Israeli Court In Middle of Greek Orthodox Church Dispute

In Israel, a District Court in Jerusalem finds itself in the middle of a battle between the former and the new Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church. YNet News yesterday reported on the complicated developments.

Former Patriarch Irineos I was dismissed two years ago after a scandal involving sale of church lands to Jewish groups. Patriarch Theopilus III was appointed to succeed him, but Irineos continued to live in Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox compound. So Theopilus asked an Israeli civil court to order Irineos to turn over millions of dollars worth of church icons that normally pass from one Patriarch to the next. The Israeli judge placed a temporary seizure on the items to prevent Irineos from transferring them to anyone else. The judge also instructed Hershimandit Kelidion, the judge of the Greek Orthodox religious court, to enter Irineos' residence to photograph the disputed items. When Kelidion arrived, accompanied by police, a scuffle broke out with police guarding Irineos who refused Kelidion entry. The matter remains unresolved.

Unlicensed Midwife Cannot Raise Religious Claims of Non-Party Amish

A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has at least temporarily delayed collection of the state medical board's $11,000 fine against a midwife who has been delivering babies for the Amish community for 24 years, but has never obtained a state license. Yesterday the AP reported that the judge, who called the fine unconscionable, ruled that it could not be collected until midwife Diane Goslin completes her legal challenges to it. However the court said it was unlikely that Goslin will succeed in overturning the board's cease-and-desist order barring her from continuing to practice her midwife skills. State law requires midwives to be registered nurses. The court held that while members of the Amish community may have religious reasons for using Goslin's services, they are not parties to the case and Goslin does not have standing to raise their religious claims.

Economist Publishes Special Report on Religion and Politics

This week's issue of The Economist has a lengthy series of articles on faith and politics around the world. The lead story is titled The New Wars of Religion. It concludes:

For politicians doomed to deal with religion, two lessons stand out—one principled, the other pragmatic. The principle is that church and state are best kept separate. Subsidised religion has seldom made sense for either state or church: witness Europe's empty pews....

The pragmatic lesson concerns those wars of religion. Partly because of their obsession with keeping church and state separate, Western powers (and religious leaders) have been too reluctant to look for faith-driven solutions to religious conflicts.

The magazine then features a series of articles under the caption Special Report on Religion and Public Life. Here are links to the separate portions of the Report: In God's name ; O come all ye faithful ; The power of private prayer ; The new wars of religion ; Holy depressing ; Bridging the divide ; Back to the Ottomans ; Stop in the name... ; The lesson from America .

Israeli Court Says Assassain Can Attend Son's Circumcision To Be Held In Prison

Agence France-Presse and the Jerusalem Post yesterday reported that an Israeli district court judge has given Yitzak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir, permission to attend his son's religious circumcision scheduled for Sunday. The court refused to permit Amir to attend the ceremony outside his prison, but ruled that the brit milah could take place in the prison, despite objections from prison authorities. Peace Now secretary-general Yariv Oppenheimer has asked the State Attorney to appeal the decision to the High Court of Justice.

Amir's son was conceived during conjugal visits with his wife, who he married in a proxy ceremony in 2004. The circumcision ceremony-- which takes place on the eighth day of a boy's life-- will coincide with the anniversary on the Gregorian calendar of Amir's 1995 shooting of then Prime-Minister Rabin.

Illinois Mayor Pushes Anti-Crime Prayer Initiative

Peoria, Illinois mayor Jim Ardis has invited religious leaders to meet with him at a local church to discuss a new initiative against crime called "Ready Set Pray". The Springfield (IL) Journal Register yesterday reported that the mayor will ask clergy to arrange for a different group to pray each day for forty days. Despite a news release that invited "pastors of all church denominations", Ardis said the program is open to members of non-Christian faiths as well. He said he is not concerned about church-state issues because the program is not sponsored or paid for by the city. It is instead a program being undertaken cooperatively with the faith community.

Scientology Gets Official Recognition In Spain

AFP reported yesterday on a victory for the Church of Scientology in Spain's High Court. The Administrative Tribunal of Madrid's High Court reversed a 2005 Justice Ministry ruling that deleted the Church of Scientology from the country's official register of religion. The High Court said the removal was "against the law."

