Religious Groups Testify On Immigration Reform Proposals

On Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, in hearings on comprehensive immigration reform, heard testimony from a panel of eight representatives of various religious and faith-based organizations. They expressed varied views on legislative proposals currently before Congress. The full text of the statements of each of the witnesses is available at the Judiciary Committee’s website.

Reporting on the hearings, the Gospel Herald says that evangelical leaders were particularly concerned that proposed revisions restrict family reunification by lowering the number of visas for various family members of US citizens and legal residents.

Louisiana School Board Invocation Case Heard By En Banc 5th Circuit

Today, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, heard arguments in Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board. All 15 judges are reviewing a split decision of a 3-judge panel on the proper test to be used in deciding whether school board meetings can be opened with sectarian prayers. (See prior posting.) The AP reported the courtroom was so full today that part of a group of home school students who hoped to watch had to remain in the hall outside. Much of the argument focused on whether plaintiffs had actually attended the Tangipahoa Parish Louisiana school board meetings, and whether it mattered if they did not. Alliance Defense Fund attorney Mike Johnson, representing the school board, was stumped by one question asked by Judge E. Grady Jolly: "How many non-Christian churches are there in Tangipahoa?"

New Zealand Bishops In Court Challenging "South Park" Episode

Today's Dominion Post reports that the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference has filed an appeal in the High Court at Wellington seeking reversal of a June 2006 decision (full text) by the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority. The Authority rejected a challenge to CanWest TVWorks' televising last year of an offensive episode of the adult cartoon show, South Park. The show, mainly about an alcoholic's struggle to stay sober, contained one scene-- the so-called "Bloody Mary" episode-- showing the Pope being squirted with menstrual blood from a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Arizona Religious Land Use Case Settled

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit in which SonRise Community Church was challenging the denial to it by Scottsdale Arizona's City Council of a permit to build a religious school next to its existing church. The compromise limits enrollment in the school to 200 and splits the proposed large building into two smaller ones. Reporting on the settlement, today's East Valley Tribune says that Council approved the new arrangements by a vote of 5-2. (See prior related posting.)

Punjab Sikhs Strike In Protest Against Insult to Historic Guru

In the Indian state of Punjab-- the only Indian state whose population is majority Sikh-- schools and businesses are shut down as thousands of Sikhs protest actions of the leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda organization who posed for newspaper ads dressed as a revered 17th century Sikh guru, Gobind Singh. Voice of America today reports that Punjab's political leadership has joined Sikh religious leaders in calling for an apology from Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Asia News says that yesterday the DSS asked India's President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to mediate the dispute, while thousands of soldiers and police have been deployed to protect DSS campuses from violence by outraged Sikhs.

Expert on Museums Reviews the New "Creation Museum"

Last week's Chronicle of Higher Education carries a fascinating look at the new $27 million Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. The museum's theme is the literal truth of the Biblical Genesis narrative. (See prior posting.) The Chronicle article titled Dinosaurs on the Ark? is written by Stephen T. Asma, a professor of philosophy at Columbia College Chicago. Asma visited the museum and interviewed its director Ken A. Ham. Prof. Asma writes that Ham did not miss a beat in answering his surreal question about what dinosaurs on Noah's ark ate. Prof. Asma, who has written an Oxford University Press book on the culture and evolution of natural history museums, says that his sense of humor about the new museum fades when he thinks of the young children who will visit it without the tools for critically assessing its displays. The full article is well worth the time to read.

Report To India's PM Says "Scheduled Caste" Should Be Delinked From Religion

In India, the National Commission for Linguistic and Religious Minorities yesterday submitted a report to Prime Minister Minister Manmohan Singh suggesting that India's Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 be amended to delink "scheduled caste" status from religious affiliation. Today's Times of India says the report concludes that caste is totally a social concept in India. Currently, only Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs may claim the benefits of scheduled caste status. The Commission has also recommended that a change in religion should not adversely affect the scheduled caste status of a person.

