Congressional Hearing Discusses Establishment Clause and Indian Health Care

Friday's Indian Country reports that lawyer Edward Lazarus has testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee (text of March 8 testimony) and the House Natural Resources Committee (text of March 14 testimony) on the constitutionality of the proposed Indian Health Care Improvement Act (HR 1328). The Justice Department had issued a White Paper raising Establishment Clause concerns about the Act's support of traditional Native American health care practices. Lazarus argued that the Act's definition of traditional health care practices does not expressly tie such practices to religious beliefs. They can reflect merely superstition or historical customs. Lazarus also discussed Justice Department concerns that the Act may be creating racial preferences.

Maryland "Get" Bill Defeated In Senate

Yesterday, the Maryland Senate defeated a bill that would have assisted Orthodox Jewish women in obtaining a religious divorce decree from their husbands who were seeking a civil divorce from Maryland courts. (See prior posting.) Today's Baltimore Examiner reports that the bill failed by two votes-- receiving a tie vote of 22-22-- even though it had received preliminary approval on Wednesday. Opponents said that the bill was well-intentioned, but that civil law should not be used to force someone to perform a religious act.

Settlement Permits Equal Use Of Village Property By Religious Groups

The Care and Share Ministry has prevailed in a settlement of its suit against South Orange, New Jersey. (See prior posting.) Village officials have agreed to make the Village Square available for use by religious groups on the same terms as for public and private non-religious groups. The settlement was reported yesterday by Alliance Defense Fund and the Associated Press.

Indian State Considering Controversial Bills On Control Of Religious Matters

In the Indian state of Maharashtra-- which includes India's largest city, Mumbai-- two controversial bills affecting religious organizations are pending in the legislature. Gulfnews.com reported yesterday that a Hindu group has begun a 3-day hunger strike to protest them. One is the "Eradication of Black Magic, Evil and Aghori Practices Bill", already passed by the Legislative Assembly, and now about to go to the upper house, the Legislative Council. Opponents are concerned that the bill is overly broad. An article from last July's The Hindu Business Line describes the specific practices barred by the proposed law. They include assault under the pretext of expelling a ghost; displaying "miracles" to deceive people into giving money; provoking people to follow cannibalistic practices to be blessed by supernatural powers; creating fear through supposed divine spirits; making past-life connections and forcing people to indulge in sexual activity; and creating for business purposes the impression that a mentally-challenged person has super-natural powers.

The second bill of concern to some Hindus is the "Temples or Religious Institutions (Management and Regulation) Act". Under it, the government could take over management of certain temples and trusts. (Pune, March 12.)

Australian Court Orders Dismissed Rabbi Not To Conduct Services

In Australia, Adelaide's District Court of South Australia finds itself in the middle of a dispute between the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation the synagogue's rabbi. This week, AJN and Adelaide Now report on developments. The congregation is attempting to dismiss Rabbi Yossi Engel while the rabbi claims that he has tenure in his position. Last week, the District Court found that Engel's contract had expired on December 31. Last Friday police were called to the synagogue after a noisy confrontation between Engel and two women were who packing up his office. Meanwhile the Sydney Beth Din (Jewish religious court) has called for the controversy to be submitted to it for resolution.

Now the District Court has issued a restraining order barring the rabbi from conducting services at the synagogue, even though Engle says that the Sydney Beth Din has issued an order determining that he is still rabbi of the congregation. Rabbi Engel's lawyer, Bernard O'Brien, says that the rabbi has a religious duty to conduct services, so that the court may be faced with the prospect of ordering him to jail.

New Jersey Considering Bills On Religious Accommodation

The New Jersey legislature is considering a package of bills designed to further protect religious liberty in the state. Today's New Jersey Jewish Standard describes them:

Senate Bill 2377 requires the state to provide alternate test dates because of days of religious observance for certain applicants seeking a state license.

Senate Bill 2379 stipulates that a nursing home resident has the right to receive food that meets the resident’s religious dietary requirements.

Senate Bill 2380 requires health-care representatives to make decisions for incapacitated patients in accordance with the patient’s religious beliefs.

Senate Bill 2488 makes it illegal to discriminate against employees because of their religious practices.

Senate Bill 2489 provides for religious accommodation regarding admission procedures at licensed health-care facilities.

Assembly Bill 3512 would require alternative testing arrangements be provided to certain students unable to attend tests at their regular administration due to religious observance.

Assembly Bill 3516 provides for religious accommodation regarding organ donations.

