Bill To Save Mt. Soledad Cross Introduced Into Congress

On Monday, yet one more attempt to save San Diego, California's Mt. Soledad Cross was made. California Congressmen Duncan Hunter, along with two co-sponsors, introduced a bill that would have the federal government acquire the city-owned property on which the Cross stands. The Defense Department would take over responsibility for maintenance of the area, through a contractual arrangement with the private Mt. Soledad Memorial Association, the group that erected the Cross in 1954 to honor Korean War veterans. Reporting on this today, the San Diego Union-Tribune says that this bill would permit the city of San Diego to remove itself from the costly legal battle over the memorial site. Currently the city is under court order to remove the Cross by august 1 or face a fine of $5000 per day. (See prior posting.)

Bavarian Premier Wants Tougher Blasphemy Laws

Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber is pressing for the enactment of stricter blasphemy laws in Germany. Deutsche Welle today says that the premier has called for all forms of blasphemy, regardless of religion, to be outlawed. He wants up to a three-year prison sentence for the most severe instances of deliberate insults to the religious feelings of others. Currently blasphemy is an offense in Germany only if it "disrupts the public peace". Germany's Lutheran Church does not support Stoiber's proposal. Petra Bahr, the church's commissioner for culture, said "We believe that respect for religious symbols can be better achieved through religious instruction." Also,Bahr contended, the government is not in a position to "decide what's blasphemous and what isn't." Muslims in Germany also are not behind Stoiber's idea. Burhan Kesici, vice president of the conservative Islamic Federation, said. "We think this is just a political move, calculated to keep certain circles in Bavaria happy and so we're not supporting it."

10 Commandments Across From Supreme Court OK'd

A Washington D.C. group that set up a large display of the Ten Commandments on its property across the street from the Supreme Court building apparently has been vindicated. Today's Washington Post reports that the D.C. Department of Transportation has rescinded an earlier warning to Faith and Action that it faced a $300 per day fine for failing to obtain proper permits to erect the 850-pound granite monument. (See prior posting.) The city's letter said: "In view of the First Amendment interests reflected in the installation of the Ten Commandments sculpture . . . and upon further consideration of applicable law," the city now believes that no permits are required.

Amish Farmer Challenges Ohio's Milk Regulations

In New Hope, Ohio, an Amish farmer is mounting a religiously-based court challenge to Ohio's prohibition on the sale of unpasteurized milk (ORC 917.04). Yesterday's Akron Beacon-Journal reports that the challenge comes after Arlie Stutzman had his license to sell milk suspended for two months for selling unlabelled milk to a state Department of Agriculture undercover agent. Even though his license was returned, regulators have asked a Holmes county common pleas court judge to formally order Stutzman to comply with dairy laws. Stutzman argues that his religious beliefs call for him to share his milk with others. Stutzman believes he was targeted because he is part of an arrangement that skirts the prohibitions on selling unpasteurized milk. His cows are partly "owned" by a group of 150 families in a "herd share" agreement under which all of the owners, for a fee, are entitled to a portion of the milk.

Jehovah's Witnesses Complain About Solicitation Restrictions

In Raynham, Massachusetts, Jehovah's Witnesses are complaining about a requirement that anyone planning to engage in door-to-door solicitation or sales notify the police in advance. Their concerns were publicized in yesterday's Taunton (MA) Gazette. Last month, in a letter to the Board of Selectmen, Paul Polidoro, associate counsel for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, argued that applying the notification rule to those engaged in religious activities is unconstitutional. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a similar policy imposed by an Ohio town. Raynham Police Chief Louis J. Pacheco said that the policy keeps the police from bothering ministers because it allows officials to reassure homeowners who call to complain about strangers wandering in their neighborhood.

