Somalia Town Officials Threaten Beheading For Failure To Obey Prayer Mandate

In Bulo Burto, a town in southern Somalia, Islamic Courts officials are announcing over loud speakers that people need to pray five times a day. Public places such as shops and tea houses must close during prayer times and no one should be on the streets. Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court, told the Associated Press yesterday that anyone who does not follow this edict "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law." The decision is not binding in other towns. The Council of Islamic Courts has occupied most of southern Somalia since taking over Mogadishu in June. (See prior posting.)

Ministerial Exception Applies To Connecticut Discrimination Statutes

Yesterday the Connecticut Appellate Court released its opinion in Rweyemamu v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, (CT App., official release date Dec. 12, 2006), holding that the ministerial exception applies to preclude the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, as well as state courts, from exercising jurisdiction over a priest's racial discrimination claim against his diocese. The plaintiff, a black African ordained Catholic priest from Tanzania argued that he was passed over in favor of a less qualified white deacon for the position of parish administrator. Deciding an issue of first impression, the court held that the "ministerial exception" applies to Connecticut's employment discrimination statutes. In order to preserve First Amendment protections, secular institutions must defer to the decisions of religious institutions in their employment relations with their religious employees. The court also concluded that the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not displace the ministerial exception. Yesterday's Stamford (CT) Advocate reported on the decision.

Articles Analyze Place Of Religion In Today's Europe

Two articles in today's papers explore the growing influence of religion in Europe. The International Herald Tribune carried an AP piece titled Church-State Relations Across Europe Heading Toward 'New Landscape'. Meanwhile Spero News carries a long analysis by Jytte Klausen titled Counterterrorism, Integration of Islam in Europe .

Peyote Damage Suit Against US, Utah, and County Dismissed

In Mooney v. United States [scroll to pg. 112] (D UT, Dec. 5, 2006), a Utah federal district court dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds a suit brought against the United States and the state of Utah for damages. Plaintiffs claim that they were being improperly prosecuted for using peyote in religious rituals. The court also dismissed plaintiffs' claims against Utah County, finding that there are no facts that show that the county has an official policy that infringes plaintiffs' right to use peyote in religious rituals. Yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune reports that the case stems from a dispute that began when police raided the Oklevueha Earthwalks church in Benjamin, Utah. (See prior posting.) There police seized 12,000 peyote buttons and charged the church's founders, James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney and Linda Mooney, with first-degree felonies. The charges were dropped after the Utah Supreme Court held that Utah law permits the use of peyote by members of the Native American Church, regardless of whether they are members of a federally recognized Indian tribe. (See prior posting.)

Indian Court Lets Dalits Enter Hindu Temple

In India on Tuesday, the Orissa High Court ruled that every Hindu, regardless of caste, has the right to enter any Hindu Temple. The ruling came in a case challenging the exclusion of lower-caste Dalits from the 300-year old the Jagannath Temple at Keredagada. Today's Zeenews reported on the decision.

Florida RFRA Challenge To Restriction On Feeding Homeless Dismissed

Today's Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that a Florida federal district court has dismissed the challenge under Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act to to an Orlando ordinance that bans religious and charitable groups from serving meals to the hungry at the city’s Lake Eola Park and other areas downtown without first obtaining a special permit. Permits are available to any group or person only twice a year. (See prior posting.) The court said: "There are many ways to be charitable to the poor and homeless other than setting up large group feedings more than twice per year at Lake Eola Park." However this decision does not affect the First Vagabonds Church of God's First Amendment free expression challenge to the ordinance.

NYC Cop Sues City For Anti-Muslim E-Mail Harassment

In New York City, an Egyptian-born police captain in the city's elite anti-terrorism Cyber Unit has sued the city and a counter-terrorism adviser to the police department in federal court, charging them with religious discrimination. The suit involves daily e-mail briefings sent to the Intelligence Division by Bruce Tefft who worked for a company called Orion that provided the police with open source intelligence from its data base. The informational messages were preceded by virulent anti-Muslim and anti-Arab statements from Tefft. The city's contract with Orion ended in 2003, but Tefft on his own continued to send e-mail messages until the Department moved ineffectively to block them in 2005, and only succeeded in doing so earlier this year. The New York Daily News and the New York Times both cover the story.

