Plaintiff Seeks Recusal of Catholic Judge In Priest Abuse Trial

In Toledo, Ohio, the attorney for plaintiff in a bizarre priest sexual abuse case is seeking voluntary removal of Judge Ruth Franks from the case because she "may not be able to separate her immutable Catholic upbringing from the claims asserted." Yesterday's Toledo Blade reported on the civil case in which an anonymous plaintiff alleges that, beginning in 1968, she was repeatedly raped and tortured in Satanic rituals by abusers wearing nuns' habits . Only after media publicity when Toledo priest Gerald Robinson was arrested for murder in 2004 did plaintiff realize the identity of her abusers. The other alleged abuser, former lay minister Jerry Mazuchowski, says he believes Judge Franks is impartial. He added: "It's news to me that she was a Catholic and I don't think religion enters into this case at all.... The devil's never busier than he is during Holy Week." (See prior related posting.)

UPDATE: In a March 27 opinion, Judge Franks refused to step down from the case. She said the claim that she was raised a Catholic was "erroneous", but even if true the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that religious affiliation is not cause for a judge's disqualification. (Toledo Blade, 3/28).

Texas AG Says Court Must Resolve Conflicts Between Injunction and New Law

In 1970, a Texas federal district court enjoined the Houston school district from permitting Bible reading or prayer as part of any school practice, ceremony, observance, exercise or routine. In 2007, the Texas legislature passed the Schoolchildrens' Religious Liberties Act (SRLA), also known as the Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act. (See prior posting.) It requires that students' expression of religious viewpoints must be treated in the same manner as their voluntary expression of a secular or other viewpoint on a permissible subject.

This week in Opinion No. GA-0609, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott refused the request of the state's education commissioner for a clarification of whether the terms of the 37-year old injunction supersede the provisions of the SRLA. Abbott wrote: "In the present instance, the matter, while not in active litigation, is one that is subject to the continuing jurisdiction of a court. It is for that court to determine whether the SRLA poses any conflict with the court's order." Yesterday's Houston Chronicle reports on the AG's opinion. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]

Freedom of Religion In India Becomes Issue This Week

Religious freedom in India has been the focus in two areas this week. United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Asma Jahangir, held a press conference yesterday (full text) at the conclusion of her 17-day visit to the country. A U.N. press release summarized her conclusions: "India faces a real risk of deadly communal violence erupting again unless much more is done to deter religious hatred and prevent the political exploitation of existing tensions...."

Meanwhile, in the state of Rajasthan, the Assembly has again voted in favor of an anti-conversion law similar to the one it passed in 2006. The governor refused to sign that earlier bill and eventually forwarded it to the president of India for consideration, as permitted by India's Constitution (Secs. 200- 201). The bill is still pending with the President-- who is now the governor who originally refused to sign. IBN yesterday reported that the new bill requires at least one month advance approval from the District Collector before anyone may change religions.

Does Church Flag At Town Council Create Establishment Problem?

The Kirkersville, Ohio Village Council holds meetings in a building that was formerly a church. Crossway Community Church still rents space to hold services in the building. This week's edition of the Buckeye Lake Beacon reports that a former Village Council member criticized Council for failing to remove the church's flag after the church finished using the room. The church flag remained next to the Council bench throughout a recent Council meeting. The criticism, apparently on church-state grounds, seemed to be part of ongoing tensions between former Council member Debbie Seymour and other officials.

Abuse Victim Loses Case on Limitations, Scope of Employment Determinations

In Schmidt v. Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, (OR Ct. App., March 19, 2008), an Oregon state appellate court in a 2-1 decision held that one Catholic priest's conduct did not amount to "child abuse" so that an extended statute of limitations did not apply. The priest was accused of masturbating one time in the presence of plaintiff who was then a high school freshman. The court also, this time unanimously, decided that another (now deceased) priest's conduct was not in the scope of his employment so that his abbey and archdiocese are not vicariously liable for his actions. The priest encountered plaintiff (then 7 or 8 years old) after he fell while roller skating on the sidewalk. He helped plaintiff up, took him to the basement of the nearby church, and ultimately assaulted him sexually. While the priest was fulfilling a pastor's role in initially helping plaintiff, the court said there was no evidence that this was part of the priest's particular employment duties in the parish. Today's Oregonian reports on the decision.

