Texas Schools Science Director Fired Over Apparent Opposition To Intelligent Design

The director of science curriculum at the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has been forced to resign after she forwarded to a number of people an e-mail announcing a presentation by an author who is critical of intelligent design proponents. The AP reported on Friday that Chris Comer, who has held her position for nine years, says that evolution politics led to her firing. The TEA says that Comer's action implies that it endorses the speaker's position on a subject on which the agency must remain neutral. Her action also violated a directive that she not communicate with anyone outside the TEA about the agency's review of the Texas science curriculum scheduled for next year.

British Accounting Body Will Offer Certificate In Islamic Finance

Britain's Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) will become the first the first accountancy body in the UK to offer its members training in Islamic financial law. The Scotsman today reports that a self-study program leading to a Certificate in Islamic Finance was developed by CIMA in consultation with Sharia law experts and the International Institute of Islamic Finance. The course covers Islamic commercial law; Islamic banking and Takaful; Islamic capital markets and instruments; and accounting and analysis of Islamic financial institutions.

Alberta Panel Finds Anti-Gay Letter Violated Human Rights Law

In Lund v. Boissoin, (AB Human Rts. Panel, Nov. 30, 2007), a panel appointed by the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission held that a letter published in the Red Deer Advocate violates the anti-discrimination provisions of Alberta's Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act (HRCMA). The case originated out of a letter written to the Canadian newspaper by Stephen Boissoin, executive director of the Concerned Christian Coalition (now Concerned Christians Canada, Inc.). The letter was titled "Homosexual Agenda Wicked".

The complaint, filed by a Red Deer high school teacher, alleged that the letter crossed the line of free speech and incited hatred against homosexuals in violation of Sec. 3 of the HRCMA. In an 80-page decision, the Panel held it had jurisdiction over the case because of the relationship of the letter to the province's educational system and its circumstantial connection to the beating of a gay teenager in Red Deer less than two weeks following its publication. The panel concluded that Boissoin's letter expressed hatred or contempt for a group of persons on the basis of their sexual preference, and made it more acceptable to others to manifest hatred against homosexuals. The panel rejected the argument that Boissoin's freedom of religion and expression are defenses to the discrimination charge. Friday's Canadian Press reported on the decision.

Meanwhile, according to the Canadian Press, on Saturday the Executive Committee of the Conservative Party of Alberta refused to endorse the nomination of Concerned Christian Coalition leader Craig Chandler for election to the province's legislative assembly from Calgary-Egmont. Apparently the refusal was related to the Boissoin letter.

India's High Court Postpones Ruling on Rights of Christian and Muslim Dalits

The Supreme Court of India has postponed ruling on whether lower-caste Dalits who have converted to Christianity or Islam are entitled to the same preferential rights as those who remain Hindus, or who have converted to become Sikhs or Buddhists. Christian Today reported on Saturday that the delay came after the government told the court that it had still not received a report on the matter from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. In May, a panel headed by former Chief Justice Ranganath Misra recommended that converts to Christianity and Islam be given the same special privileges as other Dalits, but the Commission has not yet accepted the recommendations.

Recently Available Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Nelis v. Kingston, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86036 (ED WI, Nov. 20, 2007), a Wisconsin federal district court held that a prison rule making inmates on voluntary unassigned status ineligible for certain activities, including ancillary religious activities, violates neither the First Amendment nor RLUIPA. The suit was brought by a Native American inmate who was precluded from attending pipe and drum ceremonies under this rule, but could still practice his religion in other ways.

In Floody v. Wagner, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86295 (D SD, Nov. 21, 2007), a South Dakota federal district judge permitted an inmate who was an candidate for conversion to Judaism to proceed on his claim for damages against prison officials who suspended his kosher diet after he bought a non-kosher item at the prison commissary. Subsequently the prison system changed it rules precluding removal from a religious diet as a sanction, making plaintiff's claims for declaratory and injunctive relief moot.

In Rogers v. Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86607 (D AZ, Nov. 15, 2007), an Arizona federal district court dismissed (with leave to file an amended complaint) a series of allegations, including a free exercise claim, by a prisoner for violations while she was a pre-trial detainee. Plaintiff claimed that rules calling for discontinuation of her medication if she was not in her cell during medical call precluded her from attending religious services.

In Raper v. Adams, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87048 (ED NC, March 28, 2007), a North Carolina federal district court dismissed an inmate's First Amendment claims challenging prison rules that banned inmates' reading tarot cards for other inmates. It also rejected an equal protection claim complaining that plaintiff was required to use a cell that doubled as a restroom, rather than the day room, to practice his religion.

In Joseph v. Ware, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87459 (WD LA, Oct. 22, 2007), a Louisiana federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of a Muslim inmate's First Amendment claim based on failure of prison employees on one occasion to provide him a pork-free meal.

Religious Sign In Police Cruiser Raises Church-State Questions

Today's Greensboro (NC) News-Record reports that a sign posted in a police cruiser has raised a new church-state issue. Driver M. Reza Salami (a professor at North Carolina A&T) was stopped by police at a checkpoint last week and was told to sit in the back seat of a Guilford County Sheriff's cruiser by Sheriff's Deputy M. Osborne. In the cruiser, between the front and back seats, was posted a sign reading "Jesus is your savior". The deputy's supervisor argues that the sign was permissible because it was an expression of the deputy's beliefs, and Sheriff B.J. Barnes favors deputies being able to display anything that gives them comfort during their dangerous 12-hour shifts. Constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky said that it is impermissible to promote religion in this way in a police car used for official county business.

Religious Traditions Include Holiday Gambling

The Boston Globe's Rich Barlow writes an interesting column today on the history of gambling traditions in Judaism and Christianity-- as the Massachusetts legislature prepares to debate casino gambling. A number of religious leaders oppose the casino gambling bill. In Judaism, Hanukkah includes gambling-- children playing dreidel, and adults playing a card game known as kvitlech. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church encouraged gambling on holy days. Boston College professor Dwayne Carpenter outlined the ambivalent views of religious authorities toward gambling, saying that they often saw it as a way to "add to the merriment of an already joyous occasion." He said that Hanukkah card-playing once served as a cover for banned Torah study.

British Muslim Coalition Proposes New Moderate Guidelines For Mosques

In Britain on Thursday, moderate Muslim leaders through the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Body (MINAB) issued a proposed 10-point Code of Conduct for mosques in the country. Yesterday's New York Times reports that among the new proposals are ones for stricter screening of imams and other religious leaders (including a criminal background check); a commitment to "open, democratic, accountable management" of mosques; a call for the creation of "women's committees" at mosques; and a commitment to participation in interfaith activities. MINAB-- created by four national Muslim organizations-- grew out of a recommendation by a government task force on extremism that was formed after the "7/7" bombings in London in 2005. (BBC News.) [Thanks to Melissa Rogers for the lead.]

OSCE Publishes Guide On Teaching About Religions In Schools

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe this week issued a lengthy guide on preparing curricula for teaching about religions and beliefs. A press release issued by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights says that the guidelines are "designed to assist educators, legislators, teachers and officials in education ministries and in private or religious schools to ensure that teaching about different religions and beliefs is carried out in a fair and balanced manner." The 134-page document, Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching About Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools, is drafted on the premise that "although a deeper understanding of religions will not automatically lead to greater tolerance and respect, ignorance increases the likelihood of misunderstanding, stereotyping, and conflict." [Thanks to Rafael Palomino for the lead.]

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.