Ballot Measure On Cross In City Seal

In Redlands, California this fall, voters will be called on to cast their ballot on Measure Q, a voter initiative that would amend the municipal code to make official the the city seal used since 1963 that includes in it a cross. The Redlands Daily Facts yesterday reported on the likely challenge that will be raised by the ACLU if the initiative is passed. The Save Redlands' Seal Committee says that the symbol represents the legacy of religion in Redlands, which has sometimes been called the "city of churches." An opposing group, the Redlands Values Coalition, says that using a cross in the logo is intolerant of other faiths, unconstitutional, and fiscally irresponsible because the city would be liable for the ACLU's court costs if it loses in litigation.

ACLU Encourages States To Refuse Abstinence Grants

Today's Washington Times reports that the ACLU is targeting 18 states to encourage them to reject federal funds for "abstinence only" sex education programs in public schools. Among the ACLU's reasons for opposing the programs is their claim that the programs promote religion. Maine announced this week that it will join California and Pennsylvania in rejecting grant money available under Title V of the Social Security Act (42 USC Sec. 710). The Bush administration has proposed increasing the funding for abstinence programs in next year's budget to $206 million.

CA Medical Association Withdraws Original Brief Supporting Doctors' Religious Objections

Oral arguments are scheduled October 11 in a San Diego, California state court of appeals in the case of two doctors who refused because of their religious beliefs to provide artificial insemination to a lesbian. The Associated Press reported yesterday that the California Medical Association which originally filed a brief backing the doctors has now withdrawn its controversial brief, and will file another brief in its place. The Medial Association's Chief Executive, Jack Lewin, said, "it is clear that CMA's policy commitment to oppose any form of invidious discrimination had been so significantly confused and misrepresented, that it was in the best interest of CMA to withdraw the brief." The CMA's new brief says that legal and ethical standards prohibit physicians from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status, but they can refuse to perform certain procedures on religious grounds if they refuse such treatment for all patients.

Court Will Decide Pastor's Claims Against His Former Church

In Duncan v. Peterson, decided Sept. 8, 2005, the Illinois Court of Appeals permitted a pastor to sue his former church that revoked his ordination. Richard Duncan, and Hope Church of which he was pastor, sued Moody Church, its pastor and chairman of its board of elders. They alleged that defendants invaded Duncan's privacy by sending false and misleading letters revoking Duncan's ordination as a minister. They also alleged conspiracy to damage Duncan's reputation. Duncan, who had been ordained by Moody Church, was charged by defendants with financial and personal wrongdoing. The trial court had dismissed the claims based on the doctrine of ecclesiastical abstention. The court of appeals reversed that holding in part, finding that Duncan's claims can be decided without extensive inquiry into religious law and policy.

ACLU Urges Anti-Discrimination Provisions In Head-Start

The House of Representatives is expected to debate today the School Readiness Act of 2005 (H.R. 2123), which would reauthorize the Head Start program. It is expected that some members of Congress will attempt to amend the bill to allow religious organizations that are Head Start providers to hire teachers based on their religious beliefs. (See prior posting.) The ACLU yesterday urged the House of Representatives to oppose any amendments that would repeal current anti-discrimination provisions in the law. In its letter to members of Congress, the ACLU argues that the statute would be unconstitutional if amended to exempt religious organizations from anti-discrimination provisions.

UPDATE: The AP reports that Thursday afternoon, the House, by a vote of 220-196, approved an amendment offered by Rep. John Boehner to provide hiring protections for faith-based Head Start providers. The ADL immediately issued a release criticizing the amendment. It said: "Federally funded religious discrimination is always wrong, and to permit such discrimination in Head Start, an historic anti-poverty program universally acclaimed and present in so many communities across the country, is misguided and dangerous."

Sikhs In French Court Challenging Turban Ban In Schools

The application to Sikhs of France's law banning the wearing of "conspicuous religious symbols" in public schools is now before France's highest court, the Conseil d'Etat. (See prior postings 1, 2). Today's Hindustan Times reports that counsel is arguing that the Sikh turban is not a "conspicuous" religious symbol, but a part of religious practice. If this argument does not succeed, the petitioners plan to go to the European Court of Justice.

Court Upholds License Photo Requirement

In Valov v. Department of Motor Vehicles, (Sept. 20, 2005), a California appellate court rejected free exercise claims under the U.S. and California constitutions raised to the requirement that a driver's license contain a photo of the licensee. Jack Peter Valov is an orthodox member of the Molokan religious faith. He believes that the Biblical prohibition against "graven images" prohibits the photographing of his image.

