Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
VA High Court Approves Tax Exemption For Upscale Retirement Community
Tax Incentives By Tennessee County For Bible Park Questioned
Friday, October 31, 2008
Vermont Candidate Places Anti-Semitic Statements In State Voters' Guide
Are any of the people, in charge of organizations holding candidate forums and debates, Jewish? Some Jews allegedly discriminate against Disabled Vermonters. Some Jewish Doctors, Social Workers, Police, and Housing Authority Administrators allegedly "talk down" to Disabled People.... Jews have no right to impose their religious Law of discrimination against Disabled People when they receive state and/or federal funding for Police, Housing Authority, Medicaid, Medicare, and organizations holding candidate debates and forums.Before publishing this year's booklet, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz asked Vermont's attorney general whether she could edit out the offending statements. She was told that the law authorizing the publication, as well as First Amendment speech protections, preclude editing of candidates' statements.
For Halloween, British Government Asked To Pardon 16th to 18th Century Witches
AU Asks IRS To Investigate NC Baptist Convention Speech By Michelle Obama
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Las Cruces Lawsuit Ends
Arizona Supreme Court Will Review School Voucher Decision
Israel Supreme Court Permits Museum Construction Over Old Muslim Cemetery
Three Algerian Christians Acquitted
Religion Remains Important In This Year's Political Campaigns
The electorate has become part of the conversation. Catholic News Service yesterday reported on a 58-page booklet authored by Boston physician, Dr. Patrick Whelan, titled The Catholic Case for Obama.
In North Carolina, a different kind of argument over religion is playing out in the heated U.S. Senatorial campaign. Fox News yesterday reported that incumbent Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole is accusing her Democratic challenger, Kay Hagan, of of attending a "secret fundraiser" sponsored by the Godless Americans PAC. The ad (YouTube video) says of Hagan: "She hid from cameras. Took godless money. What did Kay Hagan promise in return?" Hagan has demanded that Dole take down the ad, but the Dole campaign says the ad will remain.
UPDATE: Here is Kay Hagan's ad respoonding to Dole's charges. And the AP reported that on Wednesday Hagan filed a lawsuit in Wake County (NC) Superior Court accusing Dole of defamation and libel, charging that Dole's ad is injuring Hagan's good name and reputation.
Three Lawsuits of Interest Are Settled
In Pennsylvania, Shippensburg University has agreed to change its rules in order to settle a lawsuit by a student group, the Christian Fellowship. In February, student senate invoked university rules to object to the group's requirement that its members be Christians and its president to be a man. Tuesday's Christian Post reports that a similar lawsuit was settled in 2004. (See prior related posting.)
In Wyandot County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court, members of the St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Salem Township, whose rural Ohio church was closed by the diocese, filed suit in 2006 to obtain control of the parish's funds and property. Yesterday's Toledo Blade reports that a settlement agreement has been reached under which the church building, meeting hall, and related property will be transferred to the non-profit St. Joseph-Salem Heritage Society which was formed by ex-parishioners to preserve the parish's history. The agreement places some restrictions on the Society's future use of the buildings.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
International Catholic Group Issues Report On Religious Freedom
ACN's Oct. 29 press release on the report says that religious worship is under attack in more than 60 countries. It concludes: "violations of freedom of worship take place increasingly less for ideological reasons and increasingly more often because of power games. The attempt to stop religious freedom is addressed above all at impoverishing States, maintaining the population in conditions of slavery. In other nations ... such as for example China, fear of opening to freedom of worship coincides with the fear of encouraging other freedoms."
The organization has also issued a shorter report (112 pages) titled Persecuted and Forgotten?, focusing on religious persecution in 30 countries.
11th Circuit Upholds County Legislative Prayers With Sectarian References
The appellate court, however, agreed with the district court that the prayer policy of the Planning Commission during 2003-04 was unconstitutional because it excluded certain faiths from the list of potential invitees. It agreed that nominal damages could be awarded for the violation. The majority opinion was written by Judge William Pryor who, before joining the court, was attorney general of Alabama. In that role he was part of a high profile church-state controversy involving the removal of Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore.
