Vatican Loses Sovereign Immunity Claim In Priest Abuse Case

Yesterday's Washington Post reports that a federal district court in Portland, Oregon has held that the victim of a priest's sexual abuse may continue with his claim against the Holy See, ruling against the Vatican's claim of sovereign immunity. The suit says that the Vatican conspired with the Archdiocese of Portland and the archbishop of Chicago to protect the Rev. Andrew Ronan by moving him from Ireland to Chicago to Portland despite a history of abuse. Federal District Judge Michael Mosman held that there was enough of a connection between the Vatican and the priest that he could be considered an employee of the Vatican under Oregon law. This then could bring the Vatican within an exception in the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that permits personal injury suits to be filed against a foreign government if the plaintiff's injury was caused by a tortious act or omission of an employee of the foreign government acting in the scope of employment (with certain exceptions).

UPDATE: The full opinion in John Doe v. The Holy See (D. Ore., June 7, 2006) is now available online courtesy of Mirror of Justice.

Secular Israelis Decry Religion In Israeli Schools

In Israel, secular Jews are strongly criticizing Orthodox rabbis who are convincing teenagers in high schools to become religiously observant. A column by Shahar Ilan in today's Haaretz strongly criticizes in-school and after-school activities, saying it is "an attempt to get [teenagers] when they are confused and unformed, and to incite them against their families."

Suit Challenges Virginia County's Sexual Orientation Protections

Yesterday Liberty Counsel announced that it had filed suit in an Arlington County, Virginia court to challenge an April 2006 determination by the Arlington County Human Rights Commission that a video company engaged in illegal discrimination under the county's Human Rights Code when the company refused to duplicate two videos promoting gay and lesbian rights for a customer. Tim Bono, owner of Bono Film and Video, Inc., had responded to an e-mail request from Lilli M. Vincenz that Bono Film does not duplicate material that is obscene, embarrassing to employees, damaging to the company’s reputation or that runs counter to the company’s Core Values and Christian and ethical values. The suit asserts that local anti-discrimination codes that include sexual orientation violate a judicial doctrine applied by Virginia courts known as Dillon's Rule. The suit claims that the doctrine should be read to prohibit enforcement of local anti-discrimination laws that go beyond statewide rules.

Michigan Capitol Display Will Include 10 Commandments

The Associated Press reports that Michigan's Capitol Committee, made up of four senators, four representatives and four members of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration, voted 11-1 yesterday to include the Ten Commandments in a display of historical documents inside the Michigan Capitol. Last week the House adopted H Res 268 encouraging the display. The "History of Our Laws and System of Government Display" is modeled after a display in a Kentucky courthouse that was upheld by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. However, leaders of the Capitol Committee may shorten the text of the display's historical documents that now run to 41 pages and include the Mayflower Compact, Orders of Connecticut, Iroquois League, Bill of Rights and 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. The final display will also be reviewed by the state attorney general's office for constitutional or legal problems. (See prior related postings 1, 2.)

LA Priest Abuse Records Sealed Pending Trial

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholtz yesterday ordered that personal records remain sealed in sexual abuse lawsuits pending against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Today's Washington Post reports that lawyers were ordered not to disclose general background information and medical and financial records of individual plaintiffs and defendants in the cases.

Greece Changes Approval Policy For Building Of Minority Houses Of Worship

In Greece, the head of the Jewish community praised Parliament's passage of a law that eliminates control by the Greek Orthodox Church over building of synagogues and houses of worship by other non-Orthodox groups, according to yesterday's European Jewish Press. Religious bodies must now submit applications to the Education and Religious Affairs Ministry. The head of Greece's Jewish community supported further amendments to Greek law: "Our next goal is to have the rabbis paid by the government like the clergy of the Christians and Muslims, for the sake of equality which is outlined in the Greek constitution." (See prior posting.)

Roy Moore Loses In Alabama Primary

In Alabama's primary yesterday, former state Chief Justice Roy Moore lost his bid to become the Republican nominee for governor, according to the Associated Press. Moore, famous for his attempts to keep a large Ten Commandments monument in the state's judicial building, lost to Republican Governor Bob Riley. Conceding defeat in the primary, Moore said "God's will has been done." Moore had been removed from his judicial position in 2003 when he refused to follow a federal court order to remove his 5,300 pound Decalogue monument from the building housing the state's supreme court.

Israel's Justice Minister Cracks Down On Rabbinic Judges

In Israel, Justice Minister Haim Ramon does not think that judges on the country's rabbinic courts are working hard enough. Yesterday's Jerusalem Post reports that he has sent a letter to all 85 serving Jewish religious court judges telling them that their illegally short working hours will no longer be permitted. He also told 15 judges who do not live in the cities in which their courts sit that by September they must move to the cities in which they serve. All of this is part of a campaign to improve the professionalism of the rabbinic courts that deal with family law matters, primarily divorces.

Louisiana House Panel Edits Ten Commandments

Louisiana's House Governmental Affairs Committee yesterday decided to edit the Ten Commandments, according to a report by The (Baton Rouge) Advocate. Senate Bill 476 permits the display in public buildings of the Ten Commandments along with other specified historical documents containing religious references. (See prior posting.) The Senate bill sets out the exact wording permitted, and the House Committee found itself debating whether the Catholic, Protestant or Jewish versions of the Decalogue should be used. In the end it compromised with a bit of tinkering. While it primarily used the Protestant King James version, it changed "Thou shall not kill" to "Thou shall not murder", which is the way Jewish translations generally render the commandment. It changed the King James spelling of "honour" to "honor" in reference to honoring one's father and mother. The panel then also debated whether to include"thou shalt not make unto the any graven idol", a phrase that does not appear in the Catholic version of the Commandments. The Committee sent its syncretistic version on to the full House.

Trinidad Follows Court Order, Replacing Trinity Cross

In response to a decision by its High Court last month, Trinidad and Tobago has decided to replace the Trinity Cross with another symbol as the country's top honor, according to yesterday's Antigua Sun. The Court found that the Trinity Cross was a Christian symbol that amounted to religious discrimination. The country's population is 22.5% Hindu and 5.8% Muslim. [corrected]

Funeral Picketers Sued By Family; Threaten Counter-Suit

Yesterday's Baltimore Sun reports that the members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church who have been picketing military funerals claiming that military deaths are God's retribution for sinful behavior are finally being sued by a family that has been the subject of the picketing. In Greenbelt, Maryland, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, who died in a vehicle accident in Iraq, is suing Westboro Baptist Church in federal court, hoping that the suit will deter the group from further similar conduct. Three adults and four children marched on city property outside Cpl. Snyder's funeral in March with signs reading "Thank God for dead soldiers." The group also posted comments about Snyder and his family on its Web site, such as, "Albert and Julie ... taught Matthew to defy his creator, to divorce, and to commit adultery. They taught him how to support the largest pedophile machine in the history of the entire world, the Roman Catholic monstrosity." Attorney Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father Fred Phelps helped establish Westboro Baptist, said that the church would countersue for conspiracy to violate and violation of the church's freedoms of speech and religion. (See prior related postings 1, 2, 3.)

New State Department Monitor for World Anti-Semitism

Eighteen months after Congress passed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act , the State Department has finally appointed someone as Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism around the world. Today's Cleveland Jewish News profiles the new appointee, Gregg Rickman. Here are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's remarks at Rickman's May 22 swearing-in.

Islamists May Bring Somalia Order Under Islamic Courts

In Somalia, an Islamist militia has taken control of the capital city of Mogadishu after months of fighting with an alliance of warlords. Now the city's eleven Sharia courts are attempting to restore order under Islamic law after 15 years of anarchy in the country. The Union of Islamic Courts was originally created by businessmen attempting to end the arbitrary rule of warlords. Some residents though are now concerned that the country and its schools could fall into the hands of religious fundamentalists. The militia may now head for Baidoa, 140 miles from Mogadishu, where there is an internationally recognized transitional government. Reports on the situation have been published by the AP, Gulf Times, and BBC News.

