Nepalese Court Sentences Woman For Slaughtering Cow

BBC News reported this week that a court in the Sankhuasabha district of Nepal has sentenced a woman to 12 years in prison for slaughtering a cow. Cows are considered sacred in the Hindu kingdom, and killing them (but not eating beef) is illegal. The woman who was sentenced is not Hindu.

8th Circuit Upholds Contempt Finding For Conducting Religious Baccalaureate Ceremony

This week, in Warnock v. Archer (8th Cir., April 4, 2006), the U.S. 8th Circuit court of Appeals upheld the trial court's civil contempt order against the DeValls Bluff Arkansas School District and its employees for violating an injunction that prohibited them from orchestrating or supervising prayers at school graduation or baccalaureate ceremonies. A 2004 baccalaureate ceremony included an invocation and benediction by local ministers. While school officials claimed that the baccalaureate service was a student-organized event, the court found that school employees were involved with almost every aspect of the service's preparation. The Associated Press reports that the successful plaintiff in this litigation, Paul Warnock, was eventually fired as a teacher, but lost his suit claiming that his dismissal was because of his complaints about religious discrimination and Christian prayer in the school.

US Senate Resolution Backs Religious Freedom In Afghanistan

On Tuesday, the United States Senate passed a resolution, S. Res. 421, calling on the government of Afghanistan to uphold freedom of religion and urging the government of the United States to promote religious freedom in Afghanistan. The House of Representatives passed a similar resolution last week.

Schools Around The Country Consider New Policies On Religious Issues

Schools around the country seem to be busy adopting new policies on religious issues. Here are three interesting examples.

Temecula, California school officials have updated their policy, which Tuesday's North County Times said was about to be presented for board approval. The new policy is intended to permit religious songs, such as Silent Night, to be performed as part of holiday musical programs. The draft policy provides that "programs having religious themes are permitted as part of the curriculum for school-sponsored activities and programs if presented in an objective manner and as a traditional part of the cultural and religious heritage." It goes on to state that religious symbols also are permitted as teaching aids as long as they are displayed as examples of the cultural and religious heritage of the holiday and are temporary.

Agape Press last week reported that the Lancaster, California school district has adopted new guidelines for the teaching of evolution. They provide that "discussions that question the theory of evolution may be appropriate as long as they do not stray from current criteria of scientific fact, hypothesis, and theory."

In Brunswick County, North Carolina, by a vote of 3-2 the Board of Education this week approved the first reading of policy permitting non-school-related "books and periodicals" including religious literature to be made available to high school students. The Brunswick Beacon reported yesterday that the ACLU and other groups had opposed the policy, arguing that religious materials in schools violates the separation of church and state doctrine.

Grand Jury Testimony of FLDS Victim Recounted

Today's Salt Lake Tribune carries a gripping account of grand jury testimony by a woman forced into plural marriage by her father. The marriage ceremony was performed by Warren Steed Jeffs, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The marriage took place in Arizona that has a constitutional prohibition against polygamy; but the state has no criminal statute implementing the prohibition. So authorities are relegated to relying on state laws that prohibit sexual activities with minors. FLDS, with adherents in bordering Utah and Arizona towns, has been the focus of a wide array of lawsuits and enforcement activities. Jeffs is wanted by Arizona authorities on charges related to the marriage described to the grand jury.

UPDATE: On April 6, new charges were filed against FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. He is charged with being an accomplice to felony-rape by arranging the marriage of a minor. (Deseret Morning News, Apr. 7).

Florida Legislative Committees Pass Opposing Voucher Proposals

Yesterday's Gainsville Sun reported that Florida House and Senate committees disagree over the scope of a proposed constitutional amendment to authorize school vouchers. The proposals are an attempt to reverse court decisions that have struck down some current Florida programs on state constitutional grounds. A House committee voted 5-2 in favor of a broad resolution, HJR 1573, that would authorize the Legislature to create voucher programs for children of any parents who "request alternatives to traditional public education programs." (See prior posting.) Meanwhile, yesterday a state Senate committee voted 6-1 in favor of a narrower proposal (SJR 2170) that would merely validate school voucher programs that have already been enacted, but would not authorize new ones. It appears that as of now there are not enough votes in the full Senate to pass even this narrower proposal.

Catholic Group Sues San Francisco Over Criticism of Vatican

Last week, San Francisco Board of Supervisors strongly criticizing the Vatican for suggesting that Catholic social service agencies in California should refuse to place children for adoption with gay or lesbian couples. (See prior position.) Yesterday the Thomas More Law Center announced that it had filed suit on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two San Francisco Catholic citizens challenging the resolution as a "startling attack by government officials on the Catholic Church, Catholic moral teaching and beliefs, and those who adhere to the tenets of the Catholic faith." Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said "This is a matter so serious that no apology can ever suffice to undo the injurious effects that the resolution triggered. A legal remedy is needed."

The complaint in the lawsuit alleges that the First Amendment "forbids an official purpose to disapprove of a particular religion, religious beliefs, or of religion in general." It goes on to argue that the "anti-Catholic resolution sends a clear message to [Catholics] ... that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community and an accompanying message that those who oppose Catholic religious beliefs, particularly with regard to homosexual unions and adoptions by homosexual partners, are insiders, favored members of the political community." Yesterday's 365gay.com reports further on the lawsuit.