Judge Middlebrooks dissenting argued that the prayer policies of the county violate the Lemon test because they have both a religious purpose and effect and involve excessive entanglement of the state with religion. He argued further that the Marsh exception for legislative prayer should be limited to "invocations before the United States Congress and the state legislatures." He added:
I concur with the majority that judges, as representatives of the government, have no business editing or evaluating the content of prayer. However, I also believe that sponsorship of prayer by these commissions presents a similar, although less direct, danger. When state sponsored prayer is a perfunctory and sterile exercise marking the beginning of a commission agenda, religion becomes the casualty.Americans United issued a press release criticizing the decision. Yesterday's Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer reported on the decision. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]
RLUIPA Does Not Protect Church Against Watershed Ordinance Restrictions
NY High Court Upholds Rules On Free Water For Churches
First Execution by Shariah Court In Somalian Port City Carried Out
City Sued Over National Day of Prayer Observance
Court Holds Ministerial Exception Inapplicable To Quaker Directorship Positions
A Pennsylvania federal district court rejected AFSC's assertion of the "ministerial exception" as a defense in the lawsuit. First it found that defendant had waived the defense. However, even if it was not waived, the exception would not apply because the positions at issue were not pastoral or ministerial in nature. The court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment, holding that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to find that the reasons given for not hiring plaintiff were pretextual.
Appeal to 9th Circuit Filed In Arizona Town Sign Ordinance Case
Pope Speaks On Separation of Church and State
The Catholic Church is eager to share the richness of the Gospel's social message.... She carries out this mission fully aware of the respective autonomy and competence of Church and State. Indeed, we may say that the distinction between religion and politics is a specific achievement of Christianity and one of its fundamental historical and cultural contributions.
The Church is equally convinced that State and religion are called to support each other as they together serve the personal and social well-being of all. This harmonious cooperation between Church and State requires ecclesial and civic leaders to carry out their public duties with undaunted concern for the common good.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Legal Charges Against Anti-Scientology Group Members
Real Estate Agents Increasingly Use Faith Advertising
Court Rejects Challenge To Sikh Temple Election
Exclusion of Juror Wearing Dreadlocks Held Impermissible Under Batson
Fordham's Award To Justice Breyer Protested Because of His Abortion Votes
McCain Campaign In Nevada Handing Out Christian Voter Guides
FBI Releases 2007 Hate Crime Statistics
Monday, October 27, 2008
Conservative Religious Groups Working In Favor of California's Marriage Amendment
Group Urges Changes On 10th Anniversary of International Religious Freedom Act
UPDATE: To mark the anniversary, Pew Forum carries an interview with Allen Hertzke, author of a 2004 book on the birth and development of the international religious freedom movement, Freeing God's Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights.· Create ongoing program funding within the Office of International Religious Freedom to support deserving local organizations that monitor religious freedom abuses in their countries.
· Strengthen the role of the Office of International Religious Freedom in the State Department by having it report directly to the Secretary as was congressional intent, rather than remaining under the rubric of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
· Ensure the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom enjoys the full diplomatic and negotiating privileges of his rank, and has a more central role in shaping U.S. foreign policy, as called for in the act.
· Follow the recommendations of the act by naming a director-level individual in the National Security Council to oversee strategic religious liberty issues within the White House.
· Allow the federal U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to dissolve as scheduled in 2011, and hold in the meantime a Congressional oversight hearing to assess its performance.
Florida Church Ordered To Permit Member Inspection of Records
Israel's High Court Says Saturday Fencing Matches Discriminate Against Athlete
Recent Articles Of Interest
- Paolo Farah, The Influence of Confucianism on the Construction of the Chinese Political and Juridical System, in IDENTITA EUROPEA E POLITICHE MIGRATORIE, Giovanni Bombelli and Bruno Montanari, eds., pp. 193-226, (Vita e Pensiero, pp. 193-226, 2008).
- Christine Chambers Goodman, Beneath the Veil: Corollaries on Diversity and Critical Mass Scholarships from Rawls' Original Position on Justice, (Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2007.)
- Paul Horwitz, Churches as First Amendment Institutions: Of Sovereignty and Spheres, (Harvard Civil Rights- Civil Liberties Law Review, Forthcoming.)
From SmartCILP:
- Jose A. Lindgren Alves, Race and Religion in the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 42 University of South Florida Law Review 941-982 (2008).
- Virginia Hancock, "No-self" at Trial: How to Reconcile Punishing the Khmer Rouge for Crimes Against Humanity With Cambodian Buddhist Principles, 26 Wisconsin International Law Journal 87-129 (2008).