Trial Begins On Property Rights of Break-Away Virginia Episcopal Churches

In Fairfax County, Virginia today, the trial opens in the suit by the Episcopal Church and its Diocese of Virginia against eleven break-away churches now governed by the Anglican District of Virginia. (See prior posting.) The main issue is ownership of church property. A secondary issue is the right of members who remain loyal to the Episcopal Church to hold their own separate services on church property. Yesterday's Washington Times reports that the case involves two dozen lawyers. Originally an agreement had been worked out under which the Episcopal Church would appoint a property commission to decide how much each church would need to pay to break off and retain its property. However, in January, apparently ignoring these negotiations, the Diocese filed suit against the 11 churches.

Falwell Funeral Today As Public Figures Decide Whether To Attend

Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral will be held today at 1:00 pm at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. It can be viewed online live at this link. There have been some interesting developments on who will and who will not be attending the Memorial Service. Among Republican presidential candidates, neither John McCain nor Rudy Giuliani will be at the funeral. (AP).

Because of the strong support that Falwell showed for the state of Israel, the Israeli Embassy in Washington will send a representative, though it has had some logistical problems in finding the appropriate person. Tonight begins the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and it would be impossible to get back to Israel after the funeral in time for the start of the festival. However, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship and Christians and Jews, will travel from Jerusalem to represent Israel. (Rosner's Blog, eMediaWire).

Less welcome at the funeral will be protesters representing the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, known for picketing funerals of American veterans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The small church, led by Rev. Fred Phelps, has a number of attacks against Falwell posted on its website. It considers him too tolerant of diversity-- though says that in much less circumspect language. (Fox News.).

Limited Discovery Ordered On Religious Affiliation of School

Saying that "a court walks on dangerous ground when it allows inquiry into the content of religious belief", in Doe v. Abington Friends School, (ED PA, May 15, 2007), a Pennsylvania federal district court allowed limited discovery by plaintiffs seeking to force Abington Friends School to accommodate their son's disabilities. In the case, on remand from the 3rd Circuit, the school claims that it is exempt from the Americans With Disabilities Act as a religious organization, or entity controlled by a religious organization.

Cafeteria In Uganda's Parliament Will Eschew Pork

The Speaker of Uganda's Parliament has ordered the cafeteria in the Parliament building to stop serving pork, after protests by Muslim MPs. New Vision reported yesterday, however, that other members of Parliament have objected to the ban, saying their rights are being infringed.

National School Board Group Will Have Pro-Intelligent Design President

Today's New York Times reports that the next president of the National Association of State Boards of Education will be Kenneth R. Willard from Kansas. In 2005, as a member of the state school board in Kansas, Willard voted in favor of changing the state's science standards to include several challenges to the theory of evolution. (See prior posting.) Because Willard's only opponent for the NASBE presidency withdrew for personal reasons after the nomination period was closed, Willard's election seems assured. Some scientists opposed to teaching intelligent design are pressing for states to write in the name of Ohio businessman Sam Schloemer, now on Ohio's State Board of Education, for NASBE president-- but the organization's bylaws do not provide for write-ins. Meanwhile, Willard says the teaching of evolution is an issue that should be left to each state. He says NASBE focuses on "issues like advising state boards on how to deal with governance concerns or influxes of immigrant students or ways to raise academic achievement among members of disadvantaged groups." [Thanks to Dispatches from the Culture Wars for the lead.]

American Legion Works To Protect Religious Symbols On Memorials

CNS News reports that the American Legion is teaming up with the Alliance Defense Fund and the Liberty Legal Institute in an effort to preserve veterans' memorials that feature crosses and other religious symbols. The Legion has asked its members to inform it of memorials that contain religious symbols, so it can keep track of any legal challenges to them. The Legion will inform ADF and LLI challenges it discovers.