Malaysia Court May Rule On Jurisdiction Over Converts

In Malaysia, the Federal Court is expected to rule in the next few days on whether Islamic courts have sole jurisdiction over Muslims who claim to have converted from Islam to another religion, according to yesterday's Boston Globe. In recent months, there have been a number of civil suits in Malaysian courts by converts who are seeking to register their new religious affiliation. Fundamentalists are pressing to make apostasy a capital offense in the country, though it is unlikely that they will succeed. However, on the website of the Prime Minister's Department for Religious Affairs, a Malay-language Frequently Asked Questions section says that apostates should be isolated and counseled, and if they fail to repent they should be jailed. It continues: "If the person remains an apostate, it is left to the respective authorities to impose the fitting sentence that is death."

Settlement-- Maybe-- In Chabad vs. Hollywood, Florida

There always seems to be another shoe to drop in the discrimination lawsuit against Hollywood, Florida brought by a Chabad Congregation and the U.S. Department of Justice after the city removed a special zoning exception that had been granted for operating a synagogue. (See prior postings 1, 2, 3, 4. ) The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald today reported on the most recent developments.

With a trial date set for today, last Friday Hollywood city commissioners voted to offer to settle the case by allowing the synagogue to stay in its current location for a year while the city rewrote its zoning laws which Judge Joan Lenard had said were unconstitutionally vague. However, Chabad rejected that offer late Friday, and that led to a flurry of negotiations over the weekend. In court this morning, the parties announced a new settlement-- one much more favorable to Chabad. In exchange for Chabad and the Justice Department dropping their suit, Chabad will be awarded $2 million and permitted to operate permanently from inside the two homes in a residential neighborhood that it is now using for a synagogue. It will also be permitted to expand within a city block without ever having to seek a special permit. The city will rewrite its provisions on special zoning permits. City officials -including commissioners- will have to attend special classes on religious land use laws. And the city will agree not to "harass" Chabad in the future.

Judge Lenard received the news of the settlement somewhat grudgingly, since the pool of potential jurors were already at the courthouse. This new settlement has to be voted on by city commissioners on Wednesday. Attorneys representing the city and the city's insurance company called commissioners individually this weekend and got at least four "approvals" for the new agreement, but Mayor Mara Guilianti and others said they were stunned by the new agreement. If commissioners do not approve the settlement on Wednesday, trial of the case will begin on July 6.

UPDATE: It was reported by the Miami Herald on June 29 that with city commissioners poised to reject the settlement wiht Chabad, for the first time city and synagoge officials will meet face-to-face to attempt to negotiate a settlement. The meeting, scheduled for Thursday at 1:00 will include Justice Department attorneys who are flying in to help with the negotiations.

U.S. House Members Debate Concerns Over Palestinian Christian Community

In Washington, members of Congress are expressing concern over the dwindling size of the Palestinian Christian community in the West Bank. However they sharply disagree over whether the cause of the problem is Israel or the Palestinian Authority. This past week's Forward reports that last month House International Relations Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) sent a letter to President Bush, warning that "Israeli actions [in the West Bank] seem to go beyond the realm of legitimate security concerns and have negative consequences on communities and lands under their occupation." A few days later two members Hyde's committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, (R-TX) and Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY), circulated to their colleagues a resolution blaming the P.A. for the problem. So far they have obtained 20 co-sponsors. The Resolution asks the President and Secretary of State "to address the condition of minorities under Palestinian Authority rule in order to save from destruction the oldest Christian community in the world." It also urges the State Department to "investigate and report on the extent of human rights violations by the Palestinian Authority" against Palestinian Christians.

Court Orders US To Act On Muslim Scholar's Visa Application

A federal district judge in New York has given the federal government ninety days to act on the visa application of Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar who had been appointed to a faculty position at Notre Dame University. In 2004, just as he was ready to move to the U.S., his visa was revoked without explanation. Notre Dame then reapplied for a visa for him, but the government did not act on the application. This forced Ramadan, a Swiss citizen who is one of the most prominent European thinkers about Islam, to resign his Notre Dame position.

Instead of deciding the First and Fifth Amendment issues raised in the complaint, the court in American Academy of Religion v. Chertoff, (SDNY, June 23, 2006) held that the government has failed to adjudicate Ramadan's via application within a reasonable period of time as required by the Administrative Procedure Act (5 USC 555(b)). The decision is covered by today's Inside Higher Ed.

