In Rhorabough v. Carey, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72209 (ED CA, Oct. 3, 2006), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed a prisoner's claim that he was not allowed to attend religious services because the complaint did not connect the denial to any defendant named in the law suit.
In Kyles v. Clarke, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72749 (ED WI, Oct. 4, 2006), a Wisconsin federal district court permitted a prisoner to move forward with his claim that he was denied the right to have Islamic religious services in the jail, while Christian religious services were offered several times per week.
In Wells v. Caldwell, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72813 (ED MI, June 14, 2006), a Michigan federal magistrate judge permitted a Buddhist prisoner who was denied vegan meals to proceed with his claim that he was not given a reasonable chance to prove the sincerity of his religious beliefs.
In Harris v. Schriro, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72558 (D AZ, Oct. 4, 2006), an Arizona federal district court dismissed two of the claims filed by a Jewish prisoner. The claim against a food service corporation were dismissed because it was not vicariously liable for its employees who failed to provide Kosher meals to the plaintiff. It rejected his claim that his rights were violated because no rabbi was provided to conduct religious services for him. No volunteer rabbi has been found who is available.
In Walton v. Tilton, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72219 (ED CA, Oct. 3, 2006), a California federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of a prisoner's claim that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's "no pork" policy constitutes an impermissible establishment of religion by endorsing the Muslim faith.
In Ortega v. Apio, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72930 (D Az, Oct. 3, 2006), an Arizona federal district court gave plaintiff prisoner a chance to refile his claim to allege the proper elements of a cause of action, in connection with his claim that he has been denied access to Native American clergy and instead he received visits from "Rez Connections, a Christian ministration group bent on converting Native Americans to Christianity".
Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Preacher Acquitted On Noise, Trespassing Charges
In Commonwealth v. McRae, (Case No. 0366 SA 2005, Sept. 27, 2006), the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas acquitted Ronnie M. McRae, director of the World Wide Street Preacher's Fellowship of charges that he violated Harrisburgh's noise ordinance while preaching across the street from an annual PrideFest gay pride festival held in July 2005. The court held that it need not reach the question of the constitutionality of the ordinance, since the DVD of the event demonstrated that defendant's preaching was consistent with the level of noise that was occurring at the festival. The court also acquitted McRae of charges of "defiant trespass", because McRae was preaching on a sidewalk that was open to the public. (See prior related posting.) [Thanks to David Miller for sending me a copy of the court's opinion.]
A New Danish Muhammad Cartoon
A controversy over a new Danish cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad could be brewing, according to today's Jakarta, Indonesia Post. On Friday, Denmark's national TV2 channel broadcast a video showing a drawing contest at a summer camp run by the far-right Danish People's Party. One of the drawings was a camel with Muhammad's head and beer bottles as humps. The 20 and 30 year olds participating in the contest appeared to have been drinking alcohol and were laughing at the drawing. Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Indonesia's Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, urged that a lawsuit be filed against those producing the drawings for slandering Islam. However he urged followers not to over react, saying the airing may have been deliberately intended to provoke anger during Ramadan.
Globe Series on "Exporting Faith"
The Boston Globe is running a four-part series titled "Exporting Faith". Part I is titled "Bush Brings Faith to Foreign Aid-- As Funding Rises, Christian Groups Deliver Help -- With a Message". It points out that the present administration has almost doubled the percentage of U.S. foreign aid dollars going to faith-based groups-- mostly Christian groups-- and through a series of executive orders has removed many of the restrictions on intermingling government aid with religion. New policies permit foreign aid groups to engage in faith-based hiring, and to offer religious services immediately before or after distributing government funded aid.
Part II is titled "Religious Right Wields Clout-- Secular Groups Losing Funding Amid Pressure". It points out that USAID officials have favored groups that promote abstinence as the most important way to prevent AIDS. Of the $15 billion in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), $3 billion is for prevention, and $1 billion of that is required to be spent for "abstinence-until-marriage" programs. A 2003 law requires groups receiving anti-AIDS funds to have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. A number of foreign aid groups are concerned that this interferes with their outreach to sex workers who are at high risk for transmitting AIDS.
UPDATE: Part III is titled "Together, But Worlds Apart -- Christian Aid Groups Raise Suspicion In Strongholds of Islam". It says that hospitals in Muslim countries run by Christian groups create suspicion both because of popular opposition to U.S. policies around the world, and concern about proselytization.
Part IV is titled "Healing the Body to Reach the Soul-- Evangelicals Add Converts Through Medical Trips". It focuses on medical missions to developing countries by evangelical Christian medical personnel.