UPDATE: On June 7, the AP reported that the successful Islamic militia installed a new Islamic court in the town of Balad, about 20 miles from Mogadishu.

Pharmacist Loses Claim Against Wal-Mart

A Wisconsin federal district court ruled last week that there are limits to required accommodation of pharmacists' religious beliefs, according to LifeNews yesterday. Pharmacist Neil Noesen had sued Wal-Mart and a staffing agency that had placed him there for religious discrimination, alleging that he was fired last summer for refusing to fill prescriptions for drugs that he says can cause an abortion. However, Judge John Shabaz dismissed the suit, finding that Noesen had gone further, placing telephone callers seeking the drugs on hold indefinitely. He also refused to help customers coming into Wal-Mart seeking the drug find other pharmacists or pharmacies to fill their prescriptions. Noesen had previously been fired from K-Mart for refusing to fill similar prescriptions. Noesen's pharmacy license expired on Wednesday. The state board had ordered him to attend state ethics classes and pay back almost $21,000 in costs the state incurred to investigate him, as a condition for getting his license back. Noesen has not met these requirements.

Connecticut To Pay Fee For Church Convention In State

The United Church of Christ had been planning to hold its national convention in Connecticut at the new Convention Center in Hartford. However, according to yesterday's Hartford Courant, when a labor dispute at the Center led the union involved to call for a boycott, the Church withdrew. Now Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has salvaged the convention for her state by agreeing to have the state pay a $100,000 fee for an alternative site-- the older Hartford Civic Center. Recently elsewhere when tax funds have been used to subsidize church conventions, critics have raised church-state separation questions. (See prior posting.) [Thanks to Donald C. Clark, Jr. via Religionlaw for the lead.]

Arkansas Governor Defends His Version of Prison InnerChange Program

According to the Associated Press yesterday, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee says that his state prison's InnerChange program is constitutional. He says that the Bible-based program in the Arkansas prison system is sufficiently different from Iowa's that the recent federal court decision striking down Iowa's faith-based program should not affect Arkansas. Huckabee says that the Arkansas program is totally funded by private contributions, is totally voluntary and does not require Christian conversion or belief to participate. It is designed to give inmates the skills they need to succeed in society. The only state funding involved is used to house and feed the participating inmates.

Recent Prisoner Decisions

In Wilson v. Tillman, (3d Cir., June 2, 2006), the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a free exercise and equal protection claim by a prisoner in a group home pre-release program. Pennsylvania state prisoner John Wilson is a descendant of Ethiopian Jews. Adappt House insisted that he go on a required outing to a park with other residents on a Saturday instead of attending religious services. The court upheld the requirement as having a legitimate penological interest, and found that Wilson took advantage of an alternative-- praying alone before the trip began.

In Perez v. Frank, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34990 (WD Wis., May 25, 2006), a Wisconsin federal district court permitted a Muslim prisoner to proceed with RLUIPA and free exercise clause claims (and for some complaints, establishment clause claims) growing out of prison authorities denying him adequate quantities of prayer oil, denying him the right to engage in study and group prayer, and denying him various religiously required foods. It refused to permit him to proceed with his claim that the prison denied him access to rest rooms for Wudu (ablutions) when the unit's day room was closed.

More On The Marriage Protection Amendment Debate

As the Senate today debates the Marriage Protection Amendment (see prior posting), with a vote possible tomorrow, proponents warn that without it religious organizations may end up being forced to provide benefits to same-sex couples even if doing so violates the organizations' religious beliefs. Others say that this fear is exaggerated. (Chicago Tribune story.) Meanwhile some others note that the date set for a Senate vote, June 6, 2006, has the ominous abbreviation "6 6 06". (The Conservative Voice.)

Marriage Protection Amendment Going To Senate; Any Establishment Clause Problem?

The U.S. Senate is set this week to begin consideration of S.J.Res. 1, the proposed Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It provides: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman." President Bush's Saturday Radio Address focused on his support for the Amendment. The Los Angeles Times says that no one expects the amendment to get the 67 votes it needs to pass the Senate.

For watchers of church-state issues, however, the mobilization of religious coalitions on both sides of the issue is interesting. The Chicago Tribune reports that the Religious Coalition for Marriage (Catholics, Evangelicals, Southern Baptists, and Orthodox Jews) favors the amendment while Clergy for Fairness (Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Reform Jews) is campaigning against it. This is not the only issue involving rights of gays and lesbians that has forced church groups to take competing political stands. In Washington state, the debate over forcing a referendum on the state's new civil rights act that protects gays and lesbians has also generated competing religious coalitions. (Tacoma News Tribune, June 4.)

In 1971 in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Chief Justice Burger wrote: "Ordinarily political debate and division, however vigorous or even partisan, are normal and healthy manifestations of our democratic system of government, but political division along religious lines was one of the principal evils against which the First Amendment was intended to protect." Does that mean that there is a special Establishment Clause problem with the current debates over gay rights?

Gideons Hand Out Bibles In Colorado Schools

Yesterday's Vail (Colorado) Daily reports that for the second year in Summit County, Colorado, the Gideons were permitted to distribute Bibles inside school buildings. Superintendent Millie Hamner said attorneys advised that if the Gideons were excluded, other outside groups such as Rotarians who hand out dictionaries and college recruiters who distribute college information would need to be excluded as well. Before this, Gideons had been restricted to the streets outside the schools.

Alabama Democratic Court Candidate Looks For Religious Voters

The Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer today reports that Al Johnson, the Democratic candidate for the Alabama Supreme Court, is trying to capture conservative religious votes from the Republicans. Johnson's supporters display bumper stickers reading: "I am a Christian; I own a gun; I am a Democrat; Johnson for Justice." And when asked about his views, Johnson says, "I am as conservative as the Holy Scriptures; and I am as liberal as the love of Jesus. The problem in Alabama right now is most of our elected officials live by the first part of that and forget the second part."

Israeli Court Blocks Rabbi's Ruling On Cursing Parrot

In Israel this week, according to YNet News, a civil court in Tel Aviv has issued an order temporarily preventing the owner of a parrot from carrying out a rabbi's ruling that the bird, which screeches curses and unbecoming phrases, be put to death or at least have its tongue cut out. The court issued the restraining order at the request of the Let Animals Live Foundation. Later this week the court will make a final determination on the bird's fate.

Texas Republican Convention Includes Religious Themes

From Tuesday to Saturday of this past week, the Republican Party of Texas held its 2006 Convention. Today's Dallas Morning News reports on the heavy religious influence that pervaded the Convention. One of the scheduled functions on Saturday was a Prayer Rally at which party leader Tina Benkiser assured the delegates that God is chairman of the Party and was watching over the Convention. The Party Platform adopted on Saturday included language declaring that "America is a Christian nation" and that "God is undeniable in our history and is vital to our freedom." It continued, "We pledge to exert our influence toward a return to the original intent of the First Amendment and dispel the myth of the separation of church and state."

Recent Law Review Articles

From SmartCILP:

Donald L. Drakeman, Reynolds v. United States: The Historical Construction of Constitutional Reality, 21 Constitutional Commentary 697-726 (2004).

Stephanie L. Shemin, The Potential Constitutionality of Intelligent Design? 13 George Mason Law Review 621-695 (2005)

Selected Papers from the Terrence J. Murphy Institute Conference: Sacrifice and the Common Good in the Catholic Tradition. 3 University of St. Thomas Law Journal 1-138 (2005).

NCAA Accuses Some Religious Schools Of Being Diploma Mills

According to an Associated Press report on Friday, the NCAA has discovered that some non-traditional, religiously-affiliated high schools are operating as diploma mills, with some engaging in outright fraud in the student credentials they certify. Next week the NCAA will release the name of schools from which it will no longer accept transcripts. A lawyer representing some of the parochial schools was quoted as saying that the NCAA's intrusion into their affairs would be an unconstitutional violation of church-state separation. This will likely be a difficult argument to maintain in light of the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision in NCAA v. Tarkanian which held that the NCAA was not involved in state action in recommending to a state University that it suspend its basketball coach for violating NCAA rules.

