Canadian Marriage Commissioner Sues Province Over Same-Sex Marriage Mandate

In Canada last May, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal held that government marriage commissioner Orville Nichols may not discriminate against same-sex couples in performing civil marriages. (See prior posting.) Not only is Nichols appealing the Tribunal's adverse decision but, according to the Regina Leader-Post, he also filed a separate suit last Monday against the government seeking to force a change in the rules that he says infringe his free exercise of religion. Saskatchewan Party Justice Minister Don Morgan said he would have preferred to grandfather in existing commissioners who had religious objections to performing same-sex marriages, but now that the Human Rights Tribunal has spoken the government must support its ruling. Morgan, however, has written all commissioners to tell them that they do have the option to surrender their civil marriage certificate and obtain only a certificate allowing them to perform religious marriages.

Kazakhstan's Parliament Passes Controversial Amendment To Religion Law

Kazakhstan's Parliament on Wednesday gave final approval to restrictive amendments to the country's Religion Law. The bill would also amend the Code of Administrative Offenses and certain other laws. The controversial bill now goes to President Nursultan Nazarbaev who must decide whether or not to sign it into law. A report by Forum 18 published on Wednesday describes the effect of the amendments:

[T]he Law would for the first time explicitly ban unregistered religious activity. It would also ban anyone from sharing their beliefs without both the written backing of a registered religious association and also personal state registration as a missionary. It would require permission from both parents for children to attend any religious event.

Small "religious groups" – the lowest level of registered community - would only be authorised to carry out religious activity with existing members and would not be allowed to maintain places of worship "open to a wide access". Nor would they be allowed to conduct missionary activity. Apart from a few personal items, all religious literature imported into the country would require approval through a "religious expert assessment".

Penalties for holding religious services, conducting charitable work, importing, publishing or distributing religious literature or building or opening places of worship in violation of "demands established in law" would be increased. Repeat "offences" – if the current draft is adopted – would lead to a religious community being banned.

Radio Free Europe points out that the passage of the bill by the Majilis-- the lower house of the country's legislature-- came only hours after government officials met with experts from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and agreed to allow OSCE to review the latest draft of the proposed law.

Netherlands Will Extend Proposed Burka Ban To Higher Education

In the Netherlands, Education Minister Ronald Plasterk has told Parliament that a planned law to ban wearing of the burka and niqab in elementary and secondary schools (see prior posting) will be extended to institutions of higher education as well. These are garments that cover the body and the face which are worn by Muslim women. According to a report from AFP on Wednesday, the step was taken because of pressure from a majority in Parliament even though the original justification for the ban was that children needed to be able to see the other person's face in order to learn proper communication. The ban would apply to students, faculty, parents and custodial workers. An Education Ministry spokesman said the law would affect only a handful of people in higher education in the country, and that since it was not the ministry's idea, it could not explain the reasoning behind the extension of the ban.

Brooklyn Chabad Rabbi and Wife Among Hostages Held In Mumbai; Update-- Reported Killed

One of the ten sites attacked by terrorists in Mumbai (India) yesterday and today is Nariman House which houses Mumbai's Chabad Lubavitch headquarters. (Scotsman). BBC News reports that Chabad's main emissary in the city, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, is being held hostage in the building which is now surrounded by police. NY1 News says Holtzberg is from Brooklyn, NY. WLS-TV Chicago says that Rabbi Holtzberg is a U.S. citizen and his wife Rivka is an Israeli. (Photo of rabbi and his wife.) The New York Times on Thursday posted an article describing the Chabad House operated by the Holtzbergs as a magnet for Jewish tourists and business men visiting Mumbai, as well as for Iraqi and Indian Jews living there. The article goes on to describe the reaction to Mumbai events in Crown Heights, Brooklyn where Chabad is headquartered and where Rabbi Holtzberg grew up. The Wall Street Journal, however, says that the Chabad center in Mumbai was not widely known, so the terrorists who seized it must have been familiar with the area.

Arutz Sheva reports that Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife are unconscious in Nariman House, as are several other Israelis held in the building. The Guardian reports that Holtzberg's 2-year old son was gotten out of the building by a woman who works as a cook at the Chabad center. The Jerusalem Post reports that 8 people were freed from Chabad House on Thursday evening (Indian time) in a commando operation. The identity of those freed is unclear.

Despite reports in the U.S. and British media that the terrorists were looking primarily for those with U.S. and British passports, Haaretz reports 20 to 30 Israelis are among the dozens of hostages held at the Trident-Oberoi hotel. IANS reported Thursday afternoon (U.S. time) that Israel is preparing to send paramedic and rescue personnel to Mumbai to help in the release of Rabbi Holtzberg and seven others being held at the Nariman House Chabad headquarters. On Thursday night (US time), BBC News reported that Indian security forces had begun an attack on Nariman House to capture or kill the gunmen inside and free the hostages.

