Teaching of Evolution, Rejection of Creationism Pressed By US Advisory Groups

Reuters reports that yesterday the U.S. National Academy of Sciences along with the Institute of Medicine issued a book titled Science, Evolution and Creationism. The NAS and IOM are advisory bodies to the U.S. government on issues of science and medicine. The press release on the book says:

Recent advances in science and medicine, along with an abundance of observations and experiments over the past 150 years, have reinforced evolution's role as the central organizing principle of modern biology....

Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting evolution, opponents have repeatedly tried to introduce nonscientific views into public school science classes through the teaching of various forms of creationism or intelligent design.... NAS and IOM strongly maintain that only scientifically based explanations and evidence for the diversity of life should be included in public school science courses. "Teaching creationist ideas in science class confuses students about what constitutes science and what does not," the committee stated."

As SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM makes clear, the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. Science and religion are different ways of understanding the world. Needlessly placing them in opposition reduces the potential of each to contribute to a better future," the book says.

At the same time, according to Science Daily, a coalition of 17 scientific organizations is urging scientists to become more involved in promoting science education, including evolution. An article in the January 2008 FASEB Journal says that introducing creationism and intelligent design in the science classroom undermines the fundamentals of science education.

Evangelicals Crucial To Huckabee's Win In Iowa

An AP analysis shows that support of evangelicals was crucial to Mike Huckabee's win in the Republican Iowa caucuses yesterday. An AP poll revealed that more than 80% of Huckabee's caucus supporters were born again or evangelical Christians, while fewer than half of Mitt Romney's supporters fit that description. Almost two-thirds of Huckabee's supporters said it was very important that their candidate share their religious beliefs. Only 20% of the Romney supporters had that view. Huckabee is a former Southern Baptist minister and has emphasized his Christian beliefs during the campaign.

Women Appointed For First Time To Singapore's Sharia Appeal Board

In Singapore, for the first time three women have been appointed to the 20-member panel whose members hear appeals from the Sharia Court and Registrar of Muslim Marriages. (See Section 55 of the Administration of Muslim Law Act which provides for the Appeal Board.) For 40 years, only men had been appointed to serve on the panel. Earth Times today reports that the new appointments were made by Singapore President SR Nathan on the advice of the Islamic Religious Council.

Suit Challenges Ban On Fortune Telling As Anti-Pagan

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Tuesday, a local business that wants to offer fortune telling has filed a federal lawsuit challenging on constitutional grounds a Livingston Parish ordinance that prohibits it. KATC News reports that Gryphon's Nest Gifts Inc. filed suit alleging in part that the ban on "soothsaying, fortune telling, palm reading, clairvoyance, crystal ball gazing, mind reading, card reading and the like for money or other consideration" was an attempt to promote Christianity over paganism. The complaint alleges that the ban "primarily affects pagan leaders and pagan church members who are most likely to support themselves or increase their income by performing divination for consideration." The suit also raises vagueness and free speech claims.

Malaysian Court Delays Funeral After Dispute On Conversion

Malaysian courts are once again involved in a dispute over religious conversion. The AP today reports that Ngiam Tee Kong, a Malaysian Christian, has obtained a temporary order from the Kuala Lumpur High Court after the Federal Territory Islamic Council insisted that his wife be buried in a Muslim funeral. Council officials insisted that Wong Sau Lan, who died on Dec. 30, had converted to Islam before her death. Her husband says she remained a Christian and that the alleged conversion was illegal. Now the body will remain unburied until at least Jan. 18 when the High Court will hold a preliminary hearing.

Free Exercise Claim As To DNA Testing Rejected On Procedural Grounds

In In re My'kavellie E., (OH Ct. App., Dec. 31, 2007), an Ohio appellate court rejected a free exercise claim made by a putative father in a custody suit. Manley E. argued that his religious rights were violated when the trial court ruled that the sole proof of paternity could be DNA testing. Appellant said that submitting to genetic testing would be a de facto denial of paternity that would violate his Islamic beliefs. The appellate court rejected the claim, saying that neither the trial court nor the appellant's trial attorney had knowledge of why Manley E. refused to submit to genetic testing. Nevertheless, the appellate court on other grounds reversed the putative father's dismissal from the custody action.

Utah Governor Held 1996 Meetings On LDS Doctrine and Modern Government

Blog from the Capital today calls attention to an investigative article published earlier this week by the Salt Lake Tribune detailing a series of meetings held in October 1996 by then-Utah Governor Mike Leavitt. Leavitt, a Mormon, is now Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The meetings, held with close staff and advisers in anticipation of his re-election, explored how teachings from the Book of Mormon and the church's Doctrine and Covenants could apply to modern government. Meeting early in the morning at the Governor's Mansion, the group ultimately settled on a series of principles for implementation that are not overtly religious-- free agency, accountability, equality, stewardship, marriage, unity, goodness, heritage, worship, safety and a sense of order. The Tribune article has links to minutes of the five meetings plus links to related documents. After inquiries from the Tribune, Leavitt requested that the documents be removed from public view by the State Archives because of the private nature of participants' comments. However, as reported by a second Tribune article, the State Archives decided on Monday that the documents would remain available to the public.

