Ads On Donations From Atheists Continue In North Carolina Senate Race

As previously reported, North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole created substantial controversy by running an ad against Kay Hagan, her opponent in Tuesday's election, alleging that Hagan took a contribution from supporters of the Godless American PAC. Hagan ran a counter-ad and filed a defamation suit. (See prior posting.) McClatchy Newspapers today report that now Dole is running a second ad (video clip) that includes an announcer asking: "If Godless Americans threw a party in your honor, would you go?" Dole says she is not questioning Hagan's faith, just her associations. Dole also filed a motion to dismiss Hagan's lawsuit as frivolous. According to the AP, Hagan says she wants to talk about the issues, and the ads are a distraction from the race. Rev. Sekinah Hamlin, president of the N.C. Council of Churches, strongly criticized Dole's ads attacking Hagan, who is a Sunday school teacher at a Presbyterian church.

VA High Court Approves Tax Exemption For Upscale Retirement Community

In Virginia Baptist Homes, Inc. v. Botetourt County, (VA Sup. Ct., Oct. 31, 2008), the Virginia Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision, held that the upscale retirement community, The Glebe, owned by Virginia Baptist Homes, is entitled to a property tax exemption under legislation that granted VBH an exemption for any of its property used exclusively for non-profit religious or benevolent purposes. The dissenters argued that the property is not used for benevolent purposes since all residents pay for 100% of their care, and that it is not used for religious purposes because it is open to anyone, regardless of religious beliefs, and staff are not required to be of any particular religious belief. WDBJ7 News reported on the decision yesterday. (See prior related posting.)

Tax Incentives By Tennessee County For Bible Park Questioned

Last May, Tennessee's Attorney General issued an opinion ruling that state law permits the use of public funds to support the development of Bible Park USA, but left open the question of whether public funding for the theme park would violate the Establishment Clause of the federal constitution. (See prior posting.) Now that plans for the theme park are moving ahead, others are raising the Constitutional questions, according to today’s Tennessean. The ACLU of Tennessee has asked Wilson County for copies of the application for assistance and correspondence relating to the Bible Park along with copies of all applications for tax increment financing filed with the county over the last ten years. ACLU is seeking to determine whether similar tax incentives are available to all, or whether county officials acted to promote religion in dealing with the Bible Park.

Vermont Candidate Places Anti-Semitic Statements In State Voters' Guide

Vermont law (17 V.S.A. § 2810) directs Vermont's Secretary of State to publish a Statewide Candidate Information Publication that contains photos, biographical sketches and position statements submitted by candidates for statewide and federal office. Today's Rutland Herald reports that the position statement by independent candidate for governor, Cris Ericson, in this year's publication (full text) has raised controversy because of anti-Semitic statements in her rambling essay. Ericson, citing verses from the Biblical book of Leviticus, says in part:

Are any of the people, in charge of organizations holding candidate forums and debates, Jewish? Some Jews allegedly discriminate against Disabled Vermonters. Some Jewish Doctors, Social Workers, Police, and Housing Authority Administrators allegedly "talk down" to Disabled People.... Jews have no right to impose their religious Law of discrimination against Disabled People when they receive state and/or federal funding for Police, Housing Authority, Medicaid, Medicare, and organizations holding candidate debates and forums.

Before publishing this year's booklet, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz asked Vermont's attorney general whether she could edit out the offending statements. She was told that the law authorizing the publication, as well as First Amendment speech protections, preclude editing of candidates' statements.

For Halloween, British Government Asked To Pardon 16th to 18th Century Witches

Marking Halloween, Britain's Justice Secretary Jack Straw will be presented with a petition today seeking a symbolic royal pardon for individuals who were punished for witchcraft in Britain between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Witchcraft Act of 1541 made witchcraft a felony punishable by death. Today's London Guardian reports that the petition (full text), initiated by the family which operates the costume firm Angels, sets out the facts of eight historical cases as examples of the miscarriages of justice before Britain passed the 1735 Witchraft Act that eliminated capital punishment and instead treated witchcraft as a type of fraud that could lead only to a fine and imprisonment. Earlier this year, the Swiss government pardoned Anna Goeldi, the last person executed in Europe for witchcraft.

