DC High Schooler Disqualified From Track Meet Because of Muslim Dress

Yesterday's Washington Post reports that D.C. high school senior Juashaunna Kelly-- the fastest mile and two mile runner in DC this season-- was disqualified from the Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet because her attempt to comply with Muslim dress requirements was said to violate uniform rules for the national competition. Kelly was wearing a custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard with long sleeves and long legs. On top of the unitard, Kelly wore the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates. Meet director Tom Rogers said that Kelly needed to wear a plain T-shirt over her unitard and then wear her team uniform over that in order to meet the requirements of the National Federation of State High School Associations. [Thanks to Steve Jamar via Religionlaw for the lead.]

Jewish Groups Decry Anti-Obama E-Mails; Obama Criticizes Award To Farrakhan

Today's New York Times reports that leaders of nine national Jewish groups have released a letter decrying false and bigoted e-mails that are being distributed about Sen. Barack Obama's religious beliefs. The anonymous messages have been circulating for months, but apparently more recently have been particularly circulated to American Jews. Snopes.com reproduces one of the e-mails which falsely asserts that "Obama is taking great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim" and says that he attended a Wahabi school in Jakarta, Indonesia and that he used a copy of the Koran when he was sworn into the U.S. Senate. The open letter from the Jewish groups says in part: "These tactics attempt to drive a wedge between our community and a presidential candidate based on despicable and false attacks based on religion. We reject these efforts to manipulate members of our community into supporting or opposing candidates."

Meanwhile Sen. Obama posted on his website a statement taking issue with an award given to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan by Trumpet Newsmagazine, a publication of Obama's Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama's statement said: "I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan. I assume that Trumpet Magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree." [Thanks to Melissa Rogers for the lead.]

UPDATE: TPM reported on Saturday that 7 Jewish U.S. Senators have issued an Open Letter similarly condemning the anti-Obama e-mails. [Thanks again to Melissa Rogers.]

School's Showing of Religious-Themed Inspirational Film Draws Protest

Yesterday's Tuscaloosa, Alabama News reports that objections have been raised to the showing in high school classes in Tuscaloosa of the movie Facing the Giants. The film, made by the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, is about a losing football team that begins to win after its players dedicate themselves to God. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (release) sent a letter (full text) contending that the showing of the film, which it says is aimed at proselytizing, violates the Establishment Clause. The film was shown to two Paul W. Bryant High School classes, but additional screenings were suspended, at least temporarily, after complaints were received.

8th Circuit Upholds Compensatory, Rejects Punitive, Damages In Title VII Case

In Sturgill v. United Parcel Service, Inc., (8th Cir., Jan. 15, 2008), the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an award of compensatory damages, but reversed an award of punitive damages, in a Title VII case in which a Seventh Day Adventist employee was fired by United Parcel Service for refusing to deliver the remaining packages in his truck after sundown on Friday. The Court found that it was not shown that UPS acted with malice or reckless indifference. The Court of Appeals agreed with the district court that a reasonable jury might find that UPS could have accommodated Sturgill's religious practice without violating its collective bargaining agreement and without undue hardship to business operations. The court held that the district court's jury instruction saying that reasonable accommodation must completely eliminate the employee's religious conflict was erroneous, but was not reversible error. The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas reports on the decision.

Legacy of Established Church Comes To An End In New Hampshire Town

Today's New Hampshire Union Leader carries the interesting story of Greenfield (NH) Congregational Covenant Church. In 1795, the townspeople of Greenfield built a single building to serve as a meeting place both for government affairs and for the church. That was at a time when the state still supported the church by paying the minister's salary from tax revenues. In the 1819, by passing the Toleration Act the state moved toward disestablishment, and the congregation took over paying the minister. (See Church's history.) However the church continued to be housed in Town Hall, with a new sanctuary being dedicated in 1852. In 1959, the church and the town entered a formal 50-year lease agreement for insurance purposes. In 2006, as the end of the lease's term approached, voters overwhelmingly supported extending the lease. However questions were raised about the propriety under the Establishment Clause of the town's giving below market rent to a church, especially when other groups were charged significantly higher fees to use Town Hall. The divisiveness of the debate over church-state concerns, as well as needed repairs and lack of handicap accessibility of Town Hall's second floor has led the church to purchase land and begin a capital campaign for a new building elsewhere.

Huckabee Says US Constitution Should Reflect "God's Standards"

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has drawn sharp criticism from People for the American Way and the National Jewish Democratic Council over remarks he made during a stump speech on Monday in Warren, Michigan. As reported by the Carpetbagger Report and FirstRead, referring to his support for constitutional amendments banning abortion and defining marriage as between a man and a woman, Huckabee said:

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.