Suit Threatened Over Who Can Use City Space For National Day of Prayer

In Plano, Texas, City Council faces a possible lawsuit over who gets to use Council Chambers for this year's May 1 National Day of Prayer event. Today's Dallas Morning News reports that Roy Frady of Plano's WillowCreek Fellowship Church has been frozen out. In past years, his group of mostly Christian pastors has reserved council chambers for the prayer event. A city rule allows groups to book the chamber up to 90 days in advance of an event, as long as the city does not have a conflicting need for the room. In recent years another multi-faith group has been first to reserve the space. This year, Frady thought he was first to book, but found that a new group, the Multicultural Outreach Roundtable-- which is appointed by city council as an official committee-- already had a multi-faith prayer event scheduled for May 1. By designating MCOR's event as an official city function, this exempted it from the 90-day rule. Frady says that this maneuver, allowing the city's favored group book early, has violated the Establishment Clause by favoring one expression of religion over another. Frady, represented by the Liberty Legal Institute (press release), has given the city until Wednesday to respond to his letter (full text) objecting to the city's actions.

Saudi Arabia Revises Controversial Textbooks

Today's Yemen Times reports that Saudi Arabia has reacted to widespread criticism of the textbooks used in its schools. After 9-11, critics contended that Saudi textbooks furthered a militant Islamist approach and glorified violence against Jews. Now the Saudi education ministry has issued new books, and made them fully available on the Internet. They still focus heavily on Islam and teach children they must reject all other religions. They reject secular pan-Arabism and promote global Muslim solidarity. The curriculum contains almost no world history other than the history of Islam. However the new books are significantly more modern than the older ones. There is no incitement against Shiites and a significant reduction in the anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist content.

New Bin Laden Message Focuses On European Publication of Muhammad Drawings

Yesterday, a new message from Osama bin Laden was released on a militant website that has carried his statements in the past. It coincided with the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq. This time the message focused on "insulting drawings" of the Prophet Muhammad that were first published in a Danish newspaper, and then elsewhere. The AP, CNS News and Al Jazeera all cover the story. The full text of the message (English translation) is available from the NEFA website.

In his message, bin Laden threatens Europe over the drawings, saying that their publication is a more serious matter than the bombing of "modest mud villages which have collapsed onto our women and children." He says that publication of the drawings "came in the framework of a new Crusade in which the Pope and the Vatican has played a large, lengthy role." He also charges that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia could have put an end tho the publishing of the cartoons if he had wanted to exert his influence. Bin Laden rejects European reliance on freedom of speech to justify publication of the Muhammad drawings, pointing to laws in various European countries banning Holocaust denial, or, as he phrases it, laws that "suppress the freedom of those who cast doubt on the statistics of an historical event."

4th Circuit Panel Hears City Council Prayer Arguments-- O'Connor on Panel

Yesterday the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Turner v. City Council of the City of Fredericksburg. The district court in its decision (full text) dismissed the claim by city council member Hashmel Turner that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was not permitted to offer a specifically Christian opening prayer at Fredricksburg (VA) city council meetings. Council policy required invocations to be nonsectarian. (See prior posting.) The Hampton Roads (VA) Daily Press and the Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star report that the 4th Circuit panel hearing oral arguments included retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Turner's attorney urged the court to hold that Turner's prayers at the beginning of council meetings should be considered private speech protected by the First Amendment, not speech on behalf of the government. He also argued that: "The mere use of the word Jesus isn't itself a denominational term. It encompasses many denominations." The Daily Press reports that "O'Connor called the case black and white in favor of the city."

