Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Evangelist Sues Challenging Florida City's Speech Permit Law
Monday, September 15, 2008
Church Cannot Raise Exempt Status As Defense In Tax Case
Controversial DVD On Radical Islam Distributed As Newspaper Insert
Yemeni Women React To Vice and Virtue Committee and Parliamentary Quotas
Islamic Panels In Britain Operating Under Arbitration Act
Tribe Says Use Permit Requirement For Powwow Violates Religious Freedom
Recent Articles of Interest
- Haider Ala Hamoudi, Book Review: Orientalism and 'The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State', (Middle East Law and Governance: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, Sept. 10, 2008).
- Robert A. Kahn, Are Muslims the New Catholics? Europe's Headscarf Laws in Comparative Historical Perspective, (U of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-26, Sept. 2, 2008).
- Patrick Macklem, Minority Rights in International Law, (July 1, 2008).
- Christopher C. Lund, Equal Liberty and Religious Exemptions: A Response to Eisgruber and Sager, (September 4, 2008).
- Frederic Megret, Canada Leading the Way? Reasonable Accommodation from the Standpoint of International Human Rights Law ('Le Canada a la pointe de la tolerance? L'accommodement raisonnable a l'aune du droit international des droits de la personne', (in LA RELIGION, LE DROIT ET LE RAISONNABLE, Jean-François Gaudreault-DesBiens, ed., Themis, Montreal, 2008.)
- Deborah Cantrell, Love of Neighbor as a Lawyerly Practice: Insights from Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist Traditions, (U of Colorado Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-21, Aug. 28, 2008).
- Frederic Megret, Frederic, A Cautionary Tale from the Crusades? War and Prisoners in Conditions of Normative Incommensurability , (Prisoners in War, in Sibylle Scheipers, (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2008.)
Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. XXIII, No. 2 (2007-08) has recently been published. (Table of Contents).
From SmartCILP:
- Robert Petit, Stuart Ford & Neha Jain, Exploring Critical Issues In Religious Genocide: Case Studies of Violence In Tibet, Iraq and Gujarat, 40 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 163-214 (2008).
- Mark D. Yochum, On Ledewitz (Reviewing Bruce Ledewitz, American Religious Democracy), 46 Duquesne Law Review 311-321 (2008).
Falklands Legislature Debates Religion Provisions In Draft Constitution
I can't be the only one that is slightly confused here. I would have brought a packed lunch if I had known we have a long way to go. I'm not even sure if we can define our present schools as being Christian schools. I just thought I'd throw that in.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Camboida Will Permit Muslim Students To Wear Headscarves
Recently Available Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Soder v. Williamson, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68513 (MD PA, Aug. 7, 2008), a Pennsylvania federal district court held that neither the 1st Amendment nor RLUIPA were violated when an inmate's religious objections to taking a TB test were accommodate by giving him a chest X-ray after holding him in segregated confinement for 24 days.
In Hankins v. NYS Department of Correctional Services, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68978 (ND NY, March 10, 2008), a New York federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of a Muslim prisoner's complaint that on one occasion authorities erroneously refused to allow him to take a "purification" shower and then participate in a weekly Muslim religious service.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Pope Addresses French Intellectuals On Theology and European Culture
The Pope in Paris yesterday gave a speech which will be remembered as one of his most significant, not just because of its content – which has recast the current European thinking about freedom and faith – but because of its historic context. It was made just a few hours after a twice-divorced, lapsed Catholic president came together with a pope to tell the French people that the mindset behind the 1905 laws disestablishing religion and banning it from schools is, well, passé; and that secularism should stop shouting at religion and start listening to it.In his address (full text in English translation), the Pope said that he would focus on the origins of western theology and the roots of European culture. In concluding his lengthy remarks, he said:
A purely positivistic culture which tried to drive the question concerning God into the subjective realm, as being unscientific, would be the capitulation of reason, the renunciation of its highest possibilities, and hence a disaster for humanity, with very grave consequences. What gave Europe’s culture its foundation – the search for God and the readiness to listen to him – remains today the basis of any genuine culture.According to Whispers in the Loggia, representatives of the French Muslim community attended the Pope's address. Before the session, the Pope met briefly with leaders of the local Jewish community. (Apparently this was in lieu of their attending his address, which took place after the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath). Benedict said that the church "feels obligated to respect the covenant made by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," and he wished those in attendance "Shabbat Shalom". (See prior related posting.)