Canadian Courthouse Excludes Sikh Witness Wearing Kirpan

CBC News reports that last Monday in Calgary, Alberta, a Sikh man who had been subpoenaed to testify as a witness to a fatal car accident was barred from entering the courthouse because he was wearing a kirpan. After going through airport-type screening, Tejinder Sidhu was told that he would need to leave his ceremonial dagger at security in order to enter the building. Sidhu, who refused, says his religious freedom protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was infringed.

7th Circuit Denies En Banc Review In Indiana Legislative Prayer Case

Yesterday's Indianapolis Star reports that the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a petition for en banc review in Hinrichs v. Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Indiana General Assembly. (See prior posting.) In October, a 3-judge panel in the case, in a 2-1 decision, dismissed for lack of standing a suit brought by four Indiana taxpayers challenging the opening of sessions of the Indiana House of Representatives with Sectarian prayers.

Trial Focuses On Amish Refusal To Use Lights and Triangle On Buggies

A Graves County, Kentucky District Court on Monday heard testimony in a case in which three Amish men were cited for not having flashing lights and an orange triangular symbol on their slow-moving buggies. The AP reports that Judge Deborah Crooks delayed issuing a decision in order to give attorneys time to submit post-trial legal memos in the case that pits safety laws against religious beliefs. The required triangular symbol is viewed as "worldly" by the Amish. During the trial, Defendant Jacob Gingerich said, "I have trust in God, not in a symbol."

Survey Shows Support For Religion In the Public Arena

Last week, Ellison Research released a poll of 1,007 American adults on church-state issues. Here is an excerpt from the release summarizing the results of the poll which asked respondents whether various practices should be legal:

• 90% feel the law should support religious groups renting public property ... for meetings if non-religious groups are allowed to do so.


• 89% say it should be legal for a public school teacher to permit a “moment of silence” for prayer or contemplation for all students during class time.


• 88% believe it should be legal for public school teachers to wear religious symbols ... during class time.


• 87% say voluntary student-led prayers at public school events ... should be legal.


• 83% believe the display of a nativity scene on city property ... should be legal.


• 79% say it should be legal to display a copy of the Ten Commandments inside a court building.
  
  Out of nine such scenarios presented to people in the study, only three do not show this level of unified thought:


• 60% believe the display of a scene honoring Islam on city property, such as a city hall, during Ramadan ... should be legal (even though 83% thought a nativity display should be legal).


• 52% believe it should be legal for a religious club in a high school or university to determine for itself who can be in their membership, even if certain types of people are excluded.


• 33% say it should be legal for a landlord to refuse to rent an apartment to a homosexual couple.

Baptist Press yesterday discussed the poll results more extensively.

Nevada Caucus Timing May Disenfranchise Observant Jews

Nevada's Republican and Democratic caucuses next Saturday pose a unique religious liberty problem for observant Jews in the state. Unlike primaries and general elections where voters can use absentee ballots, caucuses require voters to show up at set times. Those times conflict with the typical time for Jewish Sabbath morning services. Just Engage blog reported last week:

When I called the political parties in Nevada to inquire as to whether or not there were measures being taken to help accommodate those observant Jews who wished to participate in the caucuses, I received mixed results. A young Jewish woman at the Nevada Democratic Party told me that they had tried to put caucus-sites near religious neighborhoods and synagogues so that people could walk; precinct captains would be educated about the need to write down information on behalf of observant Jews instead of asking them to sign-in and write themselves. A gentleman at the Nevada Republican Party told me that the party was not even aware of the problem, but promised to make an effort to educate precinct captains on the issue. Neither had an adequate answer as to why the caucuses had to take place on a Shabbat morning.

The problem is more than theoretical in Nevada. The state, according to Just Engage, has a rapidly growing Jewish population estimated to total between 65,000 and 80,000.

Alberta Commission Begins Hearings On Publication of Muhammad Caricatures

In Canada on Friday, the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission began hearings on the publication of controversial Muhammad cartoons two years ago by the Western Standard. Syed Soharwardy, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, and the Edmonton Muslim Council filed the complaints. Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant was defiant. Friday's National Post quoted Levant, who said: "I don't need to be reasonable. I have maximum rights of free speech. I have the right to publish this for the most offensive reason, for the most unreasonable reasons." To emphasize his point, yesterday Levant republished the cartoons on his blog which also contains extensive details on the Commission hearings. Meanwhile yesterday's National Post also reported that Soharwardy now fears for his family's safety because of things written about him on Levant's blog. Here is a transcript of Levant's defiant opening remarks before the Human Rights Commission.

