Liberal Muslim Group Will Help Fund British School's Battle Against Niqab

As previously reported, in Britain's Buckinghamshire County a public school has banned a 12-year old Muslim girl from wearing her niqab (full face veil) to classes. However, the County's Council refused to pay for the school's litigation costs to defend its decision after it was sued by the girl's father. Now the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford (Meco)-- a liberal Muslim group-- has offered to contribute toward the school's legal costs. This Is London yesterday reported that Meco's chairman, Taj Hargey, said in his letter to the school: "We trust that you will continue to resist any move to implement this kind of minority ethnic obsession, which has no foundation whatsoever in Islamic law.... It is high time that moderate progressive Muslims tackle extremists on their own theological grounds."

Free Exercise Challenge To Hospital Closing Rejected By NY Court

St. Joseph Hospital of Cheektowaga, NY v Novello, (NY S.Ct., Erie Co., Feb. 2, 2007), a New York state trial court rejected a lengthy series of challenges by a Catholic hospital challenging the recommendation by the state's Commission on Healthcare Facilities in the 21st Century that the hospital be closed. Among otter claims, the court rejected the hospital's state and federal free exercise of religion claim. Plaintiffs had claimed unequal treatment in the amount of time they were given to meet with the Commission and that the closing prevented the hospital from practicing its religious ministry.

Texas HPV Immunization Order Said To Create Complex Religious Discrimination Issue

On Feb. 2, Texas Governor Rick Perry issued Executive Order RP65 , ordering the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules requiring the girls to receive the new vaccine against the Human Papillomavirus before they enter the sixth grade. (Press release). The vaccine protects girls against later contracting a sexually-transmitted disease that leads to cervical cancer. The Executive Order, however, requires that parents be able to submit an affidavit of conscientious objection if they object on conscientious or religious grounds to their daughter receiving the immunization. Indeed it calls for making affidavits available online.

Perry used the Executive Order route in order to bypass opposition in the state legislature by conservatives and parents' rights groups. (Associated Press.) Responding to critics of his order, the Governor in a February 5 statement said, "Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity anymore than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use. If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?"

Yesterday, the Catholic group "Children of God for Life" (CGL) issued a release setting out a rather elaborate-- and somewhat dubious-- legal theory as to why the conscientious objection provisions in Governor Perry's Executive Order will create problems. In 2006, the Texas Attorney General ruled in Opinion No. GA-0420 that private schools-- including religious schools-- not accepting state funds did not have to honor immunization exemptions granted by the state-- e.g. exemptions for those who object to chicken pox vaccines that may have been made from fetal cell lines. According to CGL executive director, Debi Vinnedge, refusing to recognize exemptions for vaccines from fetal cells, but recognizing the exemption for HPV vaccine, could amount to illegal religious discrimination by private religious schools. They may not be able to favor one religion's objections over another's.

State Department Website Features Muslim Congressman

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department's USINFO website carried an interview with Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. Saying that his constituents elected him because of his values, he continued: "The values that underlie Islam ... are shared by all faith traditions. Belief in charity, in giving to others in need and facing adversity, the belief in equality and justice -- there is no religion, including Islam, that has a monopoly on these ideas.... In fact, they're not just compatible with democracy; they drive us toward a society in which there is consultation, in which there is input and approval from the populace." Emphasizing his point, Ellison, the article pointed out, quoted by memory a Quranic verse, Surah 49:13, that says humanity was "created you from a single pair, male and female, and fashioned you into tribes and nations, so that you would know each other ... and not hate and despise each other. Surely the most honored among you is the one who is most righteous and just."

