WV Proposes Promise Scholarship Holders Can Take Religious Service Leave

Reacting to a lawsuit filed against it in July, West Virginia's Higher Education Policy Commission on Friday issued proposed amendments to change the state's Promise Scholarship leave of absence policy. In the suit, a Mormon student at the University of West Virginia charged the Promise scholarship board with religious discrimination because it refused to allow him to take a leave to serve a two-year church mission without losing his scholarship. (See prior posting.) The Charleston (WV) Saturday Gazette-Mail reports that under the new proposals, students will be permitted to take a leave of absence for military duty, programs related to the student’s study, service, study abroad, volunteerism, extreme financial hardships and extraordinary circumstances beyond the student’s control. After a 30-day public comment period, the proposed rule amendments go to the legislature for final approval.

Pope Issues Encyclical "In Hope We Were Saved"

On Friday, Pope Benedict XVI issued the second encyclical of his papacy, titled Spe Salvi Facti Sumus (In Hope We Were Saved). Today's New York Times says that the document "weaves a complex but elegant argument for the necessity of hope, drawing deeply on history, philosophy and theology." Here are some excerpts on the relationship of hope to the structuring of society:

[E]very generation has the task of engaging anew in the arduous search for the right way to order human affairs; this task is never simply completed. Yet every generation must also make its own contribution to establishing convincing structures of freedom and of good, which can help the following generation as a guideline for the proper use of human freedom.... [M]odern Christianity, faced with the successes of science in progressively structuring the world, has to a large extent restricted its attention to the individual and his salvation. In so doing it has limited the horizon of its hope and has failed to recognize sufficiently the greatness of its task—even if it has continued to achieve great things in the formation of man and in care for the weak and the suffering....

All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action.... [W]e work towards a brighter and more humane world so as to open doors into the future. Yet our daily efforts in pursuing our own lives and in working for the world's future either tire us or turn into fanaticism, unless we are enlightened by the radiance of the great hope that cannot be destroyed even by small-scale failures or by a breakdown in matters of historic importance. If we cannot hope for more than is effectively attainable at any given time, or more than is promised by political or economic authorities, our lives will soon be without hope....

To protest against God in the name of justice is not helpful. A world without God is a world without hope.... Only God can create justice. And faith gives us the certainty that he does so. The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope....

Detroit Judge Finds Religious Freedom Violation By Faith-Based Drug Program

A Detroit (MI) federal district judge ruled on Friday that that the religious freedom rights of plaintiff Joseph Hanas were violated when a drug treatment program in which a state court placed him attempted to convert him from his Catholic Faith to the Pentecostal faith of those running the Inner City Christian Outreach Center. (See prior related posting.) Today's Detroit Free Press reports that until the judge issues a written decision, it is unclear whether the court also held against a court caseworker and a court volunteer who failed to take Hanas out of the program when they learned of its coercive tactics. Hanas eventually received treatment in a non-religious program, but the state court has not expunged from his record the jail time which he served when he refused to complete the Pentecostal program to which he was originally assigned. The federal lawsuit was filed only after litigation in state court, including an unsuccessful petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court (Docket No. 04-1461), failed to obtain relief for Hanas. (See prior related posting.)

Nigeria Implements Sharia In Moderate and Modern Form

Today's New York Times carried a front-page article titled Nigeria Turns From Harsher Side of Islamic Law. It reports that Islamic law, adopted in several northern Nigerian states, has been implemented in a way that creates "a distinctively Nigerian compromise between the dictates of faith and the chaotic realities of modern life...." The federal government has limited the power of the religious police-- the Hisbah. A state official in Kano says, "Our approach is a humane Shariah, not a punitive Shariah." Leaders in various states emphasize Islamic tenets on charity, women’s rights and the duty to keep their environment clean. [Thanks to Matthew Caplan for the leaad.]

