The issue of involvement by churches in political campaigns continues to attract attention. American Atheists yesterday issued a Press Release criticizing Tennessee Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, Harold Ford, Jr., for filming an ad in a Baptist Church. It said that using the church as a backdrop "sends a 'divisive' message and is 'religionizing' important public policy issues."
Meanwhile, Americans United For Separation of Church and State announced a national campaign to alert churches to the requirements of the federal tax law that prohibit them from taking sides in partisan political campaigns. The letter was sent to 117,000 churches in eleven states, in reaction to efforts by those on the religious right to mobilize churches on behalf of conservative Republican candidates. In a news conference yesterday, AU executive director, Rev. Barry W. Lynn, particularly criticized the political efforts of Dr. James Dobson's organization, Focus on the Family.
Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Virginia Senator Reacts Angrily To Suggestion Of Jewish Roots
The Washington Post reports on an unusual exchange between a reporter and Republican U.S. Senator George Allen in a debate yesterday between Allen and his challenger in the November election, Democrat Jim Webb. Last week, the Forward (a Jewish newspaper) reported that Senator Allen, a practicing Presbyterian, has Jewish roots. It said his Tunisian-born mother comes from a Sephardic Jewish family. In yesterday's debate, according to the Post, when a reporter asked Allen about this:
UPDATE: The New York Times reports that on Tuesday, Sen. Allen issued a statement confirming his Jewish ancestry, saying "I embrace and take great pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage..."
Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant," Allen said, furiously. "Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?"Allen also lectured the reporter about the importance of "not making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs." In the past, Allen has denied that his mother was Jewish, but has said that his grandfather was incarcerated by the Nazis in World War II.
UPDATE: The New York Times reports that on Tuesday, Sen. Allen issued a statement confirming his Jewish ancestry, saying "I embrace and take great pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage..."
Judge Reprimanded For Ordering Probationer To Church
The Florida Supreme Court yesterday reprimanded state Circuit Judge Richard Albritton Jr. for 14 ethics violations, including ordering a probationer to go to church, even though Albritton knew that the order was unconstitutional. The Associated Press reports that the reprimand was agreed to by Albritton after it became clear that he would be running unopposed for re-election in November.
Suit To Challenge Arizona Tax Credit For Tuition Grant Contributions
The Arizona School Boards Association and the ACLU of Arizona plan to file a lawsuit today challenging S.B. 1499, Arizona's new tax credit for corporate contributions to groups that award private school scholarships to low-income students. (See prior posting.) According to the Associated Press, critics are concerned that the tax credits will divert funds from public schools. The court challenge will apparently focus on whether the tax credits violate state constitutional provisions prohibiting public funding for religious schools and requiring that the state provide a general and uniform public school system. In 1999, in Kotterman v. Killian, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a similar tax credit for contributions by individuals. A federal constitutional challenge to the individual tax credit is currently before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
India's Supreme Court Stays Ban On Haj Subsidy
On Monday, according to The Hindu, the Supreme Court of India stayed a temporary restraining order that had been issued in August by the Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh prohibiting the state's government from granting subsidies to Haj pilgrims. The Supreme Court emphasized that because the Haj was underway, it would be too disruptive to stop subsidies for this year. Reducing the number of Indian Muslims attending would adversely affect the number of places Indians could obtain for the Haj in the future. However the Supreme Court expressed concern that a subsidy was being given only to pilgrims of one faith and ordered the Allahabad High Court to decide the challenge to Haj subsidies on the merits before next year's Haj. (See prior posting.)
Supreme Court To Screen Cert Petitions Next Week
Next Monday, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will meet to screen over one thousand petitions for certiorari that have been filed. Constitutionally Correct last week posted a listing of pending cert. petitions in areas of interest to the Alliance Defense Fund, including free exercise and establishment clause cases.