Part II is titled "Religious Right Wields Clout-- Secular Groups Losing Funding Amid Pressure". It points out that USAID officials have favored groups that promote abstinence as the most important way to prevent AIDS. Of the $15 billion in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), $3 billion is for prevention, and $1 billion of that is required to be spent for "abstinence-until-marriage" programs. A 2003 law requires groups receiving anti-AIDS funds to have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. A number of foreign aid groups are concerned that this interferes with their outreach to sex workers who are at high risk for transmitting AIDS.
UPDATE: Part III is titled "Together, But Worlds Apart -- Christian Aid Groups Raise Suspicion In Strongholds of Islam". It says that hospitals in Muslim countries run by Christian groups create suspicion both because of popular opposition to U.S. policies around the world, and concern about proselytization.
Part IV is titled "Healing the Body to Reach the Soul-- Evangelicals Add Converts Through Medical Trips". It focuses on medical missions to developing countries by evangelical Christian medical personnel.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Sandra Day O'Connor On Church-State
Sunday's Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch reports on a lecture focusing on church-state issues given by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at William & Mary Law School. In it, she said: "I do think we're lucky in this country. We have generally kept religion a matter of individual conscience and not a matter for the prosecutor or bureaucrat." She also said that she opposes the idea that the federal government should have greater leeway to reflect Christianity as the religion of the majority of Americans.
Boston Doctor Succeeds In Claiming Conscientious Objector Status
An Army doctor has succeeded in her attempt to obtain conscientious objector status after her religious beliefs changed since her enlistment. Anesthesiologist Mary Hanna will repay with interest the money the government spent on her medical education. Yesterday's Boston Globe reported that a Boston federal district court reversed the ruling of an Army review board denying CO status. The review board had relied extensively on evidence that the doctor's Coptic Orthodox faith does not have pacifism as one of its tenets. Last month the same court had issued a temporary injunction barring the Army from forcing Dr. Hanna into active duty. (See prior posting.)
Religious Discrimination In Adoptions May Have Ended In India
India's Daily News and Analysis on Saturday discusses the impact of the August 2006 amendments to India's Juvenile Justice Act on adoptions by non-Hindus. Before the new law, non-Hindus were only "guardians" of their adopted children until the children turned 18. The child had no inheritance rights unless named in a will, and the adoption could be revoked when the child turned 18. The new law allows people of any religion to adopt, and gives the adopted child the same legal rights as a biological child. However the old laws treating adoptions by non-Hindus differently than those by Hindus were not repealed, and the interaction of the old and new laws remains unclear.
3rd Circuit Reinstates Challenge To School's Policy Banning Religious Music
Last week the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Stratechuk v. Board of Education, South Orange-Maplewood School District, (3d Cir., Oct. 5, 2006), reinstated a lawsuit challenging the banning of religious music by a New Jersey school district. The lower court had dismissed the suit against the school district after reviewing the school's official policy on music that was a matter of public record. The Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff's complaint alleges that the school's actual policy was more restrictive than the one that was publicly available. The complaint alleged a categorical ban on exclusively religious music, enacted with the express purpose of sending a message of disapproval of religion. If that is proven, it would support a challenge on First Amendment grounds. Saturday's New York Times reported on the decision.
Candidate's Religious Beliefs Become Issue In Texas Judicial Race
This week's Texas Lawyer reports that religion has been raised as an issue in a race for appellate court judge for the 6th Court of Appeals in east Texas. An online newsletter issued by the Republican Party of Texas criticized Democratic criticized judicial nominee E. Ben Franks, saying he "is reported to be a professed atheist" and apparently believes the Bible is a "collection of myths." It goes on to say: "Should Franks be elected in November, one would have to conclude that he will hold true to his out of touch 'atheist' belief system and ignore the laws and Constitution of Texas." Franks says he has never professed to be an atheist, but that his religious beliefs are his private business. He says that he does strongly support separation of church and state.
British Court Fines Muslim Cabbie For Refusing To Transport Guide Dog
Britain's Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Sec. 37) requires all licensed cab drivers to accept individuals with guide dogs as passengers. Saturday's Gulf Times reports that in London, cab driver Abdul Rasheed Majekodumni was fined and ordered to pay compensation to blind passenger Jane Vernon after he refused for religious reasons to permit Vernon to enter his cab with her dog. Muslim tradition considers dogs impure and commands Muslims to avoid contact with them.
