Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Jordan's Parliament Deletes Controversial Provision In Proposed Press Law
Court Finds Cross On City Water Tower Unconstitutional
German Judge Cites Koran Verse In Denying Accelerated Divorce
UPDATE: In response to widespread criticism of the judge's decision to deny an accelerated divorce, the Court's vice president said that the judge "regrets that the impression arose that she approves of violence in marriage." (International Herald Tribune).
UPDATE: German lawyer Andreas Moser has posted more information on the case suggesting that the media have been exaggerating the holding. He says that the opinion focuses on whether the government will pay for counsel for the wife instead of requiring her to wait 2 more months to obtain her divorce after the 1-year waiting period. [Thanks to Dispatches from the Culture Wars for the lead.]
Father Sues LDS Church Over Ordination Of Sons
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Catholic-Jewish Commission Speaks On Religious Freedom
Even though the Enlightenment helped bring about a purification from the abuse of religion, secular society still requires religious foundations to sustain lasting moral values....
While on principle the state should not at all limit freedom of religion for individuals and communities nor of moral conscience, it has the responsibility to guarantee the wellbeing and security of society. Accordingly it is obliged to intervene wherever and whenever a threat is posed by the promotion, teaching or exercise of violence and specifically terrorism and psychological manipulation in the name of religion.
In addition to respecting the freedom of religious choices, the integrity of faith communities should also be guaranteed. Accordingly it is legitimate for a society with a predominant religious identity to preserve its character, as long as this does not limit the freedom of minority communities and individuals to profess their alternative religious commitments, nor to limit their full civil rights and status as citizens, individuals and communities....
[T]here is a special obligation upon religious leaders and communities to prevent the improper use of religion and to educate towards respect for diversity which is essential in order to ensure a healthy, stable and peaceful society.
NY Appellate Court Upholds Photographer's Rights Against Free Exercise Claim
EU Anniversary Statement Will Not Mention Religion
Santeria Priest Rejects Settlement Offer In RLUIPA Suit
Philippines Mandates Moderate Muslim Curriculum
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Amici Urge Application of RFRA to Gitmo
The organizations who joined in the brief are the Baptist Joint Committee, American Jewish Committee, National Association of Evangelicals, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
New Rabbinic Court Judges Appointed In Israel Amidst Controversy
NC Governments Respond To Requests For Non-Sectarian Invocations
However in Thomasville, North Carolina, after heated debate, city council voted 6-1 last night for a policy that permits sectarian prayer. The Winston-Salem Journal reports that the new guidelines provide for council members to volunteer-- on a rotational basis-- to offer an invocation as a private citizen before council meetings formally begin. However the policy states: "No guidelines or limitations shall be issued regarding an invocation's content except that the Council shall request by the language of this policy that no prayer should proselytize or advance any faith, or disparage the religious faith or nonreligious views of others." Backers of the prayer policy say organizations like the ACLU want to strip Christians of their free speech. The Alliance Defense Fund has offered to defend the city in any challenge to its new policy.
Thailand Considering New Regulation Of Islamic Affairs
British Schools Will Be Permitted To Ban Niqab
Utah Delays Decision On FLDS Law Enforcement Officers
Egypt Moves Toward Constitutional Ban On Muslim Brotherhood As Politcal Party
UPDATE: Lebanon's Daily Star reported on March 22 that both Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition Kefaya movement will boycott the March 26 referendum on Egypt's proposed constitutonal amendments in order to deny legitimacy to them.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Reports and Transcript of "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Arguments in Supreme Court
Justice Stephen G. Breyer seemed to capture the court’s concerns.... "It's pretty hard to run a school where kids go around at public events publicly making a joke out of drugs," Justice Breyer told Douglas K. Mertz, the lawyer representing former high school student Joseph Frederick.... [However] Justice Breyer said he worried that if he took the student’s side, "we’ll suddenly see people testing limits all over the place in the high schools. But a rule that's against your side may really limit people's rights on free speech. That’s what I’m struggling with."
McCain Says He Needs Evangelical Support To Win
Supreme Court Hears Arguments Today In Student Speech Case With Implications For Religious Freedom
The Washington Post last week described the case as "the most important student free-speech conflict to reach the Supreme Court since the height of the Vietnam War". A number of Christian conservatives-- while they do not like the student's apparently pro-drug message-- nevertheless strongly defend Frederick. Religion News Service quotes Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, who said: "in my opinion this is probably one of the most dangerous cases to religious freedom in the last decade - because you don't think it's about religion". Christian groups argue that a win for the school could empower schools to engage in "viewpoint censorship" to restrict controversial speech-- from anti-abortion T-shirts to student-run Bible clubs.
Meanwhile, SCOTUS blog on Saturday suggested that the case is complicated by basic disagreement on many of the facts. The parties differ over whether or not Frederick was taking part in a school-sponsored event and disagree over the meaning of the message on Frederick's banner.
Law Memo has links to the briefs of the parties and of all the amici, as well as to the petition for cert. and related documents.
New Articles on Law and Religion
Gregory C. Sisk, John Paul II: The Quintessential Religious Witness in the Public Square, Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, Vol. 45, p. 241, 2007.
From SmartCILP:
Garrett Epps, Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others: The Rehnquist Court and "Majority" Religion, 21 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 323-347 (2006).
Noah Feldman, Division, Design, and the Divine: Church and State in Today's America, 30 Oklahoma City University Law Review 845-862 (2005).
Richard W. Garnett, Modest Expectations?: Civic Unity, Religious Pluralism, and Conscience, (Reviewing Noah Feldman, Divided by God: America's Church-State Problem--And What We Should Do About It; and Kevin Seamus Hasson, The Right to be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America.) 23 Constitutional Commentary 241-269 (2006).
Jay D. Wexler, The Endorsement Court, 21 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 263-306 (2006).