Monday, September 18, 2006
DA Under Investigation For Legal and Spiritual Advice To Prisoner
A Tennessee District Attorney, Bill Gibson, is under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the state Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility because of a deeply religious two-year exchange of letters with a murderer he helped prosecute. Today's Tennessean reports that in the letters Gibson offered convicted murderer Christopher Adams both legal and spiritual advice. Gibson argued to the state Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility that prosecutors are "referred to in the case law as 'ministers of justice,' with a higher responsibility than merely seeking criminal convictions."
California Church May Resist IRS Summons
Last year it was announced that the Internal Revenue Service was investigating All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, over whether an antiwar sermon, delivered two days before the 2004 presidential election, by guest speaker Rev. George F. Regas went beyond permissible bounds for a tax-exempt organization. Last Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times, the IRS issued a summons to the church demanding that it produce extensive information regarding Rev. Regas' appearance at the church, church policies regarding guest preachers, as well as all written and oral communications from or distributed at the church in 2004 that identify candidates for public office (other than mention of individuals in traditional prayers). The formal summons was a reformulation of broader requests that had been in an earlier letter from the IRS, to which the Church had objected.
The Church has issued a Release regarding the summons and another one that ordered the church's rector, Rev. Ed Bacon, to appear before the IRS in October. In a sermon yesterday to an overflow congregation, Bacon said: "Our faith mandates that always stopping short of endorsing or opposing political candidates, the church can neither be silent nor indifferent when there are public policies causing detriment to the least of these." Bacon said that he would consult with attorneys, but that he felt most congregants wanted to resist the summons. (See prior posting.) [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]
The Church has issued a Release regarding the summons and another one that ordered the church's rector, Rev. Ed Bacon, to appear before the IRS in October. In a sermon yesterday to an overflow congregation, Bacon said: "Our faith mandates that always stopping short of endorsing or opposing political candidates, the church can neither be silent nor indifferent when there are public policies causing detriment to the least of these." Bacon said that he would consult with attorneys, but that he felt most congregants wanted to resist the summons. (See prior posting.) [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]
Orthodox Jews Gain Majority On Long Island School Board
Saturday's New York Times carried an interesting piece on the new majority of Orthodox Jews on the Lawrence, New York school board. Lawrence is in Nassau County on Long Island. Orthodox Jews there largely send their children to Jewish day schools instead of public schools, and many in Lawrence resent control of the school board by those who do not use its institutions. Public school enrollment in Lawrence is down, while private school enrollment has increased. In each of the last four years, mobilization by Orthodox Jewish voters has defeated the school budget. Orthodox leaders say they want to improve the schools while cutting waste, and many would also like to find a way to channel more aid to Jewish private schools in the district.
New Study on American Piety
The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion has just released American Piety in the 21st Century: Selected Findings From the Baylor Religion Survey (Sept. 2006). The Institute describes the study, in part, as follows: "It plumbs all facets of American religion and spirituality in depth − nearly 400 items cover such matters as religious beliefs and practices, including religious consumerism, as well as nonstandard beliefs (astrology, "Bigfoot," alien visitors, etc.) and practices (meditation, New Age therapies, etc)." Wall of Separation blog has a fuller description of the study.
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Kanda v. Melching-Rianda, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65817 (ED CA, Sept. 1, 2006), a California federal Magistrate Judge held that a prisoner could file an amended complaint properly challenging denial of his request for a single cell so he would not be housed with someone who violated his religious belief that he could not have beef or beef by-products in his cell. He could also file an amended complaint alleging that he was placed in administrative segregation for invoking his religious beliefs.
In Scott v. Beard, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65673 (MD PA, Sept. 14, 2006), a Pennsylvania federal district court held that defendants had qualified immunity in a prisoner's claim for damages growing out of a denial of his request on religious grounds for an exemption from prison requirements about hair length. The prisoner was a member of the Assemblies of Yahweh and had taken a Nazarite vow. The court found that the prisoner's RLUIPA claim for an injunction was moot because he had now been released from prison and the prison system had adopted revised policies making it easier to obtain an exemption from grooming rules.
In Northrop v. Summersett, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65136 (ND CA, Aug. 30, 2006), a California federal district court dismissed on res judicata grounds a prisoner's claim that the removal of pork from menus in some California prisons violates the Establishment Clause, as well as his rights under the Free Exercise clause, RLUIPA, the equal protection clause and the California Constitution.
