Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
IRS Issues Guidance and Report On Church Political Activity
The IRS has also issued a report on its 2006 Political Compliance Initiative.
Christian Area In Indonesia Wants Bible-Based Law
En Banc Review Sought In 9th Circuit's Snowbowl Development Decision
Wall Street Journal Profiles Politically Powerful Iranian Shrine
The shrine has for centuries intermingled faith and money, collecting donations of cash, land, jewelry and works of art from the devout. Today, it is not only Iran's most sacred religious site but also, by some reckonings, the Islamic republic's biggest and richest business empire…. The dual role … helps explain how the power of Iran's aging clerical elite endures, nearly three decades after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Imam Reza Shrine is part of a cluster of bonyads, nominally charitable foundations with huge holdings…. They publish no accounts and, in most cases, answer only to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This status gives bonyads an independent authority outside Iran's formal state bureaucracy and checks the power of elected officials….
Challenge To Closing of NY Catholic Church Rejected
Friday, June 01, 2007
Text of Lina Joy Dissent Available
Surgeon General Nominee Criticized For Votes On Church Council
IRS Questions Political Activities of Wichita Church
U.S. Magistrate Is New Head of Catholic Bishops' Review Board
In Baghdad, Islamists Impose Dress Code and Taxes On Non-Muslims
The Journal also reports that last month in Baghdad, al-Qaeda moved into the predominantly Assyrian Dora neighborhood and demanded payment of the jizya, the tax that the Quran says all Christians and Jews must pay. Those who did not pay were told to give a daughter or sister in marriage to a Muslim.
NY Transit Driver Fired For Rejecting Uniform On Religious Grounds
British Cardinals Say Pro-Choice Politicians Should Not Seek Communion
Thursday, May 31, 2007
US Airways Moves To Dismiss Imams' Lawsuit
Inconsistent Parade Rules Bother California Sikhs
Brownback Clarifies His Stance on Evolution
Suit Challenging Wm. & Mary Wren Chapel Cross Change Is Dismissed
The court held further that even if plaintiff had standing, he did not demonstrate any violation of his First Amendment rights: "The Wren Chapel remains open for worship, the cross may be displayed on the altar at the request of the Chapel's users, and nothing forbids the plaintiff from bringing a cross or a Bible of his own into the Chapel for use in exercising his religion."
Study Shows Disparities In Asylum Case Results
Churches Concerned About New Requirements For Tax Benefits In Northern Ireland
Challenge To Food Distribution Ordinance Settled
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Malaysian Convert Lina Joy Loses Appeal In High Court
Dissenting, Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, said that it was unreasonable to require Joy to go to a Shariah court because she could face a fine or sentence to a rehabilitation center for apostasy by that court. He wrote: "In my view, this is tantamount to unequal treatment under the law."
Shariah courts in Malaysia have jurisdiction over civil, family, marriage and personal rights of the country's Muslims. A DPA report on the case points out that Islamic courts in each of Malaysia's 14 states have different rules. Only one state has provisions for Muslims to convert. Joy herself is in hiding with her Catholic fiance. So long as her conversion is not recognized, she can marry her fiance only if he converts to Islam. (See prior related posting.)