Husband Seeks To Enjoin Picketers Protesting His Refusal To Sign a "Get"

Law.com today reports on a motion filed in a Palm Beach, Florida, Circuit Court court by Dr. David Abisror seeking a temporary injunction to keep pickets from the Boca Raton Synagogue away from his office building. The pickets are trying to force Abisror to grant his wife a Jewish divorce. While the couple obtained a civil divorce ten years ago, Abisror's refusal to sign a "get" prevents his wife from remarrying in accordance with Orthodox Jewish law in Israel where she now lives. In seeking the injunction, Abisror claims that the picketers have engaged in libelous and slanderous speech, interfered with his business relationships and created a public safety hazard. Attorneys for the picketers say that their activities are protected by the First Amendment.

NY Lawsuit Is Really Over Whether To Discuss The Rebbe As Messiah

The Forward today reports on a lawsuit pending in a New York trial court between two groups of Chabad leaders who are fighting for control of the synagogue in Chabad's headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. While nominally the suit is about whether the organization that owns the building, Agudas Chassidei Chabad, or a group of leaders -- gabbais-- elected from the local Chabad community, will have control over the synagogue in the basement of the Rebbe's former residence and the building next door, in fact more is at stake. At issue is a dispute within Chabad over whether the Hasidic movement’s grand rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994, may be referred to publicly as the Messiah.

Agudas Chassidei Chabad asserted its authority over the synagogue in which the Rebbe used to preach after a group of youngsters who believe that Schneerson is the living Messiah tore out a plaque that had recently been installed in the synagogue by Chabad's international leaders. The youths were angry because the plaque referred to Schneerson with a Hebrew acronym used for the dead.

This week a New York judge ordered the case to trial, finding that he was unable to rule for either side based on the pleadings alone. In the many affidavits filed in the case so far, it appears that most Chabad leaders privately believe that the rebbe was the Messiah. They disagree though over whether he died to return in the future or just disappeared for a time. The lawsuit though reflects a different split in the movement -- whether to discuss the views of Schneerson as the Messiah publicly for fear of frightening away many unaffiliated Jews who support Chabad.

DOJ Sues NY Corrections Department For Religious Discrimination

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act against the New York Department of Corrections claiming that it discriminates by refusing to accommodate, under any circumstances, the religious practices of uniformed security guards who are unable to comply with the Department's uniform or grooming rules. A report in yesterday's North County Gazette gives further details of the complaint. A private lawsuit making similar allegations was filed last October by Muslim prison guard Abdus Samad Haqq who want to be able to wear his Kufi (skullcap). (See prior posting.)

3rd Circuit Allows Discovery On Whether School Qualifies For ADA Religious Exemption

Yesterday, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals said that a decision on whether the exemption for religious organizations from coverage under the Americans for Disabilities Act should apply to a school should not be made until after plaintiffs have an opportunity to carry out discovery. In Doe v. Abington Friends School, (3d Cir., March 15, 2007), the Court of Appeals reversed the district court's dismissal of the suit, saying that Abington as "one of the oldest primary and secondary schools in the country, long known for its Quaker heritage, superficially seems to be a strong candidate. But discovery digs subsurface and may unearth facts that tend to support the contrary conclusion."

High School Credit For Religion Course Challenged In South Carolina

In Spartanburg, South Carolina, a biology professor and his wife are challenging the decision by Spartanburg High School to give students credit for a released-time religion class that will be taught at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. Credit for the course will be given by a private school, Oakbrook Preparatory School, and Spartanburg High students will receive transfer credit for the course on their public school transcripts. Upstate.com today reports that Prof. Robert Moss who complained about the arrangement says that giving high school credit for the course amounts to unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the Spartanburg High. The religion course does not appear in students' registration materials for next year that have already been printed because the course was just approved and guidelines need to be developed. However students will have a chance to enroll later.

House Committee Rejects Religious-Based Hiring For Head Start

On Wednesday, the House Labor and Education Committee rejected by a vote of 24-13 a Republican-proposed amendment to the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 that would have allowed religious organizations receiving federal Head Start funds to take religion into account in hiring teachers and other employees. Associated Baptist Press reported yesterday that the amendment would have changed long-standing anti-discrimination rules that apply to the program. The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement welcoming the defeat of the proposed amendment.

Scalia vs. Rabbi On Capital Punishment

Rabbi Barry Leff has an interesting posting today on his blog about his exchange with Justice Scalia during Scalia's recent visit to the University of Toledo College of Law. Leff asked Scalia about the possibility of imposing sufficient procedural hurdles to capital punishment to effectively outlaw it, drawing on Talmudic precedents that took that approach. Here is part of Leff's account:

I allowed as to how I wasn't a lawyer, I was a rabbi and more expert in Jewish law than secular law--to which he replied something like "Thank God," which I wasn't sure how to take--and I opined as to how the rabbis were "originalists" regarding the Torah (after all, it comes from God!), yet they effectively eliminated capital punishment through procedural barriers. Justice Scalia replied "I know about those rabbis--the Sanhedrin would declare a mistrial if they voted unanimously to condemn someone to death because they assumed there must have been something fishy going on!" The implication seeming to be that this was really going too far.