Court Holds That "Choose Life" Is Not Religious Speech

Children First Foundation v. Martinez, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94944 (ND NY, Dec. 27, 2007) is a challenge to New York state's refusal to approve special picture license plates that include the slogan "Choose Life". In this phase of the litigation, a New York federal district court refused to permit the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to amend her answer to raise an Establishment Clause defense, finding that religious speech was not involved. The court reasoned:

It may very well be true that those who participate in the abortion debate on the pro-life side are members of religious organizations whose religious beliefs form the basis for their views. However, that does not transform the pro-life stance into one that is religious in nature, nor does it transform the phrase, "Choose Life" into religious speech. Nothing in constitutional jurisprudence supports the conclusion that political speech which is derived from one's ethical or religious beliefs or background transforms it into religious speech. Many religious persons and organizations may be opposed to capital punishment, or perhaps in favor of gun control. Those political issues are not therefore automatically transformed into religious issues simply by virtue of the religious beliefs of their supporters. The same is true for the abortion debate.

New York Court Says Chabad Headquarters May Eject Messianists

JTA and the New York Jewish Week both report on a decision handed down Dec. 27 by a New York trial court in a battle over control of the headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement-- 770 Eastern Parkway in New York's Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. At issue is a dispute within Chabad over whether the Hasidic movement’s grand rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994, may be referred to publicly as the Messiah. (See prior posting.) The court, in giving the owners of the headquarters building-- Agudas Chasedei Chabad and Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch -- the right to eject from the building a congregation located in its basement, the court gave a victory to those who reject the messianist faction of the Chabad movement. Edward Rudofsky, the attorney representing the messianist faction (organized as Congregation Lubavitch Inc.) said they would appeal the decision. He said: "this is an argument over control over religious congregation and it did not belong in secular court..." The Jewish Week article carries an extensive description of the messianist atmosphere that currently dominates the synagogue.

Polish Catholic Church Opposes Government Funding of IVF Procedures

Poland's Health Minister says that she will include funding for in vitro fertilization procedures in the ministry's budget for 2008, despite strong opposition from Catholic Church leaders. Yesterday's Catholic World News reported that the Polish Catholic hierarchy has published an open letter opposing the funding. Health Minister Ewa Kopacz says, however, that infertility is a social problem that needs to be addressed.

Palestinian Hajj Pilgrims Return Home After Dispute On Crossing Into Gaza

Yesterday, more than 2000 Palestinian pilgrims returning from the hajj crossed into the Gaza strip after being delayed for five days in Egypt in a dispute over their return route. The International Herald Tribune reports that the Egyptian government, after discussions with Israel, had demanded that the pilgrims return to Gaza via an Israeli border crossing so that Israel could determine whether senior Hamas leaders who were among the pilgrims were bringing back large sums of money to support Hamas in Gaza. The pilgrims insisted on entering Gaza directly from Egypt through the border crossing at Rafah. Eventually Egypt gave in to the pilgrims' demand. Earlier yesterday the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a statement arguing that the delay in permitting the pilgrims to return to Gaza violated international law. The Jerusalem Post earlier this week, however, said that Hamas operatives were suspected of having up to tens of millions of dollars that they were intending to smuggle into Gaza.

Tunisia Will Not Implement Decision On Hijab-- Sees Scarf As Politcial Symbol

Bloomberg News yesterday reported that Tunisia's government is not generally implementing an October court ruling that held unconstitutional the government's ban on Muslim women wearing headscarves in state buildings and schools. (See prior posting.) Apparently the ban has been lifted only for the teacher who was the successful plaintiff in the case. Secular governments in the Middle East view the hijab as an Islamist political symbol, and not as religious obligation. Mohammed Fantar, professor of Islamic history at Manar University in Tunis, says that the hijab is "an import by way of satellite television. It's a menace for all.''

Reversed 1970 Adoption Decision Is Circulating In Blogosphere As Current

The blogosphere is full of reports (example) on a Time Magazine article about a New Jersey couple that were found by a state trial court to be unfit to adopt a child because they did not believe in a Supreme Being. References to the article have been so widely circulated that it shows up as the number 1 most read on Time Magazine's website tonight. The only problem is that that article is from 1970 and the trial judge's decision was reversed by the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1971 (In re the Adoption of "E"). (The 1970 Time article indicates that the appeal is pending.) Many postings treat the article as current news, and the "most popular" listing by Time-- which is apparently generated without human intervention --adds to the misinformation. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Pew Forum Gives Background Information As Presidential Selection Process Begins

As tomorrow's Iowa Caucus formally ushers in the Presidential selection season, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life continues to furnish extensive news and background information of interest. Its Religion and Politics 2008 page links to extensive material about the views of each candidate on issues of concern to religious voters as well as to news on the impact of religion in the 2008 election cycle.

