Kentucky Judge Rejects Divorced Dad's Objection To Catholic School For Son

In La Grange, Kentucky yesterday, an atheist father lost his bid to prevent his divorced wife from sending their son to a Catholic high school in Louisville that the boy prefers. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Oldham County family court judge Tim Feeley implemented his decision that attending St. Xavier High School was best for 14-year old Michael Ryan by amending the parents' joint custody agreement to give Michael's mother "sole custody of Michael as it relates to educational decision-making." Michael's father had argued that the Kentucky Constitution protected his right to not be forced to send his child "to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed." The court's custody maneuver prevents the court from having to order either parent to send or not send Michael to a particular school. (See prior related posting.)

British Vicar Will File Employment Rights Lawsuit

In the English village of Trumpington, Rev. Dr. Tom Ambrose, the vicar of St. Mary and St. Michael Church, says he will file a civil suit in the High Court and in an employment tribunal to challenge his firing by the Church of England. An article from yesterday's Cambridge News reports that Ambrose apparently angered his parishioners by his proposals to build a new bathroom in the church and through his use of Power Point slides in his sermons. He delivered personal attacks on members of the Parochial Church Council in his sermons, and, it was alleged, spat at, lied to and bullied members of his congregation. Ambrose says he hopes to be the first clergyman to successfully assert that British employment rights laws protect him from wrongful dismissal by the Church tribunal that was convened to hear his case.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Gelford v. Frank, (7th Cir., March 12, 2008), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with prison authorities that they could deny Wiccan plaintiffs the right to acquire tarot cards, runes, Ogham sticks, pendulums, scrying mirrors, and I Ching coins or sticks. the cour said there was no evidence that the requested religious items are significant enough to Wiccans that being denied access would impose a substantial burden on their religious exercise.

In Atomanczyk v. Quarterman, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27842 (ND TX, April 3, 2008), a Texas federal district court rejected Free Exercise, RLUIPA and equal protection claims by an inmate who identified himself as a "Religious Consciencious Adherant." He complained that prison rules require him to shave his beard and cut his hair; and deny him eligibility for a "special religious transfer" based on his custody classification.

In Nolley v. County of Erie, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27686 (WD NY, March 31, 2008), a New York federal district court rejected claims by plaintiff that her Free Exercise rights were violated while she was held as a pre-trial detainee. She claims that on six occassions, she was denied the opportunity to attend church services and bible study. the court held that plainitff's complaint failed to allege the elements of a First Amendment claim.

In Sharp v. Johnson, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29360 (WD PA, April 7, 2008), in a lengthy opinion a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge rejected on a variety of procedural and substantive grounds plaintiff's complaint that prison authorities refused to separately recognize and accommodate a break-away group of some 50 Sunni Muslim prisoners who claimed that their Ahlus Sunnati wal Jama'ah sect differed in beliefs and practices from the recognized Sunni group of Muslim prisoners.

In Hernandez v. Mera, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29596 (SD FL, March 4, 2008), a Florida federal magistrate judge recommended rejection of plaintiff's complaint that administrative confinement inmates are prohibited from participating in any religious programs or church services. The court held that plaintiff failed to name any individual responsible for the claimed denials.

Chabad.org News reported on Sunday that Vermont has settled Bock v. Gold, a suit brought by a Jewish prisoner who had been denied kosher food and various items to celebrate the holidays of Passover, Hanukkah and Purim. Last November, a federal magistrate judge ruled that plaintiff's free exercise claim for punitive damages could move ahead. In the settlement, the state agreed to pay damages of $25,000, change its religious practice rules for prisons (see prior posting), and rely for Jewish prisoners on recommendations of the Aleph Institute.

ACLU Will Not Challenge Tax Incentives For Tennessee Bible Park

The ACLU of Tennessee has decided that, at least for now, it will not challenge the tax incentives provided by a Tennessee county for construction of Bible Park USA . Yesterday's Murfreesboro Daily News Journal reports that the decision was disclosed in a letter to individuals who complained to the ACLU that the tax incentives might violate the Establishment Clause. The Rutherford County Industrial Development Board passed a resolution allowing creation of an economic development zone for the park. This will save the park some $27.9 million in property taxes over the next 22 years. The park will also be able to borrow several million dollars through tax-increment financing to help pay for construction. The ACLU concluded, however, that the project is only getting tax incentives that are generally available to similar business ventures. No government funds will be directly used for religious activities or materials.