Right Wing Austrian Politician Makes Scathing Anti-Muslim Remarks

In Graz, Austria, the public prosecutor's office is looking at whether right wing politician Susanne Winter violated laws against promoting racial hatred by making virulent anti-Muslim remarks at a recent meeting of the Freedom Party of Austria. The Weiner Zeitung reported yesterday that Winter, who heads the FPO list for next Sunday's municipal election, would face up to two years in prison if convicted of violating the racial hatred laws.

White House Proclamation On Religious Freedom Day Issued From Saudi Arabia

The White House has again this year issued a Proclamation declaring January 16 as Religious Freedom Day, marking the anniversary Virginia's passage in 1796 of the Statute for Religious Freedom . Interestingly, the Proclamation was disseminated yesterday in a press release from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where the President is traveling. The following language in the Proclamation may have been intended as commentary on restrictions imposed by the Saudis on religious liberty:

In an era during which an unprecedented number of nations have embraced individual freedom, we have also witnessed the stubborn endurance of religious repression. Religious freedom belongs not to any one nation, but to the world, and my Administration continues to support freedom of worship at home and abroad.

Justice Ginsburg Reflects On Role of Her Jewish Heritage

Today's Washington Post reports on remarks by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week on the role her Jewish heritage plays in her life. Speaking at a D.C. synagogue during a pre-screening of the PBS series on Jewish Americans, Ginsburg said she is not religiously observant, though she was raised in an observant household. She says her estrangement from religious observance came when as a teenager she was not counted toward a prayer "minyan" after the death of her mother. Ginsburg says that she and Justice Breyer are "are justices who happen to be Jews", instead of "Jewish justices". None of the anti-Semitism that faced the first Jewish justice, Louis Brandeis, surfaced during her appointment, she said.

New Dharma Stock Indexes Announced

Dow-Jones announced today that it is launching a new series of stock indexes-- the Dow Jones Dharma Index series. The new indexes are designed to measure the performance of stocks selected according to the values of Dharmic religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. Noting the growth of faith-based investing, Nitesh Gor, CEO of Dharma Investments which co-developed the indexes, said: "The Dow Jones Dharma Index brings together a combination of environmental, social, governance and traditional sin sector filters. As such, the Index is unique and will not just have appeal to the religious, but to a far broader audience as well."

Indigenous Group In Malaysia Sues Over Demolition of Church

The AP reports today that in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, the Temiar community has filed suit in the high court challenging the state's demolition of their church building. The government, controlled by the Pan Islamic Party, claims that the Christian church was built on state-owned land and that villagers ignored notices to stop construction. The indigenous tribe claims ownership of land on which they have lived for generations. They claim the government-- which has built a community hall to replace the church-- is discriminating against Christianity.

Israel's Knesset Skeptical of Cabinet Decision On Religious Affairs Ministry

In Israel, the government is having difficulty mustering enough support in the Knesset to get ratification of the Cabinet's vote last week to reestablish the Religious Affairs Ministry. Yesterday's Jerusalem Post reported that the government cancelled last Tuesday's scheduled Knesset vote when it became apparent it lacked a majority for the proposal. Critics are concerned that giving control of the Ministry to Shas MK Yitzhak Cohen might lead to hiring of religious officials by political affiliation instead of merit selection. Shas leaders in the Knesset say they think they can get a majority for the proposal in a vote today.

Another Opinion on Religion In the US Presidential Campaign

Today's Asia Times reprints an interesting piece by University of Colorado professor Ira Chernus on the changing use of religion in the U.S. presidential campaign. He says:

[I]n the better years of the previous century, candidates used religion mostly as an adjunct to the real meat of the political process, a tool to whip up support for policies. How times have changed. Think of it, perhaps, as a way to measure the powerful sense of unsettledness that has taken a firm hold on American society. Candidates increasingly keep their talk about religion separate from specific campaign issues. They promote faith as something important and valuable in and of itself in the election process. They invariably avow the deep roots of their religious faith and link it not with issues, but with certitude itself. Sometimes it seems that Democrats do this with even more grim regularity than Republicans....

So, when it comes to religion and politics, here's the most critical question: Should we turn the political arena into a stage to dramatize our quest for moral certainty?

USCIRF Says Bush Should Raise Religious Freedom Issues With Saudis

President George W. Bush, on a tour of the Middle East, today heads for Saudi Arabia. (BBC News.) In anticipation of Bush's visit, last week the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a statement urging the President "to raise the critical issue of ongoing Saudi violations of the freedom of religion and other human rights when he meets with Saudi leaders." It called for Bush to seek the release of all religious prisoners in Saudi Arabia, including 17 Ismailis in Najran. The USCIRF statement decried the power given to religious police in Saudi Arabia and the impact on rights of women flowing from the government's strict enforcement of Islamic principles.