Jewish Police Officer Scores Partial Win On Religious Accommodation Claim

In Riback v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Deparment, (D NV, Aug. 6, 2008), a Nevada federal district court ruled that Steve Riback, a Las Vegas police officer who is an Orthodox Jew, must be given an exemption from the police department's grooming policy so he can wear a beard for religious reasons. The exemption is subject to the same restrictions that apply to those who are permitted to wear beards for medical reasons. Riback is assigned to the department's non-unformed Quality Assurance Unit.

The court went on to hold that the department's headgear policy which precludes Riback from wearing a yarmulke, does not violate Riback's free exercise rights under the U.S. and Nevada constitutions. The failure to accommodate Riback's request to wear a head covering though, the court said, may have violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and similar state employment discrimination laws. The court held that there are genuine issues of material fact that must go to trial on the question of whether the police department made a good faith effort to accommodate Riback's request to wear a yarmulke or baseball cap, and whether accommodation would have imposed an undue hardship on the department. Yesterday's Las Vegas Review Journal reports on the decision.

Alberta Rights Commission Dismisses Complaint About Muhammad Cartoons

In Canada, a July 29, 2008 Investigation Report submitted to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission recommends dismissing a discrimination complaint filed by the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities against the magazine Western Standard. In an August 1 ruling, the Commission's director accepted the recommendation. (Full text of Ruling and Report.) The complaint involved the now-defunct magazine's publication in 2006 of controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons originally appeared in a Danish newspaper.

The Report recommending dismissal found that the cartoons were published in the context of an article on freedom of speech, and in that context do not indicate an intent to discriminate nor do they endanger the rights of Muslims to equal opportunity. The decision is appealable to the Chief Commissioner. Wednesday's National Post reports on the decision. Ezra Levant, publisher of Western Standard, published a rather defiant blog posting commenting on the dismissal. (See prior related posting.)

Bush Criticizes China On Human Rights In Two Speeches Abroad

In two speeches on his trip to the Beijing Olympics, resident George W. Bush has criticized China's policies on human rights and religious freedom. In a lengthy speech yesterday (full text) at a stop in Bangkok, Thailand, after talking about US-China cooperation, Bush said:

I have spoken clearly and candidly and consistently with China's leaders about our deep concerns over religious freedom and human rights. I have met repeatedly with Chinese dissidents and religious believers. The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings. So America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents and human rights advocates and religious activists. We speak out ... not to antagonize China's leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential.

According to AGI, the Chinese foreign ministry immediately responded, emphasizing the good relationships of the two countries but rejecting U.S. use of human rights or religion to interfere in the internal affairs of China.

Inside China, Bush, speaking at the dedication today of the U.S. embassy building in Beijing (full text of remarks), again brought up the topic, though more briefly. He said that the U.S. would "continue to be candid about our belief that all people should have the freedom to say what they think and worship as they choose." Reuters reports that Chinese officials at the ceremony sat expressionless.

UPDATE: Countering somewhat the image created by President Bush's criticism of religious freedom in China, Cox New Service today published an article profiling Nanjing Amity Printing Co., the official publisher of Bibles in China. Last year the company produced 6.7 million Bibles, 3 million of which were for distribution in China. It has printed 50,000 copies of the New Testament for free distribution at various sites during the Olympics.

Obama's Muslim Outreach Coordinator Resigns Over Past Board Connection

Mazen Asbahi, a corporate lawyer at the Chicago law firm of Schiff Hardin, resigned earlier this week as the volunteer Arab American and Muslim American Outreach Coordinator for the Obama campaign. Wednesday's Wall Street Journal disclosed that Asbahi decided to resign just two weeks after his appointment when an Internet newsletter reported that eight years ago he had for a few weeks served on the board of Allied Assets Advisors Fund. One of the Fund's other board members was Jamal Said, a fundamentalist imam who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case against alleged Hamas fund raisers. That case ended last year in a mistrial. Asbahi had quickly resigned from the Allied Asset's board when he learned of charges against Said. Allied Assets is a subsidiary of the conservative the North American Islamic Trust. Reporting on the incident, the AP Wednesday quoted Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who said: "This incident just shows how Islamophobic the political climate is right now." (See prior related posting.)

