USCIRF Chairman Says He Found Some Hopeful Signals In Turkmenistan

Radio Free Europe yesterday featured an interview with Michael Cromartie, Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom following the visit of a USCIRF delegation to Turkmenistan. Cromartie said: "In Turkmenistan, you still have a repressive situation, but you at least have some signals that the government is aware of that and wants to do better. But their feet have to be held to the fire and it must be measure over time.... We heard the words, but we didn't see the evidence." (See prior related posting.)

Texas Seminary Wins Challenge To State Education Rules In State Supreme Court

HEB Ministries, Inc. v. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (TX Sup. Ct., Aug. 31, 2007) involved a challenge under the U.S. and Texas Constitutions to the state's regulation of post-secondary religious seminaries. Fort Worth's Tyndale Theological Seminary sued after it was ordered by the Higher Education Coordinating Board to stop issuing degrees, to change its name, to offer refunds of students' tuition, and to pay a $173,000 fine. The school's violations stemmed from its calling itself a "seminary" and its awarding recognition to graduates us words like "degree", "associate", "bachelor", "master" and "doctor".

The 8 justices hearing the case produced 3 separate and lengthy opinions—concurring and dissenting in different portions of the major opinion written by Justice Hecht. This created shifting pluralities and majorities for different portions of the primary opinion. Justices variously discussed establishment clause and free speech challenges, as well as free exercise issues.

Six of the 8 justices who heard the case held, in an opinion by Justice Hecht, that the state is incapable of determining what is "genuine" religious study and what is not, so that the statutory restriction on the use of the name "seminary" by schools offering only religious studies violates state and federal free exercise guaranties. Justice Wainwright joined by Justice Johnson would have gone further and struck down the restriction without regard to whether the curriculum of the religious institution was primarily religious.

Three justices joined with Justice Hecht in holding that restrictions on the words that a religious institution may use to refer to completion of religious programs of study is so broad that it violates state and federal Free Exercise guarantees. Justices Wainwright and Johnson held that these restrictions do not violate Free Exercise provisions, but do violate First Amendment protection of commercial speech.

Justices Jefferson and Green in their separate opinion took the position that regulating the titles used to recognize graduates is a legitimate attempt to prevent a seminary from issuing a degree that misrepresents the nature of the education provided. The Dallas News reported today on the case.

Court OK's Religious Exclusion In Military Community Service Program

Under federal law (10 USC 1143a and 32 CFR Part 77), former members of the military may earn additional service credit for retirement by working with public or community service organizations. However, work with religious organizations that involves religious instruction, worship services or proselytizing does not count. In Bowman v. United States, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64203 (ND OH, Aug. 30, 2007), an Ohio federal district court rejected an equal protection challenge to the exclusion of religious service brought by a former member of the Air Force who later worked as a youth minister. The court held that the government's purpose of providing benefits to community and public service organizations and its concern with avoiding an establishment clause violation were rational reasons for the exclusion.

Group Asks Kenya's High Court To Declare Jesus' Crucifixion Illegal

Interfax today reports that in Kenya, a group called Friends of Jesus has filed a petition in Kenya's High Court asking it to declare Jesus Christ's conviction for blaspheming the Holy Spirit null and void and his crucifixion illegal. A spokesperson for the High Court suggested that the statute of limitations might not be a bar to the suit because it involves human rights matters. Some lawyers suggested that the suit should have been filed in the International Criminal Court in the Hague, while others say it should be dismissed because the conduct at issue did not take place in Kenya.

Christian Evangelists Permitted To Preach Inside Pentagon

Truthout reports today that another use of Pentagon facilities by evangelical Christian groups has been uncovered by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. In 2005, in connection with its two-week "D.C. Crusade", the North Carolina-based H.O.P.E. Ministries International was permitted to conduct two services in the Pentagon courtyard where employees eat their lunch. Evangelist David Kistler was permitted to preach, but could not invite employees to openly respond to his invitation to them to accept Jesus. This past June, H.O.P.E. was invited to speak at a prayer breakfast at the Pentagon, and the next day in the Pentagon auditorium. Kistler wrote in his organization's newsletter that "three souls were saved among those who attended those events". Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said H.O.P.E Ministries' presence inside the Pentagon was a violation of required church-state separation.

