Obama To Support Expansion of Faith-Based Initiative

An advance text of remarks by Barack Obama to be delivered today in Zanesville, Ohio indicates that Obama will support expansion of President Bush's faith-based initiative. According to the AP: "Obama proposes to elevate the program to a 'moral center' of his administration, by renaming it the Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships, and changing training from occasional huge conferences to empowering larger religious charities to mentor smaller ones in their communities." Obama would also allow faith-based charities receiving federal money to make hiring decisions on the basis of religion, but does not support religious restrictions on aid recipients or use of federal funds to proselytize.

UPDATE: The original AP report was inaccurate in saying that Obama will support religious-based hiring. In the full text of his remarks, Obama says just the opposite:

Now, make no mistake, as someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don’t believe this partnership will endanger that idea – so long as we follow a few basic principles. First, if you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them – or against the people you hire – on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we’ll also ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work.

Salon provides further coverage. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]

Russian Musem Officials Being Prosecuted For Religiously Offensive Art Show

In Moscow, the director and the curator of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Community Center have been charged with inciting religious hatred because of its "Forbidden Art" exhibition held last year. France24 reports that vandals destroyed some of the art, claiming it is offensive to Orthodox Christians, but they were not prosecuted. The art (some of which is shown in the France24 story) often uses Jesus as a theme. For example, one piece superimposes Lenin's head on Jesus on the cross.

Australian State Imposes Rules For World Youth Day Conduct

Later this month, the 6-day long World Youth Day festival will take place in Sydney, Australia. Pope Benedict XVI will be in the country and will lead mass and conduct prayer meetings at the event. Today's International Herald Tribune reports that a regulation promulgated recently by New South Wales gives police and emergency services workers power to order anyone to stop behavior that "causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event." It also bans conduct that obstructs the event or causes risk to the safety of others. Police already have similar authority at large sporting events, but Anna Katzman, president of the New South Wales Bar Association, criticized the new police powers. The provision is part of a broader World Youth Day Regulation 2008 promulgated by New South Wales governor on June 25. (The full text is published in the Government Gazette [scroll to page 5813]). The regulation also requires those selling various items during the festival-- including religious items-- to obtain a permit, and restricts planes carrying advertising banners over events.

Report Supports British Faith Schools

The Centre for Policy Studies, a British think tank, issued a controversial report (full text) this week titled: In Bad Faith: The New Betrayal of Faith Schools. The report's author, Christina Odone, concludes in her 41-page report:

Faith schools have been wrongly attacked for the wrong reasons. Political positioning has led the Minister of Education to denounce these schools. In so doing, he was stoking and validating a smear campaign, orchestrated by a strident secularist lobby, that has long plagued this sector....

The schools do not cream-skim pupils. The intake of Christian schools reflects a broader ethnic range than comprehensive schools in the same area. Faith schools do not turn away children in care..... The schools are not divisive.... Faith schools are not misogynist. Girls who attend Muslim schools are more than twice as likely to go on to higher education than those who attend secular state or independent
schools.

Faith schools do not charge parents for places.... The schools do not create a ghetto mentality.... Faith schools do not teach Creationism in science classes.... Faith schools have an excellent academic record, serve their local communities, and ground their students in a religious as well as the national identity....

[F]or low-income parents, these schools represent the only way their children can be taught the faith that their own family holds dear....For Muslims in particular, faith schools offer a bridge between their religious community and the wider secular society. For Muslim girls, they are the route out of a forced marriage, or their parents’ kitchen, and into higher education.... Quite simply, we need more, not fewer, faith schools.

Odone's report has been attacked by the British Humanist Association and by Ekklesia. (Ekklesia release.)

Dutch Will Not Prosecute Wilders For Anti-Muslim Film and Statements

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service issued a statement yesterday (full text) saying that right-wing politician Geert Wilders will not be prosecuted for a letter he wrote to a national newspaper urging that the Quran be banned in the Netherlands (see prior posting), nor will he be charged in connection with his anti-Muslim film, Fitna (see prior posting). The Prosecution Service's statement said in part:

The fact that statements are hurtful and offensive to a large number of Muslims does not necessarily mean that such statements are punishable. It is true that some statements insult Muslims, but these were made in the context of public debate, which means that the statements are no longer of a punishable nature....

Criticism of religion is not covered by the prohibition of discrimination, unless this criticism includes insulting conclusions about the adherents of the religion concerned.... [T]he Public Prosecution Service arrives at the opinion that neither the film Fitna nor Mr Wilders’s statements incite hatred against Muslims.