French Stores Battle Over Sunday Closing Restrictions

The Washington Post yesterday reported on the challenges by French retail stores to regulations prohibiting many places of business from being open on Sundays. Complex regulations permit stores to open on Sundays only if they are in a tourist area and have a cultural, recreational or sports dimension. So far, courts have upheld the regulations. On June 14, an appellate court ordered Usines Center mall outside Paris to close on Sundays. The mall with 140 shops and 600 employees has been operating illegally on Sundays for 20 years. Officials "know the law is old and stupid, and at the same time they don't want to change it, because of Catholic tradition and social issues," said Jean-Patrick Grumberg, president of the mall's association of shop owners.

Supporter Of Islamic State Installed In Somalia

The New York Times reports this morning that in Somalia, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has been appointed the leader of the 88-member Council of the Islamic Courts, the newly formed governing body formed after Islamists ousted governing warlords earlier this month. (See prior posting.) Aweys has been a supporter of making Somalia an Islamic state. In the past he has told followers that God would forgive them for spilling the blood of foreign peacekeepers in the country. He has also said Somalis who hand over their countrymen to American for cash are guilty of "selling us to the Jews."

Bolivian President Withdraws Proposal To End Religion Classes In Schools

The Washington Post reported yesterday that in Bolivia, President Evo Morales has withdrawn a proposal to replace religious education with ethics classes in the country's school curriculum. The change had been opposed by the country's powerful Catholic Church. Bolivia is in the process of rewriting its constitution. With an 80% Catholic population, Bolivia's current Constitution (Art. 3) recognizes Catholicism as the official religion. The Church however is willing to accept a change to eliminate that formal status. (See prior posting.) It is more concerned that society in general not become less religious.

City-Owned Theater Refuses Film Offensive To Church

In Maumee, Ohio, the city-owned Maumee Indoor Theater has turned down the makers of "Twist of Faith" who wanted to engage the venue to show their Oscar-nominated documentary about a firefighter who confronts the trauma of boyhood sexual abuse by a Catholic priest. Toledo Blade columnist Russ Lemon today says that the promoters were willing to guarantee the city that it would not lose money on a week-long showing of the film, but Maumee-- just named an "All-American City"-- did not want to offend the Catholic Church.

Justice Alito Gets St. Thomas More Award

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Jr. was honored yesterday by members of the St. Thomas More Society in his home town of Trenton, New Jersey for his contributions to "family, church and society". The Times of Trenton reports that Alito received the diocese's St. Thomas More Award after attending the fourth annual Red Mass, a tradition that originated in the Middle Ages. In his remarks, Justice Alito said that St. Thomas More, who was executed for opposing King Henry VIII's claim to be head of the Church of England, would be disappointed that today in parts of the world people are still killed for converting to Christianity. He added that More might be proud of religious freedoms in the U.S., but would be disappointed by pop culture.

Pennsylvania Home Schooling Case Appealed

The Altoona (Pennsylvania) Mirror reports today that an appeal has been filed with the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Combs v. Homer Center School District. (See prior posting.) In the case, the district court rejected free exercise challenges to Pennsylvania's home schooling regulations. Parents say that it is "sinful" for them to provide state authorities with a portfolio of their children’s work and a log of their educational goals. The Home School Legal Defense Association is coordinating the legal challenge.

Nursing Student Fails To Prove Free Exercise Claim

In Olojo v. Kennedy King College, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42109 (ND Ill., June 7, 2006), a nursing student at a state community college filed a series of claims against her teacher and the school, one alleging a violation of the free exercise clause. Badejoko Olojo claimed that her professor, Kina Montgomery told her "not to ever mention the name of Jesus anytime she is engaged in a conversation with her." Also, upon learning of Olojo's pregnancy, Montgomery asked Olojo whether she would like to use contraceptives to terminate the pregnancy. Olojo explained that her religious beliefs prevented her from doing so. The court concluded that Olojo made no allegations that Prof. Montgomery inhibited her ability to practice her religion in any way. The court found Olojo's other statutory civil rights claims so frivolous that it imposed Rule 11 sanctions on the attorney involved.