Paraguay Bishop Suspended After He Announces As Presidential Candidate

Zenit earlier this week reported that Paraguay's Bishop Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez has been suspended from exercising his ministry after he announced that he intends to run for President of the country in its 2008 elections. The Vatican said it regretted the decision, but it is required by Canon Law. Section 285 (Par. 3) provides: "Clerics are forbidden to assume public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power." Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, imposed "the punishment of suspension 'a divinis' in keeping with Canon 1333, Paragraph 1" of the Code of Canon Law. In addition, Paraguay's Constitution (Art. 235(1)(5)) does not permit ministers or clergymen of any religion to hold the post of President. Mendez had already resigned from his active ministry in order to run. (Catholic News Service, Jan. 12).

USCIRF Focuses on China; U.S. Asylum Seekers

Last week (January 31), the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom held hearings on The Many Faces of China’s Repression: Human Rights, Religious Freedom, and U.S. Diplomacy in China. The text of the testimony of five of the witnesses is available online. Baptist Press yesterday, reporting on the hearings, said that the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in China are driving China to change its regulation of religion to appear more tolerant of Christians to the international community.

On Feb. 2, USCIRF released Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal, making recommendations on the protection and detention of asylum seekers.

UPDATE: The Associated Press reported on Feb. 8 that Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Chris Smith plan to introduce legislation to require the Department of Homeland Security to carry out the recommendations on treatment of asylum seekers recommended in USCIRF's report.

Michigan Court Dismisses Challenge To Islamic Association Election

In Syed v. Islamic Association of Michigan, (MI Ct. App., Feb. 1, 2007), a Michigan state court of appeals dismissed a challenge by a member of an Islamic religious-charitable-educational organization to the procedures used to replace the organization's trustees who had resigned. Relying on the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, the court held that it lacked jurisdiction because determining whether the election process was improper would also require determining whether the organization violated it own policies and procedures. the trial court had ruled in favor of the defendants on different grounds.

Foreigners Arrested By Saudi Religious Police For Partying Are Convicted

Both the Guardian and the Associated Press yesterday report that a Saudi Arabian judge has sentenced 20 foreigners to several months in prison and to lashes for arranging, attending and videoing a party where they drank alcohol and where men and women danced together. They were among 433 foreigners -- over half women-- who were arrested by Saudi religious police for arranging an "impudent" party held in Jiddah . Since May, the power of the religious police has been limited to arresting suspects. Previously they sometimes had held people incommunicado and took part in ensuing investigations.

Many New Scholarly Articles Of Interest Appear

From SSRN:

Kenneth C. Halcom, Taxing God, (Jan. 30, 2007).

Lee J. Strang, The (Re)Turn to History in Religion Clause Law and Scholarship, (Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 81, No. 5, p. 1697, 2006).

Gerard V. Bradley, The Blaine Amendment of 1876: Harbinger of Secularism, (Jan. 30, 2007).

Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr., If Judges Were Angels: Religious Equality, Free Exercise, and the (Underappreciated) Merits of Smith, (January 2007, Washington & Lee Legal Studies Paper No. 2007-06).

Assaf Likhovski, The Time Has Not Yet Come to Repair the World in the Kingdom of God: Israeli Lawyers and the Failed Jewish Legal Revolution of 1948, (October 2006).

Lyman Johnson, Faith and Faithfulness in Corporate Theory, (Catholic University Law Review, Vol. 56, 2007 ).

From SmartCILP:

Tom Boellstorff, Domesticating Islam: Sexuality, Gender, and the Limits of Pluralism. (Reviewing John R. Bowen, Islam, Law, and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning; and Michael G. Peletz, Islamic Modern: Religious Courts and Cultural Politics in Malaysia) 31 Law & Social Inquiry 1035-1053 (2006).

Jason C.T. Chuah, Islamic Principles Governing International Trade Financing Instruments: A Study of the Morabaha in English Law, 27 Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business 137-170 (2006).

Heather Cook, Service Before Self? Evangelicals Flying High at the U.S. Air Force Academy, 36 Journal of Law & Education 1-32 (2007).

Chet K.W. Pager, The Establishment of Evolution: Public Courts and Public Classrooms, 81 Tulane Law Review 17-65 (2006).