Settlement Reached In Suit By Interfaith Group Feeding Homeless In California Park
Saudi Judicial Head Says Islamic Law OK's Killing of TV Broadcasters
UPDATE: The Saudi government is embarrased by Sheik al-Lihendan's remarks, according to Sunday's The National. Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al Obaikan, a popular moderate religious scholar who is an adviser at the Justice Ministry, rejected the remarks, saying that they will encourage those who are misguided and terrorists. Al-Linhendan clarified his remarks, saying that he was referring only to television broadcasts of black magic and sorcery, and that execution could take place only after a judicial process. Al-Linhendan's origional remarks were apparently made some time ago, but were featured last week on Al Arabiya satellite TV channel. UPDATE2: Thursday's International Herald Tribune reported that Arabs across the ideological spectrum are denouncing al-Linhendan's remarks, fearing that they will encourage terrorism and attacks on TV station personnel.
Suit Challenges USDA's Animal Tagging On Religious Freedom Grounds
UPDATE: On Nov. 13, the USDA filed 56-page memorandum (full text) in support of its motion to dismiss plaintiffs' claims against USDA. It argues lack of standing and compliance with rulemaking requirements. It also alleges that any burden on religious freedom was caused by co-defendant, the Michigan Department of Agriculture, not by USDA. [Thanks to Jean Dudley via Religionlaw listserv for the lead.]
Friday, September 12, 2008
10th Circuit: No Establishment Clause Violation In Las Cruces Logo
Here, the City’s name translates as "The Crosses" and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the City has opted to identify itself using a symbol that includes crosses.... We recognize that a government’s display of the Latin or Christian cross, and especially three such crosses, raises legitimate Establishment Clause concerns. Nevertheless, we affirm the district court’s decisions because Las Cruces’s unique name and history and the record in this case adequately establish according to requisite standards that the City and District's challenged symbols were not intended to endorse Christianity and do not have the effect of doing so.Today's Las Cruces Sun-News reports on the decision. (See prior related postings 1, 2.)
Pope In France Calls for New Reflection On Laicite
The Pope's visit is timed to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Mary to a 14-year old peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, in Lourdes. Later today, before traveling to Lourdes, Benedict XVI will speak to some 700 leading intellectuals at the College des Bernardins in Paris. America-- the National Catholic Weekly earlier this week predicted that this would be "one of the great speeches of his pontificate."Many people, here in France as elsewhere, have reflected on the relations between Church and State. Indeed, Christ had already offered the basic criterion upon which a just solution to the problem of relations between the political sphere and the religious sphere could be found. He does this when, in answer to a question, he said: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s" (Mk 12:17).
The Church in France currently benefits from a "regime of freedom". Past suspicion has been gradually transformed into a serene and positive dialogue that continues to grow stronger.... You yourself, Mr President, have used the expression "laïcité positive" to characterize this more open understanding.
At this moment in history when cultures continue to cross paths more frequently, I am firmly convinced that a new reflection on the true meaning and importance of laïcité is now necessary. In fact, it is fundamental, on the one hand, to insist on the distinction between the political realm and that of religion in order to preserve both the religious freedom of citizens and the responsibility of the State towards them; and, on the other hand, to become more aware of the irreplaceable role of religion for the formation of consciences and the contribution which it can bring to—among other things—the creation of a basic ethical consensus within society.
UPDATE: Zenit on Friday reported on President Nicolas Sarkozy's remarks at the welcoming program for the Pope. Sarkozy said: "It would be crazy to deprive ourselves of religion; [it would be] a failing against culture and against thought. For this reason, I am calling for a positive secularity..." Saturday's Financial Times reports that Julien Dray, a Socialist party spokesman, criticized Sarkozy for not keeping religion a private matter.