Court Orders Prisons To Recognize Native American Shamanism

In Iron Thunderhorse v. Pierce, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58842 (ED TX, July 30, 2008), an inmate in a Texas correctional institution argued that the Native American religious program in Texas prisons gives preferential treatment to Christian-oriented Native American religions and disfavors traditionalist Native American shamans. The court agreed, ordering that "Native American shamanism" be recognized as a valid faith with a separate faith code. It also ordered that Iron Thunderhorse be allowed a reasonable number of holy days and traditional foods for feast days, and that if he is released from administrative segregation he be allowed access to pipe ceremonies and a medicine bundle, including musical instruments like a clay flute and small drum. The court however rejected plaintiff's claims that relating to the prison's dress and grooming codes and restrictions on him while in administrative segregation.

Atheists Criticize County Fair For "God and Country Day"

According to yesterday's Los Angeles Chronicle, the Wilson County, Tennessee Fair has designated August 17 as "God and Country Day." In addition to a tribute to military personnel, anyone presenting a church bulletin at the gate that day will receive a $2 admission discount. A spokesman for American Atheists ("AA") has criticized the Fair's decision to promote Christianity in this way. AA and others plan two responses. They urge members to wear T-shirts supporting Foxhole Atheists during the Fair's ceremony honoring military personnel. American Atheists also suggests that members present printouts of AA's website at the Fair gate and ask for the same $2 admission discount. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Arizona Court Rejects FLDS Member's Constitutional Challenge To Polygamy Ban

In State of Arizona v. Fischer, (AZ Ct. App., Aug. 5, 2008), an Arizona state appellate court rejected free exercise and substantive due process defenses raised by a member of the FLDS Church who was convicted of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy. The charges grew out of defendant Kelly Fischer's polygamous relationship with J.S., a minor with whom he had entered into a "celestial marriage". Under Arizona law, it is a defense to a charge of sexual conduct with a minor that the minor was the "spouse" of the person charged. Fischer argued that if he had been able to enter into a legal plural marriage with J.S., he could have asserted the "spouse" defense.

More specifically, Kelly argued that the provision in Art. 20, Sec. 2 of the Arizona Constitution that prohibits polygamy or plural marriage violates his 1st and 14th Amendment rights. The court rejected Kelly's free exercise challenge, finding that the polygamy ban was a neutral law of general application, and not a law that targets the FLDS Church's practice of polygamy. The court also concluded that the U.S. Supreme Court's 1878 decision in Reynolds v. United States, upholding a ban on polygamy, remains good law.

The court additionally rejected Kelly's attempted reliance on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas which focused on substantive due process protection of intimate sexual relationships. The Arizona court said that language in the Lawrence decision specifically limited its holding to sexual activity between consenting adults. Yesterday's Sierra Vista (AZ) Herald reported on the decision.

Bahrain Fires American Prof For Lecture Seen As Disrespectful Toward Islam

Bahrain's Higher Education Council (an arm of the Ministry of Education) has pressured a private University in Bahrain to fire an American professor for failing to show respect toward the Islamic religion and "noble Arab values". Yesterday's Media Line reports that the professor, who was lecturing on differences in world civilizations, displayed to her students a photo of a man wearing torn clothes with "Prophet Muhammad" written on them.

McCreary Injunctions Made Permanent, But With Leave To Litigate Further

A Kentucky federal district judge on Tuesday tied up some loose ends in the McCreary County Ten Commandments case that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005. (See prior posting.) In that case, the Supreme Court upheld a preliminary injunction against two counties prohibiting their courthouse displays of the 10 Commandments as part of a "Foundations of American Law and Government Display." Yesterday's Louisville Courier-Journal reports that now the district court has made those injunctions permanent. However the district court also said that the counties could argue for a lifting of the injunctions based on resolutions they passed in 2007 declaring that the document displays are strictly educational, and not religious.

Azerbaijan Requires Prior Approval For All Religious Literature

Forum18 yesterday reports on censorship of religious materials by Azerbaijan. The State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations maintains a list of banned books, but will not make it public. Government spokesman Aliheidar Zulfikarov rejected the claim that required prior approval for all religious literature is censorship. He said that the Committee "merely checks" to see which books are "not appropriate" for distribution.