The Court rejected Valov's First Amendment claim because the photograph requirement is a neutral, generally applicable requirement that is rationally related to achieving the legitimate governmental interests of promoting highway safety, discouraging fraud, and deterring identity theft. In doing so, the Vehicle Code only incidentally burdening Valov's religious beliefs and practices. The Court rejected a free exercise claim under the California Constitution because the photograph requirement was narrowly drawn to achieve compelling and legitimate state purposes.

Student Seeks Right To Read Bible With Friends During Recess

On Monday, the Alliance Defense Fund asked a federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee to issue a preliminary injunction so that 10-year-old student, Luke Whitson, can read and discuss the Bible with his friends during school recess. In its Memorandum supporting its motion (full text), ADF argues that the school is wrong in treating recess as school instructional time for First Amendment purposes. The motion claims that the school is violating the student's First Amendment speech and religion rights and the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, and that permitting the activity during recess does not violate the Establishment Clause.

Catholic Church vs. PSOE Government In Spain

An article posted on Wednesday on the World Socialist Web Site says that the Catholic Church in Spain is using its network of family organizations, Concapa, in a campaign to oust the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government and return the right-wing Popular Party to power. The Church particularly objects to PSOE's policies on education under which Catholic families will retain the right to choose a religious education for their children, but it will be optional. The Church is also opposed to a proposal to allow Islamic clerics to teach religion in schools. Before the Popular Party was defeated in March 2004, it had proposed the Organic Law of Educational Quality (LOCE). LOCE would have reintroduced compulsory religious education for primary and secondary pupils.

ACLU and ADF On Same Side In School Free Exercise Case

The ACLU of New Jersey finds itself, for a change, on the same side of a case as the Alliance Defense Fund. The case (see prior posting) involves the refusal by a Frenchtown, NJ elementary school to allow an eight-year old girl to sing "Awesome God" in an after-school talent show. The New Jersey Express-Times reports that on Monday the ACLU filed a motion to join the case as amicus on behalf of the student, Olivia Turton. ACLU attorney Jennifer Klear said: "Because the school left the choice of songs up to each individual student, no reasonable observer would have believed that the school affirmatively endorsed the content of each student's selection. Therefore it would not constitute a violation of the separation of church and state. Rather, it's an issue of religious freedom." (See ACLU release.)

Romanian Conference On Religious Liberty

The Adventist News Network yesterday reported on a seminar held earlier this month in Romania on "Religious Liberty in the Romanian and European Context." The conference was organized by organized by the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, State Secretariat for Religious Affairs and the National Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty. A new law on religious freedom (full text) is being considered by the Romanian Parliament. At the Conference, Brigham Young University law professor Dr. W. Cole Durham Jr., said that the proposed law promotes religious liberty, but could be improved in its current "multi-tiered" system of religious organizations that gives some groups more prominence than others.

Iraqi Catholic Bishops Want Change In Constitution

At the last minute, the Iraqi Catholic Bishops' Conference is seeking changes in Iraq's draft Constitution. The Catholic News Service reports today that Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly met Iraqi interim President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari Sept. 18 to ask them to remove from the draft the clause providing that laws cannot contradict the undisputed rules of Islam. The Iraqi Bishop's Conference issued a public statement the next day, expressing concern about provisions in the draft Constitution that might lead to discrimination against Christians.

"See You At The Pole" Is Tomorrow, But Is Already In Court

Tomorrow at public schools around the country, students will participate in the annual "See You At the Pole" event. SYATP involves students' gathering at their school flagpoles before classes begin to pray for their leaders, schools, and families. According to the press release for this year's event, over 2 million teenagers participated in last year's programs. This year's theme is "PRAY: call 2 me".

Meanwhile, in Denver, Colorado, a federal judge refused to order a Pueblo, Colorado high school principal to show a video announcing the SYATP rally at his school. According to today's Pueblo Chieftan, a student group called the Fellowship of Christian Bulldogs asked for the 73-second video to be shown during normal school announcements over closed-circuit television. The principal refused because the video called for students to "pray for your school, family, nation and world." The principal, Miguel Elias insisted that references in the video to "prayer" be changed to "event", in order to avoid the school promoting prayer. The student leader of SYATP refused, saying that students who would show up an hour before school for the rally might be offended, not knowing the event was about prayer. However, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock agreed that the principal's position was reasonable. He urged both parties to begin negotiations on how to announce next year's rally.