Cert. Denied In RLUIPA Zoning Case

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme court denied certiorari in Greater Bible Way Temple v. City of Jackson, MI, (Case No. 07-1080) (Order List). In the case (see prior posting), the Michigan Supreme Court rejected a RLUIPA challenge to a refusal to rezone church property. The Church had wanted to build an apartment project on the land located across the street from the Church building.

Massachusetts High Court Says Nudity to Support Christmas Can Be Prosecuted

In Commonwealth v. Ora, (MA Sup. Jud. Ct., April 10, 2008), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court permitted a prosecution for "open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior" to proceed, reversing a trial court's holding that the law that bans public nudity is facially unconstitutional. The Massachusetts high court said: "Our decisional law has narrowed the application of G. L. c. 272, § 16, so that it does not impermissibly prohibit protected expressive conduct. We have held that the statute cannot be constitutionally applied to public displays of lewdness and nudity unless they are imposed upon an unsuspecting or unwilling audience.... and that conviction under the statute requires the display of nudity to be intentional, done in a manner to produce alarm or shock, and actually producing alarm or shock." The charge was brought against Ria Ora for dancing nude in Harvard Square as part of a June 25 annual protest against the commercialization of Christmas. A video of the oral arguments in the case as well as the briefs are available from the court's website. Friday's Boston Herald reports on the decision. [Thanks to Legal Blog Watch for the lead.]

Clinton and Obama Participate In Compassion Forum

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each answered extensive questions last night at the "Compassion Forum" held at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. In separate segments of the Forum, broadcast live on CNN, each candidate was asked about personal religious beliefs and about a wide range of issues of interest to religious voters. Questions were posed by the moderators and by religious leaders in the audience. Republican presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain, declined to participate in the Forum. CNN and the New York Times both report on the Forum. Real Clear Politics has posted the full transcript of the Clinton and Obama interviews.

Hawaii Court Permits Suit By Church Members To Proceed

In Baldonado v. Way of Salvation Church , (HI Inter. Ct. App., April 10, 2008), an Hawaii appellate court refused to apply the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine to a lawsuit by members of a congregational church. It held that civil courts can apply Hawaii's non-profit corporation law to claims of misuse of church assets and improper expulsion of plaintiffs as members. The controversy did not involve courts in the determination of church law or doctrine.

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

From SSRN:

• Rashida Manjoo, The Recognition of Muslim Personal Laws in South Africa: Implications of Women's Human Rights, (July 2007).


• Alexander Benard, The Advantage to Islam of Mosque-State Separation: What the American Founders Can Teach, (Policy Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, Spring 2008).


• Ilan Benshalom, The Dual Subsidy Theory of Charitable Deductions, (Indiana Law Journal, Vol. 84, April 7, 2007).


• Nantiya Ruan, The Justices Find Religion: Why the Supreme Court Ought to Expand Religious Accommodation Rights, (U. Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-11, April 7, 2008).


• William S. Brewbaker, Theory, Identity, Vocation: Three Models of Christian Legal Scholarship, (March 2008).


• Simon Critchley, The Catechism of the Citizen: Politics, Law and Religion in, after, with and Against Rousseau, (Law and Humanities, Vol. 1, No. 1, April 7, 2007).

From NELLCO:

• Ashlie Warnick, Accommodating Discrimination, (Yale Law School. Yale Law School Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 17, April 1, 2008).

Recent Books:

• Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na‘im, Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a, (Harvard University Press, March 2008).


• Michael Leo Owens, God and Government in the Ghetto: The Politics of Church-State Collaboration in Black America, (Univ. of Chicago Press, Fall 2007).


• Steven M.Tipton, Public Pulpits: Methodists and Mainline Churches in the Moral Argument of Public Life, (Univ. of Chicago Press, Fall 2007).


• John Witte, Jr., The Reformation of Rights-- Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism, (Cambridge Univ. Press, Feb. 2008).


• Thomas C. Berg, The Free Exercise of Religion Clause, (Prometheus Books, 2007). (Abstract from SSRN).

