White House Marks 7th Anniversary of Faith-Based Initiative

Yesterday President George W. Bush marked the seventh anniversary of the Faith-Based and Community Initiative by visiting an orgaization in Baltimore (MD) sponsored by the Episcopal Church. The Jericho Project helps released non-violent prisoners-- many fighting alcohol abuse-- to develop skills that permit them to find jobs and successfully re-enter society. (Baltimore Sun.) In his remarks (full text), Bush explained the problems he saw that led him to begin the FBCI:

Unfortunately, in some instances where there was an interface with government, people were told that in order to interface you have to take the cross off the wall, or take down the Star of David. In other words, you had to abandon the very principle by which you existed in the first place. And it made no sense. If a program was effective because they were willing to recognize a higher power, if a program was effective because people responded because they felt a call from a higher power, than to deny the higher power really reduced the effectiveness of the program.

The White House yeterday also released a Fact Sheet on the Faith-Based and Community Initiative. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

California College Trustee Attacks Islam In Her Opposition To Course Proposal

A trustee of California's College of the Siskiyous has created a furor by a statement she made at a January 15 Board meeting expressing her opposition to a proposed new course in Beginning Arabic and the History of the Middle East. Yesterday's Mt. Shasta News, reports that Dorris Wood, a trustee of the public community college, said in a prepared statement: "

We know all we need to know about Arabs and Islam. They are our enemies pure and simple. There is no getting away from that. They have declared war on the United States and they are committed to our destruction.... Instead of trying to understand our sworn enemies, we need to teach our people about this country. Muslims have over the century invaded other countries and forced their religion by killing, plundering and ravaging. This is nothing new, [this course] is just a new way of invading. They are invading Christian countries of the world from the inside, one method being through our schools and universities.... If you want to give yourselves to Islam, I have no problem with that,you have the right and the freedom to do that, but don't give my country to them.

Faculty and student groups are calling for Wood's resignation.

Massachusetts Church Seeks Tax Funds for Roof Repairs

The Northampton, Massachusetts, First Churches has received support from the town's Historical Commission in its bid to obtain $250,000 from the Community Preservation Committee toward roof and ceiling repairs. The Community Preservation Committee distributes funds collected under a local real estate tax surcharge and matching state monies. Church leader see the Historical Commission support as important in countering any church-state concerns about the grant. The church's pastor, Rev. Peter B. Ives, says the building often hosts public activities, such as First Night events and political rallies. He hopes the building will be treated as a "meeting house". Today's Springfield (MA) Republican reports on the church's request.

Turkey's Headscarf Proposal Faces Fierce Opposition

As previously reported, the major political parties in Turkey are taking steps to reverse the country's traditional ban on university women wearing the Muslim headscarf. Today's Toronto Globe and Mail carries an article on the passionate opposition to the proposal among secularists and the military:

[T]he head scarf has become an issue that is threatening to split Turkey in two. The bill received an explosive response yesterday from Turkey's secular establishment, who see it as a menacing incursion of Islam into a country that has kept religion at bay since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's democratic revolution in 1925. "Turkey is headed step by step toward becoming a theocratic state," one MP, Onur Oymen, said during the parliamentary debate. The head of Turkey's army issued a veiled threat yesterday. "All segments of Turkish society know very well the position of the military on this issue," General Yasar Buyakanit told reporters, somewhat cryptically.

Connecticut Supreme Court Rejects Buddhist Temple's RLUIPA Appeal

Yesterday, the Connecticut Supreme Court in Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut, Inc. v. Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Newtown, (CT Sup. Ct., official release date Feb. 12, 2008), upheld the denial of a building permit to a Buddhist Temple. It rejected a RLUIPA and state law challenge to the denial of a special exception sought so the Temple could be built on 10 acres near Newtown (CT). The court held that

the substantial burden provision of RLUIPA does not apply to neutral and generally applicable land use regulations that are intended to protect the public health and safety, such as those at issue in the present case.....