UPDATE: Here is the full text of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors resolution. [Thanks to Volokh Conspiracy.]

School Must Re-Display Bricks With Religious Messages

A federal district court has ordered an upstate New York public high school to return nine bricks inscribed with evangelical Christian messages to a high school walkway from which they had been removed. In Mexico, a village 30 miles north of Syracuse, as a fund raiser a high school class sold bricks that could be inscribed with personal messages. The school received complaints about some of the bricks they sold--ones with messages like "Jesus Saves" and "Jesus Christ The Only Way!". Concern over separation of church and state led school district officials to remove these particular bricks, even though they did not remove others referring to God or commemorating particular churches. The Associated Press yesterday reported that the court found the walkway to be "a limited public forum" open to public expression. The school could not exclude religious viewpoints while permitting others in such a forum. The court also held that the brick sale was clearly a secular project and that the nine bricks did not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

UPDATE: Here is the full opinion in Kiesinger v. Mexico Academy and Central School, (ND NY, March 31, 2006). [Thanks to How Appealing via Blog From the Capital.]

7th Circuit Dismisses Church Music Director's ADEA Claim

The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday dismissed an age discrimination suit brought by the 50-year old music director and organist employed by a Roman Catholic Church in Peoria, Illinois and by the Peoria Diocese. In an interesting decision by Judge Richard Posner, the court in Tomic v. Catholic Diocese of Peoria (7th Cir., April 4, 2006) invoked the principle that courts will not exercise jurisdiction over the internal affairs of religious organizations when it would involve courts in deciding ecclesiastical matters. Rejecting the argument that Tomic did not have religious duties, the court said that moving ahead with the case would involve the court in deciding whether Tomic was dismissed because of church needs rooted in church doctrine, or whether that was a pretext for age discrimination. The court also rejected the Second Circuit's recent holding that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act intended to substitute its standard of review for the traditional ministerial exception in ADEA cases. He said that RFRA applies only to cases in which the government is a party.

Civil Rights Commission Urges Moves By Colleges Against Anti-Semitism

At a meeting on Monday, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission voted 4-1 to recommend a number of steps to counter anti-Semitism on American university campuses. The move, reported by yesterday's New York Sun, follows reports that the U.S. Department of Education was questioning whether Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected Jews from discrimination. (See prior posting.) The Commission urged federal grant-making institutions to exercise appropriate oversight so that academic departments of Middle East Studies do not use federal funds to support discriminatory conduct. It also encouraged the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights to inform college students about their rights under federal civil rights laws. It said Congress should direct the Office of Post Secondary Education to collect more information on anti-Semitic and other hate crimes, and should amend Title VI to clearly ban discrimination against Jewish individuals as part of the law's prohibition against national origin discrimination.

Dissenting from the Commission's recommendations was its chairman, Gerald Reynolds, who insisted that it was inappropriate to collapse the concepts of religion and national origin in order to protect Jews under Title VI.

Excluded Religious Groups Sue Wisconsin's Employee Charitable Campaign

In Wisconsin, charities approved by the state's Department of Administration are eligible to receive a share of the contributions made by state employees to the Wisconsin State Employees Charitable Campaign. In order to be approved, a charity must sign a non-discrimination statement that applies to membership in the organization, employment, volunteer opportunities and receipt of services. The required statement includes non-discrimination on the basis of creed or sexual orientation. Yesterday, the Alliance Defense Fund and Christian Legal Society filed suit (ADF press release, AP story) on behalf of the Association of Faith-Based Organizations challenging the constitutionality of the policy insofar as it requires religious organizations to abandon their policy of requiring members, board members, volunteers and employees to share the organization's religious views. The lawsuit alleges (full text of complaint) that these requirements deprive plaintiff groups of their First Amendment rights of speech, association and free exercise of religion, and denies the groups equal protection of the laws. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and an award of attorneys' fees.

UPDATE: On Thursday, Gov. Jim Doyle called for a review of standards used to determine which charities can participate in WSECC. (Associated Press).

Harvard Prof Says Intelligent Design Proponents Must Change Focus

Harvard Law Professor William Stuntz, who is an evangelical Christian, has written an interesting article in the Spring 2006 Harvard Law Bulletin explaining why proponents of intelligent design are destined to lose their debate with evolutionary scientists unless ID proponents radically change their mode of argument. He says:

[T]he proponents [of intelligent design] are too invested in the bottom line. You don't win scientific debates by arguing like lawyers; you win them by arguing like scientists. But my friends in the evangelical Christian community tend to argue like lawyers: They start with the bottom line and look for reasons to support it, just as a lawyer starts with the conclusion that most benefits her client and looks for arguments to support that conclusion. The only way to win a scientific debate is to play by the scientists' rules--start with premises and reason forward to conclusions. And the only way to do that credibly is to make clear at the outset that you're not committed to any conclusion, that you haven't already embraced a bottom line. Religious believers have already failed that test, which is why this debate will end up looking to most people like the debate over evolution in the 1920s. Nonbelievers think that believers are strategic, that we will embrace any argument that works to our benefit. To a large degree, they're right. Unless and until that changes, religious believers won't have any credibility with the secular academic world. We don't deserve to have credibility if we're not honestly engaged in truth-seeking.