Federal Earmarks For Religious Organizations On the Rise

The Raw Story today summarizes a study by Roll Call concluding that earmarks of federal funds for religious organizations have increased in both House and Senate appropriations bills for FY 2008. Most of the funds are directed to secular programs, but some of the recipient organizations have primarily an evangelical mission.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Platform Urges Implementation of Islamic Law

The October issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin (published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) analyzes the draft party platform of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. It urges the implementation of sharia law in Egypt. Among other things, the platform calls for senior religious scholars to have the right to veto legislation that does not conform to principles of Islamic law. It calls for creating an elected board of religious scholars with whom the president and the legislature would have to consult on pending legislation. It also would discriminate against Coptic Christians, claiming that on religious grounds only Muslims should be allowed to hold the offices of president and prime minister.

Bangladesh May Ban "Religion-Based Politics"

The head of Bangladesh's Election Commission has agreed in principle to ban "religion-based politics" in the country. ZeeNews reported on Tuesday that demands for the change came after Mohammad Mujahid, secretary general of the right wing Jamaat-e-Islami party which opposed Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, made a statement denying the party's activities during the 1971 Liberation War. Now many in Bangladesh want to prohibit voting by anyone who opposed that War.

Cert. Filed In Massachusetts Church Closing Case

Today's Boston Globe reports that a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court has been filed in the case of Maffei v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston. In May, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court dismissed a challenge to the Archdiocese's decision to close and sell off St. James Church in Wellesley, brought by heirs of the Maffei family who donated the property on which the church sits, as well as by a donor to the church. They say they were promised that the church would be maintained in honor of Waldo Maffei's father. The petition for cert. challenges the ruling of the Massachusetts high court that most of the claims in the suit raise matters of internal church governance that the First Amendment precludes civil courts from deciding. (See prior posting.) Petitioners' attorneys argue that this is a secular civil dispute that involves no religious doctrine or practice.

Indian Supreme Court Orders Registration of All Religious Marriages

Last week, according to the BBC, India's Supreme Court ruled for a second time that all marriages must be registered with the government. Currently, particularly in rural areas, most marriages are entered through a religious ceremony and not registered with civil authorities. A February 2006 ruling had already required registration, but some Indian states only mandated this for Hindu marriages. Last July, the Supreme Court granted the five states that are not in compliance a last chance to amend their law. (See prior posting.) Apparently last week's ruling ordering the registration of non-Hindu weddings as well comes after these states failed to enact their own rules. The order, however, is being opposed by leaders in the Muslim community who say they have their own system of registration in place. Today's Mauritius Times carries a long dispatch from India discussing the background of the Supreme Court's order and its impact on women's rights.

Anti-Gay Funeral Picketers Ordered To Pay $10.9 Milliion In Damages

A federal jury in Baltimore, Maryland yesterday awarded $10.9 million in damages in the civil lawsuit against the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church and its leaders who had been sued over their picketing of the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. (See prior posting.) The Baltimore Sun and CNN report on the award to Snyder's father of $2.9 million in compensatory damages, followed by an award of $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million in punitive damages for causing him emotional distress. The award far exceeds the assets which defendants claim to have, though in closing arguments, plaintiff's attorney told jurors that they did not have to believe defendants' claims about their meager assets.

Churches Pledge Defiance As Oklahoma's New Immigration Law Takes Effect

Oklahoma's new HB 1804 that makes it a felony to harbor, house, conceal or transport illegal aliens, goes into effect today. The new law also requires state contractors to check on workers' immigration status and denies various state benefits to illegal immigrants. According to the Tulsa World, a federal judge late yesterday afternoon issued a ruling denying a preliminary injunction requested by opponents of the law. (See prior posting.) At Gov. Brad Henry's office in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Richard Klinge, a representative of Catholic Charities, delivered over a thousand signed pledges to oppose and defy the law. (Joplin Globe report.) Most of the pledges were from from members of the predominantly Hispanic Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oklahoma City. Klinge said: "The Catholic Church will not quit serving the needs of the poor. The Catholic Church will be there for them."

7th Circuit Holds Taxpayers Lack Standing To Challenge Indiana Legislative Prayer

Yesterday in Hinrichs v. Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Indiana General Assembly, (7th Cir., Oct. 30, 2007), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, held that Indiana taxpayers lack standing to challenge the opening of Indiana legislative sessions with sectarian prayers. The majority applied two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions-- DaimlerChrsyler Corp. v. Cuno, a 2006 case that held state taxpayer suits in federal court must meet the same criteria as federal taxpayer suits, and Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc., a 2007 case that interpreted federal taxpayer standing narrowly. The majority opinion in the 7th Circuit relied on the fact that there was no specific legislative appropriation establishing the program that invited guest ministers to deliver invocations. The majority said that the minimal costs associated with the program have nothing to do with the content of the prayers offered. Judge Wood dissenting argued that the House Rule calling for opening each session with prayer is a legislative act that creates a pocketbook injury to plaintiff taxpayers, and therefore gives them standing.