On Friday morning (US time), Haaretz was reporting that the bodies of 5 hostages were found inside Nariman House and that the two terrorists there were also killed. The identity of the deceased hostages is not yet clear. Arutz Sheva reports that the dead-- murdered by their captors-- include Rabbi Holtzberg, his wife Rivka, and two women who had been trapped with them. London's Evening Standard confirms this and says that there is uncertainty about the fate of 4 other that were being held there. [Ths posting is being updated on a rolling basis. Last updated 9:55 am EST, 11/28]

Indiana Rescinds Rule Barring Vanity Plates Mentioning God

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has decided to rescind a rule that took effect earlier this month banning the issue of vanity license plates that refer to race, religion, deity, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or political party or affiliation. According to an AP report yesterday, the BMV will go back to its former policy of deciding on a case-by-case basis whether a requested personalized plate "carries a connotation offensive to good taste and decency or would be misleading." BMV Commissioner Ron Stiver says a letter will be sent to some 60 applicants whose plate applications were rejected because the requested combination of numbers and letters mention God. They will now get a chance to reapply for 2009 plates. A number of these applicants are like Max and Peggy Hatfield who missed the automatic renewal date for their existing plates, and were then refused plates reading "God Can." (See prior related posting.)

City Sued For Encouraging Removal of Billboard Promoting Atheism

The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit in a California federal district court yesterday against the city of Rancho Cucamonga (CA). The complaint (full text) alleges that the city violated the Establishment Clause and free speech guaranties when its actions led a sign company to remove a billboard ad that had been paid for by FFRF. The city passed on to the sign company a number of complaints from the public about the billboard that read "Imagine No Religion." (See prior posting.) The complaint argues that city, by its actions, gave the appearance of endorsing religion and interfered with speech on the basis of its content. FFRF issued a release yesterday announcing the filing of the lawsuit, and yesterday's Contra Costa Times reports on the suit.

2nd Circuit Says Village Is Bound By Its Zoning Case Settlement

In Congregation Mischknois Lavier Yakov, Inc. v. Board of Trustees for the Village of Airmont, New York, (2d Cir., Nov. 26, 2008), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an attempt by the the village of Airmont (NY) to back out of a 2005 zoning settlement it had agreed to, and which had been embodied in a federal district court order. At issue is the agreement to allow the building of a yeshiva (Jewish religious school), along with a dormitory for 170 students and 30 apartments. The village argued that the settlement was void as contrary to state law since it did not permit local residents to participate in decisions regarding the zoning variance. The court concluded that the village's due process rights had not been violated by the settlement. Today's Lower Hudson Valley Journal News reports on the decision.

Malaysia's Anti-Yoga Fatwa Raises Controversy Over Jurisdiction

A controversial ruling issued last week by Malaysia's National Fatwa Council is now creating a jurisdictional controversy in the country. Yesterday's Red Orbit and today's Malaysian Insider report on developments. The focus is a ruling telling Muslims to stop practicing yoga, out of fear that it could lead them to deviate from Islamic teachings. (See prior posting.) However, Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi stepped in and told his countrymen that they could continue the popular practice, so long as they did not accompany yoga exercises with Hindu mantras. This, in turn, however led to objections from Sultans in various Malaysian states that it is the Sultans and the King that are in charge of religious affairs in the country, not the Prime Minister.

The Sultans in an unusual move though also criticized the Fatwa Council, saying that any fatwa on public matters should be brought to the Conference of Rulers before being issued. Brunei News yesterday interviewed Malaysian constitutional law expert Prof. Shad Saleem Faruqi who said that the Conference of Rulers has the right to discus any issue of national policy, but that it is not required to vet every fatwa.

The fatwa on yoga follows another controversial one barring Muslim women from wearing trousers on the theory that they might become sexually active "tomboys". Rulings by the National Fatwa Council are only advisory until they are published in the official gazette for each state. Only then do they become binding law. So far the fatwa on yoga has not been gazetted anywhere.

President's Thanksgiving Proclamation and Thoughts On It

Last week, President Bush issued the Thanksgiving Day 2008 Proclamation, declaring today to be a National Day of Thanksgiving. The Proclamation begins:

Thanksgiving is a time for families and friends to gather together and express gratitude for all that we have been given, the freedoms we enjoy, and the loved ones who enrich our lives. We recognize that all of these blessings, and life itself, come not from the hand of man but from Almighty God.

Author Susan Jacoby comments on the Proclamation in a posting at Newsweek titled Thanksgiving Proclamations: Cracks In The Wall Of Separation. Meanwhile, taking a somewhat different tack, The Becket Fund republished an op-ed written 11 years ago by Seamus Hasson titled Forgetting the Holy: The Feast of the Intransitive Verb. It suggests that by referring to the day as a time "to give thanks", we avoid focusing on who we are thanking.