Malaysia Courts Face Religious Dispute Over Custody Of Body

In Malaysia, last Wednesday Rayappan Anthony died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. The Star today reports on the complicated religious battle that ensued. When Rayappan's family went to claim his body on Thursday, Selangor Islamic Affairs Department officers stopped them, claiming Rayappan was a Muslim. On Friday, the Shah Alam Syariah High Court granted an application by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) to claim Rayappan’s body but required Mais to get approval from the Federal Territory Syariah High Court. On Monday night, Rayappan's three daughters were subpoenaed to appear at a Syariah High Court hearing to present their contention that Rayappan returned to Christianity seven years ago. But the daughters refuse to appear, claiming that they are not Muslim and so are not subject to the court's jurisdiction. Instead, Rayappan’s 65-year-old widow, Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, filed an application in the civil High Court in Kuala Lumpur asking for Rayappan's body to be released to her.

UPDATE: On Thursday, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council withdrew its claim to Rayappan's body for burial. Council chairman Mohamed Adzib Mohamad Isa said that after consulting religious experts, they determined that there was "overwhelming" evidence showing Rayappan was not a Muslim. (International Herald Tribune).

Pagan Group's Flyer To School Students Upsets Christians

Rob Boston at Wall of Separation blog has a posting that might have been titled "be careful what you wish for". Last summer, conservative Christians convinced the Albemarle County, Virginia School Board to open its so-called "backpack mail" to religious nonprofits, as well as secular groups, so flyers advertising a Vacation Bible School could be sent home with elementary school students. But now some Christian clergy and others are upset because some local Pagans who attend a Unitarian Universalist church have used "backpack mail" to distribute a flyer advertising a program that will "explore the traditions of December and their origins, followed by a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule."One minister says this argues for placing Christian children in Christian schools or home schooling them.

West Virginia City Adds Jesus To City's Nativity Display

Last week, according to the AP, St. Albans, West Virginia put up the community's annual Festival of Lights holiday display. One of 350 light exhibits was a manger with shepherds, a guiding star, camels and a palm tree, but without baby Jesus, Mary or Joseph. The parks superintendent says the omission was out of concern over church-state issues, but Mayor Dick Callaway said it was for technical reasons-- it is difficult to create a baby out of lights in a small manger scene. At any rate, after the display received national publicity, the mayor and city council received critical e-mails and media inquiries from around the country. So, says yesterday's Charleston Gazette, Mayor Callaway informed city council on Monday that he had instructed the city’s parks officials to install a figure of the Christ child in the nativity scene. However he expressed puzzlement since the nativity scene without Jesus had been up for the last six years without a complaint.

Christian Fraternity Sues University Of Georgia

Another lawsuit pitting a Christian student group against a university attempting to enforce antidiscrimination provisions has been filed-- this time against the University of Georgia. Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX) is a fraternity of Christian male college students that requires its members to profess faith in Jesus Christ and to affirm a fundamentalist Christian doctrinal statement. The University of Georgia refused to re-register BYX as a recognized student organization in 2006 because the fraternity will not extend membership and eligibility for officership positions to all students regardless of religion. Yesterday, the Christian Legal Society and the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit on behalf of BYX (press release). The complaint (full text) alleges that the University's refusal violates BYX's rights to freedom of association, freedom of speech and expression, free exercise of religion and equal protection of the law. The case is Beta Upsilon Chi v. Adams, (MD GA, Dec. 5, 2006).

UPDATE: On Thursday, the University of Georgia agreed to recognize BYX as a registered student organization, and to exempt it from the University's non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy . (ADF Release). In its letter to BYX's attorney, the University said it will review its student organization policies in the near future. [Thanks to Joseph Knippenberg for the lead.]

