Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Saudi Religious Police Ban Sale of Dogs and Cats
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Mandatory Boy Scout Membership Presentation Is Not Discriminatory
Challenge To IL Requirement On Dispensing of Contraceptives Moves Ahead
In Menges v. Blagojevich, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63671 (CD IL, Sept. 6, 2006), the court held that plaintiffs alleged sufficient facts to possibly show that Illinois' rule is not a neutral rule of general applicability. The court held that the case should move to trial. Plaintiffs claim that the Illinois rule was targeted at pharmacists to force them to either surrender their religious beliefs or else leave the practice of pharmacy, and thus the rule is subject to strict scrutiny review by the court. The court held that plaintiffs’ pleadings also adequately raise the issue of whether the Illinois rule was inconsistent with Title VII of the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act. The court however dismissed Walgreens request for a declaratory judgment that its prior pharmacist referral policy complies with Title VII and the Illinois pharmacy rules.
The Associated Press yesterday discussed the decision, as did Blog from the Capital.
Pro-Life Minister's Suit To Protect Protest Rights Moves Forward
Hindu Temple In India Wants Its Own Township
Cobb County Invocations OK; But Not Planning Comm'n. Choice Of Clergy
However in a parallel challenge to the invocation policy of the Cobb County Planning Commission, the court found that its policies in 2003-04 for selecting individuals to deliver invocations did violate the Establishment Clause. "[C]ertain faiths were categorically excluded from the list of prospective speakers based on the content of their faith."
Today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution discusses the decision.
UPDATE: The opinion is now available on LEXIS at 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64294 (ND GA, Sept. 8, 2006),
California Mayor Sees Christian-Shiite Spiritual War
Murray says he distinguishes between "mainstream" practitioners of Islam, and Shiites. He says, "Since the Crusades, there's been a spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of people. I think it's a historical reality, and the rubber's meeting the road again. Either the Judeo-Christian philosophy will survive or the Islamic philosophy will survive." Mayor Murray says the noontime event was not about government sponsorship of religion; rather it was about free speech by individual officials. Murray’s remarks apparently included allegations that Shiites believe that it is acceptable to lie, cheat, steal and kill, as long as it ultimately glorifies Allah. He added: "Folks, they're not like us. They're not like us at all, and for them, their war has been going on for 1,200 years."
UPDATE: Sacramento-area Muslims are asking for an apology from Mayor Murray. (Associated Press, Sept. 11).
Friday, September 08, 2006
2005 Bankruptcy Law Makes Charitable Giving Difficult For Debtors
Evangelicals And American Foreign Policy
The full article is definitely worth reading.The three contemporary streams of American Protestantism (fundamentalist, liberal, and evangelical) lead to very different ideas about what the country's role in the world should be. In this context, the most important differences have to do with the degree to which each promotes optimism about the possibilities for a stable, peaceful, and enlightened international order and the importance each places on the difference between believers and nonbelievers. In a nutshell, fundamentalists are deeply pessimistic about the prospects for world order and see an unbridgeable divide between believers and nonbelievers. Liberals are optimistic about the prospects for world order and see little difference between Christians and nonbelievers. And evangelicals stand somewhere in between these extremes....
Evangelicals are likely to focus more on U.S. exceptionalism than liberals would like, and they are likely to care more about the morality of U.S. foreign policy than most realists prefer. But evangelical power is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and those concerned about U.S. foreign policy would do well to reach out. As more evangelical leaders acquire firsthand experience in foreign policy, they are likely to provide something now sadly lacking in the world of U.S. foreign policy: a trusted group of experts, well versed in the nuances and dilemmas of the international situation, who are able to persuade large numbers of Americans to support the complex and counterintuitive policies that are sometimes necessary in this wicked and frustrating -- or, dare one say it, fallen -- world.
7th Circuit Hears Arguments In Indiana Legislative Prayer Case
House Committee Approves Public Expression of Religion Act
UPDATE: The vote in the House Judiciary Committee to approve the bill was 7-5, along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats against. (Associated Baptist Press.)
Secular Coalition Rates Congress Members' Voting Records
Storefront Churches and Decaying Downtowns A Municipal Worry
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Cayman Officials Kept In Dark By UK Over Human Rights Convention Applicability
Elementary School Enjoined In Gideon Bible Distribution
The suit was originally filed to challenge the school board's decision to permit the Gideons to distribute Bibles in the classroom to fifth graders. While the litigation was pending, the school board adopted a new policy that permitted distribution of any kind of literature, including Bibles, to students in any grade, on 48 hours notice, with distribution being limited to the hallway in front of the administrative offices and the cafeteria area during limited time periods.
National Days Of Prayer For 9/11 Anniversary Proclaimed
The Proclamation concludes with this request: "I ask that the people of the United States and their places of worship mark these National Days of Prayer and Remembrance with memorial services, the ringing of bells, and evening candlelight remembrance vigils. I also invite the people of the world to share in these Days of Prayer and Remembrance."
2nd Circuit Holds Evangelicals Not "Vulnerable Victims" In Fraud Case
The trial court used that finding to enhance the offense by two levels, as permitted by U.S.S.G. § 3A1.1(b). However, the Second Circuit held:
While we recognize that a fraud grounded in religious themes may pose an especially effective threat, ... membership in religious groups cannot, standing alone, make victims "vulnerable" for purposes of the enhancement, even where a fraud involves reliance on religious themes or imagery.... We have no reason to believe that evangelical Christians as a class are "unusually susceptible" to fraud.An Associated Press report yesterday gives additional background on the case.
Abortion Protesters Claim Arrests Violate Their Religious Freedom
3rd Circuit Backs Away From Its Narrow Interpretation of Title VII Ministerial Exception
Today's Inside Higher Education reports on the decision.