Title VII Suit Seeks Relief From Biometric Fingerprinting

The Columbia Missourian on Sunday covered an unusual Title VII employment discrimination case brought by a fundamentalist Christian who was fired after he refused to use a time clock that is triggered by his biometric fingerprint. Donny Attaway, a member of New Covenant Faith Center in Independence, Missouri, believes that fingerprinting could be the "mark of the beast" warned against in the New Testament Book of Revelation. The Alliance Defense Fund attorney defending Attaway admits that this is an unusual interpretation of the Biblical passages. Many others believe that the mark of the beast is the number 666, or rely on the passages from Revelation to oppose using a Social Security number for identification. The suit claims that Attaway's employer, QuickTrip, should accommodate Attaway's religious beliefs by permitting him to use his Social Security code at work, as is done for employees with broken fingers.

Interdisciplinary Journal of Research On Religion

I have learned of a fairly new journal that is published online-- The Interdisciplinary Journal of Research On Religion. New articles appear as they are accepted. The two most recent are:

Marie A. Eisenstein, Religious Motivation vs. Traditional Religiousness: Bridging the Gap Between Religion and Politics and the Psychology of Religion

Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke, International Religion Indexes: Government Regulation, Government Favoritism, and Social Regulation of Religion

[Thanks to Pasquale Annicchino for the information.]

Church Wins RLUIPA Land Use Case

Mintz v. Roman Catholic Bishop, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17255 (D. Mass., March 30, 2006), involves a RLUIPA religious land-use claim is a different procedural posture than usual. The Lennox, Massachusetts Zoning Board of Appeals issued a building permit to St. Ann's Parish, even though the proposed parish center violated the setback and coverage requirements of the town's zoning bylaws. It did so after town counsel advised the Board that refusal to issue the permit would violate RLUIPA. Neighboring property owners sued to challenge the Board's decision. Now a Massachusetts federal district court has upheld the zoning board's decision, and along the way affirmed the constitutionality of RLUIPA's land use provisions.

Christian Coalition Faces Financial Distress

Yesterday's Washington Post reports that the once politically powerful Christian coalition has fallen on hard financial times. While it once employed a dozen Capitol Hill lobbyists, now it has only one Washington employee who works out of his home. The departure of Pat Robertson after a controversial CNN interview defending China's one-child policy, the departure of Ralph Reed to become a political consultant, and battles over the group's tax status because of its voters' guides all had an impact on the Coalition's fund-raising ability.

White House Easter Egg Roll Politicized This Year

On April 17 [corrected date] the annual White House Easter Egg Roll is being held on the South Lawn of the White House. (White House announcement.) In connection with it, the White House has posted online an "Easter Word Search"puzzle-- no religious terms used in it.

However, this year the event is likely to be more politicized than usual. Some 200 gay families, organized by the National Pride Coalition, will be attending. The White House event is open to anyone who stands in line early enough to get tickets, so long as the person is part of a group with no more than 2 adults and with at least one child under 8. The NPC plans, aimed at introducing gay families as "real" families to the President and the public, are disussed in the International Herald Tribune, by Gay.com and by the Scripps-Howard News Service. Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition complained: "For crying out loud, at the Easter Egg roll? This is a family event." She called the plans "very distasteful", saying it was inappropriate to politicize the egg roll and to use children to do so. However, Peter Watkins, deputy press secretary to Laura Bush, who is in charge of the egg roll, said: "It's an event that has a great tradition and all families are welcome to attend."

British Court Rules Sham Marriage Law Creates Religious Discrimination

BBC News today reports that Britain's High Court has ruled a law intended to prevent sham marriages by immigrants desiring to stay in the UK is invalid because it discriminates on the basis of religion. The 2005 law requires most immigrants who are in Britain temporarily to obtain permission from the Home Office to marry. However, there is an exception for those who marry in the Church of England. The court found that there was "no adequate justification" for the marriage regulations to be used to control immigration, and held that the rules are incompatible with human rights law because those marrying within the Church of England are not subject to the same approval requirements as those wed civilly or in another faith. The government had argued that there was no evidence of sham schemes involving the Church of England. The judge has granted the government permission to appeal the decision.