Andrew White, Breathing New Life Into the Contemporary Islamic Waqf: What Reforms Can Figh Regarding Awqaf Adopt From the Common Law of Trusts Without Violating Shari-ah?, 41 Real Property Probate and Trust Journal 497-527 (2006).

Symposium: La Conception Americaine de la Laicite, University of Paris II (Pantheon-Assas)--Paris, France, January 28, 2005. Articles by Daniel O. Conkle, Christopher L. Eisgruber, Frederick Mark Gedicks, Carol J. Greenhouse, Douglas Laycock, Michael J. Perry and Elisabeth Zoller, 13 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 417-594 (2006).

Egyptian Government Opposes Muslim Brotherhood

Front Page Magazine today carries a long story on the growing tensions between the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood. The growing political challenge by the group is seen by President Mubarak's government as a threat to Egypt's security. Egypt's religious establishment is upset with the group because its demonstrations have made it appear that Al-Azhar University is exporting terrorism. Muslim Brotherhood leaders say the group will create a civil political party with an Islamic source of authority. (See prior related posting.)

Bill Would Add "Under God" To Texas Flag Pledge

Probably few people know that the state of Texas has a formal Pledge of Allegiance to the state flag of Texas. Texas Government Code, Sec. 3100.101 provides that it is: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible." Last week, Texas state Representative Debbie Riddle introduced HB 1034 into the Texas Legislature to add a reference to God in the pledge. If enacted, the new pledge would be: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God and indivisible." WFFA-TV yesterday, reporting on the bill, quoted Rep. Riddle: "Our nation and our state was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics, Judeo-Christian values and I think it's a good thing to recognize that."

New Jersey Muslim Corrections Officer Claims Religious Discrimination

In Passiac County, New Jersey, Tamir Kozrosh, a Muslim provisional corrections officer says that he was fired by the sheriff's office for complaining about ongoing religious harassment. The Passiac County Herald News reports that Kozrosh says he was continually passed over for promotion. He claims he was reprimanded for refusing to work overtime during Ramadan, was yelled at for requesting that his food not be cooked on a grill covered with pork and was subjected to constant Muslim jokes, such as the posting of a doctored poster of his face superimposed on a poster of Osama bin Laden. A sheriff's office spokesman said that Kozrosh participated in making some of the doctored posters. The sheriff's department says he was fired primarily because he refused to cooperate in an internal affairs investigation of a complaint from a woman about an anonymous sexually explicit phone call from someone using a nickname said to have been used by Kozrosh.

Germany's Merkel Will Not Wear Head Scarf In Saudi Arabia

The UPI reported Friday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is beginning a tour of four Arab countries-- including Saudi Arabia-- has plans to appear there in public without wearing a headscarf . Saudi law says that women may only appear in public if they wear a headscarf and a long black garment. However the requirement is no longer enforced against foreign visitors. Merkel will follow the precedent set by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who appeared in Riyadh wearing a pants suit and without her hair covered.

City Says Prohibition On Animal Sacrifice Is Not "Land Use" Law

In Euless, Texas, the city has moved to dismiss a RLUIPA suit brought against it by a Santeria priest who who was refused a permit to sacrifice animals at his home in a religious ceremony. (See prior posting.) The city ordinance permits the slaughter of chickens so long as they are used for food. But it would not permit the slaughtering of goats that Santeria priest, Jose Merced, and his followers were preparing to do. According to yesterday's Dallas Morning News, the city claims that its law prohibiting the slaughtering of animals anywhere in the city is a health and safety law, not a "land use" regulation covered by RLUIPA. RLUIPA, Sec. 8(5), defines a "land use regulation" as "a zoning or landmarking law, or the application of such a law, that limits or restricts a claimant's use or development of land (including a structure affixed to land)".