[T]he provisions of the town’s regulations allowing religious facilities to be built in a residential zone by special exception treat such uses more, not less, favorably than certain other nonresidential uses that are not allowed by special exception. Moreover, although the commission has some discretion to determine whether a proposed specially permitted use is consistent with residential use, the regulations do not grant the commission the discretion to apply the standards differently to religious facilities than it applies them to the other uses allowed by special exception, such as clubs, private schools, seasonal camps, certain public utility buildings, hospitals, sanitary landfills, nurseries and horse boarding stables.

The court also concluded that under the state's Religious Freedom Act (Sec. 52-571b), the legislature did not intend that construction of a place of worship would constitute "religious exercise" nor did it intend that the non-discriminatory application of land use regulations would be subject to strict scrutiny under the Act. Yesterday's Hartford Courant reports on the decision and the facts behind it. (See prior related posting.) [Thanks to Jeffrey Struski for the lead.]

Tennessee Supreme Court Will Hear Case of Cult Leader Charged With Child Neglect

According to today's Knoxville News, the Tennessee Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in the criminal case of State v. Sherman, (TN Ct. Crim. App., July 12, 2007). At issue is whether a religious cult leader can be convicted of child neglect for the death of a teenage girl after the girl's mother followed the advice of leader, Ariel Ben Sherman, to rely on spiritual treatment for the girl's cancer. Sherman, a minister in the Universal Life Church, was not married to the girl's mother nor had he adopted the girl. However the mother and daughter lived with him, as did several of his other followers. The state argues that Sherman can be charged with neglect because of his informal custodial or in loco parentis role. The mother, who is also being prosecuted, is raising a free exercise of religion defense.

Voter Complains About Polling Place At Church with Anti-Abortion Display

The Daytona Beach (FL) News-Journal reports that Ormond Beach (FL) resident Amy Murphy-DeMeo is complaining that her polling place in yesterday's Florida primaries was at Prince of Peace Catholic Church. The Church opposes abortion by a display of rows of white crosses symbolizing aborted fetuses, and two banners reading: "Pray for the innocent . . . 4,000 babies aborted daily in the USA." The Volusia County Department of Elections says that because it merely rents space in the church, it cannot tell the church what to do. The election board does not like to use schools as voting locations because to do so it would have to run a background check on every poll worker.

Egyptian Court Decides 3 Cases On Listing Religion On ID Cards

In Egypt yesterday, Cairo's Court of Administrative Justice decided three cases involving the disclosure of religion on official Egyptian identity cards that must be carried at all times and that are needed to apply for a job, open a bank account, or register children for school. In two of the cases, the court agreed that members of the Baha'i faith could leave blank the line calling for religious affiliation. Previously the government had required individuals to select one of three religions-- Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Yesterday's decisions are a compromise after an earlier Supreme Administrative Court ruling that the Baha'i religion could not be explicitly listed. Yesterday's decisions are discussed by the AP and by the Baha'i World News Service.

In a third case, the same court refused to permit a Christian convert from Islam to list his new religion on his identity papers. IOL News yesterday reported that the court held that Mohammed Higazi (Hegazy) had not followed the proper procedures and, in any event, could not convert "to an older religion." The court wrote: "Monotheistic religions were sent by God in chronological order... As a result, it is unusual to go from the latest religion to the one that preceded it." The AP reports that Hegazy has been the subject of police torture and death threats from his father and from an Islamist cleric after his 1998 conversion was discovered and when he was pictured in a newspaper posing with a poster of the Virgin Mary.

Suit Settled; Student Gets Credit For Volunteer Hours At Church Program

Liberty Counsel announced yesterday that it had settled a lawsuit it had filed against the Long Beach (CA) Unified District School Board. The suit was filed after student Christopher Rand was denied Community Service Learning credit for volunteer work he performed because the work was performed for his church. (See prior posting.) Under the settlement, Rand was given full credit for his work in leading a children's activities program, and the school's policy was revised to allow students to complete mandatory community service hours at either secular or religious organizations on the same terms.