CBC News reports on the Prosecution Service's statement.

Epsicopal Bishop Urges Separation of Civil and Religious Marriage

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California is urging that the state begin to follow the pattern of some European countries and separate civil marriage from religious marriage. Today's Sacramento Bee reports that under the proposal, every couple would first marry civilly, and then, if the couple wished, the marriage would be blessed by the church. This removes clergy as agents of the state in performing marriages. The proposal was triggered by the California Supreme Court's recent legalization of gay marriage. (See prior posting.)

Texas Sheriff Apologizes For Staff's Religiously Insensitive E-Mails

For the second time this month, Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Tommy Thomas apologized for e-mails sent by his staff. Yesterday's Houston Chronicle reported that Thomas appeared personally before the Islamic Society of Greater Houston to apologize for e-mails forwarded by Chief Deputy Mike Smith that offended Muslims. One used Muhammad's name to make a joke about eating pork; a second involved cartoons about Muslim terrorists. Last week other e-mails that were racist, insensitive or off color were revealed when a local TV station sued to prevent them from being deleted.

Employer's Proposed Accommodation Found Inadequate In Title VII Case

In Walker v. Alcoa, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45684 (ND IN, June 9, 2008), a Title VII employment discrimination case, an Indiana federal district court held that Alcoa failed to reasonably accommodate a worker who refused to work on Sundays for religious reasons. The court held that while various accommodations were offered by Alcoa to employee Timothy Walker, none of them completely removed the religious conflict. The court said that factual disputes remain as to whether Walker's preferred accommodation-- a permanent guarantee of Sundays off-- would impose an undue hardship on Alcoa. The court, however, dismissed Walker's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Legal Peyote For Ceremonial Purposes Is Becoming Hard To Find

Yesterday's Brownsville (TX) Herald reports that peyote, used in ceremonies by members of certain Native American religions, is becoming more difficult to obtain. A special exception in federal drug laws-- 42 USC 1992a-- permits Native Americans to use the otherwise banned hallucinogen for traditional religious ceremonial purposes. Peyote grows naturally only in four south Texas counties, and traditionally it has been harvested by peyoteros who then sell it to Native American vhurch members. The DEA and the Texas Department of Public Safety supervise their work. However it has become more profitable for Texas ranchers to lease their land to oil developers or as hunting preserves, than to get fees from peyote harvesters seeking out the rare cactus. This is leading to over-harvesting of the remaining U.S. supplies. Church members believe they must use naturally growing peyote, so greenhouse cultivation is not an option. Mexico has a large supply of the cactus, but is unlikely to allow export because of U.S. pressure on it regarding illegal drugs.

President's Radio Address Focuses On Faith-Based Initiative

President Bush's weekly radio address on Saturday (full text) focused on last week's White House conference on faith-based and community initiatives. The President said in part:

Putting hope in people's hearts is the mission of our Nation's faith-based and community groups, so my Administration decided to treat them as trusted partners. We held these groups to high standards and insisted on demonstrable results. And they have delivered on those expectations.

Through their partnerships with the government, these organizations have helped reduce the number of chronically homeless by nearly 12 percent -- getting more than 20,000 Americans off the streets. They have helped match nearly 90,000 children of prisoners with adult mentors. And they have helped provide services such as job placement for thousands of former inmates. Faith-based and community groups have also had a powerful impact overseas.

Russia's Supreme Court Holds Sunday School Need Not Get State License

Forum 18 today reports that Russia's Supreme Court earlier this month issued an important decision protecting religious organizations. In a June 10 opinion, the court reversed a Smolensk Regional Court that had closed down a Methodist congregation for operating a Sunday school without an educational license. Holding that the lower court's decision was "unlawful and without foundation", the high court concluded that the Sunday school is not covered by either the 1992 Education Law or state education regulations, and so does not require a state licence. However confusion remains over which religious schools-- particularly adult programs-- do require licensing. An Education Ministry official, Yelena Romanova, had previously indicated that no license is required if an educational program results in merely internal qualifications.

Recently Available Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Bennett v. Goord, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48925 (WD NY, Jan. 7, 2008), a New York federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of sex offenders' unusual free exercise claim. Plaintiffs argued that the prison counseling program's requirement that they acknowledge their guilt to avoid losing good time credits violates their free exercise rights by "compelling them to recant the truthful testimony they proffered under oath at their trials, where in they placed their hands on the Bible and swore to tell the truth, will subject them to eternal damnation."