Copts In Egypt Split Over US Congress Support For Their Religious Freedom

In June, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf introduced H. Res 1303, calling on the government of Egypt to respect human rights, and freedom of religion and expression. A portion of the resolution focused on Egypt's discrimination against Coptic Christians. Yesterday the Assyrian International News Agency reported that there is a split among Copts in Egypt on whether the U.S. should be intervening on this issue. Bishop Morqos of Shubra El-Kheima said: "We will deal with our problems internally. America should, and will have to seek the advice of the Coptic Church in Egypt before any resolution is passed in Congress."

IOC Rules Create Issue For U.S. Athletes On Religious Expression

Yesterday's Washington Post reports that many U.S. athletes competing in the Olympics plan to display their religious faith publicly during their sporting event by a prayer or a gesture toward the sky, despite concerns by both the government of China and the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic charter prohibits "political, religious or racial propaganda" at "any Olympic sites, venues or other areas." In May, the IOC issued a statement intended to clarify this prohibition. It said: "The conduct of participants at all sites, areas and venues includes all actions, reactions, attitudes or manifestations of any kind by a person or group of persons, including but not limited to their look, external appearance, clothing, gestures, and written or oral statements. As in all Olympic Games, such conduct must also, of course, comply with the laws of the host state." The U.S. Olympic Committee give no instructions one way or the other to American athletes on the issue.

7th Circuit Dismisses Challenge To VA Chaplain Program On Standing Grounds

In Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Nicholson, (7th Cir., Aug. 5, 2008), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed for lack of taxpayer standing a challenge to aspects of the Department of Veterans Affairs Chaplain Service. Plaintiffs alleged that the focus of the Chaplain service on clinical care which integrates spirituality and religion into VA treatment programs violates the Establishment Clause. The court held:

Freedom From Religion's lawsuit ... is not predicated ... on the notion that Congress appropriated money from federal taxpayers expressly for the creation of a clinical chaplaincy. Instead, Freedom From Religion simply is challenging the executive branch's approach to veterans' healthcare and the manner in which the executive, in its discretion, uses the services of its chaplain personnel. Allowing taxpayer standing under these circumstances would subvert the delicate equilibrium and separation of powers that the Founders envisioned and that the Supreme Court has found to inform the standing inquiry.

In the case, the trial court had reached the merits and held that the VA's holistic treatment program serves a valid secular purpose. (See prior posting.) [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]

French Satirist's Firing for Anti-Semitism Raises Free Speech Questions

In France, the firing of a columnist by the satirical weekly paper Charlie Hebdo has created a flood of debate over free speech versus anti-Semitism. AFP reported yesterday that Maurice Sinet, who publishes cartoons and columns under the name Siné, was fired by the newspaper after he refused to apologize for a column about Jean Sarkozy, son of France's President Nicolas Sarkozy. The President's son is engaged to Jessica Sibaoun-Darty whose family founded Darty, a large French retail chain. In a July 2 column, Siné wrote that Jean Sarkozy "has just said he intends to convert to Judaism before marrying his fiancee, who is Jewish, and the heiress to the founders of Darty. He'll go far, that kid." A Charlie Hebdo editor said that these lines "could be interpreted as drawing a link between conversion to Judaism and social success," reinforcing an old stereotype of Jews as wealthy. The Guardian on Sunday, reporting on the controversy, says that Siné had no evidence that Sarkozy intended to convert. It also says that the column was uncontroversial until a radio commentator several days later referred to it as anti-Semitic.

In an open letter in Le Monde, 20 writers and politicians have defended Charlie Hebdo's decision to fire Siné. However many other writers and artists, as well as 8,000 people who have signed an online petition, are backing Siné. In 1985 Sine was convicted of inciting racial hatred because of anti-Semitic remarks for which he later apologized.

Bush Will Not Make Dramatic Human Rights Statement During Olympics Visit

Yesterday's New York Times reports that President Bush, on his trip to China for the Olympics, will not make the kind of dramatic gesture to protest lack of religious freedom in China that some are urging. (See prior posting.) The White House considered having Bush attend a worship service at an underground "house church", but Chinese authorities rejected the proposal. Indeed pastors and other activists with whom Bush might have met have been ordered by Chinese authorities to leave Beijing during the President's visit. The White House has also rejected Bush's giving a confrontational speech on human rights, seeing it as insulting to China and unlikely to be broadcast to the Chinese public. Instead, on Sunday Bush will worship at the officially registered Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Church. Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said that this is "not an affirmation of religious freedom. It's an affirmation of government-controlled religion."