AU Asks IRS To Investigate NC Baptist Convention Speech By Michelle Obama

In yet another of its growing list of complaints filed with the Internal Revenue Service, Americans United yesterday sent a letter (full text) to the IRS asking it to investigate a meeting of the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina this week at which Michelle Obama spoke. According to AU, her appearance "took on the trappings of a campaign rally." In its press release announcing its action, AU said that the event was not the type of non-partisan activity that non-profit organizations such as churches are permitted by the tax code to host. The website for AU's Project Fair Play lists over 95 complaints that it has filed against churches and other non-profit religious groups for impermissible endorsements of political candidates since 1996.

Las Cruces Lawsuit Ends

Last Friday, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for reconsideration of its decision in Weinbaum v. City of Las Cruces, according to today's Las Cruces Sun-News. The decision handed down last month found no Establishment Clause problem with Las Cruces, New Mexico's using three Latin crosses as a symbol of the city and as part of the logo for the school district. (See prior posting.) Plaintiffs Paul Weinbaum and Martin Boyd say they will not seek further review from the U.S. Supreme Court, citing the costs of an appeal and the current philosophy of the Supreme Court.

Arizona Supreme Court Will Review School Voucher Decision

Phoenix's East Valley Tribune reported yesterday that the Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to grant review in Cain v. Horne, (Case No. CV-08-0189-PR) (text of order). In the case, a state appellate court found that two school voucher programs enacted by the state legislature in 2006 violate the Arizona Constitution by aiding private and sectarian schools. (See prior posting.)

Israel Supreme Court Permits Museum Construction Over Old Muslim Cemetery

Israel's Supreme Court yesterday ruled that it would not block construction of a Museum of Tolerance on land in Jerusalem, despite objections by Muslims that the proposed building will cover part of an ancient Muslim ceremony. The International Herald Tribune reports that the court approved plans of the U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center for the museum in part because Muslim groups raised no objections in 1960 when the city put a parking lot over part of the cemetery. The Court ordered the Museum to create a plan with the state Antiquities Authority to either remove human remains for reburial or to build a barrier between the museum foundation and the ground below to avoid disturbing graves. The cemetery is 300 to 400 years old, but fell out of use after 1948. A portion was sold in the 1930's with approval of a top Muslim cleric for construction of a hotel. The Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a release applauding the decision. (See prior related posting.)

Three Algerian Christians Acquitted

BosNewsLife and Compass Direct both yesterday reported on the acquittal in a court in Algeria of three Christians who had been charged with blaspheming Islam and threatening a member of their congregation who re-converted to Islam. The ruling by a court in Ain El-Turck apparently came because of a lack of evidence against Youssef Ourahmane, Rachid Seghir and Hamid Ramdani. Responding more broadly to international pressure, in the last few months Algeria has eased its campaign against evangelical Christians who have often been charged under a 2006 presidential decree that limits worship services to government-approved buildings and prohibits proselytizing Muslims. (See prior related posting.)

Religion Remains Important In This Year's Political Campaigns

Religion has played an important part in the upcoming elections for many months. As election day draws near, several news stories attest to its continuing role. At a conference titled Religion and Freedom: The United States and Europe, held in Rome on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon. talked about the importance of religion in U.S. politics. As Catholic News Service reports, Glendon told her audience that U.S. public officials speak openly of their faith in a way that English, French or Italian candidates would not.

The electorate has become part of the conversation. Catholic News Service yesterday reported on a 58-page booklet authored by Boston physician, Dr. Patrick Whelan, titled The Catholic Case for Obama.

In North Carolina, a different kind of argument over religion is playing out in the heated U.S. Senatorial campaign. Fox News yesterday reported that incumbent Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole is accusing her Democratic challenger, Kay Hagan, of of attending a "secret fundraiser" sponsored by the Godless Americans PAC. The ad (YouTube video) says of Hagan: "She hid from cameras. Took godless money. What did Kay Hagan promise in return?" Hagan has demanded that Dole take down the ad, but the Dole campaign says the ad will remain.