In Lombardo v. Holanchock, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48753 (SD NY, June 25, 2008), a New York federal district court held that it was reasonable for the defendants to believe that their challenged action was related to a legitimate penological interest. They had restricted a civilly committed offender's participation in one co-ed religious service.

In Maier v. Maurinac, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48273 (D MT, June 24, 2008), a Montana federal district court accepted a magistrate's recommendation that a prisoner be permitted to proceed with his free exercise and RLUIPA claims (as well as his ADA claim). However his harassment and due process claims were dismissed.

In Barnes v. Missoula County Detention Facility, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48271 (D MT, June 24, 2008), a Montana federal district court accepted a magistrate's recommendation that a Muslim prisoner's free exercise claim be dismissed, with leave to amend. Plaintiff needed to name as defendants the officials who allegedly denied his requests for a no-pork diet, a prayer rug, a kufi and a Qur'an.

In Christiansen v. Adams, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47766 (SD IL, June 20, 2008), an Illinois federal district court set aside a prior default judgment against defendant in a case in which a prisoner claimed that officials interfered with his free exercise of religion. Plaintiff claimed officials failed to provide him with a diet and hygiene items that are free of animal products, forced him to attend programs that promoted Christianity and denied him space and time for his prayer and fasting rituals. Defendant originally failed to respond because when served, he no longer was employed by the Department of Corrections and thought that the state Attorney General's office would handle his defense.

Colorado Catholic Bishop Bans Clergy From Giving Political Contributions

The Ft. Collins Coloradoan reports today that Denver Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput will issue a directive this week barring priests and deacons in his diocese from either endorsing political candidates or contributing funds to their campaigns. The ban applies to partisan political campaigns, and not to non-partisan electoral initiatives on issues such as abortion or immigration. Federal Election Commission records show that nationwide during the 2007-08 election cycle, nearly $100,000 has been given to federal candidates and to political parties by approximately 100 Catholic priests and deacons.

Court Says Religious Handbilling In Park Must Be Permitted

In Apple of His Eye, Inc. v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, (ED MO, June 24, 2008), a Missouri federal district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of a city ordinance that prohibits distribution of literature in public parks. The lawsuit was brought by individuals who were prevented from handing out religious literature and expressing their religious beliefs during the 2006 gay pride festival held in St. Louis' Tower Grove Park. The court held that: "enjoining the enforcement of § 22.16.100, thereby allowing Plaintiffs to distribute their religious literature and express their religious views in a City park, does not significantly impinge on the public interest, as long as the City retains the authority to enforce other Code provisions which are content-neutral reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, in order to maintain public safety and order." The court also enjoined enforcement of a provision making handbill distributors responsible for proper disposal of the handbills within a 100 foot radius of their distribution. Alliance Defense Fund issued a release on the decision on Thursday.

Moderate Muslims In India Worry About Growing Radicalism

Today's Washington Post reports on the concern among moderate Muslims in India about the growth of stricter forms of Islam in the country. Many of India's Muslims are Barelvi Sunni who are also followers of Sufism, a movement seen as blasphemous by more traditional Muslims. Some moderate mosques have taken to posting signs listing the names of stricter Islamic groups whose followers are not welcome in the mosque. During the past ten years, at mover than 30% of Barelvi Sunni mosques, more fundamentalist Wahhabi groups have contributed funds for repair and have slowly taken them over. In the background of this are a series of bombings during the last three years in India by radical Islamic groups.

Report Says Many Prisoners Claim To Be Jewish To Get Kosher Food

The AP reported Friday on an Idaho prisoner who has been denied kosher food because he has not shown that he is Jewish. The article says that 20,000 inmates nation-wide are claiming to be Jewish without being able to show that this is the case. Gary Friedman, chairman of Jewish Prisoner Services International (JPSI), said that many of these inmates are seeking kosher meals because they offer more variety and are seen as more sanitary. He said that many prisoners "have paranoia about how their food is prepared." Apparently JPSI validates for institutions whether or not a prisoner's claim to be Jewish is accurate.

