Sharia Compliant Investing Uses World's Commodities Markets

A report today from Reuters highlights a trend that may ultimately pose questions for U.S. financial regulators. Islamic investors, whose religion forbids them from investing in many conventional financial products, have begun to place substantial amounts of money into the commodities markets. Islamic law allows financial returns only from genuine business activities. So banks, instead of paying interest, will sell a Muslim investor commodities at a discount that equals what would otherwise be paid as interest on the investor's funds. The investor immediately resells the commodity at a profit. This legal fiction satisfies the requirements of Sharia, though some Islamic scholars are unhappy about arrangements where legal title changes on paper, but commodities never physically move between buyers and sellers. Trades are usually carried out on the London Metal Exchange.

Religious Rehab Programs In US Prisons Examined

Sunday's New York Times carries a long article on governmentally-financed religious programs in state and federal prison facilities. The article, Religion for Captive Audiences, With Taxpayers Footing the Bill, is another of a series of articles by Diana Henriques (this one co-authored by Andrew Lehren) on governmental support for religious programs and organizations. (See prior postings 1, 2.)

UPDATE: Sunday's Lawrence (KS) Journal-World reports that likely presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback spent Friday night in the Louisiana State Penitentiary to promote faith-based programs n prisons.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Won't Review Catholic Student Center

On Nov. 21, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied review in Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown v. Zoning Hearing Board, a case in which the appellate court held that a proposed Catholic Student Center at Penn State University should be classified for zoning purposes as a structure that will primarily be used as a place of worship, even though portions of the building would be used for other purposes as well. (See prior posting.) The Centre Daily Times today reports on the decision and the disappointed reaction of neighbors who were trying to keep the university facility our of their residential neighborhood.

Britain's Blair Calls For More Cultural Integration of Religious Groups

The AP reports that in Britain today, Prime Minister Tony Blair pressed for greater cultural integration of immigrants. He announced that grants to religious groups would only be given to those that promote understanding between different sectors of society. He said that all faith schools should team up with schools teaching a different religion and supported laws that require preachers arriving in Britain from overseas to be able to speak English.

Defendant Sues To Reverse Sentence To 12-Step Program

In October, Mindy Gayle Offutt pled guilty in a Rogers, Arkansas state court to a misdemeanor charge of possessing a controlled substance. Trial judge Doug Schrantz gave Offutt a 30 day suspended jail sentence and ordered her to attend 12 Narcotics Anonymous meetings. The suspension of the sentence would be revoked if she failed to attend. The Northwest Arkansas Morning News reports that yesterday in federal court in Fayetteville, Offutt sued to obtain an injunction so she is not forced to go the NA 12-step program (as well as damages). She claims that the program has a religious theme and that all participants are required to pray at the end of each session. She says that the First Amendment prohibits government from forcing anyone to participate in a religious activity.

Pakistan's Supreme Court To Hear Challenge To Agreement With UK On Child Custody

The United Kingdom-Pakistan Judicial Protocol on Children Matters is being challenged in Pakistan's Supreme Court. The Protocol provides that when a child is wrongfully removed from, or retained in, the UK or Pakistan, the courts in that country will not normally make decisions about residence (custody) or contact. Instead, they will order the child to be returned to his or her home country, so that the courts there can hear the case. (UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office summary.) However, according to the Pakistan Daily Times, today the Supreme Court will hear a case in which a father claims that principles of Islamic law should override the Protocol. At issue is a legal battle for custody of a British girl, now held by her father in Pakistan. The Lahore High Court had ruled that the girl should be returned to her mother. However her father says that Islamic law prohibits the girl being sent to her mother who is living in an adulterous relationship with another man. He claims that Pakistani law does not give effect to the Protocol.

Las Cruces Case Appealed To 10th Circuit

Yesterday's Las Cruces Sun-News reports that an appeal has been filed with the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Weinbaum v. City of Las Cruces, New Mexico. (See prior posting.) In the case, the trial court dismissed a claim that the city of Las Cruces had endorsed religion by adopting a logo that contains 3 crosses.