Fundamentalist Christian Campaign Against Tolerance Policies Protecting Gays

The Los Angeles Times this morning carries an article detailing the broader campaign behind the lawsuit filed last month by the Alliance Defense Fund challenging the speech code and tolerance policies at Georgia Institute of Technology. The suit is part of a move to force public schools and colleges, as well as private employers, to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment on the ground that such policies interfere with the religious rights of conservative Christians who wish to denounce homosexuality as a sinful lifestyle. Evangelist Rev. Rick Scarborough frames the issue as defending the right to be Christian, and calls it the civil rights struggle of the 21st century.

Recent Scholarly Articles of Interest

From Bepress:
Adam E. Lyons, Here Is the Church, Now Who Owns the Steeple? A Revised Approach to Church Property Disputes (March 20, 2006).

From SSRN:

• Thomas Berg, The Permissible Scope of Limitations on the Freedom of Religion and Belief in the United States, 19 Emory Journal of International Law 1277 (2005).
• Marc O. Degirolami, Recoiling From Religion, forthcoming in San Diego Law Review.
  

From SmartCILP:

• Jason Daniel Medinger, The Holy See, Historicity, and Humanitarian Intervention: Using Integrative Jurisprudence To Inform Contemporary Practice, 41 Texas International Law Jour. 39-66 (2006).
• Jeremy Patrick-Justice, Strict Scrutiny for Denominational Preferences: Larson In Retrospect, 8 New York City Law Review 53-121 (2005).
  

President Speaks At National Catholic Prayer Breakfast

Last Friday, President George W. Bush spoke (text of remarks) at the 3rd Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. The breakfast, promoted as an "annual event ... created in 2004 in response to beloved Pope John Paul II's appeal for a 'New Evangelization' ... to spread the Word of the Gospel", the event attracted numerous federal officials. In his remarks, the President acknowledged the presence of Chief Justice John Roberts, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson (a former ambassador to the Vatican), and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. The President used the occasion to promote immigration reform, just hours before an announced Senate compromise on the immigration bill fell apart. Bush also spoke of freedom around the world, remarks lauded in a post by Rick Garnett at Mirror of Justice.

Courts Decide More Prisoner Religion Cases As Media Look At Prison Religion Issues

In People v. Farrell (NY S.Ct., App. Div., April 6, 2006), a New York appellate court held that at his criminal trial, the court did not violate Dennis Farrell's right to free exercise of religion by denying his request for an adjournment on a Friday afternoon so he could return to Rikers Island before sundown to observe the Jewish Sabbath. The court had a compelling interest in completing his trial without a weekend adjournment. At any rate, when Farrell made his request for adjournment, it was already too late to get him back to Rikers Island before the Sabbath began.

In Raines v. Siegelman, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15542 (MD Ala., March 1, 2006), an Alabama federal Magistrate Judge recommended dismissal of a prisoner's complaint that his free exercise rights were infringed, finding that the prisoner's refusal to participate in a religious-based substance abuse program was not the cause of his being denied a reduction in custody or favorable consideration for parole. The court also found that an alternative substance abuse program was available for the prisoner at least for part of his time in prison.

In Eberle v. Wilkinson, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15053 (SD Ohio, March 31, 2006), an Ohio federal Magistrate Judge denied summary judgment to prison officials, holding that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether a prisoner held asserted religious beliefs, even when those beliefs were not part of the Asatru faith to which he claimed to belong. The court also held that as to another plaintiff, there remained a genuine issue as to whether he was required to participate in a religiously-based substance abuse program.

In Caldwell v. Ewing, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17047 (CD Ill., March 24, 2006), an Illinois federal district court rejected a prisoner's claim that her free exercise rights were infringed when prison officials confiscated pre-paid, self addressed envelopes furnished by a church for the prisoner to return her work on Bible lessons. The prison had declared the envelopes to be contraband because they were being used by inmates as money.

Meanwhile, newspapers today focus on religious concerns of inmates. The Wilmington, North Carolina, Star News today chronicles the numerous religious services offered in the New Hanover County jail. And the San Antonio, Texas, Express-News covers the efforts growing out of pending litigation, to obtain kosher food for Jewish prison inmates in Texas. Bill Pierce, director of chaplaincy for Texas Department of Criminal Justice, says that some prisoners make insincere religious claims in order to obtain special treatment.

