Maryland Prisons Will Offer Kosher Food

Maryland Governor Robert Erlich has approved a plan to serve kosher food in the state’s prisons to Jewish inmates requesting it, according to today’s Washington Jewish Week. About 200 of the state’s 26,000 prisoners are Jewish. The decision was made even though a federal judge last year ruled that the state did not have an obligation to serve kosher food, finding that the vegetarian diet that was available was a sufficient accommodation.

Comedian Loses In Suit Against Jews For Jesus

On Wednesday in Mason v. Jews for Jesus, Case No. 06 Civ. 6433 (RMB) (SDNY Nov. 8, 2006) [available on PACER- subscription needed], a New York federal district judge denied a preliminary injunction to comedian Jackie Mason who claims that Jews for Jesus misappropriated his image for advertising and trade purposes on a pamphlet it distributed seeking to convince Jews to accept Jesus as their savior. The suit was brought under New York's Civil Rights Act, Sec. 50-51 that protects the right to privacy. The court held that a reasonable reader of the pamphlet would not have thought that Mason endorses the views of Jews for Jesus. It held that newsworthy events or matters of public interest are not covered by the privacy statute, and that the distribution of the pamphlets was constitutionally protected speech. Yesterday WNBC reported on the decision.

Pedophile Priests Will Have Ohio Teacher Licenses Suspended

Today's Toledo Blade reports that Ohio's State Board of Education will revoke the teaching certificates of 5 current or former Catholic priests who have been disciplined by the Church for alleged child molestation. The priests were called to the attention of the Department of Education by a reporter when the Blade checked the names of priests publicly implicated in sex scandals with the Department of Education's online license database. The Board's usual monitoring and complaint mechanisms had failed to trigger suspensions earlier.

Rev. Moon Wins In German Constitutional Court

Today's International Herald Tribune reports the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife have won a religious freedom challenge in Germany's Constitutional Court. German officials had denied visas to the couple in 1995 because they considered Moon's Unification Church to be a dangerous sect. A state court upheld the refusal in 2002, but yesterday Germany's highest court said that the government had not shown a threat to public safety, and the government had no right to impose its values on the religious group.

University of Wisconsin Sued By Catholic Group Over Recognition Requirements

Yesterday, the Roman Catholic Foundation at University of Wisconsin- Madison sued the university over its anti-discrimination policy that prohibits religious discrimination by recognized student groups. (Full text of complaint.) Only recognized groups have access to various university facilities and to grants from the University's student activity fees. Religious groups that wish to be recognized, in order to satisfy the non-discrimination requirements, must eliminate religious qualifications for its members and officers. The Foundation, represented by Alliance Defense Fund (release) claims that this violates various provisions of the First and Fourteenth amendments. (See prior posting.) Today's La Crosse Tribune reports on the lawsuit, which was filed in federal district court.

Challenge To Las Cruces Logo Rejected By Court

Yesterday in Weinbaum v. City of Las Cruces, New Mexico, (D NM, Nov. 9, 2006), a New Mexico federal district court dismissed an Establishment Clause challenge to the official symbol of the city of Las Cruces. Plaintiffs alleged that the city's adoption of the symbol, three crosses surrounded by a sunburst, amounted to an endorsement of religion. In a long opinion that extensively examines the Supreme Court's establishment clause jurisprudence, the history of the cross and of the city of Las Cruces, the court held that there is no indication that the city acted with a religious purpose in adopting and using its symbol. It found that "the Symbol
communicates the secular message that the City's name means 'The Crosses' and links the City to its historic roots." So "a reasonable observer of the Symbol would understand that the crosses represent, symbolically, this uniquely named geopolitical subdivision, rather than an endorsement of Christianity." Today's Las Cruces Sun-News reports on the decision.

Turkey Passes Religious Foundations Law, Partially Meeting EU Concerns

Turkey's Parliament yesterday passed the Religious Foundations Law that improves the rights of non-Muslim religious minorities in the country. Reuters reports that the European Union had pressed for Turkey to pass legislation, but this law still fails to provide compensation for religious groups whose property has been sold to third parties after being taken over by the state. Earlier this week, the European Union published a report that also called on Turkey to lift restrictions on the training of Christian clergy.