Israel-Vatican Commission Will Meet Shortly

Two meetings of the Israel-Holy See Permanent Bilateral Commission are scheduled in the near future-- one in December to be attended by experts, and a second in January to be attended by government ministers. They will deal with differences over the implementation of the 1993 Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the state of Israel. While mutual recognition treaties were signed by Israel and the Vatican in 1993 and 1997, negotiations on details have never been completed. Zenit yesterday reported that the Vatican hopes that these new negotiations will finalize an agreement to assure the Church ownership of Christian holy places, and to confirm the Church's tax exemptions. (See prior related posting.)

Bill To Protect Tithing In Chapter 13 Bankruptcies Passes Congress

A press release from the office of U.S. Senator Barak Obama reports that the House of Representatives yesterday passed the Obama-Hatch Tithing Bill, S. 4044. The bill protects an individual's right to continue reasonable charitable contributions, including religious tithing, while going through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding. Already passed by the United States Senate, the bill will now be sent to the President for his signature. The bill reverses the holding in a recent case that prevented the inclusion of tithes to a church or other charitable donations as "reasonably necessary" expenses for debtors in Chapter 13 who have incomes above their state's median.

Fallout Continues On Congressman Taking Oath Using Quran

At yesterday's White House press briefing (full text), Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked about last week's announcement by newly-elected Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison that he intended to take his oath of office on the Quran. (See prior posting.) Here is Snow's exchange with a reporter (also covered by WorldNet Daily):

Q- Members of Congress, the Judiciary -- have been sworn in with a Bible since our nation began, including Jewish members, even though they don't subscribe to the New Testament. Now Congressman-elect Ellison of Minnesota has asked that he be sworn in with the Koran. And my question, the first of two: Does the President support this request, because he believes the Koran teaches nothing contrary to the freedoms in our Constitution? And if so, would he support the Book of Mormon being used to swear in LDS members of Congress if they ever ask for that?

MR. SNOW: That is an issue that the President does not need to adjudicate, and therefore, will not.

The Ellison debate was triggered by an article by conservative talk-show host Dennis Prager who insisted that Ellison should use a Bible for his oath of office. Yesterday the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on President Bush to rescind Prager's recent appointment to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. The appointment, made last August, is for a term ending in 2011.

Religious Rhetoric Grows In Latin American Politics

A column in today's Miami Herald by Andres Oppenheimer reports that a growing number of Latin American politicians are embracing religion, or at lest pretending to do so. He cites examples from a number of countries, saying: "Many analysts see a growing political manipulation of religious fervor in the region, alongside a greater church influence in state affairs. Some fear that, much as in other parts of the world, religion will soon be used to fuel domestic and even regional confrontations."

Somalia Town Officials Threaten Beheading For Failure To Obey Prayer Mandate

In Bulo Burto, a town in southern Somalia, Islamic Courts officials are announcing over loud speakers that people need to pray five times a day. Public places such as shops and tea houses must close during prayer times and no one should be on the streets. Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court, told the Associated Press yesterday that anyone who does not follow this edict "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law." The decision is not binding in other towns. The Council of Islamic Courts has occupied most of southern Somalia since taking over Mogadishu in June. (See prior posting.)

Ministerial Exception Applies To Connecticut Discrimination Statutes

Yesterday the Connecticut Appellate Court released its opinion in Rweyemamu v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, (CT App., official release date Dec. 12, 2006), holding that the ministerial exception applies to preclude the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, as well as state courts, from exercising jurisdiction over a priest's racial discrimination claim against his diocese. The plaintiff, a black African ordained Catholic priest from Tanzania argued that he was passed over in favor of a less qualified white deacon for the position of parish administrator. Deciding an issue of first impression, the court held that the "ministerial exception" applies to Connecticut's employment discrimination statutes. In order to preserve First Amendment protections, secular institutions must defer to the decisions of religious institutions in their employment relations with their religious employees. The court also concluded that the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not displace the ministerial exception. Yesterday's Stamford (CT) Advocate reported on the decision.

Articles Analyze Place Of Religion In Today's Europe

Two articles in today's papers explore the growing influence of religion in Europe. The International Herald Tribune carried an AP piece titled Church-State Relations Across Europe Heading Toward 'New Landscape'. Meanwhile Spero News carries a long analysis by Jytte Klausen titled Counterterrorism, Integration of Islam in Europe .