Santeria Sacrifices Pose Problems In Florida

Rafael Martinez, a professor of anthropology at Barry University, has created a course for law enforcement officials in Miami-Dade County, Florida, to educate them about ritualistic religions, originating in West Africa and brought to the Americas by enslaved blacks who combined them with elements of Christianity. These religions include Santeria of Cuba, Congo's Palo Mayombe and Haitian Vodou. Knight-Ritter News, in a story from Kendall, Florida, outlines the problems created particularly by animal sacrifices placed by practitioners of Santeria near CSX railroad lines. Animals, as well as cloth-wrapped coins, are left there as sacrifices to Ogun, the god of war and iron. The mystical powers attributed to the iron in the spikes and rails are an important part of Santero symbolism.

Canadian University Charged With Favoring Jewish Students

David Noble, a Jewish professor at York University in Toronto, has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission charging that the university discriminates against non-Jewish students because it cancels classes for the Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This week’s Forward, reporting on the controversy, says that 10% of York's 50,000 students are Jewish. York is the only university in Canada to cancel classes on any religious holiday other than statutory holidays such as Christmas. However, at York, students of other faiths can be excused from class on their holidays if they speak with their professors in advance. Prof. Noble claims that York’s policy violates the York University Act of 1965, which forbids the school from imposing religious observances on any of its members. Noble is already involved in another claim against the University in which he is seeking $8 million in damages. In that suit, now being arbitrated, Noble claims the University wrongfully accused him of "bigotry and racism" after he distributed a flier attacking the "pro-Israel lobby" at the York University Foundation, the university's fund-raising arm. [Thanks to Dick Schectman for the lead.]

New Center That Receives Faith-Based Funding Highlighted

In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum last night spoke at the opening of the El Shaddai Ministries' Bethlehem Christian Training Center that has received more than $300,000 in federal aid through President Bush's Faith and Community Based Initiative. The Allentown, Pennsylvania Morning Call reported Friday on the programs offered by the Center that are funded by federal dollars. One helps former prisoners find jobs; another teaches budgeting and financial literacy to people planning to buy their own homes; and a third provides marriage counseling. Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, complained that Faith Based funds are being used to further political goals where there are tight electoral races. Rev. Marilyn Hartman, executive pastor of El Shaddai, is married to the Rev. Gerry Hartman who was one of the plaintiffs in a 2002 lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the extension of Allentown's anti-discrimination laws to protect gays, lesbians and transsexuals.

California Water Engineer Charges Religious Discrimination

In Napa, California, the Napa Valley Register yesterday reported on a federal lawsuit filed by Turan Ramadan, a public works engineer in the city's water department. Ramadan claims that Napa officials have harassed him and discriminated against him because of his Turkish ethnicity and Muslim religion. The harassment intensified after an Oct. 15, 2003, incident in which his supervisor ordered potentially injurious amounts of chemicals to be added to the city's drinking water. Napa City Attorney Michael Barrett says that Ramadan's charges are without merit.

Second Circuit Voids Noise Ordinance As Applied To Preacher

On Thursday, in Deegan v. City of Ithaca, (2d Cir., April 6, 2006), the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld free speech and due process claims raised by Kevin Deegan, a Christian preacher, who challenged Ithaca, New York's application of its noise ordinance to prevent him from preaching in a raised voice in the downtown Ithaca Commons. The city interprets its noise ordinance to cover any noise, including speech, that can be heard 25 feet away. Finding that Ithaca Commons is a public forum, the court held that the city, by setting sound levels as low as it does, violated the First Amendment because it has not narrowly tailored its regulation to serve its interest in maintaining a reasonable level of sound. The court also concluded that Deegan did not have fair notice of the city's 25-foot rule in enforcement of its regulation, but denied his claim of selective enforcement.

Louisiana Considers Ingenious Solution To School Board Prayer

In Louisiana’s House of Representatives on Thursday, the House and Governmental Affairs Committee approved House Bill 182, a response to a federal judge’s decision last year that prohibited the Tangipahoa Parish School Board from opening its meetings with prayer. 2theadvocate.com reported yesterday that, in a rather ingenious approach, the bill would permit public bodies, such as school boards, go into executive sessions at the beginning of their otherwise public meetings to say prayers. Representatives’ comments on the proposal covered the waterfront. Rep. Juan LaFonta, the bill’s sponsor, said he would be upset if someone used a closed prayer session to lobby board members. Rather succinctly, Rep. Billy Montgomery said, "We do a lot of worse things than pray." [Thanks to Christianity Today for the lead.]