Israel's Labor Court Holds Law Against Saturday Work Applies to Kibbutz

Israel's National Labor Court today ruled unanimously that the Israeli labor laws prohibiting Jews from working on Saturday apply to stores in kibbutzim. The decision is covered by Haaretz and by Arutz Sheva today. The opinion quotes early labor leader Berl Katznelson and Israeli writer Haim Bialik on the importance of the Sabbath to Israeli society and Israeli workers. The decision reverses a contrary holding by a Regional Labor Court that had voted to to rescind the charges against Kibbutz Tzora and six of its members.

UPDATE: YNet News on Wednesday reported that many small businesses operating on kibbutzim are angry at the Labor Court's ruling.

Jackie Mason Settles Suit With Jews For Jesus

Comedian Jackie Mason yesterday dropped his $2 million lawsuit against Jews for Jesus in exchange for an apology from the group, according to an Associated Press report today. The New York Times reports that the settlement was reached after about 45 minutes of negotiation in the judge's chambers. Last month, a New York federal district court denied Mason's request for a preliminary injunction in his suit claiming that Jews for Jesus had misappropriated his image for advertising and trade purposes. (See prior posting.) Mason objected to a pamphlet put out by JFJ featuring his image next to the words "Jackie Mason ... A Jew for Jesus!?" with information inside on similarities between Jews and Christians. JFJ's letter offers "sincere apologies for any distress" the pamphlet had caused, and says that JFJ is "willing in the interest of ahavat yisrael [love of Israel] and shalom [peace] to retire this particular evangelistic tract."

Developments In India On Claims For Equal Treatment Of All Religious Groups

This week saw developments in two ongoing controversies involving the government of India's relationship with disparate religious groups.

IANS reports that on Monday, the Delhi High Court notified the government of a suit that has been filed challenging government subsidies given exclusively to Haj pilgrims. The suit asks that other religions get similar treatment. It seeks grants for Hindus for their pilgrimage to Amarnath and Mansarovar, for Sikhs for their pilgrimage to Nankana Saheb, for Buddhists to offer prayers at Sarnath, for Christians for their journey to Rome, and for Jains to visit their shrines. The suit argues that Articles 14, 15 and 17 of the Indian Constitution prohibits the government giving benefits to one particular religion. A challenge to Haj subsidies was filed in the Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year. (See prior posting.)

Meanwhile The Hindu reports that on Monday, in an unruly session of Uttar Pradesh's Assembly, the government introduced a resolution demanding an amendment to the country's Constitutional (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950 to include Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians, along with Dalit Hindus, in the "Scheduled Caste" category entitled to special benefits. This would involve deleting Section 3 of the Order. Proponents claim that denial of benefits to Dalit Muslims and Christians violates Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution.

Controversial Science Policy In A Louisiana School System

The Associated Press reported last week that the Ouachita Parish, Louisiana school board has adopted a controversial new policy on the teaching of science. The policy says that the district "understands that the teaching of some scientific subjects such as biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming and human cloning, can cause controversy and that some teachers may be unsure of the district's expectations concerning how they should present information on such subjects.... [Therefore]teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught." Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says this is an invitation for teachers to talk about creationism and intelligent design. [Thanks to Wall of Separation for the lead.]

Court Says Chabad Can Pursue Russian Government For Manuscripts

Yesterday a federal district court in Washington, D.C. gave a significant-- but not total-- victory to a Chabad organization in its efforts to get back collections of its Jewish religious books and manuscripts that fell into the hands of the Soviet Union during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and then were the subject of extensive legal proceedings in the Soviet Union. In Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation, (DDC, Dec. 4, 2006), the court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act is not a bar to Chabad's suit to recover the so-called "Archive"-- 25,000 pages of Chabad Rebbes' handwritten teachings, correspondence, and other records. The expropriation exception to FSIA applies because the Archive was taken in violation of international law by the Nazis in Poland during World War II, and then seized by the Soviet Army from the Nazis in 1945, again in violation of international law.

However the court did dismiss Chabad's attempt to also recover its "Library" -- a collection of 12,000 books and 382 manuscripts that date back to 1772. Both FSIA and the act of state doctrine preclude the court from having jurisdiction over this claim because taking of the Library, which took place in the 1920s, did not violate international law.