Teacher's ADA Claim Dismissed Under Ministerial Exception
Converts Not Complying With Indian State's Conversion Law
Recently Available Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Terrell v. Montalbano, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84260 (WD VA, Oct. 21, 2008), a Muslim prisoner complained that prison officials denied him a religious diet for six months so they could evaluate the sincerity of his religious beliefs. A Virginia federal district court dismissed plaintiff's First Amendment challenge to this, but permitted him to move ahead with his RLUIPA challenge.
In Morris v. Newland, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71875 (ED CA, Sept. 22, 2008), a California federal district court adopted recommendations of a federal magistrate (2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84506)and dismissed free exercise and RLUIPA claim by a Muslim prisoner who objected that he was required to expose his naked body to female correctional officers. The court found that plaintiff's history of administrative discipline for inappropriate sexual behavior in the presence of female correctional officers defeated his claim.
In Martin v. Roche, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84603 (D CA, Sept. 8, 2008), a California federal magistrate judge rejected a claim by a Muslim inmate that his free exercise rights were violated when prison authorities denied him a copy of the Quran and a religious diet when he was placed in administrative segregation.
In Horacek v. Burnett, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84903 (ED MI, Aug. 19, 2008), a Michigan federal magistrate judge recommended that a Jewish prisoner be permitted to move to trial with most of his free Exercise, RLUIPA and infliction of emotional distress claims growing out of authorities' refusal to permit him to enter the Department of Corrections kosher meal program.
In Subil v. Sheriff of Porter County, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85499 (ND IN, Oct. 22, 2008), a Jewish prisoner claimed that various restrictions infringed his rights under RLUIPA and the first amendment. An Indiana federal district court rejected his challenge to limitations on possessing certain religious items. While it found some merit in his complaint about access to a kosher diet and sabbath observance, it held that plaintiff could not get injunctive relief since he was no longer held in the jail about which he complained, and that he could recover only nominal damages for the violations if he ultimately succeeds.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Report Appears To Clear Three Baha'is Imprisoned In Iran
Preliminary Agreement Reached In Atlanta Church Zoning Case
Canadian Court Rejects Anti-Abortion Tax Protester's Defense
Tanzanian Christians Say Move To Join OIC Violates Constitution
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Georgia Court Says Free Exercise Objection to Evidence Not Preserved For Appeal
Jury Finds No Fraud In Assertion Behind Episcopal Priest's Removal
Utah AG Candidates Say Voters Want To Know Their Stands On Polygamy
Court Dismisses Title VII Claim By Pastor Against Catholic Archdiocese
IRS Asked To Investigate Anti-Obama Letter From Bishop
Friday, October 24, 2008
Venezuelan President Meets With Russian Orthodox Official
Suit Against Oral Roberts University Settled
En Banc Review Denied In Las Cruces Case
Bangladesh Islamist Party Changes Charter To Qualify For Registration
NY Diocese Gets Property of Break-Away Episcopal Parish
Dominican Republic High Court Upholds Country's Concordat With Vatican
Florida Supreme Court Rejects "False Light" Claims In Jews For Jesus Case
Religious Education Program In Israel's Military Questioned
Cert. Filed In City Council Sectarian Prayer Case
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Green Bay Opts For Secular Holiday Displays This Year
India Law Commission Urges Changes In Marriage Laws
This month the Law Commission also issued another report, Laws on Registration of Marriage and Divorce – A Proposal for Consolidation and Reform, that would require registration of all marriages and divorces regardless of the religion of the parties. IndLaw News summarizes the report.
Turkey High Court's Headscarf Opinions Published
Jordanian Poet Charged With Insulting Islam and Quran
Pennsylvania School District Sued Over Restrictive Flyer Policy
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Complaint To IRS Focuses On Unusual Political Endorsement By Church
Rock Christian Fellowship ... has posted two large photos on its building. One depicts an aborted fetus and has underneath it three last names of Democratic candidates: Obama, Udall and Lujan.... The other photo is of a healthy baby and has below it three last names of Republican candidates: McCain, Pearce and East..... The photo of the healthy baby is headlined "Life." Below the display are the words "YOU WILL DECIDE."AU calls the photos a "stunt" and says that they violate tax code limitations on political involvement by 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. The New Mexican last week carried a story on the church's challenge to the ban on political activities, accompanied by photos of the display.
