Canadian Sikh Argues For Religious Exemption From Cycle Helmet Law

In a Brampton, Ontario courtroom this week, Baljinder Badesha, a Sikh, contended that he should be granted a religious exemption from the province of Ontario's motorcycle helmet law. (Highway Traffic Act, Sec. 104). Badesha's religious beliefs require that he wear a turban outside his home. Yesterday's Brampton Guardian reports that the Ontario Human Rights Commission is presenting arguments supporting Badesha in his defense against a ticket for violating the helmet law. The Commission says that it is discriminatory to apply the law to Sikhs, and that Ontario should join British Columbia, Manitoba, the U.K. and Northern Ireland in creating a religious exception to the safety rule.

Danish Police Arrest 3 For Plotting To Kill Cartoonist; Drawing Reprinted By Papers

On Tuesday, police in Denmark arrrested three people who allegedly were plotting to kill Kurt Westergaard, one of the cartoonists whose caricature of the Prophet Mohammed was published by a Danish paper in 2005, setting off world-wide reaction. (AFP). Those arrested were a Dane of Moroccan origin and two Tunisian nationals. The Tunisians were to be expelled from the country and the Dane was to be released after questioning. In response to the arrests, over a dozen Danish papers on Wednesday reprinted Westergaard's offensive cartoon-- which depicts the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse. (AP). The papers said their move was intended to show their support for freedom of speech. A spokesman for Denmark's Islamic Faith Community said that even though this week's reprinting of the cartoon "was like a knife in our hearts," the group would not take steps to exploit the situation.

UPDATE: Several nights of vandalism by youths in Copenhagen has been attributed in part to the reprinting of the controversial cartoon by Danish papers, as well as to other causes such as police harassment. (International Herald Tribune, Feb. 17). Meanwhile, a group of Danish parlimentarians have cancelled their planned trip to Iran this week after Iran insisted that they first apoligize for Danish newspapers' activities. (Australian Broadcasting Corp., Feb. 17.) And on Friday, protests in the Gaza Strip and Pakistan focused on reprinting of the cartoon by Danish papers. (AP, Feb. 16.)

Indiana Democrat May Become Second Muslim Member of Congress

In a special election on March 11, Indiana Democrat Andre Carson may become the second Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress. The AP yesterday reported that Carson is running in Indiana's 7th District to fill out the House term of his grandmother who died last December. Carson converted to Islam over ten years ago and began attending the Nur-Allah Islamic Center, a predominantly African-American Sunni mosque. Carson has served on the Indianapolis City Council and with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Carson says his faith has not been much of an issue, and to the extent it is, it is more an advantage than a disadvantage. Minnesota's Rep. Rep. Keith Ellison is currently the only Muslim member of Congress.

Canada's Human Rights Commission Investigating Catholic Magazine

According to a release by Zenit on Tuesday, the Canadian Human Rights Commission is investigating the Canadian magazine, Catholic Insight, for publishing articles seen as offensive to gays and lesbians. A complaint filed by Rob Wells, a member of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Pride Center of Edmonton, accuses the magazine of promoting "extreme hatred and contempt" against homosexuals. Catholic Insight editor Father Alphonse de Valk said some of the challenged statemets were from recent Vatican pronouncements. Others were political statements, medical studies, and news reports, a number of which focused on the campaign in Canada to legalize same-sex marriage.

Rights Group Wants Saudis To Commute Death Sentence of Convicted "Witch"

Today's International Herald Tribune reports that Human Rights Watch is calling on Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to stop the execution of Fawza Falih who has been convicted of witchcraft and of performing supernatrual occurrences. (HRW letter.) After the religious police arrested Faliah, she was convicted in April 2006 by a court in the town of Quraiyat on the basis of her coerced confession and statements of witnesses who said she had "bewitched" them. At trial, Falih was unable to cross-examine witnesses against her, and the court did not define "witchcraft". An appellate court in September 2006 said Falih could not be sentenced to death because she had retracted her confession. Nevertheless, the lower court re-sentenced her to death on a "discretionary" basis, for the benefit of "public interest" and to "protect the creed, souls and property of this country." The court cited evidence that a man allegedly became impotent after being bewitched by Falih, and that a divorced woman reportedly returned to her ex-husband during the month predicted by Falih who allegedly cast a spell.

IRS Launches Investigation of Pastor's Huckabee Endorsement

The Internal Revenue Service has begun an investigation of Baptist minister, Rev. Wiley Drake, to determine whether he violated tax code limitations on non-profit organizations when he used the letterhead of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park (CA) to announce his personal endorsement of Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. The AP reported yesterday that last week Drake received a letter from the IRS asking about the press release and about an endorsement on Drake's internet broadcast that originates at the church. The IRS inquiry follows a complaint against Drake filed last year by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. (See prior posting.) That complaint led to a call by Drake for his supporters to institute "Imprecatory Prayer" against two AU leaders.

UPDATE: On Feb. 14, following the institution of the IRS investigation, Rev. Wiley Drake sent his followers an e-mail again calling for Imprecatory Prayer against AU, the ACLU and "others who attack God's people." In a Feb. 15 press release, AU executive director Barry Lynn said: "Trying to turn God into some sort of heavenly hit man is repugnant."