Hidden Church-State Issue In Debate Over College Accreditors

The Nov. 30 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education carries an article on the tightening of college accreditation standards by the U.S. Department of Education. In order for a school's students to be eligible for government-subsidized financial aid, the school must be accredited by an accrediting body that is in turn recognized by the Department of Education. (Background on criteria.) A body called the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) advises the Secretary of Education on which accrediting agencies should be recognized. Since Margaret Spellings became Secretary of Education in 2004, NACIQI has pressured accrediting agencies to require schools to improve criteria for measuring student achievement. NACIQI began by questioning some of the smaller accrediting agencies. One of the accrediting bodies which NACIQI has refused to endorse for full, unconditional renewal without further evidence of standards for student-performance assessment is the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools. While no one appears to have raised any church-state issues about the process, the developments do suggest a question of the extent to which the federal government can prescribe measures of achievement for religious schools. Provisions in pending Higher Education Amendments (S 1642, Sec 491) embody changes that would tailor criteria to different missions of each institution. [Corrected].

Huckabee Discusses Role of Religion In Campaign and Government

MNBC yesterday posted a transcript of an interview with Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor answers questions from Chris Matthews on the role of religion in his campaign and in his official decision making. Matthews particularly focused on a Huckabee campaign ad that bills him as a "Christian leader". Here is an excerpt:

MATTHEWS: ... What I’m trying to figure out here why is it relevant to run as a Christian leader, if, when I give you particular cases of life and death, perhaps war, you resort to the secular role, which is probably more appropriate to a politician?

HUCKABEE: Well, because, Chris, frankly, there are times when the Christian Gospel does very much apply — inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these, my brethren. When 75,000 evacuees came to my state from Hurricane Katrina, it was my Christian faith that said we’re not going to wait until paperwork is done to take care of these people.

Russian Officials Have Delayed Molokan Prayer House For Over 10 Years

Forum 18 yesterday reported on the difficulties that the Molokan community in Russia is having in obtaining land in Moscow to build a prayer house. The group has been attempting since December 1996 to get governmental officials to approve a site for their building. Officials have cited opposition of residents near proposed sites, among other reasons, for the delay. Russia's Ombudsman for Human Rights, however, says that the delay is "scandalous".

Kansas Supreme Court Refuses To Halt Voter-Initiated Grand Jury

Yesterday in Tiller v. Corrigan, (KS Sup. Ct., Nov. 29, 2007), the Kansas Supreme Court lifted its previously-granted temporary stay of grand jury proceedings convened to investigate whether Wichita abortion provider George Tiller violated Kansas law by performing late-term abortions. The grand jury was empaneled, at the behest of a coalition of anti-abortion groups, under an unusual Kansas statute that allows a grand jury to be convened upon petition of just over 2% of a county's voters. (See prior posting.) Tiller sought a writ of mandamus from the state Supreme Court to halt the proceedings, claiming they amount to harassment. Without further explanation, the Supreme Court said that "petitioner has not established entitlement to the relief sought...." In a release posted on its website, Operation Rescue hailed the decision as "a victory for the rule of law, for the people of Kansas, and for the late-term pre-born babies that laws have been enacted to protect."

UPDATE: The Kansas City Star reported on Thursday that because of this decision, no appeal will be filed to challenge empaneling of a similar grand jury in Johnson County to investigate Planned Parenthood's activities there.

Canada's High Court Will Review Case On Religious Exemption From License Photos

The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday agreed that it would hear an appeal in Province of Alberta v. Hutterian Brethren of Wilson Colony, a case raising the question of whether Alberta can refuse to issue drivers' licenses to Hutterites who refuse on religious grounds to have their photographs on their licenses. In May, a lower court held that the refusal violated the Hutterites freedom of religion protected by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (See prior posting.) Today's Alberta Sun reports on the Supreme Court's action, quoting provincial officials who emphasize the security concerns that led to requiring photos.

Court Rejects Free Exercise Challenge to Wrongful Conviction Recovery Limits

North Carolina law (N.C. Gen Stat. Sec. 148-82) provides that a person who was convicted of a felony and then granted a pardon of innocence by the governor may bring a claim against the state for the pecuniary loss suffered by reason of the person's erroneous conviction and imprisonment. In Ross v. State of North Carolina, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87067 (ED NC, Feb. 1, 2007)-- a case decided some months ago but just recently made available on LEXIS-- a North Carolina federal district court rejected a claim that conditioning compensation on the receipt of a pardon violates the Free Exercise clause.

Convicted murderer Daniel Ross had his conviction overturned because of faulty instructions to the jury on burden of proof. The state decided not to retry him. Ross then sought compensation for his wrongful imprisonment, but was denied it because he had not received a gubernatorial pardon. Ross then brought suit, alleging among other things, that conditioning the availability of damages on receipt of a gubernatorial pardon requires him to violate "a cardinal principle of his religious faith". He says he believes that "only the Almighty God . . . is responsible for granting grace or mercy as a covenant to His heirs." The court also rejected Ross' equal protection and 8th and 13th Amendment challenges.

