Clergyman's Pay Dispute With Church Dismissed on First Amendment Grounds

In Jones v. Crestview Southern Baptist Church, (CO Ct. App., July 24, 2008), a Colorado state Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit by Baptist pastor Raymond Jones against his church for back pay allegedly due to him. The court held that "one of the issues to be resolved is whether Jones properly performed his duties as a pastor. " Determining this, the court said, would unconstitutionally entangle it in ecclesiastical matters. Similarly, the court said that adjudicating Jones' "equitable claims for unjust enrichment and quantum meruit would require determinations of the value of his services as a Baptist pastor, a matter that is largely ecclesiastical and thus not subject to court inquiry under the First Amendment."

Court Administrator Gets Partial Win In Claim for Retaliation and Discrimination

In Pucci v. Nineteenth District Court, (ED MI, July 10, 2008), a Michigan federal district judge permitted Julie Pucci, the former deputy administrator of a Michigan state court, to proceed with certain of her claims against the court's chief judge, Mark W. Somers. The federal court decision rejected Pucci's claim that the elimination of her postition as deputy administrator was motivated by Somers' religious objections to her live-in relationship with another judge on the court with whom Somers clashed. However the federal court permitted Pucci to move ahead with her First Amendment claim that her termination was in retaliation for her complaints about Somers' preaching religious beliefs from the civil court bench. The Dearborn (MI) Press & Guide reported on the decision in its Sunday edition. (See prior related posting.)

Obama's Note From Western Wall Published By Israeli Paper

When Barack Obama visited Israel during his recent foreign trip, like most visitors to the country he stopped at the Western Wall. Following a traditional custom, Obama left a note containing a personal prayer in one of the crevices in the Wall. Friday's Los Angeles Times reports, however, that in a breach of tradition, a young Orthodox Jewish student searched the Wall once Obama left and found his note. Obama's prayer for protection, wisdom and forgiveness, written on note paper from the King David Hotel, was turned over to the Israeli paper Maariv that then published it. The LA Times article contains a photo of the note.

UPDATE: Maariv's publication of Obama's note sparked outrage, and calls for a boycott of the paper and for a police investigation. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who supervises the Western Wall, said the unauthorized removal of the note was a sacrilege. However Maariv said that Obama had submitted a copy of his note to media outlets when he left his Jerusalem hotel. (Haaretz). Meanwhile JTA reported on Sunday that the student who removed the note from the Wall went on Israel's Channel 2 television to apologize. Channel 2's religious affairs correspondent took the note and transmitted it to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which in turn placed it back in the Wall. [Thanks to Joel Katz for the lead.]

Reporter Charges Kenneth Copeland Ministries With Financial Improprieties

Associated Press religion writer Eric Gorski today published a long article detailing the business ventures connected with the ministry of TV evangelist Kenneth Copeland. Gorski writes:

Here in the gentle hills of north Texas, televangelist Kenneth Copeland has built a religious empire teaching that God wants his followers to prosper. Over the years, a circle of Copeland's relatives and friends have done just that.... They include the brother-in-law with a lucrative deal to broker Copeland's television time, the son who acquired church-owned land for his ranching business and saw it more than quadruple in value, and board members who together have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for speaking at church events.

Church officials say no one improperly benefits through ties to Copeland's vast evangelical ministry.... While Copeland insists that his ministry complies with the law, independent tax experts who reviewed information obtained by the AP through interviews, church documents and public records have their doubts. The web of companies and non-profits tied to the televangelist calls the ministry's integrity into question, they say.

Copeland's ministry is one of six being investigated by Sen. Charles Grassley. Copeland has strongly resisted Grassley's inquiries. (See prior posting.)

"Desecration of Eucharist" Charged In Incidents At Two Universities

In the history of the Catholic Church, "desecration of the host" is a form of sacrilege and charges of descration were a pretext for massacres of Jews in the Middle Ages. (Background). Over the last month, charges of desecrating the Eucharist-- in circumstances rather different from the historical precedents-- have come to the fore in two related incidents at universities in two states. As reported by WFTV, this all began at a June 29 Mass on the campus of the University of Central Florida. Student Senator Webster Cook, instead of immediately consuming the Eucharist handed to him as required by Catholic doctrine, took it back to his seat to show to a non-Catholic friend who was curious. Cook says someone tried to physically stop him from doing this. A week later, Cook returned the wafer in a plastic bag after receiving outraged e-mails from Catholics objecting to his desecration of the Eucharist. (WFTV). Then, according to the Orlando Sentinel, on July 17, Student Senate began impeachment proceedings against Cook, based not on his taking the Eucharist, but on his falsely representing himself as a student government officer at the service.

Meanwhile, in early July according to the Washington Times, a University of Minnesota Morris biology professor, Paul Z. Myers, used his blog to support Cook, asking in this post for his readers to send him (Myers) a consecrated Communion wafer for display. Last Thursday in this post, Myers displayed the Communion wafer pierced with a rusty nail tacked to pages torn from the Quran and some pages from Richard Dawkins The God Delusion. This led Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights president Bill Donohue to file a complaint against Myers with the University of Minnesota, asserting that his posting amounted to a bias incident under University rules. (Catholic League July 24 release.) However University Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson said in a letter in response that academic freedom permits faculty "to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint…." (Catholic League release, July 25).