Florida Attorney General Will Create Advisory Group on Muslims

In a press release issued Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced that Florida's attorney general, Bill McCollum, will create a Muslim community advisory group. The move follows complaints about McCollum's showing of the controversial film "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" to staff throughout the state. At a meeting that included interfaith leaders, McCollum also agreed to offer his staff educational programs on Islam and Muslims.

Ontario Premier Urges Alternatives To Lord's Prayer At Legislative Openings

In Canada, Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty has proposed that the provincial legislature end the practice of opening each session withthe Lord's Prayer. Today's Petersborough Examiner reports that McGuinty wants an all-party committee to look at other alternatives that would allow prayer or meditation in other faith traditions to be used as well.

District Court Issues Wide-Ranging Prisoner RLUIPA Opinion

Last week, a federal district court in South Dakota handed down a wide-ranging decision in a prisoner RLUIPA case. (The case raised various other claims as well.) The lawsuit-- in which the Department of Justice had intervened on behalf of the plaintiff prisoner-- raised a broad range of issues, some of which had not beeen decided yet in the Eighth Circuit. In Sisney v. Reisch, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9832 (D SD, Feb. 6, 2008), convicted murderer Charles Sisney, who began practicing Judaism while in prison, sought a number of accommodations to permit him to practice his religious faith.

The court held that RLUIPA does not create a private right of action for damages against state officials in their individual capacities, but that the state's acceptance of federal prisoner funds waived its sovereign immunity so that a prisoner can recover monetary damages in "official capacity" suits against prison officials. However under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, a plaintiff who has not suffered physical injury may recover only nominal compensatory damages and nominal attorneys' fees. The court concluded that RLUIPA is a valid exercise of Congress' power under the Spending Clause of the Constitution.

The court permitted plaintiff to proceed only on his claims for access to a Sukkah; additional time for study of Hebrew, Talmud and Kaballah; and access to a tape player in his cell for religious language studies. Among the remaining issues for trial in these claims is the sincerity of Sisney's religious beliefs.

German Administrative Court Permits Surviellance of Scientology Groups to Continue

In Germany, the North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Administrative Court has upheld a lower court ruling permitting German intelligence agencies to monitor activities of two Church of Scientology organizations. The Canadian Press reported on yesterdays decision. The court's press release (in German) says the court held (in a decision delivered orally from the bench) that Scientology and its members pursue efforts that violate Germany's basic liberal democratic order. (See prior related posting.)

Court Refuses To Reconsider Decision Upholding Anti-Gay T-Shirt Ban

In a decision handed down yesterday, a California federal district court denied a motion to reconsider its earlier decision permitting a school to ban a student's T-shirt which carried anti-gay slogans. This is the latest chapter in the procedurally complex case. (See prior posting.) A school rule banned the T-shirt as hate behavior. In refusing to reconsider its earlier decision, the court in Harper v. Poway Unified School District, (SD CA, Feb. 12, 2008), rejected a claim that the school's actions violated the objecting student's free exercise rights. It held that the school had "properly restricted Harper’s negative speech for the legitimate pedagogical concern of promoting tolerance and respect for differences among students." Yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune reported on the decision.

Controversy Over British Mosque's Proposed Broadcast of Call To Prayer

Reuters reported yesterday that the Church of England has now been drawn into the controversy brewing in Oxford over a proposal by the Central Oxford Mosque to broadcast the call to prayer (Adhan) over loudspeakers in the mosque's minaret. City council approval is needed before any broadcast can begin. Charlie Cleverly, rector of Oxford's St. Aldate's Anglican church, objected, saying the proposal is "un-English" and might create a Muslim ghetto in the neighborhood around the mosque. Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, also objected to a daily call to prayer from the mosque. The mosque's imam, Munir Chisti , now says he will seek permission to broadcast the the call to prayer only once a week on Friday, instead of five times a day. Oxford's Anglican bishop, John Pritchard, supports the mosque's proposal.

Britain's Muslim Council says that increasingly Muslims are receiving the call to prayer by high-tech alternatives-- a special FM frequency or by a text message on their cell phones.

William & Mary President Resigns After Contract Non-Renewal

Yesterday, Gene R. Nichol , President of the College of William & Mary, announced his immedate resignation after he was informed by the Rector of the Board of Visitors that his contract would not be renewed when it expires in July. In his statement, Nichol attributed the Board of Visitor's action to four controversial sets of decisions he made as president. One of those, he said, involved changing traditions at the College's Wren Chapel:

I altered the way a Christian cross was displayed in a public facility, on a public university campus, in a chapel used regularly for secular College events -- both voluntary and mandatory -- in order to help Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and other religious minorities feel more meaningfully included as members of our broad community. The decision was likely required by any effective notion of separation of church and state. And it was certainly motivated by the desire to extend the College’s welcome more generously to all. We are charged, as state actors, to respect and accommodate all religions, and to endorse none. The decision did no more.