Mass. High Court Gives Prisoners Broad State Free Exercise Protection

In two decisions handed down on Thursday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court clarified the tests it would apply under the state constitution to claims by prisoners that their rights to the free exercise of religion have been infringed. The Court also found that the standard required by the Massachusetts Constitution was at least as protective as those imposed by the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Both cases involved claims by Muslim inmates.

In Rasheed v. Commissioner of Correction (Mass. Sup. Jud. Ct., April 7, 2006), the court held :

that the Massachusetts Constitution is more protective of the religious freedoms of prisoners than the United States Constitution, and that the proper standard of review to be applied to the infringement of such freedoms is consequently more demanding. In determining the constitutionality of department regulations and policies that burden the free exercise of religion by those in its custody, we will look to whether those regulations and policies advance compelling State interests, and, if so, are "tailored narrowly in pursuit of those interests."…. [The Massachusetts Constitution], art. 46, sec. 4, affirms that inmates of publicly controlled penal institutions are not to be deprived of the "opportunity of religious exercises therein of [their] own faith."

Applying this standard the court upheld Rasheed’s claims regarding denial of religious meals, but rejected the remainder of his claims. The Boston Globe today reported on the case, emphasizing the Court’s finding that the state had not justified its practice of providing Muslim inmates inappropriate food for the celebration of two holidays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

In Ahmad v. Department of Corrections (Mass. Sup. Jud. Ct., April 7, 2006), the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the dismissal of claims brought by a Muslim prisoner who argued that restrictions on his possession of various religious items, and giving him vegetarian meals rather than ones containing halal meat, unlawfully prevented him from practicing his Islamic faith. Applying the standard it had just announced in Rasheed, the court rejected Ahmad’s claims. It also said that if the prison regulations and policies challenged by Ahmad are permissible under the Massachusetts Constitution, they will meet the requirements of RLUIPA.

Malaysia Considering Required Disclosure of Planned Conversion To Islam

In Malaysia, The Star yesterday reported that the Prime Minister's office is considering proposing legislation to require non-Muslims who plan to convert to Islam to inform their families. Since conversion subjects the individual to the jurisdiction of Sharia courts rather than civil courts in the country, there is a need to settle issues of maintenance, custody and division of assets, as well as deciding the religion in which children will be raised, before converting. This will also resolve problems over custody of the convert's body when he dies. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz said that conversion to Islam should not be used to escape civil law responsibilities.

U.S. Will Not Seek Seat On New U.N. Human Rights Council

Yesterday’s New York Times reported that the United States will not be a candidate for one of the 47 seats on the new United Nations Human Rights Council. The HRC was approved last month by the General Assembly, with the United States being almost alone in opposing it because of insufficient safeguards against countries with human rights violations becoming members. (See prior posting.) John R. Bolton, the United States envoy, said that U.S. leverage would be greater by not running. Others, however, speculated that the U.S. feared it could not obtain the 96 votes in the U.N. General Assembly needed to be elected in light of revelations of abuses of detainees in Iraq and of clandestine prisons abroad. Felice Gaer, director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights criticized the U.S. decision not to seek a place on the Commission, saying "All key decision about serious reform issues, from the curtailment of inappropriate bodies to whether and how countries are scrutinized, will be made in the first year."

Israel's High Court Dramatically Limits Jurisdiction Of Rabbinic Tribunals

In a surprising decision yesterday, a panel of Israel's High Court of Justice significantly limited the jurisdiction of the country's Rabbinic Courts, taking away their power to act as arbitrators on matters not otherwise within their statutory jurisdiction. Haaretz today reports on the decision. The High Court held that Religious Tribunals, which are part of Israel's official judicial system, cannot obtain jurisdiction in financial or other disputes not involving personal status merely by parties agreeing to submit a matter to them. The issue was decided in a case brought by Sima Amir, a Jerusalem divorcee, who was trying to get her former husband to comply with their divorce agreement that he would make mortgage payments on Sima's Jerusalem apartment. The divorce agreement contained a provision that the parties would submit any future disputes to the Rabbinic Court. The High Court decision will not only affect future cases, but may nullify many past arbitration rulings.