Times Series Examines Accommodation of Religion By American Law
The New York Times on Sunday began a 4-part series examining how American religious organizations benefit from laws granting them exemptions and special treatment. The first installment focuses on regulatory exemptions for social service agencies and exemptions from zoning rules. The online version has extensive links to the pleadings in a RLUIPA case pending in Boulder, Colorado. The second installment focuses on reduced employee rights against religious institutions. UPDATE: Part three focuses on property tax exemptions and tax exempt revenue bond financing for religious institutions. Part IV is titled "Religion-Based Tax Breaks: Housing to Paychecks to Books". It focuses on the parsonage exemption for clergy and sales tax exemptions for religious organizations and publications. All the articles in the series are available from links on a web page set up for the series titled In God's Name.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Recent Publications On Church-State; Relgion & Law
From SSRN:
From European Journal of Philosophy:
- Frederick Mark Gedicks, The Permissible Scope of Legal Limitations on the Freedom of Religion or Belief in the United States, (Emory International Law Review, Vol. 19, 2005).
- Frederick Mark Gedicks & Roger Hendrix, Uncivil Religion: Judeo-Christianity and the Ten Commandments, (October 4, 2006).
- Carl H. Esbeck, "Play in the Joints Between the Religion Clauses" and Other Supreme Court Catachreses, (Hofstra Law Review, Vol. 34, p. 1331, 2006).
From European Journal of Philosophy:
- Jurgen Habermas, Religion in the Public Sphere, (Vol. 14, No. 1, 2006). [PrawfsBlawg review.]
- Andy G. Olree, James Madison and Legislative Chaplains (Sept. 25, 2006).
- Mary R. Bundren, The Influence of Catholicism, Islam and Judaism on the Assisted Reproductive Technologies ("ART") Bioethical and Legal Debate: A Comparative Survey of Art in Italy, Egypt and Israel (September 22, 2006).
- Vincent Phillip Munoz, Thou Shalt Not Post the Ten Commandments? McCreary, Van Orden, and the Future of Religious Display Cases, 10 Texas Review of Law & Politics 357-400 (2006).
- Barbara A. Perry, Jefferson's Legacy to the Supreme Court: Freedom of Religion, 31 Journal of Supreme Court History 181-198 (2006).
- Joshua E. Perry, Biblical Biopolitics: Judicial Process, Religious Rhetoric, Terri Schiavo and Beyond,16 Health Matrix 553-630 (2006).
- Li-ann Thio & Jaclyn Ling-Chien Neo, Religious Dress in Schools: the Serban Controversy in Malaysia, 55 International & Comparative Law Quarterly 671-688 (2006).
Hijab Remains Controversial In Some Countries
Wearing of the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, continues to be controversial in a number of countries. Interfax News today reports that, despite a petition signed by 30,000 Muslim women, the government of Kyrgyzstan continues to refuse to permit women to wear headscarves for passport photographs.
In Tunisia, the government is defending its ban on wearing the hijab in educational institutions and public buildings. Islam Online reports that women students are increasingly kept out of classes if they insist on wearing a hijab. Last month in Tunisia, security forces raided toy stores and removed all the Fulla dolls. Islam Online reports that these hijab clad dolls, with long sleeve dresses and a prayer mate, have outpaced Barbie dolls in popularity in the country. Tunisian Religious Affairs Minister Aboubaker Akhzouri said that the hijab runs counter to the country's "cultural legacy," and is seen as a "foreign phenomenon" in society.
In Tunisia, the government is defending its ban on wearing the hijab in educational institutions and public buildings. Islam Online reports that women students are increasingly kept out of classes if they insist on wearing a hijab. Last month in Tunisia, security forces raided toy stores and removed all the Fulla dolls. Islam Online reports that these hijab clad dolls, with long sleeve dresses and a prayer mate, have outpaced Barbie dolls in popularity in the country. Tunisian Religious Affairs Minister Aboubaker Akhzouri said that the hijab runs counter to the country's "cultural legacy," and is seen as a "foreign phenomenon" in society.
University Of The Cumberlands Withdraws Motion To Dismiss Suit Against It
As previously reported, in Kentucky in April a suit was filed in state court against the University of the Cumberlands, a private religious university located in Williamsburg. The suit challenged the constitutionality of state appropriations to the religiously affiliated institution for the building of a pharmacy school and for pharmacy scholarships. Originally the University filed a motion to dismiss arguing that plaintiffs lacked standing. Today, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the motion to dismiss was withdrawn because, if it had been successful, it would have left the validity of the appropriations still in doubt.