Churches Increasingly Hit With Property Tax For Unrelated Property

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that local governments are increasingly levying property taxes on churches, as religious organizations increasingly acquire property which they rent out or use for non-religious purposes. Examples range from a visitors center and gift shop built by a Newport, Rhode Island synagogue, to shopping center space rented out to stores and restaurants by a Rockford, Illinois church that owns the mall and uses part of it for worship services. Churches say that proceeds from properties are funneled back for religious uses. Generally, though, laws exempt property only if the property itself is used for religious or charitable purposes. Texas Tech law professor James Vaughn says: "When you have a taxing authority trying to decide what's your ministry and what's not, I see a problem here."

Happy New Year To Religion Clause Readers

Dear Religion Clause Readers,

Happy New Year! As 2008 begins, I want to thank all my long-time readers for your continued interest and welcome the many new readers who have joined us this year. Your comments, e-mails, links and leads on news stories are all appreciated. In 2007, Religion Clause was recognized by the ABA as one of the top 100 legal blogs and Justia ranks it 11th in all-time popularity among Blawgs. Sometime in the next 24 hours, the Religion Clause site meter (which measures visitors since the blog was initiated) will turn to 225,000. I hope you will continue to rely on Religion Clause for unbiased reporting on news of church-state and religious liberty developments and for links to primary source documents.

Best wishes for 2008.

Howard M. Friedman

Malaysia Reverses Decision and Issues Permit To Christian Paper Using "Allah"

BBC News reported on Sunday that the Malaysian government has reversed its earlier decision and has agreed to issue a license to a Christian newspaper that uses the word Allah to refer to God. Earlier, the Internal Security Ministry had refused to renew the permit of the Catholic newspaper, the Weekly Herald, for 2008 unless it stopped translating "God" as "Allah" in the Malay language version of the paper. The Ministry said that "Allah" could only be used to refer to the Muslim God. (See prior posting.)

UPDATE: Adding to the confusion, the AP reports that Malaysia's minister for Islamic affairs said on Thursday that the government still takes the position that the word "Allah" can only be used to refer to the Muslim God. The paper has filed a lawsuit to obtain approval for its use of the term in quoting from the Malay language Bible.

Bibliography of Law and Religion Articles, Books and Blogs

The December 2007 Newsletter of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Law and Religion contains an extensive bibliography of books, articles and blogs on law and religion published in the last year. I have posted the bibliography at this link.

New Articles and Books of Interest

Recently Published Articles:

• The January/February 2008 issue of Liberty Online: A Magazine of Religious Freedom has been issued online.

From SmartCILP:

• The Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, Vol. 46, No. 2 has been issued. It includes: symposium articles by Susan Stabile and Piero Tozzi on "When Conscience Clashes with State Law & Policy: Catholic Institutions" as well as: Sr. Melanie DiPietro & Alison Sulentic, SSM Health Care: The Integration of Catholic Social Thought Values in a Modern Health Care System; Gregory A. Kalscheur, Catholics in Public Life: Judges, Legislators, and Voters; Robert E. Rodes, Jr., On Lawyers and Moral Discernment; Rebecca Van Uitert, Undocumented Immigrants in the United States: A Discussion of Catholic Social Thought and "Mormon Social Thought" Principles.

New Books:

• Susan Pace Hamill, As Certain as Death, (Carolina Academic Press, 2007), reviewed by the New York Times.
• Noah Feldman, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, (Princeton University Press, March 23, 2008). Discussed in a Harvard Law Today interview.
• Michael Lienesch, In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial,and the Making of the Antievolution Movement, (University of North Carolina Press, 2007), reviewed at H-Net. [Thanks to First Amendment Law Prof Blog.]

Impact of Bibles On Jurors In Imposing Death Sentence At Issue In 5th Circuit

Yesterday's Houston Chronicle carries a story about a November decision by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Oliver v. Quarterman, (5th Cir., Nov. 16, 2007). In it the court ordered briefing and oral argument scheduled on whether jurors' consultation of the Bible during the sentencing phase of a murder trial raises a presumption of prejudice, and, if so, whether the state has rebutted that presumption.

Winston Cochran, Oliver's lawyer, says that at issue is whether jurors, in imposing the death sentence on Oliver, were prejudiced by Numbers 35:16 that reads: "But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death" Cochran explained: "This poor old farmer, he got shot and when he was lying outside on the ground, he was struck with the barrel of a gun. So he was literally struck with an iron rod. You could say God and Moses anticipated this exact thing if you take a literal view of it. And that's got a lot of potential for mischief." Attorney Sue Korioth, who handled an earlier appeal in the case, said there was no implication that jurors voted based on Scripture. She said: "Several [jurors]... carried Bibles in and out like my daughter carries her 'Seventeen' magazine. It was just their reading material."