Covering yesterday's decision, the Indianapolis Star quotes ACLU attorney Ken Falk. He says if the legislature resumes sectarian prayer, his group would be willing to file suit on behalf of a person who would likely have standing-- someone who regularly attends legislative sessions and must listen to the prayers.

Meanwhile the American Jewish Committee issued a release saying that yesterday's decision "is extremely alarming because it denies taxpayers the right to challenge a legislative act that in practice gives preferential access to Christian clergy in determining who shall present a daily legislative prayer." Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter released a statement in support of the decision, saying: "Legislative prayer is a worthy act that I think the State should protect within relevant legal precedents."

Numerous prior postings on the case can be accessed at this link. Links to a recording of the Sept. 2006 oral arguments before the 7th Circuit , and to the earlier opinion staying the lower court's injunction pending appeal, are also available online.

Buddhist Chapel Added At Air Force Academy

At the U.S. Air Force Academy, prayer space for use by Buddhist students opened on Monday. Yesterday's Air Force Times reports that the new Vast Refuge Dharma Hall in the basement of the Academy's modernistic Chapel will serve the 26 Buddhist cadets currently enrolled in the Academy.

Virginia Case Raises Question of Private Enforcement of Charitable Trust Terms

A case pending in the Virginia Supreme Court may have an important impact on religious institutions in that state. Today's Lynchburg (VA) News-Advance reports that the case (which involves the use of donations to the former Randolph-Macon Women's College) raises the question of whether only the state's Attorney General can enforce the terms of a charitable trust, or whether private parties can also do so. A brief filed Monday by state Attorney General Robert McDonnell argues that private parties with a sufficient interest should be permitted to pursue enforcement of the terms of a charitable trust.

Murders For Witchcraft Use of Body Parts On Rise In South Africa

South Africa's Cape Times today reports on the rise of murders involving the theft of human body parts by practitioners of muthi. the problem is particularly acute in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. President of the KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Healers Association, Sazi Mhlongo, condemned the murders, saying that many people are confusing the witchdoctors practicing muthi with legitimate traditional healers.

7th Circuit Rules For Baptist Church In RLUIPA Zoning Case

Writing for the 7th Circuit in his usual engaging style, yesterday Judge Richard Posner in Digrugilliers v. Consolodated City of Indianapolis, (7th Cir., Oct. 30, 2007), reversed a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction in a religious land use case. At issue was whether in requiring a Baptist Church to obtain a variance in order to lease space for its religious services in a district zoned for commercial use, Indianapolis was violating the provision of RLUIPA that prohibits unequal treatment of religious institutions.

The Court of Appeals rejected two rather elaborate theories used by the district judge to deny relief to the church. The lower court said that since a religious use includes not only religious services, but also residential uses such as a rectory for the minister, churches would get preferential treatment if they were not required to obtain a variance. Second it said that a church could interfere with existing businesses because state law prohibits the sale of liquor or pornography within specified distances from any church. Judge Posner wrote: "Government cannot, by granting churches special privileges (the right of a church official to reside in a building in a nonresidential district, or the right of the church to be free from offensive land uses in its vicinity), furnish the premise for excluding churches from otherwise suitable districts."

Saudi King Urges British Muslims Toward Moderation

Yesterday's International Herald Tribune reports on the remarks made by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at a halal banquet given in his honor by Queen Elizabeth during the king's visit to Britain. Praising British toleration of "all races, creeds and color," King Abdullah said: "I should like to take this opportunity to call upon our Muslim brethren living in Britain to be honest and upright Muslims and worthy British citizens, striving to build and construct so that they may convey the true image of the principles of Islam, those eternal principles of love, mercy and moderation." These remarks come as a conservative British think tank, the Policy Exchange, released a report (full text) claiming that agencies linked to the Saudi government are distributing extremist literature to mosques and Islamic centers in Britain. Today's New York Sun has more on these charges.

New Poll Shows Voters Oppose Candidates Using Religion To Influence Election

The Interfaith Alliance released a new poll yesterday showing that 68% of all Americans, and 60% of those who attend religious services regularly, oppose presidential candidates using their faith or religion to influence voters. 81% of all those polled and 75% of those who attend religious services regularly believe it is important that the next president nominate Supreme Court Justices who will protect the separation of church and state. When respondents were asked how much influence clergy should have on voters' decisions, 57% of all respondents thought none or not much, while over 70% of those who do not attend religious services regularly thought clergy should have little or no influence on voting. The full report (Word.doc) gives additional statistical details. The October poll of 1010 people has a margin of error of 3.1%.