California City Will Vote to Change Motto To "In God We Trust"

While California held its presidential primary in February, it will have a primary election for other offices on June 3. (Background). Voters in the city of Porterville will vote on whether to change the city's official motto from "100 Years of the Good Life" to "In God We Trust". KFSN News reported last week that the city has already designed a new city flag displaying the motto. The new flag is on display in City Hall chambers. Residents appear split on the ballot proposal. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Wisconsin Village To Sell Religious Display To Private Group

Holmen, Wisconsin's Village Board seems to have found an response to a citizen's church-state complaint. A display of a cross and a star has been on Star Hill since 1960 when the city and the Lions Club shared the cost of construction. Five years ago the village bought Star Hill land, including the display, for a water reservoir. (See prior posting.) At its May meeting, the Village Board will vote on selling the part of the property housing the display at its $100 appraised value to the Lions Club in hope of ridding the village of the church-state conflict. Yesterday's Holmen Courrier says that after the sale, the site will be fenced to designate which land is privately owned. It is not clear whether the city will continue to pay the cost of electricity to light the cross during Lent each year.

Law and Religion Conference Transcripts Available Online

Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion has made available online the full transcripts of 27 speakers at last October's conference titled "The Next 25 Years of Law and Religion". Video webcasts of ten of the presentations are also available. Conference keynoter, former Emory University President James T. Laney, said in part:

Law and religion have a relationship, as we all know, that go back to the beginning, to the mists of time.... Both deal with text, tradition, interpretation, authority, and behavior. Both have personal as well as institutional expressions. Both are tempted to consider themselves ultimate or paramount, and that is all the more reason why two should be in dialectal partnership. Most importantly, they both deal with the "should" of life.... How we should live. How society should run....

German Court Says Beret Banned For Teachers, Just Like Headscarves

According to an AP story last week, a court in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has ruled that a Muslim teacher is barred from wearing a beret in class, just as she is barred from wearing a headscarf. A regional law prohibits teachers from making religious statements that might infringe on state neutrality toward students and parents.

Community College Faces Suit Over Philosophy Prof's Requirement

According to World Net Daily on Friday, the American Center for Law and Justice is threatening a lawsuit against New York's Suffolk County Community College. In a demand letter, the ACLJ claims that a philosophy professor at the college requires students to acknowledge the possibility that God does not exist in order to participate in his course. A philosophy course is required for graduation. Gina DeLuca, a student who insisted on maintaining her Christian beliefs, says her grades on her coursework went down because of her insistence, and the prof labeled her "closed-minded." ACLJ says that while it is appropriate to require students to learn about various philosophers and their views, it is unconstitutional for a state school to require students to express agreement with views that conflict with their own.

"Winning The Peace" Course Prepares Cadets For Iraq-Afghan Deployments

Yesterday's Lower Hudson Journal News reports on the course titled "Winning the Peace" that West Point Army cadets have been taking for the past four years. Aimed at cadets likely to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, the course is designed to teach them about different religions and cultures and to train them for community outreach and policing. The semester-long course features some 30 speakers on a variety of topics. It culminates in a 3-day trip to Jersey City, hosted by the Jersey City Police Department and the city's Islamic Center, during which cadets study cultural diversity firsthand. They sleep on the carpeted floor of a Jersey City mosque, and interact with religious and ethnic leaders. Examples are a Q&A with Coptic Orthodox priests and attending evening prayers at the mosque.

Frankenmuth, Michigan In Church-State Controversy

Another city, this time Frankenmuth, Michigan, finds itself in the midst of a church-state battle. After city resident Lloyd C. Clarke argued that they violate the Establishment Clause, Frankenmuth removed two 1-foot tall crosses from its Main Street bridge. Clarke is also considering challenging a cross that appears on Frankenmuth's city shield. That cross is part of a symbol of Lutheranism called the Luther Rose. (Saginaw News, Apr. 9). In response to all of this, three churches in the city have offered to make 1,000 3-foot wooden crosses for members to display at their homes and businesses. Clarke says he thinks that is completely appropriate. Another Frankenmuth group plans to sell shield pins with yellow ribbons that residents can wear. (Saginaw News, Apr. 11). Frankenmuth attracts over 2 million tourists annually to a year-round retail store, Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, that sells Christmas decorations and Christmas-themed items.