Justice Department Urges Diplomatic Immunity For Pope

In a pending case in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the United States Department of Justice has filed a "suggestion of immunity", arguing that Pope Benedict XVI enjoys diplomatic immunity as head of state of the Vatican. According to today's Syndey Morning Herald, the filing says that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would be "incompatible with the United States' foreign policy interests". The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit by three boys who allege that a seminarian molested them during counseling sessions in the mid-1990s. The lawyer for the boys says that if the court grants diplomatic immunity, he will challenge the constitutionality of giving diplomatic recognition to the Holy See, claiming that it violates the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.)

The Noah Alliance

On Wednesday, a coalition of Jews and evangelical Christians will announce a coalition to support the Endangered Species Act. A release published yesterday by the Religious News Service reports that the Academy of Evangelical Scientists and Ethicists along with the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life have formed the Noah Alliance. The House Committee on Resources is considering major changes in the Endangered Species Act.

Some Charges Against Macedonian Archbishop Upheld

Last week, Macedonia's Supreme Court acquitted the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the country of two charges, but affirmed his conviction on two others, upholding the 18-month jail sentence he is serving. According to Forum 18 today, Archbishop Jovan (Vranisskovski) of Ohrid. The Archbishop was acquitted of charges of holding a religious service in his father's apartment and being present at the consecration of two bishops in Serbia in 2003. But his conviction for inciting national and religious hatred by becoming exarch of the Ohrid Archbishopric, and for having church calendars were affirmed. The calendars were booklets containing holy dates, prayers and saints' pictures. After prior acquittals, he now faces a new trial on charges of embezzlement, which he alleges was merely depositing foreign funds under his name because the Church was not allowed to hold foreign currency.

Law and Religion Scholarship Recently Published

New law review articles of interest from this week's SmartCILP:
Tawia Ansah, A Terrible Purity: International Law, Morality, Religion, Exclusion, 38 Cornell Int'l. Law Jour. 9-70 (2005).

Justus Reid Weiner, Palestinian Christians: Equal Citizens or Oppressed Minority In a Future Palestinian State, 7 Oregon Review of Int'l. Law 26-222 (2005).

Also just out is Vol. 3, No. 1 of the UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law (2003-04). Included in it are: Anver M. Emon, Toward a Natural Law Theory in Islamic Law: Muslim Juristic Debates on Reason As a Source of Obligation; and Andrew Grossman, "Islamic Land": Group Rights, National Identity and Law.

Newly posted on SSRN:
David E. Guinn, Religion In the Public Square: The Debate, forthcoming in The Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties.

Malaysia Court Rejects Reflecting Conversion On Identity Card

In Putrajaya, Malaysia, an appellate court has rejected an application to remove "Islam" from the identity card of a woman who says she has accepted the Christian faith. Bernama reports today on the 2-1 decision which held that her renunciation of Islam had not been confirmed by a Sharia court or any other Islamic religious authority.

Mass. Governor Urges Mosque Wiretapping

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney spoke to the Heritage Foundation on Homeland Security: Status of Federal, State and Local Efforts (webcast of speech). The Fitchburg, Massachusetts Sentinel today reports on some particularly controversial comments he made regarding surveillance of mosques:

How about people in settings, mosques for instance, that may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror? Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping? Are we following what's going on? Are we seeing who's coming in? Are we seeing who's coming out? Are we eavesdropping, carrying out surveillance on those individuals from places that sponsor domestic terror?

The Anti-Arab Discrimination Committee has called on Romney to repudiate his remarks, but the Governor has refused to do so.

Jewish Naval Academy Chapel Dedicated; Catholic League Issues Equivocal Press Release

Yesterday at the U.S. Naval Academy, a Jewish chapel was dedicated. The Washington Post reported Saturday that now, for the first time, Jewish midshipmen will have their own place to hold religious services. The other service academies already have chapels for their Jewish students. The new building is named after Uriah P. Levy, a naval officer during the War of 1812, who was court-martialed because of conflicts with fellow officers over their anti-Semitic insults.

Last Thursday, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights issued a somewhat equivocal press release on the topic. While applauding the building of the chapel, it noted that traditional civil liberties groups have not objected to the spending of federal funds on it, while they routinely object to the spending of federal funds for classroom materials for Catholic schools. Catholic League president William Donohue concluded the release with the following rather oversimplified criticism of current First Amendment doctrines: "In other words, prayer rugs can be purchased with federal funds to accommodate suspected Muslim terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, and Jewish chapels can be built with federal monies, but Christian kids can’t sing 'Silent Night' in the classroom. Got it everyone?"