Mt. Soledad Appeal Filed At Last Minute

The San Jose Mercury News today reported that just hours before the deadline that had been imposed by a trial court for removal of the Mt. Soledad Cross, the city of San Diego formally asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay of the order. (See prior posting.) City Attorney Mike Aguirre said he did not expect the appeal to succeed, but that he had a duty to try in order to respect the will of the voters who have approved measures designed to preserve the Cross. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said that if the stay is not granted, the city will obey the judge’s ruling and avoid paying the $5000 per day fine that will otherwise be incurred.

InnerChange Prison Program Held Unconstitutional

In a decision that could have broad implications for the Bush administration’s Faith Based Initiative, an Iowa federal district court yesterday held that a state-financed prison treatment program affiliated with Charles Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries is "pervasively sectarian" and violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.) Yesterday’s New York Times and today’s Washington Post report on the 140-page decision in Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. Prison Fellowship Ministries, (SD Iowa, June 2, 2006), which requires InnerChange to return $1.5 million in funding that it has received from the state of Iowa.

The court explained at length the evangelical Christian theology of InnerChange, and how it differs from the beliefs of a number of other Christian groups. It also explained the "transformational model" used by InnerChange in its program—one that instead of attempting to teach inmates to manage their behavior, attempts to "cure" prisoners by identifying sin as the root of their problems and changing their relationship with God. The court found that while the primary purpose of state officials in bringing the InnerChange program to Iowa was to reduce recidivism, funding of the program has the primary effect of advancing religion because state funds are being directed to a pervasively religious program. It concluded that it could not separate out the secular parts of InnerChange’s program for funding because the transformational model used makes it impossible to distinguish sectarian from religious aspects of rehabilitation. The court also found that participation by inmates in InnerChange was not the result of true private choice between alternative programs. There are a number of incentives for inmates to choose InnerChange, and there are no similar alternative secular programs for inmates to choose. Thus the state is unconstitutionally entangled with religion in the program.

Mark Early, president of Prison Fellowship Ministries, said the decision is so broad that it appears to ban a prison program like InnerChange even if it is privately funded. InnerChange plans to file an appeal. [Thanks to Douglas Laycock via Religionlaw for the lead, and to How Appealing for the link to the opinion.]

Report On Religious Right's Political Power In Texas

The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund has released a 52 page report titled "The Anatomy of Power—Texas and the Religious Right in 2006". The Report’s Executive Summary identifies four main conclusions: (1) The religious right controls the leadership of the Republican Party of Texas; (2) San Antonio businessman James Leininger is working to purge from office those Republicans who do not support the agenda of the religious right; (3) Conservative evangelical pastors are using their church positions to advance the religious right’s agenda through the Texas Restoration Project; and (4) David Barton, vice chair of the state has become a key recruiter of conservative evangelicals, telling them that the separation of church and state is a doctrine inconsistent with the Founders’ intent created by activist judges. [Thanks to The Wall of Separation blog for the lead.]

Muslim Prisoners' Free Exercise Challenge To Double-Celling Rejected

Jones v. Goord, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34835 (SDNY, May 26, 2006), involved a challenge to New York state’s administration of a policy for double-celling its maximum security prisons. In the case, a New York federal district court rejected the First Amendment claims made on behalf of Muslim prisoners that double-celling gives them insufficient room to pray, that a cellmate may render a cell unclean and therefore unfit for prayer, that the morning call to prayer could disturb a sleeping cellmate, that several prayers must be made in solitude, and that certain rituals require privacy which is not available in a double cell. The court also refused to permit plaintiffs to amend their complaint to assert a RLUIPA claim, finding that any such claim had been waived.

Profile Of U.S. Special Counsel For Religious Discrimination

Last Wednesday, NPR’s All Things Considered carried a 4+ minute profile of Eric Treene, the Justice Department’s Special Counsel for Religious Discrimination. Some observers are critical of him arguing that he is promoting religion in the public sphere. Audio of the coverage is available online. [Thanks to Blog From the Capital for the lead.]

Baptist Church's Zoning Claim Dismissed In Part By 11th Circuit

In Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana of Boca Raton, Inc. v. Broward County, (11th Cir., June 1, 2006), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Florida district court's decision dismissing the RLUIPA claim brought by an Hispanic Baptist congregation. The church was challenging Broward County's refusal to grant it a zoning variance to permit it to use property for a church building. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the district court's dismissal of the congregation's Section 1983 claim. In that part of its lawsuit, the church had alleged that the county had violated its equal protection, due process and free exercise rights in denying it the zoning variance.

Kentucky Graduation Prayer Decision Now Available On LEXIS

A previous posting discussed the issuance of a temporary restraining order prohibiting organized prayer at the recent Russell (Kentucky) High School graduation ceremony. The text of the court’s opinion in the case is now available on LEXIS, Doe v. Gossage, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34613 (WD Ky., May 24, 2006). (Also see related posting.)

Reform and Conservative Petition Israel High Court On Mikvahs On Eve Of Shavuot

Tonight begins the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The holiday is both an agricultural festival and one that commemorates the giving of the 10 Commandments to Moses at Mt. Sinai. Part of the synagogue ritual on the holiday is the reading of the Biblical book of Ruth. The book is the story of a Moabite woman who converts to Judaism. Today on the eve of the holiday, YNet News reports on a dispute in Israel that relates to religious conversion. The Masorti (Conservative) Movement and the Movement for Progressive Judaism (Reform) have petitioned the High Court of Justice claiming that the National Authority of Religious Affairs has discriminated against them by denying them use of Mikvahs (ritual baths), that are used in the conversion process (as well as by religious Jews at other times). The organizations say that when Conservative and Reform rabbis arrive at public mikvahs of local religious councils-- which are financed by a public budget-- they are repeatedly denied entry by mikvah employees.

The dispute is part of the larger battle by the Reform and Conservative movements to obtain recognition of conversions performed by their rabbis. The Orthodox rabbinate in Israel has adamantly refused to recognize the legitimacy of conversions performed by non-Orthodox rabbis. The bitterness of the dispute is illustrated by the response of the minister in charge of religious councils, MK Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) to the High Court petition: "Conversions of Reform and Conservative organizations are virtual conversions, and they deserve to immerse in a virtual immersion. This is a vexing petition. The only immersion the Reform are aware of is Baptism. So they can continue to walk on water and leave the people of Israel alone."

Montana School District Sued Over Building Sale To Catholic School

In Missoula, Montana yesterday, the organization Good Schools Missoula announced that it had filed suit against the Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) to challenge the lease and subsequent sale of the former Roosevelt Elementary School to the Loyola Sacred Heart High School Foundation for it to use as a Catholic school. The Missoulian today reported that the suit named MCPS, the foundation, and five individual MCPS trustees as defendants. The complaint alleges that the arrangements violated Art. X, Sec. 6 of the Montana Constitution that prohibits the state from directly or indirectly appropriating funds or making a grant of property to aid any sectarian institution. The suit claims that MCPS set the original lease rate to Loyola Sacred Heart Foundation at a quarter of fair market value, that it allowed the Foundation to extend its five-year lease while considering the sale, that MCPS rushed the sale process in a way that discouraged other bids, that the bid that was accepted was lower than another bid that had been submitted, and that the board had not properly accounted for the funds received in the sale.

9th Circuit Denies Prisoner Claim Regarding Halal Meat

Last week in Watkins v. Shabazz, (9th Cir., May 22, 2006), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court and denied a prisoner's claims under the 1st and 14th Amendments and RLUIPA that his ability to practice his Muslim religion was being infringed. The prisoner, who requested Halal meat, was given a choice by the prison to eat the nutritionally equivalent meat substitute provided by the prison, or to find an outside religious organization to contract with the prison to provide Halal meat. The court agreed with the findings below that these alternatives did not substantially burden the prisoner's practice of his religion andthat he was not discriminated against on the basis of his Muslim faith.