Alaska Constitution May Protect Religious Marijuana Use
In Lineker v. State of Alaska, (AK Ct. App., Oct. 4, 2006), an Alaska couple were arrested for possession of marijuana. They defended by invoking the free exercise clause of the Alaska Constitution. Claiming to be members and ordained ministers of the Universal Life Church and the Hawaiian THC Ministry Church, they asserted that oil from the cannabis plant was an essential part of their religion. The trial court rejected the defense, holding that even if the couple held sincere religious beliefs the state had a compelling interest in enforcing its drug laws.
The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for the trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on whether the defendants' conduct was based on a sincere religious belief and, if so, whether the state has not merely a compelling interest in enforcing its drug laws, but whether that interest will suffer if an exemption is granted to accommodate these defendants' religious beliefs. The court said that the test under the Alaska Constitution was similar to the test under RFRA applied by the United States Supreme Court in its 2006 O Centro decision.
The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for the trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on whether the defendants' conduct was based on a sincere religious belief and, if so, whether the state has not merely a compelling interest in enforcing its drug laws, but whether that interest will suffer if an exemption is granted to accommodate these defendants' religious beliefs. The court said that the test under the Alaska Constitution was similar to the test under RFRA applied by the United States Supreme Court in its 2006 O Centro decision.
Suit Charges New York With Failing To Accommodate Religious Practices Of Prison Guards
The New York Civil Liberties Union yesterday (press release) filed a federal lawsuit challenging a policy that forbids state prison guards from wearing religious head coverings. The suit was brought on behalf of a devout Muslim who was informed that he could no longer wear a kufi while on duty at a state work-release program, even though he had been wearing it for many years without creating any problems. The complaint (full text) charges that the refusal by the State Department of Correctional Services to accommodate religious beliefs of prison guards "stands in sharp contrast to the policies of other agencies". Today's Albany Times Union reports on the case.
Saudis Try Al Qaeda In Shariah Courts
A report from Reuters published today in Qatar's The Peninsula says that Saudi Arabia has begun trying Al Qaeda militants in Shariah courts in which Islamic scholars apply religious law. Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdul-Aziz told reporters, "There are Islamic Shariah courts that specialize in these issues. The trials are continuing and ongoing. There are many who have been sentenced and are finished with." Commenting on the militants who began a campaign in 2003 to bring down the royal family by bombing Western housing compounds, he said, "God will judge them harshly. There is no justification at all for attacking peaceful civilians. We are an Islamic country and it is totally unacceptable that their slogan should be Islam."
Democrats Tout Religious Credentials In North Carolina
In western North Carolina where a hotly contested Congressional race is under way, a new political action group, Devout Democrats, plans to run an ad to show that Democrats are religious too. Today's Raleigh News & Observer reports that the ad features former UNC basketball coach Dean Smith saying, "I'm a lifelong Baptist and vote for Democrats. One reason? Democrats are serious about alleviating poverty." the quote is followed by a passage from the Gospel of Matthew about caring for the poor.
European Court Upholds Salvation Army Claim Against Russia
According to a report yesterday by the Associated Press, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the refusal by Russia to register the Moscow branch of the Salvation Army after a change in Russian law in 1997 violates the group's rights to freedom of religion and association under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Moscow Justice Department refused to register the group because its founders were foreign nationals. A Moscow district court then ruled on appeal that the Salvation Army branch should be denied registration as a religious body because it was a "paramilitary organization" whose members wore uniforms and served in an "army". The European Court rejected the paramilitary characterization, and held that there was no reason for Russia to treat foreigners different than Russian nationals as to their exercise of religious freedom.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Michigan City Deciding Whether To Move Creche To Private Property
Issues of holiday displays on public property are beginning to surface as the 2006 holiday season approaches. Today's Detroit News reported that in the city of Berkley, Michigan, an ad hoc committee of city council has been studying what to do with the city's traditional nativity scene. For 65 years it has been displayed outside City Hall, but last year the ACLU raised a question about it. The council committee is proposing three alternatives: move the creche to a nearby business property, establish a free-speech zone where any religious groups can display its symbols, or allow a group of religious leaders to rotate the display among churches. Mayor Marilyn Stephan, who supports a move, says that she has received angry e-mails from a coalition of residents calling themselves STAT -- Stopping the ACLU Tyranny-- who dislike any of the alternatives and want to continue the display at City Hall. City Council will discuss the issue at its Oct. 16 meeting.
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