Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
City Sued Over National Day of Prayer Observance
Court Holds Ministerial Exception Inapplicable To Quaker Directorship Positions
A Pennsylvania federal district court rejected AFSC's assertion of the "ministerial exception" as a defense in the lawsuit. First it found that defendant had waived the defense. However, even if it was not waived, the exception would not apply because the positions at issue were not pastoral or ministerial in nature. The court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment, holding that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to find that the reasons given for not hiring plaintiff were pretextual.
Appeal to 9th Circuit Filed In Arizona Town Sign Ordinance Case
Pope Speaks On Separation of Church and State
The Catholic Church is eager to share the richness of the Gospel's social message.... She carries out this mission fully aware of the respective autonomy and competence of Church and State. Indeed, we may say that the distinction between religion and politics is a specific achievement of Christianity and one of its fundamental historical and cultural contributions.
The Church is equally convinced that State and religion are called to support each other as they together serve the personal and social well-being of all. This harmonious cooperation between Church and State requires ecclesial and civic leaders to carry out their public duties with undaunted concern for the common good.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Legal Charges Against Anti-Scientology Group Members
Real Estate Agents Increasingly Use Faith Advertising
Court Rejects Challenge To Sikh Temple Election
Exclusion of Juror Wearing Dreadlocks Held Impermissible Under Batson
Fordham's Award To Justice Breyer Protested Because of His Abortion Votes
McCain Campaign In Nevada Handing Out Christian Voter Guides
FBI Releases 2007 Hate Crime Statistics
Monday, October 27, 2008
Conservative Religious Groups Working In Favor of California's Marriage Amendment
Group Urges Changes On 10th Anniversary of International Religious Freedom Act
UPDATE: To mark the anniversary, Pew Forum carries an interview with Allen Hertzke, author of a 2004 book on the birth and development of the international religious freedom movement, Freeing God's Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights.· Create ongoing program funding within the Office of International Religious Freedom to support deserving local organizations that monitor religious freedom abuses in their countries.
· Strengthen the role of the Office of International Religious Freedom in the State Department by having it report directly to the Secretary as was congressional intent, rather than remaining under the rubric of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
· Ensure the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom enjoys the full diplomatic and negotiating privileges of his rank, and has a more central role in shaping U.S. foreign policy, as called for in the act.
· Follow the recommendations of the act by naming a director-level individual in the National Security Council to oversee strategic religious liberty issues within the White House.
· Allow the federal U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to dissolve as scheduled in 2011, and hold in the meantime a Congressional oversight hearing to assess its performance.
Florida Church Ordered To Permit Member Inspection of Records
Israel's High Court Says Saturday Fencing Matches Discriminate Against Athlete
Recent Articles Of Interest
- Paolo Farah, The Influence of Confucianism on the Construction of the Chinese Political and Juridical System, in IDENTITA EUROPEA E POLITICHE MIGRATORIE, Giovanni Bombelli and Bruno Montanari, eds., pp. 193-226, (Vita e Pensiero, pp. 193-226, 2008).
- Christine Chambers Goodman, Beneath the Veil: Corollaries on Diversity and Critical Mass Scholarships from Rawls' Original Position on Justice, (Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2007.)
- Paul Horwitz, Churches as First Amendment Institutions: Of Sovereignty and Spheres, (Harvard Civil Rights- Civil Liberties Law Review, Forthcoming.)
From SmartCILP:
- Jose A. Lindgren Alves, Race and Religion in the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 42 University of South Florida Law Review 941-982 (2008).
- Virginia Hancock, "No-self" at Trial: How to Reconcile Punishing the Khmer Rouge for Crimes Against Humanity With Cambodian Buddhist Principles, 26 Wisconsin International Law Journal 87-129 (2008).
Teacher's ADA Claim Dismissed Under Ministerial Exception
Converts Not Complying With Indian State's Conversion Law
Recently Available Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Terrell v. Montalbano, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84260 (WD VA, Oct. 21, 2008), a Muslim prisoner complained that prison officials denied him a religious diet for six months so they could evaluate the sincerity of his religious beliefs. A Virginia federal district court dismissed plaintiff's First Amendment challenge to this, but permitted him to move ahead with his RLUIPA challenge.
In Morris v. Newland, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71875 (ED CA, Sept. 22, 2008), a California federal district court adopted recommendations of a federal magistrate (2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84506)and dismissed free exercise and RLUIPA claim by a Muslim prisoner who objected that he was required to expose his naked body to female correctional officers. The court found that plaintiff's history of administrative discipline for inappropriate sexual behavior in the presence of female correctional officers defeated his claim.
In Martin v. Roche, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84603 (D CA, Sept. 8, 2008), a California federal magistrate judge rejected a claim by a Muslim inmate that his free exercise rights were violated when prison authorities denied him a copy of the Quran and a religious diet when he was placed in administrative segregation.
In Horacek v. Burnett, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84903 (ED MI, Aug. 19, 2008), a Michigan federal magistrate judge recommended that a Jewish prisoner be permitted to move to trial with most of his free Exercise, RLUIPA and infliction of emotional distress claims growing out of authorities' refusal to permit him to enter the Department of Corrections kosher meal program.
In Subil v. Sheriff of Porter County, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85499 (ND IN, Oct. 22, 2008), a Jewish prisoner claimed that various restrictions infringed his rights under RLUIPA and the first amendment. An Indiana federal district court rejected his challenge to limitations on possessing certain religious items. While it found some merit in his complaint about access to a kosher diet and sabbath observance, it held that plaintiff could not get injunctive relief since he was no longer held in the jail about which he complained, and that he could recover only nominal damages for the violations if he ultimately succeeds.