First Muslim Member Elected To U.S. Congress

The New York Times this morning reports that Muslims in the United States and overseas are applauding the election of the first Muslim member of the U.S. Congress. Keith Ellison, a Democrat, was elected to represent Minnesota's 5th district in the U.S. House of Representatives. The campaign had a religious element in it. Ellison's Republican opponent, Alan Fine (who is Jewish), said he was offended by Ellison's past support for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Ellison denied an link to Farrakhan, who is often seen as anti-Semitic. Ellison picked up the support of some Jewish groups in the campaign. Arab news reports say that Ellison will take the oath of office on the Koran.

UPDATE: Alan Fine tells me by e-mail that Ellison had the endorsement of only one Jewish organization, the American Jewish World newspaper.

Canada's Supreme Court Denies Review of Religious Mitigation Defense

The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday refused to hear the appeal of Adi Abdul Humaid, a devout Muslim, who claimed that his cultural and religious beliefs in "family honour"should be taken into account to give him a lighter sentence for stabbing his wife to death. The National Post today reports that Humaid's lawyer argued that his client was deprived of self-control by his wife's claim that she cheated on him-- a severe insult in the Muslim faith.

9th Circuit Enjoins Religious Services At City Financed Shelter

In Community House Inc. v. City of Boise, Idaho, (9th Cir., Nov. 9, 2006), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ordered a broader preliminary injunction that the district court had granted in a challenge to the terms under which the city of Boise leased property for use as a homeless shelter for men to the Boise Rescue Mission. The lease to the Christian social service group was for the nominal rent of $1 per year. The trial court had merely held that BRM could not condition the furnishing of homeless services on attendance at religious services. The Court of Appeals granted a broader injunction totally prohibiting chapel services and other religious activities at the Community House facility. It found that plaintiffs raised serious questions as to whether the BRM's religious activities at the publicly-financed Community House facility constitute governmental indoctrination of religion. KBCI News reports on the decision.

Lansing's Faith Based Office Outlines Plans

In Lansing, Michigan last week, the Mayor’s Office of Faith Based Initiatives-- formed in January-- finally outlined to City Council the detailed program it plans to pursue. City Pulse today reports that the program will try to reach out to all of the area's 500 churches, but Bishop David Maxwell who heads the new Office said that most participants will likely be from 30 to 40 urban congregations in Lansing.

Missouri State Settles Social Work Student's Lawsuit

Missouri State University has settled a suit filed against it by a social work student who claimed that action was taken against her after she refused for religious reasons to sign a letter supporting homosexual adoption as part of a class project. (See prior posting.) The Kansas City Star today reports that the University will clear former student Emily Brooker's official record of a grievance filed in the case, will pay her $9,000, and will pay her tuition and living expenses for two years of graduate social work study. The professor charged with improper action in Brooker's lawsuit has already stepped down as head of the school's MSW Program.

Church Autonomy Doctrine Leads Florida Court To Dismiss Workers' Comp Claim

A Florida state court of appeal yesterday held that under the church autonomy doctrine, civil courts may not review a Catholic Archdiocese's assertion that a workers' compensation claimant is an incardinated cleric and not an employee. In Malichi v. Archdiocese of Miami & Unisource Inc., (FL Ct. App., Nov. 8, 2006), the court held that determination of a priest's duties is a matter of the church's internal administration and government. The court said that it was not determining whether the First Amendment similarly precludes it from deciding a workers' compensation claim filed by a minister of a "congregational" or "presbyterial" church that does not have the same hierarchical structure and well-established body of canonical law as the Archdiocese.

Religious Objection In Court and Out Over Israel's Gay Pride Event

Today's Boston Globe reports on the continuing objections by ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem over tomorrow's planned gay pride march in Israel's capital city. In religious neighborhoods for the last week, ultra-Orthodox men have set trash on fire and thrown stones at police. They hope that the show of force will convince officials to cancel the march. Now ultra-Orthodox Jews are teaming up with Muslims to emphasize religious opposition to the event. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish pop singer Benny Elbaz has joined forces with a Muslim singer in a duet called "Jerusalem Will Burn!". And U.S. anti-gay activist Rabbi Yehuda Levin has traveled to Israel to join forces with Tayseer Tamimi, the head judge of the Islamic Sharia court in the West Bank, in opposition to the event. Last year an ultra-Orthodox man stabbed three people during Jerusalem's the gay pride march.

Meanwhile, according to today's Haaretz, planning has been complicated by the high security alert in Jerusalem following Israel's shelling in Gaza that killed 19 Palestinians. Yesterday Israel's High Court of Justice held a hearing on a challenge to the proposed march. Arutz Sheva says that the court will hand down its decision today in the challenge that was filed by rabbis and polticians. One of the rabbis broke into tears during the hearing.