Court OK's Exclusion of Tuition Grants For Pervasively Sectarian Colleges

A Colorado federal district court on Friday upheld Colorado's exclusion of "pervasively sectarian institutions" from its tuition assistance programs for low-income students attending colleges and universities in the state. In Colorado Christian University v. Baker, (D CO, May, 18, 2007), the court rejected both free exercise and establishment clause attacks on the law. Relying largely on the Supreme Court's Locke v. Davey decision, the court applied a "rational basis" test to the free exercise claim. It found that the statutory exclusion furthers implementation of the prohibition in Art. IX, Sec. 7 of Colorado's state constitution barring state aid to any college or university controlled by any sectarian denomination. A press release by the University in response to the decision said that it believed that the decision would be overruled by the 10th Circuit.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN [Revised]:
David E. Guinn, Naming the Whirlwind (Chap. 4 of Constantine's Standard: Religion, Violence, Politics, Law, & a Faith to Die For), (May 11, 2007).

David E. Guinn, The Many Faces of Violent Faith (Chap. 5 of Constantine's Standard: Religion, Violence, Politics, Law & a Faith to Die For), (May 11, 2007).

C. Scott Pryor, God's Bridle: John Calvin's Application of Natural Law, Journal of Law and Religion, (Vol. 22, 2006-2007).

Douglas G. Smith, The Constitutionality of Religious Symbolism After Mccreary and Van Orden, (Texas Review of Law & Politics, 2007).

Harry G. Hutchison, Shaming Kindergarteners? Channeling Dred Scott? Freedom of Expression Rights in Public Schools, (Catholic University Law Review, Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 361-400, Winter 2007).

From Bepress:
Sara S. Ruff., Nonreligion, Neutrality, and the Seventh Circuit's Mistake, (2007).

From SmartCILP:
Christopher F. Richardson, Islamic Finance Opportunities in the Oil and Gas Sector: An Introduction to an Emerging Field, 42 Texas International Law Journal 119-153 (2006).

Adrien Katherine Wing & Ozan O. Varol, Is Secularism Possible in a Majority-Muslim Country?: the Turkish Example, 42 Texas International Law Journal (2006).

John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics and Culture. Articles by Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Patrick McKinley Brennan, Richard W. Garnett and Amelia J. Uelmen. 52 Villanova Environmental Law Journal (2007).

In 2 Cases, Congregation Members Seek Court Ouster of Clergyman

Members of a mosque in Trenton, New Jersey filed suit last month, asking the court to oust the imam currently leading the mosque. The Trenton Times reported yesterday that founding members of the mosque allege that Imam Sabur Abdul Hakim has changed religious practices at the mosque. He and a small group of followers want the mosque to follow the rigid Salafi doctrine. Plaintiffs also say that Hakim appointed his son-in-law as "ameer" last August, without an election by the congregants. The suit seeks not only the removal of the Imam and the ameer, but also an accounting for mosque funds and a new election of trustees by congregation members.

Meanwhile, yesterday's Boston Globe reports on another legal fight to oust a clergyman. In Brocton, Massachusetts, a state Superior Court judge has issued a temporary injunction returning control of the First Baptist Church of Whitman to a group of congregants who are attempting to oust Rev. Michael Fernandez. The congregants are led by the former clerk of the church, Jean Porter. That group has voted in its own slate of church officers, restored the church's former bylaws and has voted to terminate Fernandez as pastor. They say that Fernandez never gained certification from the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, as required by the church's bylaws. The current situation arose when Fernandez decided to bring his growing former congregation from Holbrook to the church in Whitman whose membership was declining. However, the two congregations essentially continued to function separately, though Fernandez took control of the building, a bank account and the church's website. Now Fernandez says he will move his followers to Hanover instead of fighting the legal battle to stay at the Whitman church.

Two Interesting Tributes To Jerry Falwell

Today's Los Angeles Times publishes an unusual tribute to the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. It is from Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt who won a Supreme Court victory over Falwell in 1988. In Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, (Sup. Ct., 1988), the Court rejected Falwell's attempt to collect damages from Flynt for libel and infliction of emotional distress caused by a parody advertisement depicting Falwell in a drunken incestuous rendezvous with his mother in an outhouse. Subsequently they became friends and went around the country debating morals and the First Amendment on college campuses. Flynt's tribute reads in part:

[T]he reverend and I had a lot in common. He was from Virginia, and I was from Kentucky. His father had been a bootlegger, and I had been one too in my 20s before I went into the Navy. We steered our conversations away from politics, but religion was within bounds. He wanted to save me and was determined to get me out of "the business."