Westhampton Eruv Supporters File Arguments In Response To Opposition
Whether judged under the Lemon test or the endorsement test ... there is a secular purpose-allowing observant Jews to carry and push babycarriages and wheelchairs to the park or to the homes of friends . It does not advance any particular religion since it would not impose the Jewish religion on any other residents and ... the Village has taken action to accommodate the religious beliefs of other Village residents . Finally, there will be no entanglement since no further government approvals are necessary and the eruv will be constructed and maintained with no expenditure of public funds . Similarly, under the endorsement test ..., no reasonable observer would conclude that by issuing the proclamation, the Trustees are endorsing the practices of Orthodox Jews.The letter further argues that refusing a petition to issue a proclamation validating the eruv would be a violation of the free exercise rights of members of the Hampton Synagogue. Hamptons.com yesterday reported on the synagogue's letter to Village trustees.
Cert. Filed In Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross Case
UPDATE: Here is the full text of the petition for certiorari, thanks to Inverse Condemnation blog.
Death Sentence For Journalism Student Reduced to 20 Years By Afghan Court
CNN Interviews Muslim-Americans On Upcoming Election
Court Says Loyalist Members of Episcopal Parish Are Proper Board of Governors
Monday, October 20, 2008
Iowa Christian Group Wants Information On Judges' Worldview
Taliban In Afghanistan Kill Aid Worker, Charging Christian Proselytizing
Rector's Suit Against Bishop Opens In Pennsylvania Today
Meanwhile Bennison himself is facing possible removal on charges that 30 years ago he failed to take action and concealed information when his older brother John--then a youth minister-- sexually abused a teenage girl in his parish. [Thanks to James Maule via Religionlaw for the lead.]
UPDATE: As the trial reached its third day on Wednesday, Bennison's lawyers asked the court to dismiss the case on First Amendment grounds. Judge Joseph Smyth who is presiding at trial said that perhaps the case does not belong in civil court, but decided that he should honor the rulings to the contrary by Judge Thomas Branca and complete the trial. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Smyth said he anticipated important appellate issues would be raised.
Muslim Lawsuits Speed Up Processing of Citizenship Applications
British and Moroccan Agencies Impose Religious Tests On Adoptive Parents
Recent Articles and Books of Interest
- Saadiah Mohamad, Islamic Hedging: Gambling or Risk Management?, (August 27, 2008).
- Penelope Andrews, Who's Afraid of Polygamy? Exploring the Boundaries of Family, Equality and Custom in South Africa, (Utah Law Review, 2009).
- Joseph Vining, Is There an Implicit Theology in the Practice of Ordinary Law?, (Mercer Law Review Vol. 53, No. 3, Oct. 2008).
- Kenneth L. Marcus, Privileging and Protecting Schoolhouse Religion, (Journal of Law and Education, 2008).
- Rod Dixon, Pledging to God While Getting a Public Education: Why a Wall of Separation Divides Ceremonial Celebration from Religious Indoctrination: Elk Grove Unified School District V. Newdow and the Right of Parental Privacy, (October 13, 2008).
- Ann Piccard, Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: Unconstitutional Delegations of Executive Power, (Oct. 13, 2008).
From SmartCILP:
- Steven Wilf, The Ten Commandments Cases: A View from Within, (40 Connecticut Law Review 1329-1345, 2008).
- 25th Anniversary Issue. Islamic Law in a Globalized World: Implications for Contemporary Finance Law. Introduction by Faiza Soniya Yunus; articles by Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, Scheherazade S. Rehman, Mohammad H. Fadel, Michael J. T. McMillen, Hikmahanto Juwana, Yeni Salma Barlinti, Yetty Komalasari Dewi and Walid Hegazy. (25 Wisconsin International Law Journal 605-835 (2008)).
Recent Books:
- Mark A. Noll, God and Race in American Politics: A Short History, (Princeton Univ. Press, 2008), reviewed in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Michael Bachelard, Behind the Exclusive Brethren, (Scribe Publications, Oct. 2008), reviewed by GayNZ.com.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Times Reports On China's Increasing Restrictions On Muslim Uighurs
Official versions of the Koran are the only legal ones. Imams may not teach the Koran in private, and studying Arabic is allowed only at special government schools.... Students and government workers are compelled to eat during Ramadan, and the passports of Uighurs have been confiscated across Xinjiang to force them to join government-run hajj tours rather than travel illegally to Mecca on their own. Government workers are not permitted to practice Islam, which means the slightest sign of devotion, a head scarf on a woman, for example, could lead to a firing.The government justifies the particularly strict regulation as an attempt to prevent destabilization of the region by forces of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism. Other media have previously published similar reports. (See prior posting.)