Swedish Paper Creates New Muhammad Caricature Controversy

SFGate reports today on a new Muhammad caricature controversy, this time in Sweden. The newspaper Nerikes Allehanda recently published a picture, drawn by artist Lars Vilks, of what was apparently the head of the Prophet Muhammad on the body of a dog, standing in the middle of a traffic circle. Both Pakistan and Iran have summoned Swedish diplomats to complain about the drawing. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying: "Regrettably, the tendency among some Europeans to mix the freedom of expression with an outright and deliberate insult to 1.3 billion Muslims in the world is on the rise.... Such acts deeply undermine the efforts of those who seek to promote respect and understanding among religions and civilizations." Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed "Zionists" for the drawing.

Australia's Herald Sun reported earlier this week that the drawing was part of a series that Swedish art galleries had declined to display. Nerikes Allehanda defended its publication of the drawing, criticizing the galleries for unacceptable self-censorship.

UPDATE: On Friday, some 300 Muslims in Sweden rallied outside the offices of Nerikes Allehanda to protest the cartoon publication. (AP).

More On Church's Tax Breaks In Italy and EU Competition Law

Yesterday London's Times Online published additional details on the demand by the European Commission that Italy justify the tax benefits it gives to the Catholic Church. (See prior posting.) The EU's Competition Commissioner has received complaints that the arrangements amount to illegal state aid to EU businesses. The problem stems from a decision in 2005 by then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to extend the Church's property tax exemptions to buildings the Church uses for businesses such as hostels and health clinics. Last year the Italian government backtracked somewhat by limiting the tax exemptions to activities that "are not exclusively commercial", but that still allows exemptions where the religious activity on a property in minimal. The EU request has led to political charges of "anticlericalism" from the Right, and to charges from the Left that the Italian government has given the Church a "privileged position".

Political Asylum Being Sought By Christians From Muslim Middle East

Petitions for asylum in the United States by Christians from Middle Eastern countries who fear persecution if they return seem to be a growing issue. Three cases have recently been in the news. WorldNetDaily reported yesterday on the campaign being organized to prevent the deportation of Onsy and Fadia Zachary, an elderly Christian couple from Egypt who have been in the United States since 1998. Supporters say that Onsy Zachary escaped from Egypt in 1970 after being imprisoned and tortured for refusing to convert to Islam. His ability to stay in the U.S. is complicated by an assault conviction here, for which he is now completing a jail term. The couple fears imprisonment and torture if they are returned to Egypt.

On Thursday, according to the AP, a Pennsylvania federal court heard arguments in the long-running legal battle by Sameh Khouzam to avoid deportation back to Egypt. The Coptic Christian says he fled Egypt eight years ago to avoid religious persecution. His lawyers say Egyptian authorities arrested, beat and sodomized him when he refused to convert to Islam. Egypt, however, says Khouzam is a convicted murderer. U.S. officials have obtained assurances from Egypt that Khouzam will be treated humanely when he returns, but Khouzam's lawyers say that such assurances are meaningless.

In Harlingen, Texas, an Iraqi Christian who illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico in 2006 has been granted political asylum by an immigration judge, according to an AP report yesterday. Amar Bahnan Boles-- who was arrested as he swam the Rio Grande-- told the judge that he faces physical brutality if he is deported to Iraq.

Las Vegas Policemean Sues For Right To Wear Yarmulke and Beard

Represented by the ACLU of Nevada, an Orthodox Jewish detective on the Las Vegas police force has sued in federal court for the right to wear a yarmulke (skullcap) and a close-cropped beard while on duty. Yestereday's Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that as Detective Steve Riback became more religiously observant, the Metropolitan Police Department seemed to change its rules. Riback began on the force as an undercover agent where he wore a beard and a baseball cap as part of his disguise. When he moved to his present non-uniformed desk job, the Metropolitan Police Department had a policy against beards, but would grant medical waivers. It did not have a policy against wearing head coverings, but in May it changed its civilian clothing policy to prohibit wearing of hats indoors. When Riback pointed out that officers were permitted to wear International Fellowship of Christian Police Officers pins that featured an open Bible,the Department banned wearing of the pins rather than expand permissible religious attire. The suit claims religious discrimination and retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint.

China Bans Religious Discrimination In Employment

China's legislature, the National People's Congress, yesterday adopted a new Employment Promotion law. Among its provisions is one that permits job applicants to sue if they have been discriminated against on the basis of religion, or on various other grounds. Yesterday's People's Daily Online reports that after January 1, job seekers can sue if they were subjected to discrimination because of sex, age, religion, race or physical disability.