Group Plans 10 Commandments Across From Supreme Court

Today's Washington Post reports that the Christian evangelical group Faith and Action is taking strategic advantage of the fact that its offices are housed right across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court. It plans on Saturday to unveil an 850 pound granite sculpture of the Ten Commandments on its front lawn where it will be visible each day to the Justices as they come and go from the Supreme Court employee parking lot. However Erik Linden, a spokesman for the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, said the group needs a public space permit from his Department before displaying the monument as well as approval from the Historic Preservation Review Board because the townhouse in which the group's offices are located sits in a historic district. Bill Sisolak, chairman of the Historic Preservation Review Board zoning committee said: "It's a large object not in keeping with the historic nature of the neighborhood.... [I]n my opinion it doesn't appear to be in compliance." Faith and Action says it has tried unsuccessfully for five years to get the required permits, and now plans to move ahead without them based on "common law that governs garden displays."

New Repression Of Bahais In Iran Reported

The New York Times reports today that the government of Iran has recently intensified its campaign against the Bahai religious minority in the country. On May 19, authorities in Shiraz arrested and held without charges for six days some 54 Bahais who were involved in a community service project, many of them in their teens and early 20's. More than 70 others have been arrested in the last 18 months. Although the Bahais are the largest religious minority in Iran, they are considered "unprotected infidels". Unlike Jews and Christians, they do not have seats in Iran's Parliament set apart for them. Since December, the government newspaper in Tehran has published more than 30 anti-Bahai articles --even accusing Bahais of sacrificing Muslim children on holy days. (See related prior posting.)

Ohio Supreme Court Refuses To Extend Limitation Period For Clergy Sexual Abuse

Yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court held in a 5-2 decision that a clergy sexual abuse suit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati was barred by the statute of limitations. In Doe v. Archdiocese of Cincinnati, (Ohio Sup. Ct., May 31, 2006), the court held that a minor who is the victim of sexual abuse has two years from the time that he or she reaches majority to assert claims against the employer of the perpetrator of sexual abuse. So long as the victim, at the time of the abuse, knew the identity of the perpetrator, the priest's employer, and that a battery has occurred, the statutory period for filing suit is not extended. The fact that the plaintiff did not discover until recently that the Archdiocese may have had knowledge of the abuse does not operate to extend the statute. The court said that it is up to the legislature to create changes in the statute of limitations for clergy sexual abuse. The Court issued a release summarizing the decision. Yesterday's Washington Post, reporting on the decision, points out that new Ohio legislation (SB 17) extends the time limit for future victims to 12 years after reaching adulthood.

Disagreement On Need For Permits For Public Preaching In Russia

Forum18 reported yesterday that there is growing disagreement among local officials in Russia on whether, despite the Constitution's protection (Art. 28) of the free dissemination of religious beliefs, the government may require religious groups to obtain permits to preach in public locations such as markets and streets. Most affected so far has been the Council of Churches Baptists whose members refuse on principle to register with the state authorities.

High Schoolers Unite Against KKK Support For Graduation Prayer

As an earlier posting reported, in Shelby County, Kentucky, the school board, after receiving a letter from the ACLU, cancelled planned formal prayers at the school's upcoming graduation. While that stance may have originally been divisive, students now support the decision after a member of the Ku Klux Klan protested the cancellation by demonstrating outside of Shelby County High School. According to today's Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader, Klansman Michael Hibbs generated a counter-protest by 40 Shelby High School seniors. Klansman Hibbs, who used a Hitler salute to answer taunts, said said that he hopes to intimidate Muslim students and others who are against the "Christian principles this country was founded on." He added "These heathens come over here from whatever third-world country they come from and they've got the nerve to tell people how to live. If they want to come here and be free, they can come here and be free. But they aren't going to come here and tell us how to live."

Arshiya Saiyed, the Muslim student who originally objected to the planned prayers said: "Quite a few students have had opinions on what is going on but when it comes down to it, we don't hate each other, we just have different opinions. And here in America we can have that and we can embrace the fact that we are all different."

Splits Developing Among U.S. Religious Right

Today's Guardian carries an interesting story on the splits that are developing among conservative religious political activists in the United States. Some who are criticizing the religious right's partisan tactics, or who are embracing non-traditional issues such as the environment, find themselves the subject of criticism, or even threats.

Federal Court Upholds Pennsylvania Home Schooling Regulation

In Combs v. Homer Center School District, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33871 (WD Pa., May 25, 2006), a Pennsylvania federal district court upheld Pennsylvania’s Act 169 that regulates home schooling of children. In several consolidated cases, parents challenged provisions that require them to document that their children have met requirements on days of attendance and hours of instruction in certain required subjects by submitting a portfolio containing sample work and an annual evaluation of the student’s progress prepared by a school psychologist or certified teacher. The parents argued broadly that according to their religious belief, the civil government lacks jurisdiction to approve or administratively supervise the education they provide. The court granted summary judgment to the school districts, rejecting challenges under Pennsylvania’s Religious Freedom Protection Act, and constitutional challenges based on the free exercise clause and the due process rights of parents to control the education of their children.

Court Rejects Challenge To Pledge, Motto, Song

Keplinger v. United States, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34110 (MD Pa., May 3, 2006), is a suit brought by a federal prison inmate alleging that the use of the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, on United States currency, and in the song "America the Beautiful" is unconstitutional. He asked the court to order that “God” be removed from the Pledge, the motto on federal currency, and "America the Beautiful" and be replaced with "the true name of Worship 'Yahweh'." Not surprisingly, the court rejected his claim for relief. It held that the wording of "America the Beautiful" is not action taken under color of law. As to the Pledge and Motto, it held that they are not exercises of religion, satisfy the Lemon test, and therefore do not violate the Establishment Clause. Finally, the court held that Keplinger's request that the word Yahweh be substituted for God in the Pledge and Motto undercuts his Establishment Clause claim and is relief that cannot be provided by the Court.

Artist Sues City Over Removal Of Paintings

On Tuesday, attorneys for the Alliance Defense fund filed suit on behalf of Sharon Marolf, an artist, claiming that the Culture & Recreational director of the city of Delta, Colorado violated Marolf's constitutional rights when she removed two of Marolf's paintings from a Delta Fine Arts Association display at the city's Bill Heddles Recreation Center. The paintings were removed when the city received a complaint that the paintings included quotations from the Bible. One was a painting of the artist's granddaughter accompanied by a quote from Psalms. The other displays passages that refer to circles and squares. The suit alleges violations of the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution and of the Colorado Constitution's free speech protections. (Full text of complaint.)

Free Exercise Challenge To Texas Marijuana Law Rejected

In Burton v. State, (Texas Ct. App., May 25, 2006), a Texas Court of Appeals rejected a Free Exercise challenge to the state’s law prohibiting the possession of marijuana. The court relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith.

New Jersey Mosque Loses RLUIPA Claim

In Muslim Center of Somerset County, Inc. v. Borough of Somerville Zoning Board of Adjustment, (NJ, May 16, 2006), a New Jersey trial court upheld the denial of a conditional use variance and of site plan approval for a Muslim congregation that wanted to remodel and use a 2-family home for religious services. The court found that the potentially detrimental impact of the proposed use for a large religious institution outweighs the public interest in granting the variance. It rejected the congregation's RLUIPA claim, finding that it filed to show a substantial burden on its exercise of religion. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the information.]

Cert. Denied By U.S. Supreme Court In Boy Scout Case

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Scalise v. Boy Scouts of America (Docket No. 05-1260, May 30, 2006). In the case, the Michigan Court of Appeals had rejected Establishment Clause and equal protection challenges to the use of public school buildings, posting and distribution of literature in schools, and school building visits by the Boy Scouts. John Scalise and his son are non-religious humanists. He claimed that he, and his third grade son, were excluded from the Cub Scouts in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan after they objected to the requirement that they accept the Cub Scout Promise "to do my duty to God and my country." The state court found that the school was merely granting equal access to the Boy Scouts, and that the scouts themselves were not engaged in state action. The Associated Press today reports on the case.