The New York Sun and the Associated Press cover the decision. The AP report says that Chabad is delighted with the decision. Its main concern was the Archive. The Library apparently is being preserved in Russia by the Russian government under an agreement it made with the U.S. in 1993, though Chabad charges that Russia is not complying with its obligations under the agreement. Bloomberg yesterday, however, reported that Chabad is considering whether to appeal this part of the court's decision

City Operation Of Music From Church Steeple Challenged

In Jewett City, Connecticut, the state chapter of American Atheists is complaining about a loud speaker and CD player that was installed by the borough in the steeple of a Baptist Church located on the town's main street. The New London (CT) Day reported on the controversy last week.

Ten years ago, the town spent some unused grant monies for the equipment that is used to play music each hour, and to broadcast church bells on each quarter-hour. The town, and not the church, is responsible for the equipment and the choice of music. Most of the music played in non-religious. However, at the request of the borough treasurer, the nine o'clock selection each morning is Onward Christian Soldiers. And in the winter, religious Christmas songs are included in the repetoire. Some residents are concerned that the volume of the music is too loud. But American Atheists is concerned with the church-state issues in the town's operation of the equipment. It wants the town to sell the equipment to the church and have the church take control of the music. However the church is not interested.

Russia Sues In French Court Over Church Ownership

Interfax reports today that the Russian government has filed suit in a French court to confirm that the Russian State is the only legitimate owner of the land under the Russian Orthodox St. Nicholas Cathedral in the French city of Nice. In the petition filed on November 13, the Russian government also claims ownership of the church's facilities and property. Sergey Parinov, press secretary of the Russian embassy in France, said the dispute is purely a property dispute and has nothing to do with the relations between the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople.

Church Filings Call Bona Fides Of Ordinations Into Question

Sunday's Arizona Daily Star chronicles a convoluted and unusual legal issue that has surfaced as two factions fight for control of the Universal Life Church Monestary and its assets. Through its website, the Monestary offers instant and free ordination as a minister. It claims to have ordained over 20 million individuals. Now, however, the bona fides of some of those ordinations are in question because the website has been run since August 1 by George Freeman, who is not legally an officer of the church.

The church's true CEO, Daniel Zimmerman, claims control of the church and its website has been improperly taken by Freeman (who once ran a Seattle church known by some as a nightclub where teens could find group sex and drugs). In February, Freeman filed papers with the Arizona Corporation Commission stating that the non-profit corporation's board of directors voted to remove Zimmerman as CEO because he engaged in "fraudulent conduct," conducted himself in a manner unbecoming a board member, and because of a recent arrest. Subsequently the Corporation Commission decided that Freeman's documents were "accepted in error" and they were returned to him. This means that Zimmerman is recognized as CEO as a matter of legal record.

Online requests for ordination after Aug. 1, however, were processed by Freeman. Since he is no longer recognized by the Arizona Corporation Commission as an officer of the church, these ministers may not have been legally ordained. That apparently places the validity of some of the marriages they performed in doubt. Zimmerman says it also places "the baptism of countless babies is at risk", although it is not exactly clear what that means.

Of course, it may be that the heart of the dispute here is the church's real estate, its $129,000 in cash, and the value of sales of ministerial supplies and materials it offers through its website (allegedly worth $15 million). Zimmerman is apparently willing to give up legal control of the church if he gets a retirement package worth several hundred thousand dollars that he says was promised to him.

Michigan Capitol's Spruce Is "Christmas Tree"

In Lansing, Michigan, the state legislature's bipartisan Capitol Committee declared the 61-foot spruce in front of the Capitol to be the "Michigan Christmas Tree". Sunday's Grand Rapids Press reports that the new name replaces the "State Holiday Tree", the name that had been used since 1991. State Attorney General Michael Cox said there was no problem with the change. And Susan Herman, a spokesperson for the Michigan Jewish Conference, agreed saying: "If you're going to have a tree, you might as well call it what it is."