Paper Carries Essays On "Islam and State"

Today's Christian Science Monitor carries four interesting essays expressing divergent views on "Islam and State". Author Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im writes an essay titled I Need a Secular State. Harvard professor Jocelyne Cesari's essay is Burqas and Ballots. From Damascus, Danish Institute Director Jorgen S. Nielsen writes The Leery Arab Street. Finally, Bill Warner, director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam, writes an essay titled Political Islam's Ethics.

10th Circuit Dismisses Challenge To Polygamy Laws On Standing Grounds

In Bronson v. Swensen, (10th Cir., Aug. 29, 2007), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed on jurisdictional and procedural grounds a constitutional challenge to Utah's polygamy laws. After a Salt Lake County, Utah Clerk of Courts refused to issue a marriage license for a polygamous marriage, the couple, along with the husband's existing first wife, filed suit claiming that the denial violated their free exercise, associational and substantive due process rights. The court, however, held that plaintiffs failed to adequately raise a challenge to Utah's civil polygamy statutes, and that they lacked standing to challenge the state's criminal prohibitions on polygamy. Among other reasons for a lack of standing, the court held that the state's current policy of not enforcing its criminal laws against polygamy removed any credible threat of prosecution in the future. Today's Salt Lake Tribune reported on the decision.

New Jersey Rabbi Claims Unconstitutional Surveillance

A release from the Rutherford Institute says it has filed suit in a New Jersey federal district court on behalf of a Chabad Lubavitch rabbi who claims that police are conducting illegal surveillance of his home in retaliation for his filing a RLUIPA claim against the Township of Freehold. Rabbi Avrom Bernstein lives in an area zoned only for residential dwellings. On the Sabbath and certain holidays, Rabbi Bernstein and guests he invites hold worship services in the rabbi's living room. Earlier this year, the Township notified Bernstein that these gatherings violated zoning rules, and issued a summons charging him with illegally operating a house of worship. Bernstein responded with a state court lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Township's actions. Then, allegedly in retaliation, the Township set up a camera across from Bernstein's home to monitor the number of individuals who visit for Sabbath and holidays. The suit claims that the surveillance has chilled the free exercise rights of Bernstein and his guests, has impaired the use of property and interferes with Bernstein's access to the courts.

Wiccan Widow Not Invited To President's Meeting With Soldiers' Families;[Update- Bush Apologizes]

On Tuesday, President George W. Bush was in Nevada to address the American Legion Convention (full text of speech). While he was there, he met with family members of soldiers from northern Nevada who had been killed in battle. Yesterday's Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that one relative was conspicuously not invited to the meeting. Roberta Stewart, whose husband was killed when his helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan in 2005, was not asked to attend, even though her husband's parents and brother were. Roberta and her late husband Sgt. Patrick Stewart were Wiccans, and Roberta has battled for the right to display the Wiccan pentacle on Sgt. Stewart's memorial marker in the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery. (See prior posting.)

Americans United for Separation of Church and State criticized Roberta Stewart's exclusion, saying: "President Bush seems to be continuing a pattern of hostility toward the Wiccan faith. That’s an outrage. America is a nation of great religious diversity, and all public officials, especially the president, have an obligation to serve all of the people. Our Constitution mandates equal treatment of all faiths." (AU Release.)

UPDATE: On Thursday, President Bush phoned Roberta Stewart and apologized for failing to invite her to the meeting with veterans' families. He offered her his condolences and said that he would not discriminate against someone because of their religion. (AU Release.)

Sabbatical Year Approaching In Israel Poses Legal and Agricultural Issues

In two weeks the Jewish New Year of 5768 begins. In Israel, that prospect is posing unique legal and religious problems since that year will be a sabbatical year during which traditional Jewish law requires that land in Israel owned by Jews lay fallow. Over the years, a number of rabbis developed a legal fiction that allowed crops to continue to be grown. Farms in Israel were symbolically "sold" to non-Jews, usually Druze citizens, and then at the end of the year, were "sold" back to their former owners. Yesterday, both Haaretz and the Forward reported that increasingly ultra-Orthodox ("Haredi") rabbis are rejecting this loophole, and are insisting that the government help them enforce a stricter reading of Jewish law.

