Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Friday, July 25, 2008
RLUIPA Challenge To Zoning Denial For Counselling Center Fails
Student Activity Fee Policy At Wayne State Challenged
Suit Challenges Exclusion of Religious Literature From Distribution to Students
UPDATE: An ADF release dated Aug. 13 says that Maricopa Unified School District has reversed its position and will now permit the church's flyers to be distributed.
Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearings on Polygamous Sects
We do honor our pioneer ancestors by condemning those who have wrongfully cloaked themselves in the trappings of religion to obscure their true criminal purposes.... I am here to tell you that polygamist communities in the United States are a form of organized crime.... The most obvious crime being committed in these communities is bigamy, child abuse — teen and pre-teen girls are forced to marry older men and bear their children. But the criminal activity that goes on in these places is far broader. Witnesses at this hearing will describe a web of criminal conduct that includes welfare fraud, tax evasion, massive corruption and strong-arm tactics to maintain the status quo.(See prior related posting.)
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Affirms Invalidation of Ethnic Intimidation Law
The lawsuit challenging the statute was brought by several Christian evangelists, who were members of Repent America. A press release was issued by one of their attorneys, the Foundation for Moral Law. FML head, former Alabama Supreme Court Chef Justice Roy Moore, said: "We are very happy that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled in our favor to stop the Governor and a group of corrupt politicians from sneaking a 'hate crimes' bill through the Pennsylvania legislature. Preaching to homosexuals about the sin of sodomy should not be made a 'thought crime' in Pennsylvania or any other state."
Suburban Seattle Residents Sue To Prevent Church From Hosting Tent City
UPDATE: On July 28, a King County (WA) judge denied a request for a restraining order to prevent Tent City 4 from coming to Mercer Island. According to the Mercer Island Reporter, Judge Michael J. Fox said that plaintiffs had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits at trial.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
11th Circuit Holds Parental Rights Can Trump Child's 1st Amendment Protections
The Court of Appeals disagreed, saying:
The Court of Appeals also held unconstitutional that the portion of Florida's statute that requires students who are excused from reciting the pledge to nevertheless stand while others recite it. The AP reports on the court's decision. [Thanks to How Appealing for the lead.]The rights of students and the rights of parents—two different sets of persons whose opinions can often clash—are the subject of a legislative balance in the statute before us. The State, in restricting the student’s freedom of speech, advances the protection of the constitutional rights of parents: an interest which the State may lawfully protect.... Although we accept that the government ordinarily may not compel students to participate in the Pledge... we also recognize that a parent’s right to interfere with the wishes of his child is stronger than a public school official’s right to interfere on behalf of the school’s own interest....
Even if the balance of parental, student, and school rights might favor the rights of a mature high school student in a specific instance, Plaintiff has not persuaded us that the balance favors students in a substantial number of instances—particularly those instances involving elementary and middle school students—relative to the total number of students covered by the statute.... We therefore decline to validate Plaintiff’s facial challenge.
AU Seeks Investigation of Church-Sponsored Program At Army Base
10th Circuit: Exclusion of Pervasively Sectarian Schools From Scholarships Is Invalid
The court analyzed extensively Colorado's statutory criteria for determining that an institution is not "pervasively sectarian". Some of the criteria focus on whether students, faculty, trustees or funding sources are predominately of "one particular religion". The court observed that this requires government officials to decide which groups of believers count as a single religion. For example, do all Christians count as a single religious group?
The court held that "if the State wishes to choose among otherwise eligible institutions, it must employ neutral, objective criteria rather than criteria that involve the evaluation of contested religious questions and practices." The court said it did not need, in this case, to decide the exact level of scrutiny that should be applied when states discriminate in funding between denominations because in this case "the State scarcely has any justification at all." Yesterday's Examiner reported on the decision. [Thanks to Steve Sheinberg for the lead.]
UPDATE: On Aug. 1, Colorado's Department of Higher Education announced that the state will not appeal the 10th Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. [Thanks to How Appealing for the lead.]
Belarus Fines Organizer of "Too Small" Bible Discussion Group
4th Circuit Upholds City Council Mandate For Non-Denominational Invocations
Turner was not forced to offer a prayer that violated his deeply-held religious beliefs. Instead, he was given the chance to pray on behalf of the government. Turner was unwilling to do so in the manner that the government had proscribed, but remains free to pray on his own behalf, in nongovernmental endeavors, in the manner dictated by his conscience. His First Amendment and Free Exercise rights have not been violatedIn a release praising the decision, People for the American Way said that the ruling "is a vindication of the constitutional principle that the government must not take sides when it comes to religion." On the other hand, the Rutherford Institute which had represented Turner issued a release criticizing the decision, saying: "If the government can censor speech on the grounds that it is so-called 'government speech,' it will not be long before this label becomes a convenient tool for silencing any message that does not conform to what government officials deem appropriate." The Institute said it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.
Cult Leader Says Lying Naked With Girls Is Religious Healing Practice
Al-Aqsa TV Promotes Extremism Via Children's Show That Reaches Britain
HHS Considers Expanding Doctors' Rights of Conscience
UPDATE: Here is the full text of the draft rules being considered. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Texas Grand Jury Indicts Jeffs and Other FLDS Members
DoD Inspector General Finds Religious Discrimination In Tenenbaum Case
Mr. Tenenbaum was subjected to unusual and unwelcome scrutiny because of his faith and ethnic background, a practice that would undoubtedly fit a definition of discrimination, whether actionable or not.In the case, the U.S. Attorney had declined to prosecute because of insufficient evidence. Tenenbaum had brought two lawsuits alleging disparate treatment and civil rights violations. One was dismissed because defendants would need to disclose state secrets in their defense, and the other because security clearance issues were found non-justiciable. In 2003, Tenenbaum's security clearance was restored and upgraded.
EEOC Issues New Guidance On Issues of Religious Discrimination
UPDATE: The EEOC also issed a press release, a question-and-answer fact sheet and best practices booklet along with the new guidelines. [Thanks to Melissa Rogers for the lead.]
Israeli Court Fines Recalcitrant Husband In Divorce Proceeding
Pastor's Candidacy For City Council Creates Church-State Concerns
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Suit Challenges Illinois Grant To Help Rebuild Historic Church
Today's Chicago Tribune reports that Sherman's lawsuit comes after Sherman received a large inheritance from his mother last year. This allows him to operate on more than the shoestring budget that characterized his earlier challenges to government favoritism for religion.
UPDATE: The AP reports that on Friday, a Sangamon County circuit judge approved plaintiff's moving ahead with his taxpayer suit against the state Comptroller and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, but required that Gov. Blagojevich be dropped as a defendant.