Peyote Damage Suit Against US, Utah, and County Dismissed

In Mooney v. United States [scroll to pg. 112] (D UT, Dec. 5, 2006), a Utah federal district court dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds a suit brought against the United States and the state of Utah for damages. Plaintiffs claim that they were being improperly prosecuted for using peyote in religious rituals. The court also dismissed plaintiffs' claims against Utah County, finding that there are no facts that show that the county has an official policy that infringes plaintiffs' right to use peyote in religious rituals. Yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune reports that the case stems from a dispute that began when police raided the Oklevueha Earthwalks church in Benjamin, Utah. (See prior posting.) There police seized 12,000 peyote buttons and charged the church's founders, James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney and Linda Mooney, with first-degree felonies. The charges were dropped after the Utah Supreme Court held that Utah law permits the use of peyote by members of the Native American Church, regardless of whether they are members of a federally recognized Indian tribe. (See prior posting.)

Indian Court Lets Dalits Enter Hindu Temple

In India on Tuesday, the Orissa High Court ruled that every Hindu, regardless of caste, has the right to enter any Hindu Temple. The ruling came in a case challenging the exclusion of lower-caste Dalits from the 300-year old the Jagannath Temple at Keredagada. Today's Zeenews reported on the decision.

Florida RFRA Challenge To Restriction On Feeding Homeless Dismissed

Today's Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that a Florida federal district court has dismissed the challenge under Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act to to an Orlando ordinance that bans religious and charitable groups from serving meals to the hungry at the city’s Lake Eola Park and other areas downtown without first obtaining a special permit. Permits are available to any group or person only twice a year. (See prior posting.) The court said: "There are many ways to be charitable to the poor and homeless other than setting up large group feedings more than twice per year at Lake Eola Park." However this decision does not affect the First Vagabonds Church of God's First Amendment free expression challenge to the ordinance.

NYC Cop Sues City For Anti-Muslim E-Mail Harassment

In New York City, an Egyptian-born police captain in the city's elite anti-terrorism Cyber Unit has sued the city and a counter-terrorism adviser to the police department in federal court, charging them with religious discrimination. The suit involves daily e-mail briefings sent to the Intelligence Division by Bruce Tefft who worked for a company called Orion that provided the police with open source intelligence from its data base. The informational messages were preceded by virulent anti-Muslim and anti-Arab statements from Tefft. The city's contract with Orion ended in 2003, but Tefft on his own continued to send e-mail messages until the Department moved ineffectively to block them in 2005, and only succeeded in doing so earlier this year. The New York Daily News and the New York Times both cover the story.

Malaysia Courts Face Religious Dispute Over Custody Of Body

In Malaysia, last Wednesday Rayappan Anthony died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. The Star today reports on the complicated religious battle that ensued. When Rayappan's family went to claim his body on Thursday, Selangor Islamic Affairs Department officers stopped them, claiming Rayappan was a Muslim. On Friday, the Shah Alam Syariah High Court granted an application by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) to claim Rayappan’s body but required Mais to get approval from the Federal Territory Syariah High Court. On Monday night, Rayappan's three daughters were subpoenaed to appear at a Syariah High Court hearing to present their contention that Rayappan returned to Christianity seven years ago. But the daughters refuse to appear, claiming that they are not Muslim and so are not subject to the court's jurisdiction. Instead, Rayappan’s 65-year-old widow, Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, filed an application in the civil High Court in Kuala Lumpur asking for Rayappan's body to be released to her.

UPDATE: On Thursday, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council withdrew its claim to Rayappan's body for burial. Council chairman Mohamed Adzib Mohamad Isa said that after consulting religious experts, they determined that there was "overwhelming" evidence showing Rayappan was not a Muslim. (International Herald Tribune).

Pagan Group's Flyer To School Students Upsets Christians

Rob Boston at Wall of Separation blog has a posting that might have been titled "be careful what you wish for". Last summer, conservative Christians convinced the Albemarle County, Virginia School Board to open its so-called "backpack mail" to religious nonprofits, as well as secular groups, so flyers advertising a Vacation Bible School could be sent home with elementary school students. But now some Christian clergy and others are upset because some local Pagans who attend a Unitarian Universalist church have used "backpack mail" to distribute a flyer advertising a program that will "explore the traditions of December and their origins, followed by a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule."One minister says this argues for placing Christian children in Christian schools or home schooling them.