Malaysian Appellate Court Avoids Deciding On Right To Renounce Islam

The Court of Appeal sitting in Putrajaya, the federal administrative center in Malaysia, has used a technicality to reject a plea by a Muslim convert that she be permitted to renounce Islam and return to the practice of her original Christian faith. Malaysia's Star reports today that, in a 2-1 decision, the appellate court held that the lower court had no jurisdiction over the suit brought by Lim Yoke Khoon because no person by that name exists any longer. Lim changed her name to Noorashikin Lim binti Abdullah after she converted to Islam. This decision allowed the court to avoid passing on the claim by Lim that under Article 11 of Malaysia's Constitution she has the right to renounce Islam.

Texas Back In Court Over Some FLDS Children

In San Angelo, Texas, state Child Protective Services is back in court in connection with children of FLDS Church members. Yesterday's Dallas News and San Angelo Standard Times report on developments. CPS wants to remove eight children who were among the hundreds returned to FLDS mothers in May after the Texas Supreme Court found that CPS lacked a sufficient basis to place the children in temporary custody of the state. (See prior posting.) The children who are the subject of the new motion are from four families. In each case, the mothers involved refuse to agree to keep the children away from birth fathers, close relatives or former husbands who have either married underage girls or permitted underage daughters to marry older men. One of the children involved was married to former sect leader Warren Jeffs. Three others are children of current FLDS bishop and ranch leader Merril Jessop. The state has also asked the court to dismiss the cases of 32 children "where there is no evidence of underage marriages in the family."

India's Supreme Court Permits Educational Set-Asides For Muslims

The Times of India reports that on Monday, a panel of India's Supreme Court upheld implementation by the state of Andhra Pradesh of its Reservation in Admissions of Muslims in Educational Institutions Act, 2007. The law sets aside 4% of the seats in various college programs for Muslims. While India's Constitution (Art. 15) prohibits religious discrimination, the Court said this quota was justified because of the social and educational backwardness of the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh. The Constitution permits states to make "special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens." However the Court's decision is subject to the outcome in other pending cases challenging the constitutionality of the 2007 law creating the set-asides.

Court Rejects Equitable Relief In Inmate's Request To Prevent Autopsy

In Arthur v. Allen, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58167 (SD AL, July 31, 2008), an Alabama federal district court refused to grant a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction to a death row inmate seeking to prevent the state from performing an autopsy on his body after his execution. Convicted murderer Thomas Arthur claimed the autopsy would violate his sincerely held religious beliefs. Arthur's execution date has been repeatedly delayed for over ten years as various challenges have been filed, and in 2007 his daughter unsuccessfully sought an order from the court to bar an autopsy on her father's body after his execution. (See prior posting.) The current lawsuit was filed by Arthur just days before his then-execution date (which was subsequently again delayed). The court denied Arthur's request on both equitable and statute of limitations grounds. It said:

Arthur suddenly invokes the equitable power of this Court, just two days before the scheduled execution, seeking to restrain the State, without a full hearing on the merits, from performing on autopsy on his body. The timing of this action bears the unmistakable taint of an ambush, an exercise in eleventh-hour gamesmanship with the intent to procure an unfair strategic advantage over defendants. Such conduct is the very antithesis of the equitable, diligent, good-faith, vigilant conduct required of a litigant seeking equitable relief.

In addition the court held that the statute of limitations for filing a claim under 42 USC 1983 had run, holding that even though Arthur seeks prospective relief, his cause of action accrued "not at the time of the autopsy, but when the facts which would support a cause of action should have been apparent to a person with a reasonably prudent regard for his rights."

9th Circuit Hears Church's Challenge To Montana Election Finance Reporting Law

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church v. Unsworth, a challenge to Montana's election campaign reporting laws. The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices had ruled that the church should have reported its support of activities in 2004 to get voters to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage. (See prior posting.) Last Saturday's Helena Record sets out background information on the dispute. An audio recording of oral arguments in the case is available online from the 9th Circuit.