In Price v. Caruso, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64322 (ED MI, Sept. 8, 2006), a Michigan federal district court refused to grant summary judgment to defendants in a prisoner's suit claiming that policies prohibiting travel between prison complexes interferred with Jewish prisoners' being able to adequately have Sabbath services and a Passover Seder.
In Smith v. Crose, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64250 (D NJ, Sept. 7, 2006), a New Jersey federal district court permitted an inmate to move ahead with a claim that his free exercise rights were violated when he was prevented from attending Ju'ma services because he had an injured ankle. A number of plaintiff's other claims were dismissed.
In Skenandore v. Endicott, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64175 (ED WI, Sept. 6, 2006), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected a RLUIPA challenge by an inmate who is a member of the Oneida Indian tribe to Wisconsin policies on the practice of religion in correctional institutions. Plaintiff complained that he was not permitted to possess a prayer pipe, smoke tobacco or smudge herbs; that he was prevented from forming a Native American Cultural Activity Group; that he was not given time com complete sweat lodge ceremonies; that he is being denied religious feasts and ceremonial foods; that he may not possess traditional regalia; and that non-Native American inmates are allowed to participate in Native American religious activities.
In Dixon v. Wodruff-Fibley, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65911 (SD IN, Sept. 14, 2006), the court rejected a First Amendment claim by an inmate who was refused permission to pray outside of his cell. He claimed that his prayers are considered invalid if offered in the midst of pictures or drawings of living objects, such as his cellmate has in his cell.
In Scott v. Beard, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65673 (MD PA, Sept. 14, 2006), a Pennsylvania federal district court held that defendants had qualified immunity in a prisoner's claim for damages growing out of a denial of his request on religious grounds for an exemption from prison requirements about hair length. The prisoner was a member of the Assemblies of Yahweh and had taken a Nazarite vow. The court found that the prisoner's RLUIPA claim for an injunction was moot because he had now been released from prison and the prison system had adopted revised policies making it easier to obtain an exemption from grooming rules.
In Northrop v. Summersett, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65136 (ND CA, Aug. 30, 2006), a California federal district court dismissed on res judicata grounds a prisoner's claim that the removal of pork from menus in some California prisons violates the Establishment Clause, as well as his rights under the Free Exercise clause, RLUIPA, the equal protection clause and the California Constitution.
In Price v. Caruso, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64322 (ED MI, Sept. 8, 2006), a Michigan federal district court refused to grant summary judgment to defendants in a prisoner's suit claiming that policies prohibiting travel between prison complexes interferred with Jewish prisoners' being able to adequately have Sabbath services and a Passover Seder.
In Smith v. Crose, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64250 (D NJ, Sept. 7, 2006), a New Jersey federal district court permitted an inmate to move ahead with a claim that his free exercise rights were violated when he was prevented from attending Ju'ma services because he had an injured ankle. A number of plaintiff's other claims were dismissed.
In Skenandore v. Endicott, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64175 (ED WI, Sept. 6, 2006), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected a RLUIPA challenge by an inmate who is a member of the Oneida Indian tribe to Wisconsin policies on the practice of religion in correctional institutions. Plaintiff complained that he was not permitted to possess a prayer pipe, smoke tobacco or smudge herbs; that he was prevented from forming a Native American Cultural Activity Group; that he was not given time com complete sweat lodge ceremonies; that he is being denied religious feasts and ceremonial foods; that he may not possess traditional regalia; and that non-Native American inmates are allowed to participate in Native American religious activities.
In Dixon v. Wodruff-Fibley, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65911 (SD IN, Sept. 14, 2006), the court rejected a First Amendment claim by an inmate who was refused permission to pray outside of his cell. He claimed that his prayers are considered invalid if offered in the midst of pictures or drawings of living objects, such as his cellmate has in his cell.
