Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Russian Presidential Candidates Asked About Religion In Russia
Democratic Hopefuls Respond To YouTube Queries On Role of Religious Faith
QUESTION: I'm Reverend Reggie Longcrier. I'm the pastor of Exodus Mission and Outreach Church in Hickory, North Carolina. Senator Edwards said his opposition to gay marriage is influenced by his Southern Baptist background. Most Americans agree it was wrong and unconstitutional to use religion to justify slavery, segregation, and denying women the right to vote. So why is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay American their full and equal rights?...Near the end of the debate, YouTube questioners elicited additional responses on candidates' religious beliefs from Sen. Joseph Biden, John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama (transcript):
EDWARDS: I think Reverend Longcrier asks a very important question, which is whether fundamentally -- whether it's right for any of our faith beliefs to be imposed on the American people when we're president of the United States. I do not believe that's right.
I feel enormous personal conflict about this issue. I want to end discrimination. I want to do some of the things that I just heard Bill Richardson talking about -- standing up for equal rights, substantive rights, civil unions, the thing that Chris Dodd just talked about. But I think that's something everybody on this stage will commit themselves to as president of the United States. But I personally have been on a journey on this issue. I feel enormous conflict about it. As I think a lot of people know... my wife Elizabeth spoke out a few weeks ago, and she actually supports gay marriage. I do not. But this is a very, very difficult issue for me. And I recognize and have enormous respect for people who have a different view of it.
.... I've been asked a personal question which is, I think, what Reverend Longcrier is raising, and that personal question is, do I believe and do I personally support gay marriage? The honest answer to that is I don't. But I think it is absolutely wrong, as president of the United States, for me to have used that faith basis as a basis for denying anybody their rights, and I will not do that when I'm president of the United States.
QUESTION: Hi, I'm Zenne Abraham in Oakland, California. The cathedral behind me is the perfect backdrop for this question. This quarter reads "United States of America." And when I turn it over, you find that it reads "liberty, in God we trust." What do those words mean to you?....
BIDEN: Religion informs my values. My reason dictates outcomes. My religion taught me about abuse of power. That's why I moved to write the Violence Against Women Act. That's why I take the position I take on Darfur. It came about as a consequence of the reasoning that we're able to do it. You know, look, I don't think they're inconsistent. I don't find anything inconsistent about my deep, religious beliefs and my ability to use reason. I think the coin's got it just right. I think I have it in perspective....
QUESTION: ... My name is Stephen Marsh of Thousand Oaks, California, proud citizen of the United States of America that does not believe in God. However, the former President Bush said this statement was an oxymoron. Now, I am worried about the amount of time given to evangelical concerns while secular voters are more or less getting a snubbed.... So my question is this: Am I wrong in fearing a Democratic administration that may be lip service to the extremely religious as much as the current one?....
EDWARDS: As president of the United States, we will embrace and lift up all Americans, whatever their faith beliefs or whether they have no faith beliefs, as Stephen just spoke about. That's what America is.
Now, my faith is enormously important to me personally. It's gotten me through some hard times, as I'm sure that's true of a lot of the candidates who are on this stage. But it is crucial that the American people know that as president it will not be my job -- and I believe it would be wrong -- for me to impose my personal faith beliefs on the American people or to decide any kind of decision, policy decision, that will affect America on the basis of my personal faith beliefs....
OBAMA: I am proud of my Christian faith. And it informs what I do. And I don't think that people of any faith background should be prohibited from debating in the public square. But I am a strong believer in the separation of church and state....
By the way, I support it not just for the state but also for the church, because that maintains our religious independence and that's why we have such a thriving religious life. But what I also think is that we are under obligation in public life to translate our religious values into moral terms that all people can share, including those who are not believers. And that is how our democracy's functioning, will continue to function. That's what the founding fathers intended.
India's Supreme Court Says Marriage Registration Applies To All Religions
British Appellate Court Upholds Order To Slaughter Sacred Bull
Monday, July 23, 2007
Two Reappointed to US Commission on International Religious Freedom
Hamas Sets Up New Court System In Gaza
Arab News meanwhile has a slightly different version of developments. It says that the three-person panel is being set up on a temporary basis until courts start functioning again. It will hear the hundreds of criminal complaints that would have gone to existing courts, according to Islam Shahwan, spokesman of Hamas’ Executive Force. Another Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the new legal panel would not impose Sharia law, but would apply it with the consent of both parties, particularly in dealing with inheritance, marriage and divorce.