In yet another development, Prof. Myers appeared on a Houston radio station on July 11 to complain in his own strong language about attacks against him by Catholic League's Donohue. In response to this, a delegate to the upcoming Republican National Convention has asked for the GOP to provide additional security so Catholics can worship without fear of violence. (Catholic Online, July 12). The request came despite the fact that Morris, MN is over 170 miles from Minneapolis- St. Paul. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the original lead on this.]

Los Angeles Sees Rise In Hate Crimes, Including Religiously Motivated Incidents

According to an AP story yesterday, hate crimes rose significantly in Los Angeles County, California last year, even though the overall crime rate dropped. A majority of the hate crimes were racially motivated. However, 105 of the 763 hate crimes reported in 2007 were religiously motivated-- with three-quarters of these directed against Jews. This amounts to a 17% increase in religiously motivated hate crimes for the year. Some 111 hate crimes were based on sexual orientation, mostly directed against gay men. The full text of the 2007 Hate Crime Report compiled by the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission is available online.

RLUIPA Challenge To Zoning Denial For Counselling Center Fails

In Calvary Temple Assembly of God v. City of Marinette, Wisconsin, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55500 (ED WI, July 21, 2008), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected a RLUIPA challenge brought by a church that wanted a special exemption to locate a professional counselling center on land next to its church building. The City of Marinette concluded that the proposed faith-based counselling center would be a "professional office," a use not permitted in areas zoned residential. The court held that it need not decide whether the counselling center would be a "religious exercise" under RLUIPA because, even if it was, the church failed to show that the zoning denial imposed a "substantial burden" on its religious exercise.

Student Activity Fee Policy At Wayne State Challenged

At Wayne State University in Detroit (MI), a registered student group, Students for Life, has filed a federal lawsuit against the university challenging its policy on the spending of student activity fees. According to yesterday's Battle Creek Enquirer, last spring the the Student Council denied the group's request for $4000 to support a week of anti-abortion events because of "spiritual and religious" references, even though the group says it has no specific religious affiliation. Events included having one's picture taken with a model of a fetus. The lawsuit alleges that the funding denial amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

Suit Challenges Exclusion of Religious Literature From Distribution to Students

Alliance Defense Fund yesterday announced that it had filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Arizona on behalf of the First Baptist Church of Maricopa and its pastor, Jim Johnson, challenging Maricopa County school district's policy on distribution of literature by nonprofit groups. The school, after months of delay, denied Johnson's request that he be allowed to distribute a flyer on one of his church's weekly programs for high school students-- its Awana Journey 24 Club, a weekly Bible study program. School policy permits nonprofit groups to have their literature promoting various events and activities made available to students in schools. However the policy excludes literature from any sectarian organization or literature that promotes a particular religious belief or participation in religion. The complaint (full text) alleges that the denial violates plaintiffs' First and 14th Amendment rights and their rights under Arizona's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

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

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has posted the testimony presented by eight witnesses at yesterday's hearings on Crimes Associated with Polygamy: The Need for a Coordinated State and Federal Response. The hearings, which coincided with Utah's Pioneer Day, received wide coverage in the media. Some of the most extensive coverage appeared in yesterday's Deseret News , in the Salt Lake Tribune and at CNN. Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, who is a convert to Mormonism and the Senator who has led the call for hearings and the creation of a federal task force, told the Senate panel:

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

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a 2-sentence per curiam order affirming last year's decision by a Pennsylvania appellate court striking down amendments to the state's ethnic intimidation law. The law was amended in 2002 to add sexual orientation and several other categories to its previous coverage of crimes committed because of race, religion or national origin. In Marcavage v. Rendell, (PA Sup. Ct., July 23, 2008) the state Supreme Court agreed that the 2002 amendments violated the state constitution's ban on amending bills during the legislative process to change their original purpose.

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

The Seattle (WA) Times on Wednesday reported on a lawsuit filed earlier this month seeking to prevent religious leaders on suburban Mercer Island from hosting Tent City 4, an encampment for the homeless. The city of Mercer Island granted a temporary use permit for the encampment to set up at the Mercer Island United Methodist Church from August 5 to November 10. Greg Asimakoupoulos, president of the Mercer Island Clergy Association, said: "We don't want to be viewed as the suburb of the city that's blind to the needs of people of metropolitan Seattle." However a group of Mercer Island neighbors, calling themselves the Mercer Island Citizens for Fair Process, are seeking an injunction arguing that Tent City 4 will be a nuisance. They also argue that their rights under the due process clause were violated. A hearing on a temporary restraining order is set for Monday.

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.

11th Circuit Holds Parental Rights Can Trump Child's 1st Amendment Protections

Yesterday in Frazier v. Winn, (11th Cir., July 23, 2008), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision on the clash between parental rights to control the upbringing of their children and a child's own First Amendment rights. While the case focused on free speech issues, it presumably impacts similar Free Exercise clashes. At issue was a facial challenge to Florida's statute that provides a student must be excused from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance upon written request of his or her parent. In the case, the district court had concluded that the statute unconstitutionally "robs the student of the right to make an independent decision on whether to say the pledge."