Settlement Will Allow Religious Charities In Florida State Employee Campaign

The Alliance Defense Fund announced on Friday that a settlement has been reached in Association of Faith-Based Organizations v. Lewis, a case in which faith-based charities were seeking the right to participate in the Florida State Employees’ Charitable Campaign. (See prior posting.) Under the agreement, Florida officials have adopted new regulations that allow religious charities to be included in the voluntary payroll deduction program, even when those charities use religious criteria in their hiring of staff members.

Vietnam Issues Religious Policy White Paper

Voice of America reported on Friday that Vietnam has released its first government white paper on religious policy. The report reflects the Hanoi government's new more friendly approach to religion. Nguyen The Doanh, the vice chairman of the Government Committee on Religious Affairs, says that the government is making it easier for new religions to be recognized. However, despite new national policies, some provincial authorities still ban certain religious practices and interfere with Protestant leaders.

Proposal To Reinforce French Secularism

In France, the High Council on Integration is recommending a new charter to further define separation of church and state in the activities of government employees and in the provision of government services. The National Secular Society reports today that the need for new charter was emphasized by recent incidents in which male doctors in hospital maternity wards are subject to insults and physical attacks by Muslim husbands who object to doctors’ touching their wives in the course of medical examination or treatment. The new charter on secularism would be distributed at public events, including ceremonies at which immigrants are granted French citizenship.

6th Circuit: First Amendment Protects Expletive Using "God"

In Leonard v. Robinson, (6th Cir., Feb. 2, 2007), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant and sent back for trial a civil rights claim growing out of an arrest of a local resident Thomas Leonard who got into a heated argument at a Montrose (MI) Township Board meeting. In a 2-1 decision, the majority held that “no reasonable officer would have found probable cause to arrest Leonard solely for uttering “God damn” while addressing the township board because the First Amendment protects this sort of uninhibited debate”. In the course of its opinion, the majority held unconstitutional Michigan Compiled Laws § 750.103 that makes it a misdemeanor for “Any person who has arrived at the age of discretion … [to] profanely curse or damn or swear by the name of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost….” The majority said that the section “if not facially invalid, is radically limited by the First Amendment”. The majority also found constitutional problems with the potential application of three other Michigan statutes to Leonard’s speech.

Judge Sutton, dissenting in part, said: “While I am prepared to accept the majority’s judgment that the application of all four statutes to Leonard violated his First Amendment rights, I am not prepared to accept its judgment that the Supreme Court, our court or the Michigan courts had clearly established the unconstitutionality of all four of these duly enacted laws before this incident.” The Associated Press today reported on the decision. [Thanks to How Appealing for the lead.]

British Jewish Community Divided On Gay Adoption Rules

In Britain, organizations in the Jewish community differ somewhat in the extent of their support for the Catholic Church’s strong opposition to new Sexual Orientation Regulations that will require religiously sponsored social service agencies treat gay and lesbian couples equally with heterosexual couples in placing children for adoption. (See prior posting.) On Thursday, TotallyJewish.com reported that Britain’s Federation of Synagogues called for strong support of the positions of the Catholic Church and the Church of England in opposition to the new requirements. However the Jewish Community’s leading adoption agency says it does not discriminate against any group or part of the community. Meanwhile, Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, has issued an ambiguous press release, saying that Jewish law is committed to marriage and family, but at the same time the Jewish community is committed to compassion and sensitivity. The Board of Deputies of British Jews also issued an ambivalent statement.

Religious Discrimination Claim Filed Against California Athletic Club

In Hollister, California earlier this week, a family has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit seeking $4000 in damages against a local athletic club. The Hollister Free Lance reported on Thursday that Andrew and Christine Martinez have sued because Rovella’s Athletic Club refused to permit their son to participate in its competitive swim program after the Martinez’ crossed out several religious references in the club’s handbook before they signed an acceptance of it. The Martinez family is Catholic, but does not feel that a swim club is the proper place for their son to be exposed to religion.