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Quillar v. California Department of Corrections, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50894 (ED CA, July 13, 2007), a California federal Magistrate Judge recommended dismissal of Free Exercise and RLUIPA claims by an inmate who was disciplined for wearing a beard for religious reasons, in violation of the prison's grooming regulations. While the allegations were found sufficient to state a claim, the magistrate found that defendants enjoyed qualified immunity from plaintiff's damage claims and that plaintiff's claim for an injunction is moot due to his transfer to a different facility. The magistrate also recommended rejection of plaintiff's Eighth Amendment claim.
In Ghashryah v. Frank, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51104 (WD WI), a Wisconsin federal district court permitted an inmate to move forward with his claim that his rights under the First Amendment and RLUIPA were violated when prison officials prohibited him from using his religious name in filing grievances.
In DeRosa v. Jones, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51561 (ED OK, July 16, 2007), an Oklahoma federal district court upheld the denial of a kosher diet to a prisoner who was a member of a Messianic Jewish group, finding that the prison's vegetarian diet, as well as non-pork meals, are available to him.
In Johnson v. Smith, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52186 (MD PA, July 19, 2007), a Pennsylvania federal district court rejected a prisoner's claim that his placement in administrative custody was in retaliation for his exercise of his religious rights since plaintiff made no showing of a causal connection between the two. Authorities discovered that the prisoner had documents indicating an attempt to undercut the prison's contract Imam. He also had documents indicating he may be trying to poison someone by mixing antifreeze with their salad dressing.
In El-Tabech v. Clarke, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52018 (D NE, July 17, 2007), a Nebraska federal district court upheld claims by a Muslim prisoner that he be given access to a kosher diet, and that the prayer schedule be posted so that guards are aware of it. The court rejected the inmate's claim that he be allowed to shower every day, instead of three days per week, while he is in administrative confinement.
New Book In Arabic On Religion and Freedom of Expression
Sunday, July 22, 2007
HLS Prof Examines How Religious Tradition Meshes With Modern World
UPDATE: On Monday, the blog Jewcy posted an interesting interview with Noah Feldman about his NYT article.
Receipt of Material From Religious Group Is No Excuse For Prisoner
Today's Turkish Election Tests Country's Secular Roots
CanWest News Service describes the underlying controversy in this way: "the most emotive issue by far is whether this country of 70 million, which forms a bridge between the Middle East and Europe, should remain secular and western-oriented, as it has been since Kemal Ataturk founded the republic on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire more than 80 years ago, or draw closer to its Islamist roots. And if Turkey decides to turn towards Islam, will the staunchly secular Turkish military launch another coup?"
UPDATE: Preliminary results available on Sunday night (US time) indicate that the Justice and Development Party (AKP), with some 47% of the popular vote, has won around 340 of the 550 seats in Turkey's Parliament. (Financial Times). The party denies that it poses any threat to secularism in the country.
MI Court Remands Property Dispute For Finding On Heirarchical Nature of Church
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Washington Court Upholds Injunction Against Church's "Tent City"
The court rejected the Church’s claim that its free exercise rights, as protected by the first Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, had been violated. It held that strict scrutiny was not required for the First Amendment claim, and that, under RLUIPA, the city’s actions had not placed a "substantial burden" on the Church’s free exercise rights. The Church had alternative ways of ministering to the homeless, such as sheltering them inside existing Church buildings or finding other private land to host Tent City.
Suit Challenges Permit Provisions For Distributing Literature In Parks
Suits Between Factions In NJ Sikh Temple Settled
German Official Urges Teaching of Theological Issues In Science Classes
Friday, July 20, 2007
New Executive Order Bars Denigration of Religion In Interrogation of Terror Suspects
The Executive Order declares that new Congressional legislation permits the President to "interpret the meaning and application" of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Sec. 6(a)(3) of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 gives the President this authority, along with the authority "to promulgate higher standards and administrative regulations for violations of treaty obligations which are not grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions." In its press release on the signing, the White House said that "the President has insisted on clear legal standards so that CIA officers involved in this essential work are not placed in jeopardy for doing their job..."