Kansas School Board Defends Its Stance on Evolution

NPR's program All Things Considered yesterday carried a 7+ minute segment on the Kansas School Board and its religiously conservative positions on evolution, sex education and other matters. The audio of the segment is available online. [Thanks to How Appealing for the information.]

Israel's High Court To Get Case On Mikvah Dispute

In April 2005, the Israeli West Bank religious settlement of Elkana, with its 750 families, made international news as the White House took issue with the decision of the Israel Lands Authority to invite tenders for the construction of 50 new homes in the settlement. Those construction plans now appear to have led to a religious dispute that has made its way to Israel's High Court of Justice.

The story, somewhat sketchy on technical details, appeared yesterday in YNet News. Here is what appears to have happened. As part of the new construction in Elkana, authorities also decided to build a new Mikvah -- religious ritual bath. In all Israeli cities, it is the local Religious Council that oversees Mikvah construction and dispenses government financing for such projects. After Elkana's community rabbi approved construction plans, one group in Elkana-- the Chabad movement-- objected, saying that its custom was to build a Mikvah with two immersion pools instead of one. Elkana's Rabbi Yehuda Stern stood fast, saying: "I have ruled according to our custom on the mikveh issue. We are not a Chabad community and my ruling followed the rulings of outstanding rabbis throughout the generations."

Chabad then went to court, and Judge Edna Arbel temporarily halted the Mikvah construction. She suggested that the parties take the matter to respected Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu for determination and accept his ruling. However, the parties failed to reach an agreement and the case has been appealed to the High Court. Chabad claims that the dispute is part of an attempt to force their members to leave Elkana, and that the case is about whether or not Chabad is a legitimate part of Orthodox Judaism. Attorney Motti Mintzer, representative of local religious council, responded with somewhat contradictory statements. He said that no one claims that Chabad is not part of Orthodox Judaism. But he also said: "The local hassidim from Chabad are from a messianic cult and want to force the community to build the mikveh according to their specifications."

Nashville Police Officer Claims Religious Discrimination

In Nashville, Tennessee last week, a police officer who is a Seventh Day Adventist filed suit in federal court accusing the Metro Police Department of religious discrimination. Nashville's City Paper today reports that 27-year police force veteran Diedre Renee Forte alleges that a training video shown to police falsely claimed that "Seventh Day Adventists were cults, due to their relationship with David Koresh." This, she claims, led to growing hostility toward her at work. She says she was told not to talk about God at work, while others were not similarly limited.

Pakistan Supreme Court Grants New Protections To Young Convert

Pakistan's Supreme Court last week began to work out in a more nuanced way issues surrounding the recognition of religious conversions in the wake of reports that young Hindu women were being forcibly converted to Islam. One World South Asia today reports on the case of Neelam Ludhani, a 21-year old Hindu who converted to Islam last month and married Amjad Shahzad. Neelam's father, Misri Ludhani, a Pakistani government official, originally filed suit claiming that his daughter had been abducted and forcibly converted.

By the time the case got to the Supreme Court, however, Misri supported his daughter's claim that her conversion was voluntary. But Misri told the court he was still concerned that his daughter would be abandoned by her new husband who already has one wife and a child. So the Court took unusual action. It ordered that Neelam be allowed to live with her husband, but also required that her husband's family transfer property to Neelam, provide a separate house for her and her husband, and post bond to assure that Neelam would be properly supported in the future. Also local police were to furnish periodic reports on how Neelam was being treated. Finally, ignoring requests by the husband's family that Neelam have no further contact with her parents because they belong to a "non-book" faith, the court ordered that Amjad's family facilitate visits by Neelam to her parents' home in Karachi.

I.A. Rehman, secretary-general of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, praised the court's decision, saying that it took account of the vulnerability of young women in these situations. Indeed, at a conference last week on "Forced Conversion of Women and Minorities Rights in Pakistan", organized by the Minority Rights Commission of Pakistan and reported on today by AsiaNews.it, it was disclosed that forced conversions of women married to Muslims result in the death of between 500 to 600 people a year in Pakistan.

Bush Will Use Memorial Day To Sign "Fallen Heroes" Act

President Bush is expected to use today, Memorial Day, to sign the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act (HR 5037), recently passed by Congress. (CNS News.) The bill bars demonstrators from disrupting military funerals at national cemeteries by banning protests within 150 feet of a road into a cemetery, and within 300 feet of a cemetery entrance if the protest impedes access or egress. The ban covers the hour before and after a funeral. (ABC News report.) The law is directed at activities of Fred Phelps, the head of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, whose group has disrupted a number of military funerals with signs and marches proclaiming that military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are God's punishment for U.S. toleration of homosexual life styles. Several states have enacted similar bills. (See prior postings 1, 2.)

UPDATE: Here is the White House release on the President's signing of the bill.

Hindus Seek South African Recognition Of Religious Marriages

In South Africa, according to a PTI report, Hindus are seeking amendments to the country's Marriage Act to gain legal recognition of religious marriages that have not been formally registered with the government. This would be consistent with 1998 legislation that granted recognition to African customary marriages that are not registered. Information about that legislation came out in the hearing in Durban's High Court on a petition by a woman who has separated from her husband and who now seeks recognition of her Hindu marriage 18 years ago so she can now get a legal separation that will permit her to marry someone else. (IOL report.) The same issue arises for Muslims, and in another case a Cape Town woman is seeking international judicial assistance after South Africa's Constitutional Court refused to recognize her Muslim marriage entered 28 years ago.

Move In Indian State To Repeal Anti-Conversion Law

Countering moves in the opposite direction elsewhere in the country, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a bill to repeal the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act, 2002, was introduced by the state's Law Minister. The development is reported today by The Hindu News.

UPDATE: On May 31, Outlook India reported that the repeal bill was passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Iranian Religious Police Enforce Islamic Dress Code

In Iran last week, Tehran police chief, Morteza Talaei, reported for the first time on the work of the Police Guidance Patrols (religious police) in the Iranian capital. AsiaNews.it reports on the efforts of the new patrols to stop long-standing resistance against the country's Islamic dress code. Talaei said that 7,000 shops have been visited, and 190 were fined for selling non-Islamic clothing and other goods. Also 230 autos were confiscated because women in them were not fully veiled. Also a number of pedestrians-- 119 women and 45 men-- were arrested for violating the dress restrictions.

Two USCIRF Members Reappointed

Preeta D. Bansal and Elizabeth H. Prodromou have been reappointed by Congressional leaders to two-year terms on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, according to a USCIRF release last week. Three Commissioners are selected by the President, two by the President's party in Congress, and four by congressional leaders of the minority party. Bansal, a constitutional lawyer and former chair of the Commission, was appointed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Prodromou, Associate Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs and Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University, was appointed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Trinidad Court Finds "Trinity Cross" Award Discriminatory

The Trinidad & Tobago Express reports on a fascinating opinion issued Friday by the High Court of Justice in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision found that the creation and continued existence of the Trinity Cross as the nation’s highest award amounts to indirect discrimination against Hindus and Muslims. Justice Peter Jamadar wrote that in light of Trinidad & Tobago’s history, the words "Trinity" and "cross" are understood as referring to the blessed trinity and the Christian religion. However, the court dismissed the case without granting relief because the country’s 1976 Constitution has in it a savings clause providing that nothing in the Constitution’s declaration of rights and freedoms shall invalidate legislation existing at the time the Constitution was adopted. So while the Court refused to order the government to create a new symbol to replace the Trinity Cross, Justice Jamadar urged the government to engage in public consultation to consider removing all religious symbolism in the design and naming of national awards.

As debate rages in the United States about the impact of foreign law on the development of U.S. constitutional doctrines, one might wonder whether this case portends a challenge to the U.S. Army’s second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the comparable Navy Cross and Air Force Cross.