Progressive Muslim Group Blasts Canadian Agency's Study of Sharia Banking

Today's Toronto Star reports that a progressive Muslim group, the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), has criticized the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) for undertaking a study of Sharia banking. In a letter yesterday, the MCC told CMHC chief executive Karen Kinsley that religion has no place in the banking or mortgage industry, and that the organization should scrap its $100,000 study. The MCC said that most Canadian Muslims already use conventional mortgages. In a strong statement, MCC argued that: "Islamic Banking is nothing more than an attempt by Islamists, with backing from Middle Eastern Financial Institutions and their Western partners, to scare Muslim Canadians into believing that they should pay more to the banks and demand less in return as an act of religiosity." Douglas Stewart, the CMHC's vice-president of policy and planning, said the study was part of the agency's mandate to promote research to understand all parts of the Canadian housing system.

State Hears Religious Defense To Sexual Orientation Discrimination

An Alliance Defense Fund release reports that a hearing was scheduled for yesterday and today before the New Mexico Human Rights Division on a complaint by a lesbian couple that a photographer discriminated against them when she refused to photograph their commitment ceremony. The photographer apparently cited her Christian religious beliefs as the reason for the refusal. New Mexico law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. [Thanks to Eugene Volokh via Religionlaw for the lead.]

Colorado Senate Opens With Hinud Prayer for First Time [Corrected]

Yesterday, for the first time in its history, a Hindu clergyman delivered the opening prayer in the Colorado state Senate. The AP reports that Rajan Zed of Reno, Nev., began by saying "om" to represent the universe and then read passages in Sanskrit and English from he Rig-Veda and Bhagavad-Gita. Last July Zed made history by becoming the first to deliver a Hindu invocation in the United States Senate. He has been invited by three other state legislatures as well.

UPDATE: Following Zed's appearance, state Senator David Schultheis told WorldNet Daily that he was shocked. He said: "I don't know of any Hindus or individuals from India actually in the legislature.... I think the most troubling thing [is] we have this appearance, and yet the bulk of our population is Christian ... and we are not allowed to mention 'Jesus' in any prayer."

Archbishop of Cantebury Suggests New Law To Replace Blasphemy Ban

Yesterday in London, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams delivered the James Callaghan Memorial Lecture, according to Times Online. In his remarks, Williams conceded that Britain's current blasphemy law "is unworkable and that its assumptions are not those of contemporary lawmakers and citizens overall." However, Williams urged replacing it with broader legislation to protect religious sensibilities. He argued that a new law should punish "extreme behaviors" that have the effect of silencing arguments. The government is in the process of consulting with the Church of England about a government proposal to abolish Britain's existing blasphemy prohibitions. (See prior posting.)

Chaplain Objects To Policy Allowing Prisoner to Choose Multiple Faiths

The Tacoma, Washington News Tribune today carries an interesting article about a 63-year old Catholic prison chaplain who is distressed over the Washington Department of Corrections new policy that allows prisoners to practice dual faiths. The policy change came in the settlement of a RLUIPA lawsuit brought by a prisoner who insisted that he be permitted to worship as both a Native American practitioner and as a Seventh-Day Adventist. The prison chaplain, Tom Suss, who is also a Catholic priest, has taken a voluntary leave of absence from his job after an inmate, under the new policy, requested to be classified as both Catholic, and as a member of the pagan Asatru movement. Suss says he cannot, as the new state policy requires, endorse a person being a Catholic and a pagan at the same time.

State Senator Mike Carrell is introducing an amendment to an existing prison bill to protect the jobs of prison chaplains whose duties conflict with their religious beliefs. Carrell argues that inmates will chose multiple religions in order to exploit the system and get various advantages. Department of Corrections policy already excuses chaplains from performing ecclesiastical duties that conflict with their religious tenets. Suss' problem however is with chaplains' nonreligious duties, such as giving prisoners access to religious items.

State of the Union Calls For Extension of School Choice and Charitable Choice

Among the laundry list of proposals in President Bush's State of the Union Message (full text) last night were these:

We must also do more to help children when their schools do not measure up. Thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships you approved, more than 2,600 of the poorest children in our Nation's Capital have found new hope at a faith-based or other non-public school. Sadly, these schools are disappearing at an alarming rate in many of America's inner cities. So I will convene a White House summit aimed at strengthening these lifelines of learning. And to open the doors of these schools to more children, I ask you to support a new $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids....