Challenge To Illinois Moment of Silence Law Becomes Class Action

Last November, an Illinois federal district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking a suburban Chicago school district from enforcing Illinois' new mandatory moment of silence law. (See prior posting.) Now according to yesterday's Chicago Tribune, federal district Judge Robert Gettleman has agreed that the suit may be converted into a class action against school districts around the state on behalf of students statewide. However the court still must determine the best way to notify school districts of the expansion of the lawsuit. Judge Gettleman, while expressing concern about the vagueness of the challenged law, has not yet decided the case on the merits. Nor has he so far extended his preliminary injunction to other school districts. The AP, also reporting on the case said that Judge Gettleman indicated he had hoped that the legislature would have acted by now to fix problems with the law.

Defamation Claim Against Priest Dismissed; Emotional Distress Claim Can Go On

A McHenry County, Illinois trial court judge has dismissed a defamation claim brought against Catholic priest Luis Alfredo Rios by Angel Llavona, one of his parishioners, according to yesterday's Chicago Daily Herald. Llavona alleged that the priest's criticism of his work with the church's religious education program harmed his reputation as a teacher at Maine West High School in Des Plaines. (See prior posting.) Judge Maureen McIntyre said deciding that portion of the complaint would improperly involve the court in evaluating the church's teachings and rules. However, the court allowed Llavona to proceed with his claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress. In so holding, the court rejected arguments by Rios' lawyer that the Establishment Clause precludes the court from passing on statements made by clergy during religious services. Judge McIntyre said that the claim could be adjudicated without passing on church practices, dogma or theology.

Saudi Appellate Court Orders Retrial of Religious Police Defendants

Today's International Herald Tribune reports that in Saudi Arabia, the Cassation Court has overturned a not guilty verdict entered by a lower court against two members of the country's religious police force. The two had been accused in the death of Sulaiman al-Huraisi, a security guard who died in custody of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice after its raid on al-Huraisi's home looking for alcohol and drugs. (See prior posting.) The new decision, citing mistakes in the original trial, orders the Riyadh lower court judge who issued the initial verdict to question witnesses and members of the religious police again.

Court Says California Lacks Standing To Challenge Federal Weldon Amendment

The federal Weldon Amendment (background) denies federal funds to state and local governments if they discriminate against health care entities that refuse to provide abortions. California law requires emergency health care facilities to provide medically necessary abortions. Yesterday in State of California v. United States of America, (ND CA, March 18, 2008), a California federal district court dismissed California's constitutional challenge to the Weldon Amendment, finding that the state lacked standing and that its claim was not ripe for adjudication. The court said that there is no clear indication that California's law would constitute "discrimination" under the Weldon Amendment, so there is no indication that there is any present conflict between state and federal law. The complaint in the case had alleged that the federal law violated Congress' spending authority and infringed women's right to privacy. Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports on the court's decision.

HHS Secretary Criticizes Medical Board's Abortion Rights Position

Last Friday, U.S. Health and Human Services Director Mike Leavitt sent a letter (full text) to the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology objecting to its apparent policy of requiring physicians who wish to maintain their Board certification to comply with ethics rules of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). In November 2007, ACOG's Ethics Committee issued a report titled The Limits of Conscience Refusal in Reproductive Medicine. It conclude that physicians who have conscientious objections to performing abortions or other standard reproductive services "have the duty to refer patients in a timely manner to other providers." Leavitt said:

I am concerned that the actions taken by ACOG and ABOG could result in the denial or revocation of Board certification of a physician who -- but for his or her refusal, for example, to refer a patient for an abortion -- would be certified. These actions, in turn, could result in certain HHS-funded State and local governments, institutions, or other entities that require Board certification taking action against the physician based just on the Board's denial or revocation of certification. In particular, I am concerned that such actions by these entities would violate federal laws against discrimination.