Origins of "Obama Is A Muslim" Rumor Are Traced

Saturday's Washington Post carries a long article tracing the origins of rumors that Barack Obama is a Muslim. The rumors were spread over the Internet, particularly through chain e-mails. Danielle Allen of the Institute for Advanced Studies, has traced the rumor to an article posted online in 2004 by Andy Martin who, at the time, was attempting to run against Obama for the U.S. Senate. Ted Sampley, a North Carolina man, published a similar article on his own website around the same time. Discussion of these on the Free Republic website discussion forums increased interest in the rumor. However, the exact identity of the person who began the chain of e-mails carrying the rumor has not been determined.

Trial Court Upholds Constitutionality of Virginia's "Division Statute"

In In re Multi-Circuit Episcopal Church Property Litigation, (VA Cir. Ct., June 27, 2008), a Virginial trial court judge upheld the constitutionality of Virginia's "Division Statute" against Free Exercise, Establishment Clause, Equal Protection and Takings Clause challenges. The statute permits the majority of a congregation to decide to which branch of a church its property will belong when there has been a "division" in the church. The court emphasized that the Episcopal Church could have avoided the possibility of a majority in a congregation breaking away and taking church property with it by titling the property in the name of a Bishop or other ecclesiastical officer of the parent church, but did not do so as to the eleven break-away congregations involved in this litigation. (See prior posting and background in Saturday's Fairfax (VA) Times coverage.) In its 49-page letter opinion, the court left open the question of whether the Division statute violates the Contract Clause of the Constitution by impairing contractual relationships between local congregations and the hierarchical church.

In a companion 14-page letter opinion, the court ruled on five other interpretive issues under the Division Statute, concluding that the court's role was merely to determine whether the congregational vote was "fairly taken", and not to consider other factors. It distinguished cases involving the withdrawal of a single congregation from an hierarchical church where there was not a "division" within the church. In an order accompanying the two letter opinions, the court asked for further briefs from the parties on certain remaining procedural issues.

Reports on the court's decision were published by the Washington Post and Episcopal News Service. (See prior related posting.)

US House Passes Resolution Supporting Gospel Music Heritage Month

On June 26, the House of Representatives passed by voice vote H. Con. Res. 370: Expressing Support for Designation of September 2008 as "Gospel Music Heritage Month". In its ten paragraphs extolling gospel music, the only mention of the religious nature of the genre is a paragraph that traces the history of gospel music to "multiple and diverse influences and foundations, including African-American spirituals ... and melodic influences from Irish folk songs and hymns," but saying that gospel music also "borrowed from uniquely American musical styles including ragtime, jazz, and blues". Most of the resolution focuses on the secular contributions of gospel music, such as: "beyond its contribution to the musical tradition of the United States, gospel music has provided a cultural and musical backdrop across all of mainstream media, from hit television series to major Hollywood motion pictures...."

Texas High Court Says Exorcism Claims Entangle Court in Religious Dispute

In Pleasant Glade Assembly of God v. Schubert, (TX Sup. Ct., June 27, 2008), in a 6-3 decision, the Texas Supreme Court yesterday rejected a lower court's award of damages to young woman for false imprisonment and assault by the senior pastor, youth minister and several members of an Assembly of Gods Church. The lawsuit grew out of psychological injuries suffered by then 17-year old Laura Schubert from a "laying of hands" on her to exorcise demonic forces from her. The court held that deciding the case would unconstitutionally entangle it in matters of church doctrine. the majority said:

We do not mean to imply that "under the cloak of religion, persons may, with impunity," commit intentional torts upon their religious adherents.... Moreover, religious practices that threaten the public’s health, safety, or general welfare cannot be tolerated as protected religious belief.... But religious practices that might offend the rights or sensibilities of a non-believer outside the church are entitled to greater latitude when applied to an adherent within the church....

The Free Exercise Clause prohibits courts from deciding issues of religious doctrine. Here, the psychological effect of church belief in demons and the appropriateness of its belief in "laying hands" are at issue. Because providing a remedy for the very real, but religiously motivated emotional distress in this case would require us to take sides in what is essentially a religious controversy, we cannot resolve that dispute.

Chief Justice Jefferson in a dissent joined by Justice Green and in party by Justice Johnson said:

After today, a tortfeasor need merely allege a religious motive to deprive a Texas court of jurisdiction to compensate his fellow congregant for emotional damages. This sweeping immunity is inconsistent with United States Supreme Court precedent and extends far beyond the protections our Constitution affords religious conduct. The First Amendment guards religious liberty; it does not sanction intentional abuse in religion’s name.

Justice Green also filed a separate dissent as did Justice Johnson. Today's Austin American-Statesman reports on the decision.