Ministerial Exception Precludes State Whistleblower Suit

In Archdiocese of Miami, Inc. v. Minagorri, (FL 3d Dist Ct. App., March 14, 2007), a Florida court of appeal held that the the "ecclesiastical exception doctrine" precludes a former Catholic high school principal from maintaining a suit under Florida's Private Sector Whistleblower Act. Yolanda Minagorri claimed she was fired in retaliation for complaining about her supervisor's grabbing her by the arm and threatening her. The court held that "allowing the whistleblower claim to proceed would especially run afoul of the First Amendment because the requested remedy of reinstatement would require the Archdiocese to employ Miñagorri, a concededly ministerial employee."

10 Commandments Not Yet Back On Kentucky Capitol Grounds

The Louisville Courier-Journal yesterday reported that the Ten Commandments are still not back on the State Capitol grounds in Frankfort, Kentucky despite a law passed last year by the Kentucky legislature authorizing their return. (See prior posting.) The legislature provided that in order to comply with Supreme Court precedent that has approved Ten Commandments monuments that are part of a broader display, it would add a marker telling the history of the monument and its legal battles. But state officials are not sure that is enough, so they have asked various state agencies if they have any other large monuments that could be added to the display. State officials have agreed that they will not actually replace the monument on public property until it is approved by a federal judge. Meanwhile, the monument is on display outside the Fraternal Order of Eagles' building in Hopkinsville, where it was moved after a federal court in 2000 in Adland v. Russ found that plans to place it on the statehouse grounds were unconstitutional.

Turkey's Religious Foundations Bill Vetoed; But Parliament May Override

Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has vetoed Turkey's Religious Foundations Law, passed by Parliament in November. The law was designed to improve the rights of non-Muslim religious minorities in the country. (See prior posting.) Sezer returned the law to Parliament asking for reconsideration of nine articles, and vetoing one that permits foreigners to establish foundations in Turkey, if based on reciprocity. Today's Turkish Daily News reports, however, that Parliament's Justice Commission has decided not to change the law. If the law is accepted by Parliament without a change, the President will not be able to veto it again; however he can refer it to Turkey's Constitutional Court.

House of Representatives Calls On Bangladesh to Release Journalist

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 409- 1, passed H.Res. 64 urging the government of Bangladesh to drop all pending charges against Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. The resolution asserts that Choudhury "because of his beliefs in an interfaith dialogue between Jews and Muslims and criticism of Islamic extremism, is on trial for sedition, an offense punishable by death".

Algeria Plans To Bar Imams From Political Activity

The Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs said Tuesday that a bill will soon be enacted into law that will prohibit imams from engaging in politics. Yesterday, Magharebia reported that imams will be barred from running as candidates in elections, joining political parties or using mosques for political campaigning. They will need to resign their positions in order to become involved politically. Moderate Islamic clergy support the bill, saying that "the mosque should remain a place of worship for everyone and must not become embroiled once again in the political struggles we saw in the 1990s".

Should Muslim Grocery Cashiers Be Permitted To Avoid Handling Pork Products?

The Minneapolis- St. Paul area has become a center of conflict over the appropriate extent of accommodation of Muslim religious practices in the business and commercial world. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that the latest controversy involves Muslim cashiers at supermarkets who refuse to handle pork products purchased by customers. At a Target store, the Muslim cashier-- wearing a traditional head scarf-- required her customer to scan a package of bacon and place it in the grocery bag that the cashier held open. In other stores, cashiers ask other non-Muslim employees to do the scanning for them. The issue seems to have surfaced here because of the large number of Somali immigrants in the area, many of whom are orthodox Muslims.

UPDATE: A report from the Star-Tribune on Saturday says that Target is reassigning Muslim cashiers who object to handling pork products for religious reasons to other jobs at their stores.

Bahrain Parliamentarian Calls For Probe Into Anti-Islamic Dance Performance

In Bahrain, Islamist deputy Shaikh Mohammad Khalid-- a member of the Al Menbar faction in Parliament-- has called for formation of an investigating committee to look into a performance by a Lebanese dance troupe at the March 1 opening of the Spring of Culture festival that was organized by Bahrain's Ministry of Information. At issue is a choreographic interpretation of "Laila and the Possessed", a poem written by Bahraini poet Qasim Haddad. Lebanese star Marcel Khalifa sang while male and female dancers staged the relationship between two famous Arab lovers portrayed in the poem. GulfNews.com yesterday reported that the Islamic Al Asala society complained: "The dances were depraved and offended our religious and moral sensitivities as well as our traditions. In addition, the lyrics were a blatant violation of our Islamic precepts and values.... The constitution clearly stipulates that Islam is the religion of the country, so everything that happens in Bahrain should comply with what the religion preaches. We should not have anything that attacks or violates our values."