New Publications In Law and Religion
From SmartCILP:
William E. Nelson, The Utopian Legal Order of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630-1686, 47 American Journal of Legal History 183-230 (2005).
From SSRN:
Steven Douglas Smith, The Jurisdictional Establishment Clause: A Reappraisal (forthcoming Notre Dame Law Review).
From Bepress:
Steven H. Shiffrin, Liberalism and Religion (August 22, 2006), ExpressO Preprint Series. Working Paper 1601.
New Book:
Ray Suarez, The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (Harper Collins, August 29, 2006)-- reviewed in Sunday's Washington Post.
William E. Nelson, The Utopian Legal Order of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630-1686, 47 American Journal of Legal History 183-230 (2005).
From SSRN:
Steven Douglas Smith, The Jurisdictional Establishment Clause: A Reappraisal (forthcoming Notre Dame Law Review).
From Bepress:
Steven H. Shiffrin, Liberalism and Religion (August 22, 2006), ExpressO Preprint Series. Working Paper 1601.
New Book:
Ray Suarez, The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (Harper Collins, August 29, 2006)-- reviewed in Sunday's Washington Post.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Religious Dress Ban In France As New School Year Begins
As the school year began in France, it appears that high profile controversies over the country's ban on wearing conspicuous religious symbols and dress in public schools have largely disappeared. The only open controversy involves four Sikh students who are being kept isolated in rooms apart from their classmates because they refuse to remove their turbans and and switch to an under-turban keski or patka. (Sikh Sangat News.) However, yesterday's Khaleej Times says that the ban has only been partially successful. It has helped some Muslim girls who came to school wearing headscarfs only because of pressure from their family or community. But other Muslim young women have gone to other countries to study or signed up for distance learning courses in order to avoid the ban. Meanwhile, in a tape released by Al Queida on the anniversary of the 9/11, Ayman Al Zawahiri criticized "those in France who prevent Muslims from covering their heads in schools".
Competing Bills On Military Chaplain Prayer In Congress
On Friday, WorldNet Daily carried a discussion of the competing provisions on prayer by military chaplains that appear in the House and Senate versions of this year's Defense Authorization Bill. The House version would assure chaplains that they could pray according to the dictates of their own conscience, except for narrow limitations compelled by military necessity. The Senate version, on the other hand, would require chaplains, outside of religious services or ceremonies for their own faith, "to be sensitive to and respect the diversity of faiths represented" in their audience." Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, the recently court-martialed proponent of sectarian prayer in the military, strongly opposes the Senate version. He says it would empower the Pentagon to establish "pluralism" as a new form of religion. Klingenschmitt favors yet a third proposal that would merely amend current 10 USC 6031 to broadly permit chaplains to pray according to the manner and forms of their religious denominations.
2nd Circuit Interprets 1998 Charitable Donation Protection Act
While a decision earlier this month by a Bankruptcy court judge on charitable donations in bankruptcy proceedings garnered a good deal of attention, an equally important case on the issue decided several weeks ago by the Second circuit seems to have gone largely unnoticed. In Universal Church v. Geltzer, (2nd Cir., July 26, 2006), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that treating some contributions to churches as fraudulent conveyances in bankruptcy does not violate the Free Exercise of Establishment clauses. It went on to interpret various provisions of the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Protection Act of 1998. It held that the statute's shield for charitable donations of up to 15% of a debtor's annual income applies to aggregate annual transfers, not to individual donations. The court held that in this case, the Church had waived its claim that it should be able to retain amounts donated to it under the 15% limit. Finally it held that on remand the church could raise the statutory defense that donations in excess of 15% "were consistent with the practices of the debtor in making charitable contributions."
Most Muslim Leaders Say Pope's New Statement Not A Sufficient Apology
As angry reaction spread across the Muslim world to an address last week by Pope Benedict XVI (see prior posting), the Pope today spoke on the issue (full text). He said:
Before the Pope spoke today, there had even been calls by a Somali cleric for Muslims "to hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie, the enemy of Allah who offended our religion." (Zimgreats. com). In a possibly related incident, an Italian nun at a children's hospital in Mogadishu was murdered on Sunday. (New York Times.)