Also the Vatican has expressed opposition to the march. Its envoy to Israel said: "The Holy See has reiterated on many occasions that the right to freedom of expression... is subject to just limits, in particular when the exercise of this right would offend the religious sentiments of believers."

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that on Thursday, gay pride leaders cancelled their planned parade.

First Amendment Defense In Trespass Case Fails

In Commonwealth v. Cartwright, (MA Sup. Jud. Ct., Nov. 8, 2006), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court yesterday rejected a First Amendment Free Exercise defense raised in a criminal trespassing case. Defendant, Pastor Scyrus Cartwright, formerly owned a building that he says he held "in trust for the use and benefit of the members of Lord and Christ Church, Inc." His wife received the property as part of a divorce settlement and she, in turn, conveyed it to Pastor Jewel Hardmon. The court upheld the jury's conclusion that Hardmon had legal control over the property.

Christian In-Patient Rehab Program Loses Zoning Suit In Florida

In Men of Destiny Ministries, Inc. v. Osceola County, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80908 (MD FL, Nov. 6, 2006), a Florida federal district court rejected claims brought under both RLUIPA and the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act by a Christian residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program that was denied a conditional use permit to operate in an area near St. Cloud (FL) zoned for residential use. The court found that the county's refusal did not impose a substantial burden on the organization's exercise of its religion since it is free to run its program in other areas of the County that are zoned appropriately or to operate through out-patient counseling rather than with an in-patient facility.

7th Circuit Rejects Church's Land Use Claims

Yesterday in Vision Church, United Methodist v. Village of Long Grove, (7th Cir., Nov. 7, 2006), the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Free Expression, Free Exercise and RLUIPA challenges to a requirement that churches need to obtain special use permits to locate in Long Grove, Illinois. It also rejected the church's argument that the village's regulations violate the Establishment Clause by favoring existing religious institutions over new ones. It held that the involuntary annexation of Vision Church's land was not a land use regulation covered by RLUIPA, and that size restrictions imposed on the church did not substantially burden its exercise of religion. It rejected constitutional and statutory claims of unequal treatment and Vision Church's claim that it had a vested right to build under pre-existing zoning rules.

Opponents of Intelligent Design Prevail In Ohio School Board Races

In Ohio yesterday, in contests for five seats on the State Board of Education, four of the winners oppose the teaching of intelligent design in science courses. (Election results.) In District 7, the race in which the science curriculum issue was most important, Thomas Sawyer soundly defeated incumbent Deborah Owens Fink, who supported the Board's proposed standard and lesson plan for 10th-grade biology courses that called for a "critical analysis" of evolutionary theory. (See prior posting.) In District 2, John Bender defeated Intelligent Design supporter Kathleen McGervey. (See prior posting.) In Districts 4 and 8, the winners G.R. Schloemer and Deborah L. Cain both oppose the teaching of Intelligent Design in science classes. (McClatchy Tribune Business News; Canton Repository).

The Cleveland Plain Dealer this morning reports that the four candidates were backed by Help Ohio Public Education (HOPE), a group created by scientists who were upset at the Board's attempts to introduce intelligent design into science classes. HOPE specifically recruited former Akron mayor Thomas Sawyer-- the successful District 7 cnadidate-- to run. Only in District 3 did a supporter of Intelligent Design in science classes win election to the state school board. At least that appears to be the position of winner Susan M. Haverkos.

Can British Lawyers Wear Niqab?

The niqab-- or veil that some Muslim women wear to completely cover their face-- has again become the subject of controversy in Britain. This time the presiding judge of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal is being asked to decide whether solicitor Shabnam Mughal can argue a case before the Tribunal dressed completely in black with a full-face veil leaving only her eyes visible. Today's London Telegraph reports that one of the Tribunal's judges, George Glossop, asked Miss Mughal on Monday if she would "kindly remove her veil to assist with communication". He said: "It will allow me to see your face and I cannot hear you as well as I would like." Mughal, who refused the request, says she has worn her veil while representing clients before tribunals in different parts of the country for two years. Today's Daily Express says that the case has now been referred to a senior High Court Judge, Sir Henry Hodge.

Virginians Pass Amendment To Permit Incorporation of Churches

The Associated Press reports that in Virginia yesterday, voters easily approved an amendment deleting from the state constitution a ban on the incorporation of churches. The section had already been held to be unenforceable as violative of the U.S. Constitution's free exercise clause. (See prior posting.)