My mother always told me that no matter how repugnant you find a person, when you meet them face to face you will always find something about them to like. The more I got to know Falwell, the more I began to see that his public portrayals were caricatures of himself. There was a dichotomy between the real Falwell and the one he showed the public.

He was definitely selling brimstone religion and would do anything to add another member to his mailing list. But in the end, I knew what he was selling, and he knew what I was selling, and we found a way to communicate.

A less surprising tribute came from former House speaker Newt Gingrich, appearing Saturday as commencement speaker at Falwell's Liberty University. (Washington Post). Gingrich told reporters: "Anybody on the left who hopes that when people like Reverend Falwell disappear, that the opportunity to convert all of America has gone with him fundamentally misunderstands why institutions like this were created."

UPDATE: Here is a transcript of Gingrich's commencement remarks.

Ohio Court Upholds Both Parents' Right To Influence Child's Religious Practies

In Holder v. Holder, (OH App., May 11, 2007), an Ohio appellate court rejected a custodial father's claim that the trial court should have ordered his former wife to refrain from taking their daughter to religious activities. The father, a Catholic, objected to the rigid restrictions imposed by his former wife's United Pentecostal Church. The majority opinion said that while the mother has the right to have their daughter participate in religious activities, it is the court's expectation that the mother will not continue to foster conflict and to attack he former husband's religious orientation by means of their daughter. A concurring judge said that he is convinced that the mother consistently places her religious obligations ahead of her child's best interests. However, he was unwilling to find that the trial court had committed a sufficient abuse of discretion to reverse its findings.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Decisions

In Robins v. Lamarque, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34803 (ND CA, April 27, 2007), a California federal district court permitted a Muslim prisoner to proceed with a claim that during a period of over seven months, he was allowed to attend only one religious service.

In Van Patten v. Schmidt, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35247 (ED WI, May 14, 2007), a Wisconsin federal district court permitted a prisoner to proceed with his claim that his religious property had been confiscated and that he was prevented from practicing his religion while in jail.

In Piskanin v. Hammer, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35177 (ED PA, April 26, 2007), a Pennsylvania federal district court rejected a prisoner's free exercise claim growing out of authorities' taking from plaintiff his "Miraculous Medal" when he was placed on suicide watch. He was unable to wear his Miraculous Medal necklace for about 30 days.

In Burke v. North Dakota Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35733 (D ND, May 16, 2007), a North Dakota federal district court permitted a Hindu prisoner to proceed with free exercise and equal protection claims. The prisoner complained that he has been denied a "religious study day" similar to one given to Christian inmates, as well as access to ritual items such as camphor, kumkum, incense, and butter lamps. He also protests that the penitentiary chaplain refuses to recruit non-Christian volunteers to work with inmates.

In Metras v. Pollard, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36015 (ED WI, May 16, 2007), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected a prisoner's free exercise claim, finding that the damaging of his rosary during a search of his cell did not restrict the exercise of his religious beliefs. Apparently the prison guard was testing the material in the rosary, and did not destroy it because of its religious nature.

In Hanley v. Merced County Sheriff's Department, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36263 (ED CA, May 3, 2007), a California federal Magistrate Judge ruled that a prisoner's complaint alleging that he was not allowed to wear his cross did not adequately set out the relationship of the restriction to his free exercise of religion. The judge gave the prisoner 30 days to amend his complaint to allege that defendants substantially burdened the practice of a central tenet or belief of his religion by preventing him from engaging in conduct mandated by his faith.

China Restricts Saka Dawa Buddhist Rites For School Children

Phayul.com reported yesterday that Chinese authorities who control the Tibet Autonomous Region have taken steps to restict school children from participating in religious activities during the Buddhist holy month of Saka Dawa. The holy month began on May 17. The Lhasa City Committee told parents of school children that their children would be expelled from school if they visited monasteries were found circumambulating and wearing amulet thread during Saka Dawa. This year, a new law, Measures for the Regulation on Religious Affairs, entered into force in the Tibet region.