Court Rejects Daughter's Relgious Objections To Autopsy On Father

Thomas Arthur is on death row in Alabama. Originally his execution was scheduled for September. At that time, his daughter brought a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent an autopsy from being performed on his body after his death. The court denied the daughter's motion for a temporary injunction. (See prior posting.) Subsequently the Governor of Alabama granted a 45-day stay of execution for Arthur, while Alabama changed its lethal injection protocol. After additional legal challenges, Arthur's execution date is now set for December 6. (AP). Earlier this week, in Stone v. Allen, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87132 (SD AL, Nov. 27, 2007), an Alabama federal district court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the suit seeking to prevent an autopsy on Arthur. The court held that there is no legal support for the claim that Arthur's daughter has a constitutional right to block an autopsy on her father merely because it conflicts with her religious beliefs.

Judge Says 14-Year Old Can Refuse Transfusion; Boy Dies

In Seattle, Washington on Wednesday, Skagit County Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled that a 14-year old boy was mature enough to decide to refuse a blood transfusion on religious grounds. A few hours later, Dennis Lindberg, a Jehovah's Witness who suffered from leukemia, died. The AP reports that doctors believed there was a 70% chance that a transfusion which would permit additional chemotherapy could have led to survival for five years. Lindberg's aunt had custody of him, and Lindberg's birth parents, who attended the hearing, believe that the boy was unduly influenced by his Jehovah's Witness aunt in making his decision. However they did not appeal after doctors said the boy had already likely suffered brain damage.

Free Exercise Challenge To Administration of Maine's Welfare Laws Rejected

In Lightfootlane v. Maine Department of Human Services, (D ME, Nov. 26, 2007), a Maine federal district judge accepted the recommendations of a federal magistrate judge to dismiss a challenge to Maine's administration of its General Assistance program. The court held that plaintiff, who operates a statewide Homeless Crisis Hotline, lacks standing to bring her challenge. It also rejected her claim that her free exercise of religion was infringed when the state's misapplication of law caused her to have to work harder to help her clients. The magistrate found unconvincing plaintiff's argument that "It is a religious doctrine of most religions 'to do good works'. Not merely to 'attempt' to do good works."

Spokane Police Chaplaincy Changes Insignia In Response To Lawsuit

Responding to a lawsuit filed last year, Spokane Washington's police department is changing the insignia worn by its chaplains. KXLY News yesterday reported that the lawsuit challenged the use of a cross as part of the insignia, as well as the department's requirement that chaplains adhere to the Judeo-Christian ethic. The city has agreed to remove the cross, and to permit non-religious individuals who otherwise qualify to become chaplains. Chaplains, however, will still be permitted to wear a cross or other religious symbol on their lapel. The chaplains are funded by donations from police officers.

Venezuela's Chavez Clashes With Church Over Constitutional Amendments

Today's Miami Herald reports on a clash between Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and the Catholic Church in Venezuela. Church officials have said proposed constitutional provisions that are to be voted on in a referendum this Sunday are "morally unacceptable". The proposals dramatically increase presidential powers. Chavez has threatened reprisals, including possible imprisonment, against Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino. However church officials are standing firm in their opposition.

Veterans Challenge VA Hospital's Policy Change On Chapel Furnishings

In Fayetteville, NC, two veterans, with the help of the Rutherford Institute, are challenging a local hospital's interpretation of VA regulations regarding hospital chapels. Today's Fayetteville Observer reports that until earlier this year, the chapel at Fayetteville's Veterans Affairs Medical Center had a cross and Bible on permanent display, which were removed only when other faiths used the chapel for services. However earlier this year, hospital officials decided that VA regulations requiring that chapels be kept open for meditation and prayer for all faiths meant that the Bible and cross need to be removed when Christian religious services are not in progress in order to keep the chapel religiously neutral. Two veterans, Joseph Kinney and Laud Pitt Jr., argue that the chapel should be kept as a Christian place of worship and that the hospital should open a separate meditation room for use by members of other faiths. They say that the hospital is suppressing Christians' freedom of religion in removing the Bible and cross.