The Court of Appeals disagreed, saying:

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.

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.]

AU Seeks Investigation of Church-Sponsored Program At Army Base

In a letter yesterday (full text) to the Department of Defense's Acting Inspector General, Americans United for Separation of Church and State called for an investigation of the "Free Day Away" program at Fort Leonard Wood (MO) Army base. (AU Release). AU's letter alleges that soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood are given only two days off during their 8 weeks of basic training. One of these is "Free Day Away", sponsored by Tabernacle Baptist Church of Lebanon, MO. A church bus picks up trainees at the military base and takes them for a day of recreation which ends with a required church service during which soldiers are urged to accept Jesus as their personal savior. AU says: "Trainees are given the impression that the event is sponsored by the Army and that they must attend. If they do not attend, they have to remain on the base and continue with training, while those who attend the event have a break for the day." AU says the program involves unconstitutional endorsement of religion and coercion of religious belief.

10th Circuit: Exclusion of Pervasively Sectarian Schools From Scholarships Is Invalid

In an important decision interpreting the scope of the Supreme Court's 2004 Locke v. Davey decision, yesterday the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Colorado acted unconstitutionally in excluding from its college scholarship program students who attend "pervasively sectarian" institutions. In Colorado Christian University v. Weaver, (10th Cir., July 23, 2008), the court found that the exclusion "expressly discriminates among religions without constitutional justification, and its criteria for doing so involve unconstitutionally intrusive scrutiny of religious belief and practice."

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

The Belorussian Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religion provides that a new religious organization must have at least 20 members over the age of 18 to receive government recognition. BosNewsLife reported yesterday that Valentin Borovik was convicted of violating this law by the Grodno Regional Court after he organized an informal Christian Bible discussion group of less than 20 people. On July 9, Borovik was fined the equivalent of (US) $150, despite his argument that he was not intending to form a new religious group.

4th Circuit Upholds City Council Mandate For Non-Denominational Invocations

Yesterday in Turner v. City Council of Fredericksburg, (4th Cir., July 23, 2008), the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of appeals upheld the policy of Fredericksburg, Virginia's city council requiring prayers which open its sessions to be nondenominational. In an opinion by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, sitting by designation on the case, the court held that legislative prayer is government speech. The city's policy was challenged by Hashmel Turner, a Baptist minister who was elected to city council. When his turn to offer an invocation came, Turner wanted to close by praying in the name of Jesus. The court held that council's policy precluding such prayer violates neither the Establishment Clause nor Turner's free exercise rights. The court concluded:

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 violated

In 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

In Ranton, New Mexico last Friday, Wayne Bent was indicted for inappropriately touching three minor girls while "lying naked" with them. Tuesday's Raton Rage reports that Bent, known to his followers as Michael Travesser, is the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church. He was arrested in May after police and social workers removed three teenagers from his Strong City compound. (See prior posting.) Bent (Travesser) claims that his practice of lying with naked children is a "religious healing practice" and does not have sexual connotations. Bent's attorney has moved to have the indictment dismissed.

Al-Aqsa TV Promotes Extremism Via Children's Show That Reaches Britain

Yesterday's London Telegraph reports on the children's show, Tomorrow's Pioneers, broadcast on the al-Aqsa television channel, a satellite channel set up by Hamas that broadcasts from the Gaza Strip. (Background on channel.) The channel has a substantial following in the Arab world, and can be received in Britain. The show currently features a Bugs Bunny type character named Assud who often promotes radical Islamic stances. In one episode Assud says he will kill and eat all Danish people in retaliation for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad which appeared in Danish newspapers. In a July 11 episode, Assud is seduced by Satan into stealing money from his father. The studio audience and a phone-in audience as well discuss whether Assud's hands should be cut off for the offense. Eventually the host rules that only Assud's ear should be cut off. MEMRI has video clips with English subtitles and English language transcripts of this and several other episodes. YouTube also has a number of clips of the program with English subtitles. A spokesman for Britain's Association of Muslim Schools says the organization is opposed to any shows that incite violence.

HHS Considers Expanding Doctors' Rights of Conscience

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is proposing to expand the rights of doctors who have religious objections to prescribing contraceptives that can cause the expulsion of a fertilized egg. This week's US News & World Report says that HHS is circulating to members of Congress a draft of rules that would prohibit federally funded medical facilities—including teaching hospitals and Planned Parenthood clinics—from refusing to hire doctors who object to dispensing such contraceptives. It is already illegal to refuse to hire doctors who object to performing abortions. These rules would protect those who believe that life begins at the moment of fertilization, even if the fertilized egg is not yet implanted in the womb. The Christian Post reports that on Monday, 104 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter to President Bush urging him to stop the new rules. Among other things, they object to the fact that the new rules would pre-empt state laws requiring hospitals to make emergency contraception available for rape victims.

UPDATE: Here is the full text of the draft rules being considered. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]