Yesterday the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice issued a press release strongly criticizing Sec. Leavitt's letter, saying: "Secretary Leavitt's dogmatic indifference to the patient is bad medicine, misguided ethics, and political pandering. A great nation must make room for diverse beliefs--especially a nation founded on the principle of religious freedom."

Illinois Pharmacy Rules Argued Before State Supreme Court

Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Morr-Fitz v. Blagojevich. In the case, a state appellate court had dismissed on justiciability grounds a challenge to State Pharmacy Board rules requiring drug stores to fill prescriptions for the "morning-after" pill, even where doing so violates a pharmacist's religious or moral beliefs. (See prior posting.) According to AP, the state argued to the Supreme Court that the pharmacists lack standing to pursue their lawsuit. Plaintiffs argued that they should be able to sue to protect their rights before their careers are ruined by license suspensions. A video of the oral arguments is available online from the Illinois Supreme Court's website.

White House Easter Egg Roll Scheduled

The White House has announced that its annual Easter Egg Roll will be held on Monday, March 24. The National Park Service is distributing free tickets on a first-come-first-served basis. The White House has also announced the scheduled entertainment for the event. The White House Visitor Center is hosting the State Egg Display. The American Egg Board selects an artist from each state to paint or decorate an egg for the display.

Obama Speaks Out On His Pastor's Views and On U.S. Race Relations

In a speech this morning, Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama addressed the controversy over inflammatory rhetoric used in sermons by his long-time pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. As reported by Reuters today, Obama already has denounced Wright's comments, describing Wright as an "old uncle" to him. Wright has also now retired as pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Nevertheless, Wright's comments continued to pose problems for Obama's campaign. Today the candidate delivered a major speech in Philadelphia addressing his views of his pastor and more broadly dealing with racial divisions in America. (Washington Post).

Here are some lengthy excerpts dealing with Rev. Wright from Obama's remarks. The full text of his speech titled "A More Perfect Union" is definitely worth reading:

[W]e've heard my former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation and that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy, and in some cases, pain. For some, nagging questions remain: Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in the church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely, just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagree.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country, a view that sees white racism as endemic and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems....

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television sets and YouTube, if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way. But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor....

Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety -- the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing and clapping and screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and, yes, the bitterness and biases that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions -- the good and the bad -- of the community that he has served diligently for so many years. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother, a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. These people are a part of me. And they are part of America, this country that I love....

We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro in the aftermath of her recent statements as harboring some deep-seated bias. But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America: to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through, a part of our union that we have not yet made perfect.

Bishops' Blog Covers U.S. Papal Visit

The United States Conference of Bishops has created the USCCB's Papal Visit Blog, a new blog devoted to Pope Benedict XVI's six-day visit to the United States next month. Reporting on the blog, the Washington Post says: "No gossipy or scandalous entries."

Historic Vatican-Saudi Talks Explore Opening Church in Saudi Arabia

Yesterday's London Times reported that the Vatican is holding talks with Saudi Arabian authorities discussing the possibility of opening the first Roman Catholic church in Saudi Arabia. This became known the day after Qatar's first Catholic Church opened with an inaugural service attended by 15,000. The revolutionary step in Saudi-Catholic relations follows talks last year between King Abdullah and the Pope and the creation of a permanent Catholic-Muslim forum on interreligiouis relations after the Pope's controversial remarks on Islam at the University of Regensburg in 2006. (See prior posting.)

Wisconsin Village's Cross Display Is Questioned

The village of Holmen, Wisconsin finds itself in the midst of a church-state dispute according to yesterday's Holmen Courier. In 1960, a lighted star and cross were put up on Star Hill, then private property, with the cost of the display spit between the village and the Lion's Club. The cross is lit during the 40 days of Lent. Five years ago the village bought the property on Star Hill for use for a water reservoir. This has led resident Eric Barnes now to file an informal complaint with the village about the religious symbol on public land. So far the village has not responded.