Faith-Based Prison Programs Are Controversial In Israel Too

Controversial faith-based prisoner rehabilitation programs apparently are not limited to the United States. Today's Haaretz reports on the large sums funneled by the government of Israel to religious revivalist groups that work to convince Israeli prisoners to adopt an observant Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. Israel Prison Services says they provide religious services to inmates, but do not engage in proselytizing. The opinion piece in Haaretz urges the government to end its funding of these programs.

Numerous Second Thoughts and Concerns About FLDS Raid Are Aired

A number of questions are being raised in the wake of the massive raid of an FLDS ranch in Eldorado, Texas. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's New York Times said that the raid is complicating matters for law enforcement officials in Utah and Arizona who had begun to reach out to FLDS groups in their states and to win the confidence of girls who were taken as under-age wives. Now those groups are pulling back as they wait to see how things play out in Texas.

Meanwhile, Michael Piccarreta, one of the attorneys for former FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, suggeted that the call from a 16-year old that triggered the YFZ Ranch raid may not have been authentic. Fox News reports that Piccarreta sugested the call was a ruse because Child Protective Services in Arizona recently got a similar report about a teenager supposedly in Colorado City, Arizona, and were unable to locate her just as Texas authorities have not located their caller.

News Busters yesterday carries the transcript of an interview with George Washington Law School Prof. Jonathan Turley on ABC's Good Morning America in which Turley questions the constitutionality of banning polygamy that does not involve child abuse.

This week's Texas Lawyer points out the difficulties in obtaining enough attorneys to serve as guardians and attorneys ad litem for each of the children taken from YFZ Ranch. It also discusses at length the difficulties guardians will face in connection with children who say they want to return to the FLDS ranch. How to balance a child's wishes against a his or her best interests is the kind of difficult problem that requires experienced counsel. Also, so long as the children remain in custody in Sleicher County, the only court with jurisdiction over them is the district court in that county. It has only one judge. However other judges in Tom Green County have agreed to take over her other cases so she can handle the FLDS hearings.

Finally, in one of the stranger twists, McClatchy Newspapers report that large sums may have been going to FLDS or its former leader Warren Jeffs from a Las Vegas, Nevada company, NewEra Manufacturing. In recent years New Era has recieved over $1.2 million in federal government contracts, largely small-business no-bid "sole source" Defense Department contracts for aircraft wheel and brake components. It also received a $900,000 loan from the Small Business Administration in 2005. Separately, JNJ Engineering, a company owned by FLDS leaders, received $11.3 million in contracts from the Las Vegas Valley Water District. Almost all the workers for the projects came from Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz. where most of the FLDS's 10,000 members live.

UPDATE: CBN News reported Sunday that state officials have enfced a court order to confiscate cell phones of the women and children removed from YFZ Ranch in order to prevent witness tampering. The order was granted at the request of attorneys ad litem for 18 of the girls. Meanwhile aletter from a number of mothers of hte children now in state custody asks Texas Governor Rick Perry to look into the conditions under which their children are being held.

Malaysian PM Wants Mandatory Family Notification of Conversion

Attempting to deal with the increasing number of conflicts over burial rights when a person who supposedly converted to Islam dies, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday proposed new legislation that would require any person converting to Islam to notify his or her family in writing. Saturday's Economic Times of India reports that the proposal is receiving widespread support. The opposition Democratic Action Party called for the government to also make it easier for those who previously converted to Islam to return to their original religious faith if they wish to do so. Currently such individuals must go to the Shariah Court to renounce Islam. Karpal Singh, head of the DAP, said that courts should also refuse to permit the unilateral conversion of children from a civil marriage. He urged that there be no change in the child's religion until the child reaches the age of majority.

NJ Judge Orders Halt To Jewish Services In Renovated Condo

In Toms River, New Jersey, according to APP, a state Superior Court judge on Friday ordered at least a temporary halt to to Orthodox Jewish prayer gatherings at a home that is part of a local condominium development. A Country Place filed suit in February against condo owner Anna Kahan, alleging that she violated the condo association rules by renovating without permission and using her unit for non-residential purposes. Kahan's attorney charges selective enforcement of the rules. Primarily elderly handicapped residents who cannot walk to another synagogue have been using the unit. The number of Orthodox Jews purchasing condo units in the development has been increasing. The judge ordered the halt so an engineer could inspect the renovations that had been done to see if a wall that had been removed supported other parts of the structure. Neighbors who object to the condo use say it violates the character of the neighborhood.