Obama, Thanksgiving, and Church

ABC News reports that President-elect Barack Obama, along with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, spent an hour on the day before Thanksgiving handing out bags of food to the needy at Chicago's St. Columbanus Catholic Church. This is Obama's third year of volunteering before Thanksgiving at a local food bank.

Meanwhile earlier this week, Politico reported that on the three Sundays since the election, Obama has not attended church services. Instead he has used his Sundays to work out at a Chicago gym. An Obama aide say that the Obamas have been concerned about the disruption that their visit would cause, as well as possibly unwanted attention for a church not used to Presidential visits. The aide said that the Obamas "look forward to finding a church community in Washington, D.C." The Obamas, of course, resigned from the large Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in May in a dispute over views of its controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright. (See prior posting.)

Florida Trial Court Overturns Gay Adoption Ban; Rejects Religious Objections

In In re Adoption of John Doe and James Doe, (Miami-Dade FL Cir. Ct., Nov. 25, 2008), a Florida state trial court held that a Florida statute barring "any person [who] is a homosexual" from adopting children (FL Stat. 63.042(3)) violates "equal protection rights guaranteed by Article I, § 2 of the Florida Constitution without satisfying a rational basis. Moreover, the statutory exclusion defeats a child’s right to permanency as provided by federal and state law pursuant to the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997." In its 53-page decision, the court approved the adoption of two young boys by Frank Martin Gill. He and his partner have been caring for them as foster parents since late 2004.

As emphasized in a report by Florida Baptist Witness, the court discredited much of the psychological testimony of the two experts for the state because of its religious underpinnings. Assessing the testimony of Dr. George Reker, a psychologist and Baptist minister, the court said: "Dr. Rekers' beliefs are motivated by his strong ideological and theological convictions that are not consistent with the science. Based on his testimony and demeanor at trial, the court can not consider his testimony to be credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy." Another witness for the state, Kansas State University Professor Dr. Walter Schumm, wrote in an article that: "I have been trying to use statistics to highlight the truth of the Scripture." The court says Schumm argues that his work, mostly unpublished, "should be accepted over the analyses of well respected researchers in peer reviewed journals."

The ACLU of Florida has links on its website to extensive information about the case, including the full transcript of the trial. Yesterday's Florida Sun-Sentinel also reports on the case.

6th Circuit Denies Summary Judgment In Establishment Challenge To School Outsourcing

Tennessee Code 49-6-3402 requires local boards of education to create alternative schools for students in grades 7-12 who have been suspended of expelled. Tennessee's Jefferson County School Board, for budgetary reasons, eliminated its separate alternative school program and instead contracted with Kingswood Academy to provide alternative services for public school students. Kingswood was already running a residential program for troubled children that included Christian religious training. In Smith v. Jefferson County School Board of Commissioners, (6th Cir., Nov. 24, 2008), the former principal and two former teachers from Jefferson County's former separate program challenged this arrangement on federal and state Establishment Clause grounds, as well as on other grounds.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that all of the plaintiffs have individual standing to bring the federal Establishment Clause claim and two of the three have municipal taxpayer standing. On the merits, it refused to grant defendants summary judgment, concluding:

Although the stated secular purpose of the Board—affording an education to alternative school students in the public-school system by sending them to the private Kingswood School in order to help resolve a budget crisis—arguably predominates over any inclination of the Board to advance religion, if the day program was infused with the same focus on Christianity as the residential program, a reasonable person could conclude that the Board was endorsing religion by delegating all of its duties to Kingswood.

Judge Rogers dissenting argued that plaintiffs lack standing to pursue their Establishment Clause claim.

Defining Unborn Child as "Person" In Murder Law Upheld

In Eguia v. State of Texas, (TX Ct. App., Nov. 20, 2008), a Texas appellate court upheld appellant's conviction for murdering a woman and her unborn child. The court rejected appellant's constitutional challenge to the Texas statute that defines an unborn child as a "person" for purposes of the capital murder statute. (TX Penal Code 1.07(a)(26)). Jacob Eguia contended that this definition violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and Art. I, Sec. 6 of the Texas Constitution that bars giving preference by law to any religion. Holding that "a statute is not automatically rendered unconstitutional simply because it advances ideals that harmonize with religious ideals," the court found that the statute meets the Lemon test. It concluded that "the State has a legitimate secular interest in protecting mothers and their unborn children throughout the mother’s pregnancy

5th Circuit Remands Invalidation of Disturbing-The-Peace Ordinance

In Netherland v. Eubanks, (5th Cir., Nov. 25 2008), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction that had been issued by a Louisiana federal district court against the City of Zachary, Louisiana. John Netherland, a Christian who was preaching loudly near the Sidelines Grill, was threatened by police with arrest for disturbing the peace if he did not stop. The district court held that the disturbing the peace ordinance was unconstitutionally overbroad on its face. (See prior posting.) The Court of Appeals, however, remanded the case for the court to determine whether a narrowing construction of the disturbing-the-peace ordinance was available. The AP yesterday reported on the decision.