UPDATE: Here is Kay Hagan's ad respoonding to Dole's charges. And the AP reported that on Wednesday Hagan filed a lawsuit in Wake County (NC) Superior Court accusing Dole of defamation and libel, charging that Dole's ad is injuring Hagan's good name and reputation.

Three Lawsuits of Interest Are Settled

Settlements were announced this week in three unrelated cases-- all involving church-state or religious freedom issues. In Hempstead, New York, National Wholesale Liquidators Inc. agreed to an injunction and assessment of $225,000 in damages in a lawsuit brought by the EEOC charging it with discrimination by one of its store managers. According to IndiaWest, the manager was charged with sexual harassment and taunting of nine South Asian employees about their national origin and religion. He told one female Sikh employee to remove her turban so she would appear sexier.

In Pennsylvania, Shippensburg University has agreed to change its rules in order to settle a lawsuit by a student group, the Christian Fellowship. In February, student senate invoked university rules to object to the group's requirement that its members be Christians and its president to be a man. Tuesday's Christian Post reports that a similar lawsuit was settled in 2004. (See prior related posting.)

In Wyandot County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court, members of the St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Salem Township, whose rural Ohio church was closed by the diocese, filed suit in 2006 to obtain control of the parish's funds and property. Yesterday's Toledo Blade reports that a settlement agreement has been reached under which the church building, meeting hall, and related property will be transferred to the non-profit St. Joseph-Salem Heritage Society which was formed by ex-parishioners to preserve the parish's history. The agreement places some restrictions on the Society's future use of the buildings.

International Catholic Group Issues Report On Religious Freedom

The Australian-based international Catholic charity, Aid To the Church In Need, last week issued its extensive 2008 Report on Religious Freedom in the World. The 544-page document reports on the state of religious freedom for Christians and for other religious groups in each country in the world. It also contains an Annex titled Worldwide Freedom of Religion--The Catholic Point of View.

ACN's Oct. 29 press release on the report says that religious worship is under attack in more than 60 countries. It concludes: "violations of freedom of worship take place increasingly less for ideological reasons and increasingly more often because of power games. The attempt to stop religious freedom is addressed above all at impoverishing States, maintaining the population in conditions of slavery. In other nations ... such as for example China, fear of opening to freedom of worship coincides with the fear of encouraging other freedoms."

The organization has also issued a shorter report (112 pages) titled Persecuted and Forgotten?, focusing on religious persecution in 30 countries.

11th Circuit Upholds County Legislative Prayers With Sectarian References

In Pelphrey v. Cobb County, Georgia, (11th Cir., Oct. 28, 2008), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the practice of the Cobb County Commission and the Cobb County Planning Commission to open their meetings with a prayer offered by local clergy or other members of the community, now invited randomly. The clergy have represented various faiths, and sometimes include in their prayers sectarian references. However the vast majority of clergy offering invocations have been Christian. Relying on the Supreme Court's decision in Marsh v. Chambers, the majority of the court held that county boards are not limited by the Establishment Clause to non-sectarian invocations so long as the prayers are not "exploited to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief."

The appellate court, however, agreed with the district court that the prayer policy of the Planning Commission during 2003-04 was unconstitutional because it excluded certain faiths from the list of potential invitees. It agreed that nominal damages could be awarded for the violation. The majority opinion was written by Judge William Pryor who, before joining the court, was attorney general of Alabama. In that role he was part of a high profile church-state controversy involving the removal of Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Judge Middlebrooks dissenting argued that the prayer policies of the county violate the Lemon test because they have both a religious purpose and effect and involve excessive entanglement of the state with religion. He argued further that the Marsh exception for legislative prayer should be limited to "invocations before the United States Congress and the state legislatures." He added:

I concur with the majority that judges, as representatives of the government, have no business editing or evaluating the content of prayer. However, I also believe that sponsorship of prayer by these commissions presents a similar, although less direct, danger. When state sponsored prayer is a perfunctory and sterile exercise marking the beginning of a commission agenda, religion becomes the casualty.

