challenged Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro's visits to the current shrine as a violation of Japan's separation of religion and state. Also China has objected to Junichiro's visits to the shrine because it also honors 14 convicted Japanese war criminals.

Racketeering Claim Filed Against Philadelphia Archdiocese

Yesterday's Washington Post reports that a federal racketeering suit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia accusing it of covering up sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The thirteen plaintiffs, barred from bringing a state personal injury claim by Pennsylvania’s two-year statute of limitations, hope to convince the court that the cover-up still continues.

Former Waqf Leader Breaks With Muslim Views On Historicity Of Jewish Temples

WoldNetDaily reported Wednesday on an interview with a former senior leader of the Waqf-- the Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem who have elaborate arrangements with the Israeli government to govern the site. He revealed that he has come to believe that the First and Second Jewish Temples existed at the current location of the Al Aqsa Mosque-- a fact that is hardly newsworthy to Western scholars and archeologists, but which contradicts statements that have long been made in much of the Muslim world. The leader being interviewed-- who insisted that his name not be published-- was dismissed from his Waqf position after he quietly made his beliefs known. He says that Muslim denial of the existence of the Temples is political and not rooted in historical fact. The Palestinian Authority's Office for Religious Affairs claims that the Temple Mount is Muslim property, and that the Western Wall was where Muhammed tied his horse before ascending to heaven. The Temple Mount was open to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started the first intifada. It was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. Waqf agents watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any rule violations.

Singapore Police Investigate Jesus Cartoons On Website

Ekklesia today reports that police in Singapore are investigating a 21-year old man who has posted caricatures of Jesus on his website. One depicts Jesus as a zombie biting a boy's head. Depicting famous individuals as monsters and zombies has become popular on the Internet, and the cartoonist is puzzled by the official reaction. However Singapore police say: "It is a serious offence for any person to distribute or reproduce any seditious publication which may cause feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore." Violators may be imprisoned for up to three years, fined up to 5,000 Singapore dollars, or both.

Spokane Diocese Wins Appeal In Bankruptcy Case

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Washington has successfully appealed a bankruptcy judge's August 2005 decision that said parish churches, schools and similar properties were all assets that could be liquidated to pay off Diocese creditors in its bankruptcy proceedings. Yesterday's Washington Post reports that U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush in Spokane has overturned the bankruptcy judge's decision. Quackenbush apparently agreed with the Diocese that while the Bishop holds formal title to parish properties, the beneficial interest is held by each parish. Quackenbush sent the case back to the bankruptcy court for it to determine the status of each individual parish. Shaun Cross, a lawyer for the Diocese, predicted that the decision will lead to serious settlement negotiations.

Arapaho Tribal Courts Ignored On Sun Dance

In Concho, Oklahoma, a dispute over the Arapaho Indian tribe's Sun Dance Ceremony is back in tribal court. The controversy is the subject of two recent articles by the Associated Press. The Shoshone and Arapaho Tribal Court and the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribal Court previously issued injunctions prohibiting the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma from holding the Sun Dance Ceremony because it violated the ceremony's secrecy when it permitted an anthropologist to attend and write about the dance. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has refused, however, to enforce the tribal court orders. Last week Patrick Spottedwolf was among a group of Oklahoma Arapahos who ignored the tribal court injunctions and began to build a ceremonial arbor to conduct the ceremony. This led some 20 to 50 people, including members of the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming, to take the law into their own hands. They attacked the group preparing the ceremony, cut down the arbor with chain saws and set it on fire. Then Spottedwolf was charged with contempt for violating the tribal court injunctions. He has pled not guilty, claiming that the injunctions unconstitutionally violate his freedom of religion.

The Indian Civil Rights Act, enacted by Congress in 1968, requires that Indian tribes exercising their rights of self government abide by most of the provisions of the Constitution's bill of rights. The Act prohibits tribes from making or enforcing any law that prohibits the free exercise of religion. It does not impose establishment clause constraints on tribes.

Suit Filed In Pakistan Over Destruction Of Hindu Temple

GulfNews.com today reports that in Lahore, Pakistan, lawyers are asking the High Court to order builders of a commercial plaza who have demolished the city's only Hindu temple to stop the construction and rebuild the Krishna shrine. The suit charges that the country's Evacuee Property Trust Board had an obligation to protect the Hindu temple, and that instead it permitted the construction project. The petitioners say that those responsible should be tried under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code which prohibits the demolition of the places of worship.

EEOC Faces Large Budget Cut

The Labor Research Association reported earlier this week that the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission faces a $4.2 million budget cut for the coming year. The EEOC, which is the major federal agency charged with enforcing laws against religious and other discrimination in employment, has lost 20% of its staff since 2001. The agency currently has a backlog of more than 30,000 discrimination cases (over one-third involve racial discrimination) and it takes an average of 180 days to process a case.