Report On "War On Christians" Conference

People for the American Way has posted an extensive summary of the proceedings at last week's conference in Washington, D.C. sponsored by Vision America, titled "The War on Christians and Values Voters in 2006". PFAW reports that the conference speakers focused on claims that people of faith, especially Christians, are under constant attack by radical secularists, homosexual activists, federal judges, non-believers and pagans. Speakers argued that the Right was losing the culture war because it has been too passive and unwilling to fight to defend its beliefs. The main panels at the conference were: (1) Christian Persecution: Reports From The Frontlines; (2) Jews Confront The War On Christians; (3) The Gay Agenda: America Won’t Be Happy; and (4) The ACLU And Radical Secularism: Driving God From Our Public Life.

EEOC Sues On Behalf Of Rastafarian Employees

For the second time in a week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit against a business charging it with discrimination against a Rastafarian employee. Last week it filed suit against United Parcel Service for refusing to hire a Rastafarian as a driver helper because of his beard. The most recent suit was against Atlanta-based RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. for firing a Rastafarian from her position as staffing coordinator because she wore dreadlocks and a head wrap for religious reasons. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports on both the UPS and RaceTrac cases.

Two More Prisoner Cases

In Hudson v. Merline, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14463 (DNJ March 8, 2006), a New Jersey federal court permitted a Muslim pre-trial detainee to proceed with his claim that New Jersey prison authorities infringed his free exercise rights by refusing to permit him to attend Friday Jumah prayer services.

In Adamson v. McDonough, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13715 (ND Fla., March 29, 2006), a Florida federal district judge accepted the Magistrate Judge's recommendation and held that prohibiting a Florida prisoner from sending out mail to solicit pen pals does not infringe his right to free exercise of religion.

FLDS Not Welcome In Saskatchewan

A Canadian Press report yesterday says that Saskatchewan's attorney general and Minister of Justice, Frank Quennell, does not welcome the news that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints may be planning to create a colony in Saskatchewan. The fundamentalist Mormon splinter group practices polygamy and has been embroiled in legal battles in the United States. (See prior posting.) Quennell said, "Polygamy is against the law in Canada and perhaps more importantly, there are laws against the sexual exploitation of children and minors. Those laws will be enforced in Saskatchewan and we certainly don't have the welcome mat out for anybody who would break them."

Religious Groups Active In Immigration Law Reform Debate

Today's Knight-Ridder News Service profiles the growing role of religious groups, particularly the Catholic Church, in the debate over reform of U.S. immigration laws. These groups have added a moral voice to the debate, joining with business to press for more protection for undocumented aliens. On the other hand, the Christian Coalition has taken a strong stand against liberalization of immigration laws, saying that it would reward those who break the law.

Catholics Lead Drive In Pakistan To Repeal Blasphemy Law

In Pakistan, Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha, president of Pakistan's Catholic Bishops Conference, is leading a movement to repeal a portion of Pakistan's blasphemy law, according to America: The Catholic Weekly Magazine. The drive is aimed at two parts of Penal Code Ordinance 295. Section 295-B mandates life imprisonment for desecration of the Koran. Section 295-C calls for thee death penalty for anyone who defames or insults the Prophet Muhammad. The Bishop's National Commission for Justice and Peace says that in more than 100 recent blasphemy cases in which defendants were acquitted, the accusers were shown by the court to have been motivated by personal grudges or hope of financial gain. Even though Muslims make up 97 per cent of Pakistan's population, they widely see themselves as threatened by India's Hinduism, and Ordinance 295 is a popular reaction to this threat.

Judge Pryor Discusses Religion and Public Life

Judge William H. Pryor, Jr., who sits on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals spoke at the University of Alabama Friday as part of a Symposium on the Role of Religion in Public Life. The Crimson White today reports that Pryor said his faith gives him a moral duty to obey the law because he swore an oath to protect the Constitution. He also said he considers his job "a form of prayer" that "honors the Creator's gifts". In the Q&A, Pryor said that if a judge's religious convictions come into conflict with the law, the judge should recuse himself from the case.

Islamic Reformers In U.S. Featured

Today's Boston Globe carries an interesting article on increasing pressure by Muslim scholars, intellectuals and professionals in the United States to liberalize Islam and align its teachings with American democratic values. One of those reformers is scholar Ahmed Mansour, who fled to the United States after a fatwa was issued against him in his native Egypt. Mansour was recently brought in as a defendant in a suit that has been filed by the Islamic Society of Boston. ISB claims that defendants' negative statements interfered with fundraising for the mosque. Mansour has attacked ISB over radical Islamist positions supported by the mosque. The suits and counter-suits surrounding the Islamic Society of Boston's efforts to build a mosque in Roxbury are discussed in an article that appeared last month in the Daily Standard.