Amish Object To NY Town's Proposal That Builders Have Insurance

In Locke, New York, town officials are considering an ordinance that would require contractors seeking building permits to demonstrate proof that they have liability insurance to protect against homeowners from being sued when a worker is injured on the job. However, according to yesterday's Syracuse Post-Standard, the proposal is raising objections from Amish families who have recently moved to the area and whose religious beliefs preclude their acquiring insurance. Last week's Post-Standard carried a long article on the tensions that have arisen as eleven Old Order Amish families have moved to areas in Cayuga County, New York. Locke had already been insisting contractors seeking building permits have insurance when it was discovered that there was no legal basis for the requirement. Locke also requires proof that contractors have worker's compensation, a requirement that Amish likewise reject.

Saudi Religious Police Acquitted In Death of Suspect

AFP reports that yesterday, a court in Saudi Arabia acquitted two members of the Saudi religious police (Muttawa) who had been charged in the death of 28-year old Suleiman Al-Huraisi. As described in the US Dept. of State Religious Freedom Report 2007, in May 2007, members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice raided Al-Huraisi's home and arrested him, along with others, on suspicion of alcohol production. They beat Al-Huraisi, who later fell unconscious and died. The Commission's lawyer yesterday said defendants were acquitted because it was not demonstrated conclusively that Al-Huraisi's death was caused by the beating he received from religious police. A confusing fight during the raid left the possibility that Al-Huraisi was killed by a blow from a family member resisting the religious police. (See prior related posting.)

Developments In Sudan's Arrest of British School Teacher On Charges of Insulting Islam [UPDATED]

Yesterday's Khaleej Times reports that British school teacher Gillian Gibbons will be formally charged by a Sudanese court today with insulting the religious beliefs of Muslims by having her class name a teddy bear "Mohammed". (See prior posting.) ThisIsLondon today says that Gibbons technically faces three separate charges-- insulting Islam, inciting religious hatred and contempt for religious beliefs - each of which carries a maximum penalty of 40 lashes and a year in jail. However, she will likely be tried only on one of the charges. The prosecutor said she will get a swift and fair trial. As Gibbons was brought to court this morning, security was tight out of fear that militants might attempt to kidnap her.

The case has turned into a full-blown diplomatic incident as British Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned Sudan's ambassador for urgent talks. (Australia's Herald Sun, 11/29). The AP reports that Sudan's top clerical leaders, known as the Assembly of the Ulemas, issued a statement on Wednesday calling the incident part of a broader Western plot against Muslims, and comparing it to insults against the Prophet Muhammad by author Salman Rushdie. Future develoopments may turn on how imams deal with the case in their messages at Friday prayers this week. The Muslim Council of Britain said it was "appalled" at the actions of Sudan.

Today's Times of London says that British diplomats are trying to prevent the incident from interfering with peace making efforts in Darfur. A possible compromise would be for Gibbons-- who has already spent four days in jail-- to be tried, but then expelled from the country, or pardoned, instead of being punished. The Times describes Unity High School-- the school at which Gibbons taught-- as "an exclusive British-run school favoured by the Sudanese elite."

UPDATE: AP reports that on Thursday in Sudan, teacher Gillian Gibbons was convicted of insulting Islam, and sentenced to 15 days in prison, to be followed by deportation. The quick verdict after a 7-hour trial appeared to be designed to end the case before Friday prayers and the possible incitement of worshipers over the matter. (Times of London.) A senior government official told the AP that clerics had been ordered not to deliver inflammatory sermons about the case on Friday.

UPDATE: BBC News on Thursday carries an article discussing differing views among Muslims about assigning the name Muhammad to pets and toys.

UPDATE: CNN reported on Tuesday that Gillian Gibbons arrived back in London and said her experience should not deter peoople from visiting Sudan which she said was an "extremely beautiful place."

Buddhist Priest Offers Invocation At Pennsylvania Senate Session

On Tuesday, for the first time ever the invocation opening the session of the Pennsylvania Senate was delivered by a Buddhist priest. Yesterday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that the Senate is attempting to show that it has diverse religious leaders offer opening prayers, in an effort to persuade Americans United for Separation of Church and State not to file suit challenging its prayer policy. In the past, most of the invocations were offered by Protestant, Catholic or Jewish clergy.