After the Pope's statement on Sunday, Muslim clergy in Syria expressed satisfaction. (Deutsche Presse Agentur). However most Muslim leaders around the world say that the Pope's Sunday address did not go far enough in apologizing. (CNN).
I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.The full text of Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone's statement, to which the Pope refers, is available as part of NPR's coverage of the story. Bertone assumed his office as Secretary of State only two days ago.
Yesterday, the Cardinal Secretary of State published a statement in this regard in which he explained the true meaning of my words. I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect.
Before the Pope spoke today, there had even been calls by a Somali cleric for Muslims "to hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie, the enemy of Allah who offended our religion." (Zimgreats. com). In a possibly related incident, an Italian nun at a children's hospital in Mogadishu was murdered on Sunday. (New York Times.)
After the Pope's statement on Sunday, Muslim clergy in Syria expressed satisfaction. (Deutsche Presse Agentur). However most Muslim leaders around the world say that the Pope's Sunday address did not go far enough in apologizing. (CNN).
Tennessee Ten Commandments Case Moves To Trial
In ACLU of Tennessee v. Rutherford County, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65882 (MD TN, Sept. 14, 2006), a Tennessee federal district court lifted a stay on proceedings, and agreed to move to trial, in a Ten Commandments case. The court had imposed the stay in 2002 pending appellate review of a similar case from McCreary County, Kentucky. The McCreary County case was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in decisions that struck down that county's Foundations of American Law and Government Display. Along with imposing a stay of proceedings in the Rutherford County case, the court in 2002 issued a preliminary injunction against Rutherford County's courthouse display of documents (including the Ten Commandments), finding that the county had an impermissible religious purpose in creating it. In compliance with the order, the display was removed. In its current decision the court has refused to automatically turn its 2002 preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction. It said:
[E]ven if the same public body previously attempted to post the Ten Commandments in an unconstitutional manner, it may be able to post the Ten Commandments in the future in a constitutionally permissible manner. While recent cases provide a "road map" to follow in permissibly displaying documents with religious content, these Rutherford County Defendants must show that they have purged themselves of their original sectarian purpose relating to the posting of the Ten Commandments.
Court Says Privilege Did Not Excuse Failure To Report Sex Abuse
R.K. v. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65772 (WD WA, Sept. 14, 2006), involves a suit in a Washington federal district court against the Mormon church for negligence in failing to report sexual abuse of a 13-year old boy by his scout leader, as required by state law. The suit was brought by an individual who was abused the following year by the same scout leader. A Bishop learned of the first incident of abuse during a conversation with the father of the abused child. The Church claims that the priest-penitent privilege, as codified in Washington law, precluded reporting, but the court found that the Bishop could have reported the abuse to law enforcement officials in a way that would not have disclosed any confidential communications.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Indian Court Bans Priests' Helpers From Temple
A court in Calcutta, India has banned assistants to Hindu priests-- known as touts or pandaas-- from entry into the famous Kalighat temple . Yesterday, BBC News reported that the pandaas have been accused of extorting money from worshipers who they escort into the temple and help perform the puja (worship).
Newdow Seeks Libel Judgment Against Critic
On Monday, Michael Newdow, who has gained fame through his law suits challenging the constitutionality of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, will be appearing in a state court of appeals in California to defend his right to move ahead with a libel suit against Rev. Austin Miles, an interdenominational chaplain. Yesterday’s issue of The Recorder reports on Newdow’s claim that Miles defamed him in two internet postings that accused Newdow of committing perjury before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the "Pledge of Allegiance" case. Miles said that Newdow told the court that his daughter had suffered emotional distress by being forced to recite the pledge. Newdow says he only told the court that children like his daughter are unduly influenced when schools lead them in a ritual proclaiming the existence of God. Newdow says that the chaplain acted with actual malice in making the false statements—a standard that must be met when a public figure like Newdow sues for libel. Newdow is also seeking reinstatement of a default judgment against Miles that was originally issued and then set aside by the trial court.
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