En Banc Review Sought In 7th Circuit License Plate Case

The Thomas More Society yesterday filed a petition for en banc review of the 7th Circuit's opinion in Choose Life Illinois, Inc. v. White. (See prior posting.) In the case, a 3-judge panel of the federal 7th Circuit held that there was no First Amendment violation when the state of Illinois decided to exclude the subject of abortion from its specialty-plate program. Implementing this policy, the state refused a request to issue a special "Choose Life" license plate. Reporting on the petition, LifeNews said that plaintiffs will seek Supreme Court review if en banc review is denied. [Thanks to Melissa Harman for the lead.]

Australia Seeks Public Comment on Report on Religious Freedom

Christian Today carries an article about the Australian Human Rights Commission discussion paper titled Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century. The paper, issued in September, is open for comment until January 31, 2009. According to the Commission's website, the project is designed to obtain input from faith communities and others in an effort "to build a more socially cohesive and harmonious society that protects and promotes Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)." A series of supplementary papers will also be released for comment. The first of these, titled How Does Freedom of Religion and Belief Affect Health and Wellbeing?, is already available. Additional supplementary papers will deal with religion and the arts; the law, judiciary and religion; the media, journalism and freedom of religion and belief; indigenous spiritual expression and freedom of religion and belief; education and religion; the intersection of freedom of religion and gender equality; and religion freedom and expression and radicalisation.

More Developments In Texas Cases Against FLDS Church Members

Yesterday's Deseret News reports on two developments in the ongoing confrontations between the state of Texas and the polygamous Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church. In a court hearing in San Angelo (TX), a 17-year old girl, a member of FLDS, who had been temporarily held in foster care by the state refused to reveal the whereabouts of her infant. According to the article, the court wants to collect a DNA sample from the baby in order to determine whether the mother was married off to an adult. Under Texas law, a minor under 17 generally cannot legally consent to sex with an adult.

In a second development, three FLDS members have surrendered to authorities after a grand jury earlier this month indicted them on charges relating to plural marriages at the YFZ Ranch that was raided by the state earlier this year. 72-year old Fredrick Merril Jessop allegedly conducted an unlawful marriage ceremony between his 12-year old daughter and FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Wendell Loy Nielsen, 68, was indicted on three charges of bigamy. Leroy Johnson Steed, 42, was indicted for sexual assault of a child, bigamy and tampering with physical evidence.

Texas Judge Allows Defamation Suit Against Pastor and His Church To Proceed

In San Antonio, Texas yesterday, a state trial court judge refused to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against Summit Christian Center and its pastor Rick Godwin. Former church member Larry Nail claims in the suit that the pastor defamed him from the pulpit by accusing him of bribery after Nail attempted to expose the pastor's spending of church funds. Defendants had argued that the lawsuit involves an internal church religious dispute that is beyond the jurisdiction of civil courts, saying the pastor was relying on Biblical authority to discipline Nail for being spiritually divisive. Today's San Antonio Express-News reports that District Judge Barbara Hanson Nellermoe made the ruling after hearing more than two days of testimony.

Shoshone Tribe Sues To Stop Development of Nevada Gold Mine

Last Thursday, three Shoshone Indian tribal groups and two environmental organizations filed suit in a Nevada federal district court to stop development of a large open-pit gold mine on Mt. Tenabo. Yesterday's Environment News Service reports that the Bureau of Land Management approved the $500 million Cortez Hills Expansion Project after years of Shoshone opposition. (Full text of BLM environmental impact statement).The lawsuit alleges that the project will destroy land "well-known for its spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone" and "home to local Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal, food and ceremonial plants and items." Plaintiffs say the land "continues to be used to this day by Shoshone for spiritual and cultural practices." Some Western Shoshone communities however support the project, having entered a collaborative agreement with mine developers who will set up a Western Shoshone Educational Legacy Fund tied to revenue from the mine.

Two On Obama's Economic Team Have Worked On Religious Liberty Issues

Ahead of his news conference yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama announced his choice for five key economic posts in the federal government. (Wall Street Journal). In a release yesterday, the Orthodox Jewish Union reports that two of these appointees also have made significant contributions in the field of religious liberty. Melody Barnes, picked as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, served on the staff of Senator Ted Kennedy from 1995-2003. There she worked on important religious freedom initiatives, including the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Heather Higginbottom, chosen as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, served as Senator John Kerry’s Legislative Director from 1999 to 2007. In that position she sought to obtain support in Congress for the Workplace Religious Freedom Act.