Court Refuses To Dismiss Conspiracy Claims By Anti-Gay Christian Group

In Startzell v. City of Philadelphia, (ED Pa., May 26, 2006), a Pennsylvania federal district court denied a motion to dismiss conspiracy claims in a federal civil rights suit brought by members of Repent America, a Christian evangelical group, against Philly Pride, the organizers of OutFest, a festival designed to celebrate participants' homosexuality. The court found that plaintiffs (who have become known as the "Philadelphia Eleven") adequately alleged claims under 42 USC 1985(3), the federal statute that prohibits conspiracy to deprive any person of equal protection of the laws, as well as claims of conspiracy in violation of 42 USC 1983.

The Philadelphia Eleven claimed that Philly Pride conspired with the city of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia police to prevent them from speaking and carrying signs opposing homosexuality. (Full text of complaint.) Their Christian message was blocked by a private security force known as the Pink Angels who blocked plaintiffs' access to OutFest, shouted so their message could not be heard, and held up pink Styrofoam boards to prevent others from seeing plaintiffs' signs.

In upholding the claim under 42 USC 1985(3), the court found plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that Philly Pride held a discriminatory animus against them as Christians, and not just against their anti-homosexual viewpoints. The court also held that religious groups are a protected class under Section 1985(3) so that discrimination against them can be labeled "invidious". Repent America has issued a press release welcoming the decision, and WorldNetDaily reports on it, pointing out that further proceedings will be necessary for the court to deterine if the alleged conspiracy in fact existed.

New Books, Journals and Articles

New Books:

• Charles C. Haynes, Sam Chaltain and Susan Glisson, First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America, (Oxford University Press, July 2006). The book is reviewed by the First Amendment Center.
• Nazila Ghanea-Hercock, Alan Stephens & Raphael Walden, Does God Believe in Human Rights?, (Martinus Nijhoff, Nov. 2006).

New Journal:

• Religion & Human Rights (Martinus Nijhoff, 2006: Volume 1)

Articles from SSRN

• Brian Leiter, Why Tolerate Religion?, (May 25, 2006).

Articles from bePress:

• Gregory A. Kalscheur S.J., Christian Scripture and American Scripture: An Instructive Analogy?, (to appear in Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 21).

Law Review Articles (via SmartCILP):

• Cynthia V. Ward, Coercion and Choice Under the Establishment Clause, 39 University of California Davis Law Review 1621-1668 (2006).
• Nakul Krishnakumar & Heath Lynch, Tenth Annual National Juvenile Moot Court Competition Winning Brief, 5 Whittier Journal of Child & Family Advocacy 277-300 (2005).

California House Passes Housing Discrimination Bill

On Thursday, the California Assembly, by a bipartisan vote of 48-31, passed and sent on to the Senate, the Civil Rights Housing Act of 2006 (AB 2800). The bill strengthens and standardizes 17 housing discrimination provisions in California law. The bill prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, as well as on the basis of a number of other characteristics, according to a press release issued Saturday by Equality California.

Religious Broadcaster Wins Again In Attempt To Buy TV Station

Last July, a California appellate court invalidated a decision by Coast Community College District, which was selling off its Public Television Station, to reject a high bid from the religious Daystar Television Network. The religious broadcaster's bid was rejected in favor of a lower bid from the KOCE Foundation that would keep the station as part of the PBS system. Upon the petition of both parties, the court granted a rehearing, and on Thursday reached the same result that it had before, but for different legal reasons. In Word of God Fellowship, Inc. v. Coast Community College District, (Cal. 4th App. Dist., May 25, 2006), the court found that it was improper for Coast Community College to materially amend a public contract in favor of a private bidder after the bidding is closed and the contract was awarded.

In reporting on the decision today, the Los Angeles Times points out that Coast Community College is also defending a second lawsuit seeking $20 to $30 million in damages brought by Daystar, alleging that the district and board trustees violated Constitutional freedom of religion protections when it refused to sell the station to the Christian broadcaster. Richard Sherman, the attorney for Daystar, said that Daystar would be more willing to settle the second suit if the district offers the station for sale again.

Senate Passes Bill To Honor Dalai Lama With Medal

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent passed S. 2784 calling for the award of a Congressional gold medal to the 14th Dalai Lama in recognition of his contributions to peace, non-violence, human rights, and religious understanding. The bill had broad bipartisan support, with 73 co-sponsors. An identical bill, H.R. 4562, is pending in the House of Representatives. A release on the bill from Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, points out that under Congressional rules, Congressional Gold Medals require the support of at least two-thirds of the Members of both the Senate and House before they can be signed into law by the President.

Scholarly Papers On Gay Marriage And Religious Liberty

Earlier this month, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty posted online seven papers from a private conference it hosed last December titled "Scholars’ Conference on Same Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty". An Associated Press report today summarized the findings of those papers: "If gay marriage becomes recognized under law across the country, religious groups could face challenges to customary ways of doing business, even to their finances."

Maryland Uses Economic Development Funds For Church Convention

Today’s Baltimore Sun reports on a provision in Maryland’s state budget bill enacted last month that provides a $150,000 grant to support a religious conference that will attract as many as 50,000 visitors to the state. On June 19-23, the National Baptist Convention plans to hold its Congress of Christian Education in Baltimore. Supporters of state funding say that the convention will bring tourism and economic activity to Maryland. The state grant will cover transporting convention attendees from hotels to the Baltimore Convention Center. It supplements $297,500 approved by Baltimore City Council for transportation and venue fees. The legislature stipulated that the state grant was contingent on review by the state attorney general. This week, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. issued an opinion concluding that the state could provide the grant funds without violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

Not everyone agrees that the conference with the theme “The Heavenly Vision: The Message of the Church" can appropriately be funded by the state. Montgomery County Delegate Richard S. Madaleno Jr. said "This is clearly a religious conference that is all about furthering the goals and the mission of one particular denomination. Which they are so welcome to do - but not at the taxpayers' expense." Americans United for Separation of Church and State has issued a statement opposing state funding. Pointing to a planned conference on the challenge to the Baptist faith by cults, AU executive director Rev. Barry W. Lynn told a Baltimore Sun reporter that the state clearly cannot subsidize attacks by one religious group on another.

City Issues Tax-Free Bonds To Finance Church Expansion

A decision earlier this month by the Clarksville Indiana Town Council raises an interesting church-state issue. The Terre Haute Tribune Star yesterday reported that the town agreed to issue $1.5 million in tax-free economic development bonds to finance the expansion of the First Southern Baptist Church of Clarksville. The bonds will finance part of the $2.5 million cost of the church's new Family Life Center that will contain a kitchen, an office suite, educational space and a gymnasium. The Center will not be used for worship services. The town's Economic Development Commission concluded that the new building, which can be utilized by the entire community, will benefit the economy by creating jobs and providing space for community outreach programs.

Special provisions in the Internal Revenue Code permit states and cities to issue bonds that offer tax-exempt interest to investors where the borrowings are used to finance property owned by a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. (For details, see IRS Publication 4077.) The arrangement does not involve using local tax monies for building of the new facility. Instead, the city borrows money from investors, contributes those funds to the construction of the building, and repays investors through payments from the church to the city made over the life of the building.

11th Circuit "Punts" On Textbook Evolution Sticker Case

In the notorious Cobb County, Georgia evolution textbook sticker case, yesterday the 11th Circuit punted. The decision is Selman v. Cobb County School District, (11th Cir., May 25, 2006). In 2001, the Cobb County, Georgia school board ordered stickers placed on their new biology textbooks that contained 101 pages on evolutionary theory. The stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered." A lower court upheld an Establishment Clause challenge (as well as a challenge under the Georgia constitution) and ordered the stickers removed. Now the Court of Appeals has remanded the case for the trial court to hear more evidence and enter new findings so that the Court of Appeals can review "the important constitutional issues" raised by the case.

The trial court's decision handed down last year applied the three-pronged Lemon test to conclude that the school board had acted unconstitutionally. It held that the school board had legitimate secular purposes in adopting the sticker: encouraging students to think critically, and reducing offense to students and parents whose beliefs may conflict with the teaching of evolution. However, the court found that the second prong of the Lemon test doomed the stickers. The school board's actions had the primary effect of advancing religion.