Earlier this month, the director-general of the Jerusalem Religious Council said that only produce that complies with the stricter interpretation should be marketed, and specified two wholesalers-- chosen without formal competition-- who would be certified as selling complying produce. Three petitions challenging that method of selecting the wholesalers have been filed with the High Court of Justice. Yerachmiel Goldin, supervisor of sabbatical year issues in the Ministry of Agriculture, believes that the High Court of Justice may instruct the rabbinate of Jerusalem and other towns to accept produce cultivated under the more liberal rules.

In past sabbatical years, the Haredi community has solved the problem by purchasing produce grown by Palestinians and crops exported from Cyprus. Leaders of one Haredi group now want the Israeli army to provide security for kosher supervisors sent to Palestinian farms in the West Bank. Other options include Jewish farmers growing crops using a method in which produce is planted on detached beds having no contact with the ground, and using crops grown in areas such as the southern Arava that are not defined by traditional Jewish law as being in the area subject to sabbatical restrictions.

RLUIPA Suit Filed By Yeshiva Against NJ Town

On Monday, a federal lawsuit was filed by a synagogue and yeshiva against the borough of Roosevelt, New Jersey, its Planning and Zoning Board and others. The lawsuit claims that defendants violated RLUIPA by undertaking a systematic campaign to prevent Yeshiva Me'on Hatoraha from being housed at Anshei Roosevelt synagogue. Apparently the borough's former mayor, Neil Marko, was removed in a recall election after it was alleged that he had a conflict of interest in representing the borough in connection with matters relating to the yeshiva.The Allentown (NJ) Examiner today says that Joshua Pruzansky, executive vice president of the yeshiva said that in addition to raising legal hurdles, "opponents of the yeshiva have also used disparaging language in describing the lifestyle of Orthodox Jews, argued that the yeshiva would take properties off the tax roll, and claimed that the yeshiva faculty and families would harm the local public school."

South Korea Gets Hostage Release; Pledges End To Missionaries In Afghanistan

In Afghanistan today, Taliban militants released 8 of the remaining 19 Christian volunteers that they had kidnapped an held as hostages since July 19. The International Herald Tribune reports that as part of the deal, South Korea has agreed to prevent South Korean churches from engaging in evangelical activities in Afghanistan. South Korean church groups said they will go along with the agreement. South Korea will also withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan by year's end, as it had already planned to do.

Court Refuses To Enjoin New Texas Pledge Containing "Under God"

A Texas federal district judge on Tuesday refused to issue a temporary injunction to stop schools from reciting the newly modified Texas pledge of allegiance which for the first time contains the phrase "one state under God". (See prior posting.). According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Judge Ed Kinkeade said that parents David and Shannon Croft did not show that they would show irreparable injury if the preliminary injunction was not granted. (Croft v. Perry, ND TX, Aug. 28, 2007). Texas attorney general Greg Abbott issued a release welcoming the ruling, saying: "the Texas Pledge is an acknowledgment of patriotism and citizenship." The Attorney General's brief in the case is available online.

New DHS Rules Let Screeners Search Sikhs' Turbans For Explosives

The United Sikh Coalition has complained to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about a newly implemented policy at airports that gives screeners discretion to ask Sikhs to remove their turbans for a security search, even if the wearer has not set off a metal detector. Authorities are concerned about detecting plastic explosives. The Argus (Alameda County, CA) reports today that the new DHS rules took effect Aug. 4, and are seen by Sikhs as racial profiling, even though screeners are also permitted to search travelers wearing cowboy hats or straw hats. Sikhs say that turbans do not lend themselves to hiding of explosive devices anymore than do skullcaps worn by Orthodox Jews-- a head covering that is not on the list of those that can be examined. The Sikh faith only permits the turban to be removed at home or in private.

Court Refuses To Dismiss Christian Student Group's Claim Against University

Last week a Georgia federal district court refused to dismiss claims brought by a Christian student group against Savannah State University. (ADF Press Release.) In Commissioned II Love v. Yarbrough, (SD GA, Aug. 24, 2007), the court refused to dismiss claims by Commissioned II Love (C2L) and its president that their right to assemble and their right to intimate association were infringed when the group was suspended, and then was expelled, from operating. The University charged that the group violated Code of Student Ethics rules against hazing and harassment. Those charges were filed after a student petition claimed that C2L badgered members of fraternities and sororities to accept Jesus, and that at a retreat current members would wash the feet of new members as a symbol of Jesus' washing of his apostles' feet. (See prior posting.) The court however dismissed individual claims by student members of C2L, finding that expulsion of C2L did not affect their individual rights to assemble and pray together.