Wisconsin Gets Faith-Based Office

Wisconsin Democratic Governor Jim Doyle yesterday announced that he has issued an executive order (full text) setting up an Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships. The Duluth News Tribune yesterday reported that the office will be funded by $100,000 in federal funds granted to the state. As in the 32 other states that have similar agencies, the Minnesota office will help local social service organizations access and effectively use federal grants. Doyle's Republican challenger in the governor's race, current U.S. Rep. Mark Green. said that Doyle was appropriating his idea. Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion foundation, said "The whole thing is just a very uneasy union between church and state. You can't separate the politics out."

Finland Debates Unsolicited Religious Mailings

In May, Jukka Lindstedt, one of the Finnish Parliament's two deputy ombudsmen, issued a decision invalidating the general distribution of parish publications that includes sending them to homes that have not requested them. Lindstedt ruled that this was an unconstitutional infringement of freedom of religion of those who do not wish to receive the publications. NewsRoom Finland reported yesterday that a constitutional scholar, Veli-Pekka Viljanen, disagrees with Lindstedt's conclusion.

Accommodating Muslim High Schoolers In Seattle

How to accommodate the religious needs of Muslim high school students to offer prayer 5 times each day has become a difficult problem for schools. Today's Seattle Times details some of the techniques being used in the Seattle School District. These include setting aside an empty classroom for Muslim student prayer sessions, and excusing students early on Friday afternoon so they may attend prayer services at a nearby mosque. Some, like Andy McDonald on the blog Sound Politics, criticize the setting aside of classrooms saying that this places Islam in a privileged position by making it the only religion that may be practiced officially during the school day.

Court Permits Religious Profiling In Immigration Enforcement

Yesterday in Turkmen v. Ashcroft, (EDNY, June 14, 2006), New York federal district Judge John Gleeson issued a lengthy decision in a class action brought by illegal aliens of Arab and Middle Eastern origin who were detained for several months in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The court permitted plaintiffs to proceed with various claims relating to their conditions of confinement, including claims of illegal interference with their religious practices by denying them copies of the Koran, denying halal food, refusing to give them information on dates or time of day so plaintiffs could pray, and constantly interrupting their prayers.

However on a broader equal protection issue, the court seemed to hold that it is permissible for the government to engage in religious (as well as racial) profiling in its enforcement of the immigration laws. Relying on language from a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court case, Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the judge wrote:

This is, of course, an extraordinarily rough and overbroad sort of distinction of which, if applied to citizens, our courts would be highly suspicious. Yet the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the political branches, "[i]n the exercise of [their] broad power over naturalization and immigration ... regularly make[] rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens." Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S. 67, 79-80 (1976);....

Similarly, I do not believe the plaintiffs’ claims of selective enforcement on the basis of their race and religion provide any cause to depart from the general rule laid out in AADC. In the investigation into the September 11 attacks, the government learned that the attacks had been carried out at the direction of Osama bin Laden, leader of al Queda, a fundamentalist Islamist group; some of the hijackers were in violation of the terms of their visas at the time of the attacks. In the immediate aftermath of these events, when the government had only the barest of information about the hijackers to aid its efforts to prevent further terrorist attacks, it determined to subject to greater scrutiny aliens who shared characteristics with the hijackers, such as violating their visas and national origin and/or religion. Investigating these aliens’ backgrounds prolonged their detention, delaying the date when they would be removed.

As a tool fashioned by the executive branch to ferret out information to prevent additional terrorist attacks, this approach may have been crude, but it was not so irrational or outrageous as to warrant judicial intrusion into an area in which courts have little experience and less expertise.

Today's New York Times reports on the decision, quoting Georgetown law professor David Cole's take on the decision: "What this decision says is the next time there is a terror attack, the government is free to round up every Muslim immigrant in the U.S. based solely on their ethnic and religious identity, and hold them on immigration pretexts for as long as it desires."[Thanks to How Appealing for the case link.]

Illinois Village And Church Spar Over Building Requirements

The village of Wadsworth, Illinois has granted a temporary occupancy permit so that Cornerstone Community Church can continue to use its new building even though landscaping has not been completed, according to a release yesterday from the Alliance Defense Fund. Earlier this month the village board voted to support an order from village President Ken Furland requiring that landscaping, required by the church's special use permit, be completed. This had the effect of reversing informal permission to begin using the building given by the village's inspector. The city's order threatened cancellation of today's memorial service for for Staff Sergeant Edward G. Davis III who died in April while serving in Iraq. The village relented only after a federal lawsuit was filed claiming that the village's action infringed the church's First Amendment rights and the protections granted by RLUIPA. (Full text of complaint.)

The Associated Press report on the controversy earlier this week had a somewhat different slant. It quotes village officials as saying that there has been a long series of attempts by Cornerstone Community Church to get around the village's permit requirements.