Here is the sentence supporting the conclusion on "effect" that particularly troubled the Court of Appeals: "in light of the sequence of events that led to the Sticker's adoption, the Sticker communicates to those who endorse evolution that they are political outsiders, while the Sticker communicates to the Christian fundamentalists and creationists who pushed for a disclaimer that they are political insiders." The key events were a letter and petition from individuals opposing evolution on religious grounds and pressuring the school board to adopt stickers and other measures to dilute the teaching of evolution. However the trial court record was unclear on whether these key documents in fact were submitted to the board before it made its decision on the stickers, and it does not appear that the key documents were in fact formally entered into evidence at trial.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution yesterday reported that both sides claim to be pleased with the decision. [Thanks to How Appealing via Blog From the Capital for the link to the case.]

Another Indian State Considering Anti-Conversion Law

In India, the state of Chattisgarh this summer may become the eighth Indian state to adopt an anti-conversion bill, according to AsiaNews today. Introduced in the State Assembly at the request of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the bill would require a person wishing to change religion to inform a district magistrate one month in advance. The bill would also prohibit forcible conversion of others. The penalty for violating the law would be a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 rupees and imprisonment up to five years.

Suit Challenges Church's Attempt To Reform Sinners

Today's Dallas (Texas) Morning News reports on a fascinating suit winding it way through Texas state courts. Two individuals, identified only as John Doe and Jane Roe, told the pastor of Dallas' Watermark Community Church about certain sins they had committed, thinking the conversation was confidential. However church officials began a process of "care and correction" that they say is outlined in the Biblical book of Matthew. The process involves confronting the person one to one, and then increasingly going more public with the person's behavior until the person changes his or her conduct. Here Doe refused the private interventions and resigned from the church, but Watermark's bylaws say a member "may not resign from membership in an attempt to avoid such care and correction." As the church was about to send more than a dozen letters to people inside and outside the church who know "John Doe", Doe filed suit for an injunction to prevent the release of private information. At first the court granted a temporary restraining order, but it was dissolved when the church argued that the TRO violated its free exercise rights. Now the case is on appeal.

Indonesia Drops Plan To Remove Religion From ID Cards

Today's Jakarta Post reports that earlier this month, an official of the Indonesian Home Ministry said that consideration was being given to dropping religious identification from the country's national identity cards. Opposition to the move, however, has caused the plan to be shelved at least temporarily. Indonesia recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Others must choose one of these six faiths if they want a valid ID card. Human rights groups have long criticized this requirement as discriminatory.

Home School Official Fears U.N. Convention

LifeSiteNews yesterday reported on a creative legal spectre newly focused upon by the Home School Legal Defense Association. HSLDA Chairman and General Counsel, Michael Farris, warns that "activist judges" may find that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the U.S. has never ratified, is binding nevertheless on the U.S. as customary international law. If that were to happen, he claims, a court might find that the Convention undercuts a parent's right to control the religious education of his children.

Pointing to a in 1995 determination, apparently by the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child, in which "the United Kingdom was deemed out of compliance" with the Convention "because it allowed parents to remove their children from public school sex-education classes without consulting the child", Farris says that, "by the same reasoning, parents would be denied the ability to homeschool their children unless the government first talked with their children and the government decided what was best." Farris suggests that Congress should act by defining customary international law, or by amending the Constitution to protect parental rights or clearly provide that international agreements do not supersede the Constitution.

German Chancellor Wants Religious References In EU Constitution

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged that there should be a reference to God and Christianity in the European Union Constitution, according to a report by EUobserver today. Spain, Italy and Poland had previously taken a similar position on the Constitution that is now on hold after it was rejected by France and Netherlands in referenda last year. Merkel's remarks came as she was about to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today, and as tomorrow European leaders meet in Austria to discuss the next moves that should be taken on the EU Constitution.

Religious Accommodation Claim Against New York Transit Authority Rejected

In Bowles v. New York City Transit Authority, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32914 (SDNY, May 23, 2006), a New York federal district court rejected Title VII, state law, and First Amendment claims by an ordained minister in Fellowship Tabernacle of Christ who was employed as a subway cleaner by the New York Transit system. The court found that plaintiff Warren Bowles had failed to prove the required elements of his claim that NYCTA had failed to accommodate his religious need to abstain from Sunday work. In fact, NYCTA did grant an accommodation after some delay. The court also rejected Bowles' claim that NYCTA had retaliated against him for filing suit to obtain religious accommodation.

Third Circuit Narrows Ministerial Exception In Title VII Cases

Yesterday in Petruska v. Gannon University, (3d Cir., May 24, 2006), the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals expanded the ability of ministerial employees to bring Title VII employment discrimination cases against churches and religious institutions that employ them. In this case, Lynette Petruska, the first female chaplain at Gannon University, a diocesan college, claimed that she was demoted solely because she was a woman. The Court rejected the defendants' claims that the suit should be dismissed under the "ministerial exception" doctrine. It held that the First Amendment exempts religious institutions from Title VII when gender or other illegal discrimination is based on religious belief, religious doctrine or internal church regulations. But if a church discriminates for reasons unrelated to religion, the Constitution does not foreclose a Title VII suit. The court said, "we decline to turn the Free Exercise Clause into a license for the free exercise of discrimination unmoored from religious principle." Judge Smith dissented on this issue.

In holding as it did, the majority disagreed with six other circuits that have found the ministerial exception to be broader. Inside Higher Ed today reports on the case. [Thanks to Eugene Volokh via Religionlaw listserv for the lead.]

South Carolina Bill Will Permit High School Credit For Released Time Courses

The Associated Press reports that yesterday, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow high school students to receive two elective course credits for taking off-campus released-time religion classes that currently they may take only on a non-credit basis. S0148 passed the House by a vote of 94-15. The bill must now go back to the Senate which passed the bill last month in slightly different form.

Hindus Protest Secularization Of Nepal

Nepal's Parliament last week passed a resolution providing that Nepal would no longer formally be known as a Hindu nation, despite a provision in the country's 1990 Constitution providing that it is a Hindu kingdom. (See prior posting.) The Associated Press today reports on protest strikes over the change staged by Hindus, closing down the city of Birgunj, 100 miles south of Katmandu. Last month, protests forced King Gyanendra to give up the powers he seized last year and reinstate Parliament.

San Diego Votes To File Appeal In Mt. Soledad Cross Case

In San Diego, California on Tuesday, city council voted 5-3 to direct city attorney Mike Aguirre to appeal the decision by a federal judge ordering removal of the Mt. Soledad Cross. (See prior posting.) The city faces a $5,000 per day fine if it does not meet the trial judge's 90-day deadline for the removal. Yesterday's Christian Post reports on this development, and on the city attorney's suggestion that perhaps the city could take down the cross, sell the land to the highest bidder, and let that person decide what to do with the land. The new owner might reinstall the cross.

Shooting Of Turkish Judges May Not Have Had Islamist Motivation

The killing of one, and the wounding of four other, Council of State judges in Turkey last week was originally reported as a crime motivated by Islamic religious fanaticism. However, yesterday EurasiaNet reported that Alparslan Arslan, who is accused of carrying out the shooting, seems instead to be an anti-democratic ultra-right wing nationalist. EurasiaNet also reports that Muzaffer Tekin, the individual suspected of masterminding the plot, has ties to organized crime in Turkey.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise/ RLUIPA Cases

In Hernandez v. Schriro, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32294 (D. Ariz., May 18, 2006), an Arizona federal district court denied injunctive relief to a Native American prisoner who claimed that prison officials prevented him from engaging in sweat lodge and pipe ceremonies with a Native American spiritual advisor, and denied him the right to have a headband or wear a medicine bag.

In Larry v. Goetz, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32164 (WD Wis., May 18, 2006), a Wisconsin federal district court found that jail officials adequately responded to a former inmate's request fro a copy of the Quran, but permitted him to proceed with a First Amendment and RLUIPA claim that no Jumah services were available for him.