In communities across our land, we must trust in the good heart of the American people and empower them to serve their neighbors in need. Over the past seven years, more of our fellow citizens have discovered that the pursuit of happiness leads to the path of service. Americans have volunteered in record numbers. Charitable donations are higher than ever. Faith-based groups are bringing hope to pockets of despair, with newfound support from the federal government. And to help guarantee equal treatment of faith-based organizations when they compete for federal funds, I ask you to permanently extend Charitable Choice.

In today's New York Times, two former officials in the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives published an op-ed supporting Bush's call for making the Faith Based Initiative permanent. However David Kuo and John J. DiIulio, Jr. criticized the slow growth and the focus of the present program:

The initiative ... was designed so that small congregations and ministries that had long served needy neighbors on shoestring budgets — and not just large, national religious charities — could get their fair share of government aid. It did not happen. The number of faith-based organizations receiving a federal grant rose from 665 in 2002 to only 762 in 2004.... Over the past six years, federal grants to faith-based programs have shifted away from the local "armies of compassion" praised by Mr. Bush and toward large, national organizations with religious affiliations.

Turkey's Main Parties Agree On Plan To Lift Headscarf Ban At Universities

Both Reuters and the New York Times today report that in Turkey the religiously oriented AK Party of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has reached an agreement with opposition nationalist MHP Party on language of a constitutional amendment to permit Muslim women attending universities to wear headscarves. The lifting of the headscarf ban applies only to the traditional headscarf that ties under the chin, and not to the wrap-round headscarf that is viewed as a symbol of political Islam. Under the proposal, a woman's face must still remain in view so that she cannot conceal her identity. The headscarf ban continues for teachers and women working in public offices. The Republican People's Party, which reflects the views of the military, remains opposed to lifting the headscarf ban. It has insufficient votes to block the proposal, but may challenge it in court.

Austrian State Proposes Law To Restrict Building of Mosques

In the Austrian state of Carinthia, the government led by right-wing politician Jörg Haider has introduced a bill that would make it difficult to construct mosques or minarets. Spiegel Online reported yesterday that the proposed law would allow a special commission to block construction of any building that is "unusual" or which stands out because of its unusual architecture or height, if the building does not blend in with the neighborhood's existing architecture. Uwe Scheuch, the minister responsible for urban planning, insisted that the proposed law would not infringe on the constitutional right to freedom of religion. Anti-Muslim sentiment in Austria has been growing.

Good News Club Sues Virginia School Board Over Fees

In a release yesterday, Liberty Counsel announced that it had filed suit against the Williamsburg -James City County (Virginia) Public Schools challenging its policy of charging facility usage fees to the Good News Club. The club is a Christian after-school program operated by Child Evangelism Fellowship of Virginia. School board policy allows the superintendent to waive usage fees "in consideration of services rendered by public institutions or nonprofit organizations in direct support of public school students or staff." Fees are waived for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. In defending against charges of discrimination, the school board pointed to the equal access provision of the No Child Left Behind Act (Sec. 9525) that specifically requires schools receiving federal funds to provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other youth groups listed in Title 36 of US Code as patriotic societies. (See prior related posting.)

UN Official Finds Religious Liberty Issues In Israel and Palestinain Authority

Reuters reports that Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, concluded a week-long visit on Sunday to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In a statement at the end of her visit, she criticized both Israel and the PA (consistently referred to by Jahangir as "the occupied Palestinian territory") for restrictions on religious freedom. A UN Press Release yesterday summarized the findings set issued by Jahangir, a Pakistani human rights activist. On Israel's part, the UN official criticized the effect of security measures on access to Christian and Muslim holy sites, Israel's preferential treatment of Orthodox Judaism, the inability of citizens with no official religion to marry in Israel, and pressures against religious proselytizing. On the Palestinian side, Jahangir criticized honor killings of women in the name of religion, a rising intolerance of Christians, pressure on Muslim women in Gaza to wear head coverings and suicide bombings by Islamic militants.

NPR Interview With Author of Book on Religon In White House

NPR has made available online a 34 minute segment from yesterday's Fresh Air consisting of an interview with Randall Balmer, author of the recently released book God in the White House. Balmer is also author of the Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism and editor-at-large of Christianity Today.