Recent Books and Law Review Articles

New Books:
James Lowell Underwood & W. Lewis Burke (eds.) , The Dawn of Religious Freedom In South Carolina (Univ. of South Carolina Press, March 2006).

Matthew Levitt, Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Yale University Press), reviewed in today's New York Times.

From SSRN:
Clark B. Lombardi & Nathan J. Brown, Do Constitutions Requiring Adherence to Sharia Threaten Human Rights?: How Egypt's Constitutional Court Reconciles Islamic Law with the Liberal Rule of Law , 21 American Univ. International Law Review 379-435 (2006).

From SmartCILP:
Symposium on Law & Politics as Vocation, 20 Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 1-512 (2006).

Court Rejects Free Exercise Claims In Divorce Case

In MacFarlane v. MacFarlane, (Oh. Ct. App., Cuyahoga County, June 22, 2006), an Ohio appellate court rejected a wife’s attempt to move jurisdiction over the divorce and custody case filed by her husband to the Diocesan Tribunal of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese. Among the grounds for denying her request was that child custody disputes are not subject to arbitration and that she had waived any right to arbitration when she filed her own complaint for legal separation with the court.

The court also rejected the wife’s claim that her free exercise rights had been infringed when the court gave custody of the couple’s children to their father. The mother claims that this prevents her from home schooling the children and therefore is unable to raise them in the Catholic faith. The court found that the trial court had not been motivated by a preference for a particular religious belief, or by any antagonism to the Catholic faith, but instead acted to protect the best interests of the children. Moreover, nothing prevents the mother from attending religious services with the children or enforcing religious beliefs with them in the home.

Police Can Help Church Eject Trespassing Worshipper

In Ferreira v. Harris, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41734 (ND Okl., June 20, 2006), plaintiff was a dissident member of a Woodland View Jehovah’s Witness Congregation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After Ferreira claimed that God has selected him as an "other sheep", the church informed Ferreira that he had been disfellowshipped. When Ferreira continued to attend services anyway, first the church asked him to sit in the back of the congregation, and later it asked him to leave. When he refused, the Congregation called Tulsa police who arrested him for trespassing. Ferreira then filed suit in federal court claiming that the city and church officials violated his state and federal constitutional rights. He also claimed that the Oklahoma trespassing laws are unconstitutionally vague and that the city of Tulsa, in violation of the Establishment Clause, had used funds to support a religious group.

The court held that the church autonomy doctrine precludes it from reviewing the church’s decision to shun, and then exclude, Ferreira, since the decision was based on the church’s interpretation of religious doctrines. It went on to hold that governmental enforcement of trespassing statutes did not violate Ferreira’s free exercise rights. The statute is a neutral law of general applicability that protects worshippers from disturbance of the peace and poses only an incidental burden on Ferreira’s exercise of religion.

The court also rejected Ferreira’s Establishment Clause claim—that the city had spent over $19,150 to keep him imprisoned for attempting to attend church services. The trespass laws were not enforced in a manner that favored any particular religion. Finally, the court also rejected Ferreira’s vagueness claims as well as his civil rights conspiracy claims under 42 USC Section 1985.

European Court Blocks Deportation To Iran For Flogging

On Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights handed down a decision in the case of D. and Others v. Turkey , holding that that there would be a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) if Turkey's decision to deport an Sunni woman to Iran is enforced. (Press release by Council of Europe.) A.D., a Sunni Muslim woman married P.S., a Shia man, in a Sunni ceremony in Iran. Two days after the wedding the couple were arrested at the behest of Shia religious authorities. Three weeks later an Islamic court judge declared the marriage void and fined the couple. Subsequently they were informed that they had each been sentenced to 100 lashes for fornication, though the imposition of the sentence on the wife was postponed. The couple then fled to Turkey where they were denied permanent asylum. They sued when the Turkish government told them they risked deportation back to Iran.