In Thomas v. Saafir, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32178 (ND Cal., May 11, 2006), a California federal district court permitted a prisoner to proceed with a claim that he was wrongfully barred him from participating in Jumah services.

Pastor Says Jesus Endorsed Florida Gubernatorial Candidate

On Monday, Florida's Christian Family Coalition held a pastor appreciation breakfast in Miami. The 4 Florida gubernatorial candidates were invited to speak. Two showed up, but one of the two clearly got a boost, according to the Associated Press. Rev. O'Neal Dozier, introducing candidate Charlie Crist, said that the Lord Jesus had come to him in a dream two years ago and told him that Crist would be Florida's next governor. Dozier is not without political connections. Present Governor Jeb Bush appointed him to a board that nominates judges in south Florida. [Thanks to AlterNet for the lead.]

Graduation Prayer Continues To Be A Contentious Issue

As this year's high school graduations take place, it is clear that a number of schools are just realizing that scheduling of formal prayers as part of the graduation ceremony creates constitutional problems. After receiving an letter from the ACLU of Kentucky, the Shelby County, Kentucky school board decided to cancel the traditional invocation and benediction that students have given at graduation, as well as the traditional practice of formal prayer at a school banquet and awards ceremony. Today's Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Shelby county residents held a prayer vigil outside the closed school board meeting where the decision was made. The Muslim student in Shelby County who asked for ACLU assistance on the matter says that she understands that student graduation speakers might include prayers in their general remarks at commencement, but says that if they do, she hopes it is a respectful prayer for a religiously diverse audience.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee, according to today's Memphis Commercial Appeal, Dr. Patricia Kilzer, a non-tenured chemistry teacher who was the faculty advisor for a newly-formed student ACLU chapter at Munford High School, was notified that her contract was not being renewed on the same day that the ACLU faxed a letter to the school asking for cancellation of all prayers at Monday's graduation. It is not clear that there is any connection between the two events.

Prayer has apparently been a contentious issue at Munford High School. Kilzer had previously asked the principal not to use the school's broadcasting system to talk about Jesus and religion. When the ACLU sent its letter about prayer, the principal held off approving the speech of the class valedictorian that included references to Jesus until he consulted attorneys for the American Center for Law and Justice. At Munford's graduation ceremonies, in what may now be turning into a standard protest ritual, most of the 286 graduating seniors recited "The Lord's Prayer" when Principal Darry Marshall asked for a moment of silence. School administrators said they knew nothing about the planned recitation.

Pope To Visit Poland Tomorrow

Tomorrow Pope Benedict XVI begins a five day visit to Poland. Benedict, the first German to become Pope since the 11th century, will include in his trip a visit to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp. Benedict as a boy belonged to Hitler Youth when membership was obligatory. (Bloomberg News.) Government television stations in Poland have banned advertisements for "inappropriate products" during the Pope's visit. There will be no ads for lingerie, beer or tampons, and no ads with sexual innuendos, on state TV during his visit. (The Observer.) Yesterday's Chicago Tribune carried a long background article on the continuing strength of Catholicism and the Catholic Church in Poland.

Status of Consular Marriages To Be Heard By Israeli High Court

As several prior postings have discussed (1, 2, 3), in Israel the question of whether the government will recognize civil marriage, or leave a monopoly in the hands of religious authorities, continues to be an important issue. Today's Jerusalem Post reports on a new piece of the issue-- the question of whether the government will recognize "consular marriages". International agreements to which Israel is a party allow couples to be married by the consul of a foreign country if at least one member of the couple is a citizen of that country. However, in 1995, Israel's Foreign Ministry issued an internal memorandum to foreign embassies instructing them to stop performing such marriages. Petitions were filed in the High Court of Justice challenging the memo, but successive governments have managed to delay a hearing for years. Now, a hearing is scheduled for later this summer on whether the Interior Ministry must recognize consular marriages. Israel's religious parties oppose recognition, even if the marriage does not include Jewish partners, fearing that this will eventually lead to mixed marriages in Israel for Jews.

Texas School Removes "In God We Trust" From Coin On Yearbook

School officials sometimes take unusual steps to avoid First Amendment Establishment Clause problems. So it was in Keller, Texas this year according to today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Producers of the Liberty Elementary School 2005-06 yearbook decided to put an enlarged picture of a U.S. nickel on the yearbook's cover. The choice had some logic to it. This was Liberty Elementary's first year, and the new U.S. nickel has the word "Liberty" in its design. But then the school's principal and the PTA board concluded that having the nickel's "In God We Trust" motto prominently displayed "might create an issue with people of several religious faiths". But instead of finding another image for the cover, the school produced the yearbooks with a photo of the nickel that does not include the motto. Then, to further complicate matters, the school included with the yearbooks a sticker that families could use to restore "In God We Trust" to the coin on the book's cover.

Not surprisingly, the school has received some 300 e-mails complaining about the removal of the motto in the first place. Frank Manion, senior lawyer with evangelist Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice, commenting on the school's First Amendment concerns said, "I understand completely that there are areas of this that are nebulous. This isn't one of them." However a Dallas ACLU lawyers said he thought the school had made the correct decision.

San Diego Mayor Presses Feds On Mt. Soledad Cross

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders is is Washington this week pushing for the federal government to take over the Mt. Soledad Cross that a court has ordered removed from public property. (See prior posting.) The San Diego Union-Tribune today reported on the mayor's progress. White House officials have indicated that President Bush is "supportive in concept" with the proposal and "appreciates the importance of the monument". However lawyers from the White House counsel's office say there may be significant legal impediments to carrying out the idea.

Maharishi Plans "World Capital of Peace" In Kansas

USA Today reports today on plans by representatives of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to build a "World Capital of Peace"on over 1000 acres of land the group owns just outside Smith Center, Kansas. The Maharishi is the founder of the transcendental meditation movement. The Kansas location was chosen because it is near the center of the United States. The $15 million project will include a retreat center, buildings for training and meditating, and a broadcast center. Eric Michner, a spokesman for the group, said that 300 "meditators" will use the retreat facility to "create waves of coherence that will benefit everybody in society." The site's central location will allow those waves to spread across the USA, he says. Also affiliated with the Maharishi is the Natural Law Party which was founded in 1992. Its leader, John Hagelin, has run for president three times. Hagelin also heads the U.S. Peace Government that will be headquartered in the proposed World Capital of Peace.

Student Center OKd For Residential Area By Pennsylvania Court

In Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown v. Zoning Hearing Board, (Comwlth. Ct. Pa., May 19, 2006), a Pennsylvania 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 in addition to a chapel it will contain a student lounge, study rooms, a library, a kitchen and dining room, and housing for three monks and their guests. Places of worship may be built in areas zoned as residential, while student centers are not included as permissible uses. News coverage of the decision is in today's (central Pennsylvania) Centre Daily.

Wyoming Grant To Religious Group Questioned

The Wyoming Department of Family Services has awarded an $80,000 grant to Faith Initiatives of Wyoming, according to the Associated Press. The AP article questions whether the state funds are being used unconstitutionally for religious purposes. Wyoming Family Services Director Rodger McDaniel says the payments do not violate Wyoming's constitutional ban on support of religious institutions. Faith Initiatives is to use the state funds to help existing organizations provide community services in areas such as "strengthening families" and "at-risk youth." Faith Initiatives has also received $347,000 in federal faith-based funding. Some of the organizations that Faith Initiatives has helped with funding are religious pregnancy crisis centers.

Greek Jewish Community Wants Equal Recognition

The European Jewish Press reported yesterday that the Central Jewish Board of Greece is asking the Greek government to increase governmental support and recognition of the Jewish community. Moises Constantinis, president of the Board, wants the government pay the salaries of local rabbis just as it pays for Christian priests and Muslim Imams. He also wants the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Metropolite reduced. Currently its permission must be obtained for the building of new synagogues. There are 13 synagogues in Greece, but only 3 hold regular services.