Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Monday, June 02, 2008
5th Circuit Rules In Favor of Odinist Prisoner
Recent Articles Of Interest
- Ran Hirschl, The Theocratic Challenge to Constitution Drafting in Post-Conflict States, (William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2008 ).
- Catherine J. Ross, Children and Religious Expression in School: A Comparative Treatment of the Veil and Other Religious Symbols in Western Democracies, (May 25, 2008).
- Vincent Martin Bonventre, The Fall of Free Exercise: From 'No Law' to Compelling Interests to Any Law Otherwise Valid, (Albany Law Review, Vol. 70, No. 4, 2007).
- Thom Brooks, The Capabilities Approach, Religious Practices, and the Importance of Recognition, (May 27, 2008).
- Samuel Moyn, Jacques Maritain, Christian New Order, and the Birth of Human Rights, (May 1, 2008).
- John E. Taylor, Why Student Religious Speech is Speech, (West Virginia Law Review, Vol. 110, No. 1, 2007).
- Phillip C. Aka, Assessing the Constitutionality of President George W. Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives, 9 Journal of Law In Society 53-110 (2008).
- Symposium. Fifteenth Annual Society of Catholic Social Scientists Meeting. 47 Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 1-190 (2008).
Christian Students' Suit Against Washington School Settled
Preachers Told Not To Proselytize In Muslim Area of British City
Court Dismisses Free Exercise Claims Against Private Actors
Kuwait MPs Protest Women Cabinet Members Not Wearing Headscarves
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Saudi Law Could Sentence Man To Death For Profanity
UPDATE: A different Turkish barber, Ersin Taze, who was arrested by Saudi authorities over a month ago for slandering the Prophet Muhammad, has been released. M&C (June 5) reports that the Turkish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Naci Koru, said that a Saudi court dismissed the case for lack of evidence.
Times Public Editor Says Columnist Was Wrong On Obama As Apostate
ON May 12, The Times published an Op-Ed article by Edward N. Luttwak, a military historian, who argued that any hopes that a President Barack Obama might improve relations with the Muslim world were unrealistic because Muslims would be “horrified” once they learned that Obama had abandoned the Islam of his father and embraced Christianity as a young adult.
Under “Muslim law as it is universally understood,” Luttwak wrote, Obama was born a Muslim, and his “conversion” to Christianity was an act of apostasy, a capital offense and “the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit.”..... Did Luttwak cross the line from fair argument to falsehood? Did Times editors fail to adequately check his facts before publishing his article? Did The Times owe readers a contrasting point of view?
I interviewed five Islamic scholars, at five American universities, recommended by a variety of sources as experts in the field. All of them said that Luttwak’s interpretation of Islamic law was wrong.
Yuma Church Sues Over Zoning Denial
US Marine Removed After Proselytizing Muslims In Fallujah
Influential Philanthropist Backing New Hebrew Language Charter School In NY
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Cases In Canada, Britain Sanction Refuals To Treat Gay Couples Equally
Meanwhile in Britain, the Devon County Council has suspended the license of the Earl of Devon to use his castle for marriage ceremonies after he refused on religious grounds to permit a gay couple to hold a civil partnership ceremony there. Friday's Pink News reports that this is the first time such action has been taken under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations that came into effect last year.
Muslim Workers Claim Religious Discrimination Over Uniform Policy
French Court Annuls Muslim Marriage When Wife Is Not A Virgin As Claimed
UPDATE: France's Justice Minister Rachida Dati has ordered a government appeal of the case, according to a June 3 Reuters report. Attorneys for both the husband and wife object, but Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that French law should not be interpreted to allow virginity to be a "key element in consent to marry." Concern over Muslim views being incorporated into French law has been in the background of the heated debate over the ruling.
Obama Resigns From His Church After Guest Preacher Mocks Clinton
Friday, May 30, 2008
Indiana Tax Court Says Christian Campground Gets Exemption
School Sued After Telling Student Not To Wear Anti-Abortion T-Shirts
South Carolina Passes Bill Permitting Display Including 10 Commandments and Lord's Prayer
Yesterday's Greenville News reports that some House members were upset that a Senate amendment removed the Pledge of Allegiance as one of the documents in the display. Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell voted against the bill fearing that inclusion of the Lord's Prayer in the display would lead to litigation. Describing the historical significance of the Lord's Prayer, the bill says: "The Lord's Prayer, used to teach people how best to seek their daily needs, is a model of philosophy and inspiration for legal and moral systems throughout the ages. In the colonies, James Oglethorpe brought debtors to freedom in our neighboring state of Georgia in remembrance of 'forgiving our debts as we forgive our debtors'."
Tennessee Federal Court Says School Endorsed "Praying Parents" Group
The court concluded that "certain practices at Lakeview Elementary School during the 2005-2006 school year did not have a secular purpose and were allowed or pursued to tacitly approve the activities of the Praying Parents, which had the primary effect of endorsing or promoting their Christian beliefs and programs at the school. In addition, the Praying Parents practices and programs at the school caused the Lakeview administrators and teachers to become excessively entangled with religion in violation of the Establishment Clause." Today's Tennessean reports on the decision. (See prior related posting.)
ACLU Sues Claiming Ohio Judge Is In Contempt For Displaying Poster
The Motion for an Order to Show Cause filed yesterday (full text of motion and supporting memorandum in ACLU of Ohio Foundation v. Ashbrook) says that the current poster is a list of Humanist Precepts printed next to the Ten Commandments, with a discussion of their differences. It conclude with the statement: "I join the founders in personally acknowledging the importance of Almighty God's fixed moral standards for restoring the moral fabric of this nation." Judge DeWeese says he is not in contempt because this is a different poster than the one that was previously enjoined. He told the Mansfield News Journal: It’s really about a debate of philosophies and how that affects our criminal caseloads. I put both sides up. People can make their own decisions."