Nichol added: "[T]he Board of Visitors offered both my wife and me substantial economic incentives if we would agree 'not to characterize [the non-renewal decision] as based on ideological grounds' or make any other statement about my departure without their approval. Some members may have intended this as a gesture of generosity to ease my transition. But the stipulation of censorship made it seem like something else entirely. We, of course, rejected the offer."

The Board of Visitor's in a statement, however, said that its decision "was not in any way based on ideology or any single public controversy." It added that "so there is no doubt, the Board will not allow any change in the compromise reached on the placement of the Wren Cross." The Board also announced that Law School Dean W. Taylor Reveley will serve as acting president unitl a successor is found.

Today's Washington Post reports on the resignation. [Thanks to Chip Lupu for the lead.]

Colorado Marriage Amendment Challenged On Establishment Clause Grounds

Suit has been filed in a Colorado state court challenging the provision in Colorado's state contitution defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Yesterday's Daily Camera reports that Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder filed suit on Monday. They were denied a marriage license last year by the Denver clerk and recorder. The lesbian couple claims that the state constitutional provision, adopted by the voters in 2006, violates the Establishment Clause of the federal constitution because its passage was religiousl motivated. Separately, the couple is scheduled to appear in court his week on trespassing charges growing out of their refusal to leave the clerk's office after their marriage licence was refused.

Custody Cases Increasingly Involve Religious Issues

Today's New York Times reports on the increasing number of custody cases in which religion has become an issue. Judges are reluctant to base decisions on parents' religious preferences. Many states are trying mediation as a way of resolving custody disputes. ABA Family Law Custody Committee chairman William Nelson attributes the increasing number of religious disputes in custody cases to a general growth in conflicts between parents along with the rise of intermarriage and religious conversions.

4th Circuit Finds Employer Adequately Accommodated Religious Observances

In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Firestone Fibers & Textiles Co., (4th Cir., Feb. 11, 2008), the U.S. 4th Circuit court of Appeals, this week held that Title VII of the 1964 civil Rights Act only requires reasonable accommodation of an employee's religious practices, and not total elimination of the conflict between the religious practice and the work requirement. It held that an employer's pre-existing attendance policies, accompanied by certain other arrangements, reasonably accommodated an employee who was a member of the Living Church of God who wanted time off for Sabbath observance and religious holidays. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]

Archbishop of Canterbury Explains His Views On Sharia and British Law

After British Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to clarify a lecture he gave last week about the relation of Islamic law to British civil law, Williams attempted to explain his remarks in a speech (full text) to the General Synod of the Church of England. (Ekklesia). He said in part yesterday:

The lecture was written as an opening contribution to a series on Islam and English Law.... [I]t posed the question to the legal establishment of whether attempts to accommodate aspects of Islamic law would create an area where the law of the land doesn't run.... I concluded that nothing should be recognised which had that effect. We are not talking about parallel jurisdictions; and I tried to make clear that there could be no 'blank cheques' in this regard, in particular as regards ... the status and liberties of women. The law of the land still guarantees for all the basic components of human dignity.

So the question remains of whether certain additional choices could and should be made available under the law of the United Kingdom for resolving disputes and regulating transactions.... If ... this were thought to be a useful direction in which to move, there would be plenty of work still to be done, with the greatest care, on what would and would not be possible and appropriate areas for such co-operation.

Today's London Times surveys reaction to Williams' latest statements.

Today Is Darwin Day

Today-- Charles Darwin's 199th birthday-- is "Darwin Day," sponsored by the Institute for Humanist Studies. In a press release, IHS says that the day promotes understanding of evolution and the scientific method. Massimo Pigliucci, professor of evolutionary biology at the State University of New York-Stony Brook, uses Darwin Day to teach about science "so people aren't just hearing about science from their local preacher." Churches around the country celebrated "Evolution Weekend" last Saturday and Sunday. The weekend is designed to discuss the compatibility of science and religion. Sunday's Times Union reported on planned events in Albany (NY).

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait Look To Restrict Valentine's Day Celebrations

Saudi Arabia's religious police often clamp down before Valentine's Day-- seeing it as a day that encourages men and women to have relationships outside of wedlock. This year, according to Reuters, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered Riyadh florists and gift shop owners to remove red roses and any other items colored scarlet. The color is seen as symbolizing love. Meanwhile, in Kuwait the head of National Assembly Committee Monitoring Negative Alien Practices wants to go further. Yesterday's Kuwait Times reports that MP Waleed Al-Tabtabae wants various government ministries to take steps to completely ban Valentine celebrations because they are in conflict with the traditions and values of Kuwaiti society. Islamist MP Jamaan Al-Harbash says Valentine's Day conflicts with the values and teachings of Islam. [Thanks to Matthew Caplan for the lead.]

New Website Suggests Jesus For 2008 White House Bid

In the latest intrusion of religion into the 2008 presidential contest, former newspaper reporter Stephen Heffner has created the web site "Jesus in 2008". As reported in Sunday's District Chronicles, visitors to the site may register as delegates. This entitles them to suggest practical Platform planks that Jesus might favor today, as well as to suggest appropriate vice presidential nominees to run on the ticket with Jesus.