Michigan Court Upholds Social Security Number Requirement For Drivers License
In an interesting footnote, however ,the court rejected the state's alternative argument that it has a compelling interest in obtaining the federal funding that is available only if it complies with CSEPA. The court said: "It would indeed be troubling to conclude that Michigan can, without state constitutional ramifications, effectively burden a citizen's free exercise of religion, or any constitutional right, if sufficient monies are thrown in its direction by the federal government."
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Vann v. Hernandez, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80272 (ED CA, Oct. 6, 2008), a California federal magistrate judge recommended that an inmate be permitted to proceed with his claims that correctional officers used excessive force against him and trashed his cell at least in part because he is Jewish, and that they retaliated against him based on his religion. However the court found no allegations supporting a free exercise claim.
In Torres v. Snyder, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80749 (ED CA, Sept. 23, 2008), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed for lack of supporting factual allegations a free exercise claim brought by a prisoner who complained that correctional staff refused to believe that he is white.
In Moro v. Winsor, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71705 (SD IL, Sept. 22, 2008), an Illinois federal district court accepted in part and rejected in part a magistrate's recommendations (2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82525, Aug. 5, 2008) in a case brought by a Gnostic Catholic prisoner. Plaintiff alleged delays in receiving religious materials, denial of the opportunity to gather in the chapel or on religious feast days, and prohibition of certain religious items, as well as other violations. The court found that issues of fact remain for determination in plaintiff's free exercise and RLUIPA claims against certain of the defendants, and that some claims for injunctive relief are not moot even though he has been moved to a different facility.
Complaints Aired Over Ban on Teachers At "See You At the Pole"
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Alabama School Board Seeks To Fend Off Litigious Preacher
California's Proposition 8 Pushed By Religious Groups, Especially Mormons
Proposition 8 has exploded into the most expensive, extensive gay-marriage battle ever. The forces pushing it include all the Mormons who've made individual campaign donations totaling more than $9 million (more than 40 percent of the war chest...). Conservative Catholics, including the Knights of Columbus, have kicked in more than $1 million. Other notable backers include Dobson's Focus on the Family (about $500,000), a wealthy board member of that group ($450,000), an Orthodox Jewish group based in New York City, evangelical groups from all over, miscellaneous Baptists and Muslims and Sikhs, the National Organization for Marriage (about $950,000), the American Family Association ($500,000), a couple of right-wing foundations ($1.5 million), and countless Republicans who don't necessarily belong to any of the other groups.
Louisiana Governor Criticized For State Travel To Worship In Various Churches
Justice Department 2007 Memo Says RFRA Trumps Non-Discrimination Law
In the memo, OLC concluded that requiring World Vision to comply with the JJDPA nondiscrimination provision would substantially burden its religious exercise, and enforcing the religious nondiscrimination provision would not further a compelling governmental interest. Some civil rights groups took strong exception to the newly released memo. ACLU senior legislative counsel Christopher E. Anders called it "the church-state equivalent of the torture memos."
Vietnam Official Wants Hanoi Archbishop Ousted
Vatican Issues Commentary on Religion and Government
[This] means: "Give to Caesar what God himself wants to be given to Caesar." ... We are not divided between two loyalties; we are not forced to serve "two masters." The Christian is free to obey the state, but he is also free to resist the state when it goes against God and his law.... [Y]ou must first obey God and your own conscience....
Paying appropriately levied taxes is for the Christian ... a duty of justice and therefore an obligation of conscience.... The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" reminds us that tax evasion, when it reaches certain proportions, is a mortal sin.... It is stealing ... from the community, that is, from everyone. Naturally, this supposes that the state is just and equitable in imposing taxes.
Christian cooperation in building a just and peaceful society does not stop at paying taxes; it must also extend itself to the promotion of common values such as the family, the defense of life, solidarity with the poor, peace. There is also another sphere in which Christians must make a contribution to politics.... Christians must help to remove the poison from the climate of contentiousness in politics, bring back greater respect, composure and dignity to relationships between parties....