Americans United issued a press release criticizing the decision. Yesterday's Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer reported on the decision. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]

RLUIPA Does Not Protect Church Against Watershed Ordinance Restrictions

In Hope in the City, Inc. v. City of Austin, Texas, (WD TX, Oct. 20, 2008), a Texas federal district court held a church that was prevented from paving over additional parts of its property for a parking lot had failed to allege facts showing a substantial burden on its exercise of religion. The church had not explored a number of alternatives to the proposed lot. The court therefore rejected a challenge to application of the Save Our Springs watershed protection ordinance to the church. The church had claimed that RLUIPA and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act invalidated the city's refusal to allow it to construct the parking lot. Austin Legal yesterday reported on the decision. The court also rejected the church's claim that the proposed lot was protected under a "grandfather" clause, and rejected the church's procedural due process claim. (See prior related posting.)

NY High Court Upholds Rules On Free Water For Churches

In Matter of Brooklyn Assembly Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc. v Department of Envtl. Protection of the City of New York, (NY Ct. App., Oct. 28, 2008), New York's high court in a 4-3 decision upheld the New York City Water Board's interpretation of state and local statutes exempting places of public worship from various water and sewer charges. The Board only exempts that portion of a religious corporation's property in fact used for public worship, plus a single caretaker residence. Here the church, which contained a second caretaker's residence and two guest rooms as well, would need to separately meter those in order to obtains an exemption for the rest of the property. The dissenters argued that "the Department of Environmental Protection's ... unwritten rule - - that in order for the religious property to qualify for exemption pursuant to the Water Exemption Statute or the Sewer Ordinance it may not contain more than one caretaker residence on the property - - is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable..." [Thanks to J.J. Landa for the lead.]

First Execution by Shariah Court In Somalian Port City Carried Out

In the Somalian port of Kismayo, the first punishment under Shariah law since the Islamist al-Shabaab militia took control of the city in August has been carried out. Bloomberg.com reports that on Monday, 23-year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was executed by stoning after being convicted of committing adultery-- an offense to which she had confessed. A Shariah Court judge said that Duhulow was "happy with the punishment" under Islamic law.

City Sued Over National Day of Prayer Observance

In San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 24 atheist Patrick Greene filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the city from proclaiming next year's National Day of Prayer from the steps of City Hall. KSAT News reports Greene's argument-- the Day excludes non-Christians, and even some Christian denominations. Greene urges the court to find that this is an Establishment Clause violation, because it suggests government preference for one religion over another. Next year's National Day of Prayer is scheduled for May 7, 2009. (See prior related posting.)

Court Holds Ministerial Exception Inapplicable To Quaker Directorship Positions

In Leaphart v. American Friends Service Committee, (ED PA, Oct. 22, 2008), plaintiff charged racial discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in connection with the refusal by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to hire and/or interview him for four positions within the organization. According to a report in Monday's Legal Intelligencer, plaintiff Jerry Leaphart was a corporate lawyer who underwent a spiritual transformation and decided to move to a law practice that focused on social justice. He applied for positions as director of the Quaker United Nations Office; director of Quaker Affairs; associate director of AFSC's community relations unit; and director of affirmative action.

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

Alliance Defense Fund announced Monday that it is appealing the denial of a preliminary injunction in a sign ordinance case to the 9th Circuit. (Full text of Notice of Appeal.) In Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona, in 2007 an Arizona federal district court entered a stipulated preliminary injunction after the town agreed to change the ordinance that required signs about religious gatherings to be smaller in size, fewer in number, and displayed for less time than similar non-religious signs. (See prior posting.) However, according to ADF, the amended code still treats religious signs less favorably than others. Nevertheless last month an Arizona federal district court refused to issue a second preliminary injunction to bar enforcing the new ordinance against Gilbert's Good News Presbyterian Church. That denial is the subject of the appeal.