The parties stipulate that Hastings imposes an open membership rule on all student groups—all groups must accept all comers as voting members even if those individuals disagree with the mission of the group. The conditions on recognition are therefore viewpoint neutral and reasonable.Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle reports on the decision.
Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
9th Circuit Upholds Law School's Non-Discrimination Rules For Student Groups
Obama and Catholic Bishops' Head Meet At White House
Last November, shortly after Obama's election victory, Cardinal George issued a statement welcoming the opportunity of working with the new administration and Congress, but stating: "If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve." (See prior posting.) In their respective releases on yesterday's meeting, the White House said: "The President thanked Cardinal George for his leadership and for the contributions of the Catholic Church in America and around the world." The USCCB said: "Cardinal George expressed his gratitude for the meeting and his hopes that it will foster fruitful dialogue for the sake of the common good."
Massachusetts High Court Rejects Suit Against Episcopal Diocese In Sex Case
The delicate balance between the freedom to exercise religion and the demands placed on all persons (clerical and others) by civil law, requires us to proceed cautiously in a controversy where we are asked to hold that a religious institution's reliance on its own written policy governing the response to reports of a clergy's sexual misconduct with an adult parishioner gives rise to liability under civil law.Yesterday's Quincy (MA) Patriot Ledger reports on the decision and on further background of the case.
Durban II Draft Revised To Remove "Defamation of Religion" Language
Attempts over the past several years by the Organization of the Islamic Conference to enshrine "defamation of religion" as an offense under international law have generated substantial controversy. (See prior posting.) The group UN Watch (affiliated with the American Jewish Committee) still has some problems with the Durban II draft. Language referring to sexual orientation discrimination has been removed. Also, the draft still takes the position that religions themselves — not just religious believers — should be protected under human rights law. Western diplomats had no immediate comment on the changes, other than to say they were moving in the right direction. (See prior related posting.)
U.S. Muslim Groups May Cut Outreach Efforts With FBI
Pope, On Plane To Africa, Says Condoms Are Not The Way To Fight AIDS
Canadian Science Minister's Beliefs On Evolution Create Controversy
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Israel's High Court Reaffirms Required Religious Accommodation For Fencing Championships
Suit Against Monastery May Proceed Over 1st Amendment Objections
In this decision, a New York federal district court rejected the monastery's First Amendment defense that adjudicating the claim would involve the court in interpreting religious doctrine. While leaving open the possibility that the defense could be raised again later, the court concluded that for now it appeared that it was merely being asked to determine the neutral fact of whether the Monastery was affiliated with the recognized Order of St. Benedict, and not a religious dispute of whether defendants can be "Benedictines" without being affiliated with the recognized order.
5th Circuit Upholds Texas Moment of Silence Law
the Amendments are constitutional and satisfy all three prongs of the Lemon analysis. There is no excessive entanglement, and the primary effect of the Amendments is not to advance religion. The most difficult prong—for this and for moment of silence statutes generally—is legislative purpose. But our review of legislative history is deferential, and such deference leads to an adequate secular purpose in this case.... Here, that intent was to promote patriotism and allow for a moment of quiet contemplation.The San Angelo Standard Times reported on the decision yesterday. (See prior related posting.)
Reconversion Out of Islam Continues As Issue In Muslim Countries
Meanwhile, in Egypt a lawyer has filed suit against the Minister of Interior seeking to make it easier for Christian converts to Islam to reconvert to Christianity. Currently Egyptian law requires a court to approve the reconversion. According to Monday's Christian Today, the lawsuit seeks to require the government to recognize a certificate of conversion from the Coptic Patriarchate as sufficient, just as a decree from Al-Azhar is sufficient for conversion into Islam.
Cardinal Says International Law Precludes Sale of Vatican Art for African Food
Egyptian High Court Says Baha'is Can Get ID Cards Without Religion Listed
UPDATE: Human Rights Watch reported in an April 15 article that the Court's decision has been implemented. On March 19 Interior Minister General Habib al-Adly signed a decree (full text in Arabic) instructing officials in the Civil Status Department of the ministry to place a dash before the line reserved for religion in the official identification documents of Egyptian citizens who demonstrate that they or their ancestors were followers of a non-recognized religion. The decree was published in the Official Gazette on April 14 and entered into force on April 15.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Romanian Tribunals Uphold Biometric Passports Over Religious Objections
Resolution Proposed To Display Lincoln-Obama Bible At Capitol Visitor Center
Whereas the Holy Bible is God's Word;
Whereas each President, after taking the oath of office, has repeated President Washington’s petition prayer seeking divine help by saying, "So help me God";...
Whereas in Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, he referred to God 14 times, to verses in the Holy Bible 4 times, and invoked prayer 3 times in 701 words; ...
Resolved ... That Congress calls upon the Capitol Preservation Commission ... to place the Lincoln-Obama Bible on permanent display ... at the Capitol Visitor Center for the benefit of all its visitors to fully understand and appreciate America's history and Godly heritage.
Pakistan and Egypt Move In UN On Resolutions Against Anti-Muslim Speech
Recent Articles and New Book of Interest
From SSRN:
- Edward H. Sisson, A Proposal for State Legislatures to Pursue Impartial Audits of the Scientific Basis for Evolution as the State Teaches it in its High Schools, Colleges, and Universities, (March 10, 2009).
- Enyinna S. Nwauche, Law Religion and Human Rights in Nigeria, (African Human Rights Law Journal, Vol. 2, 2008).
- Mark Strasser, Religion in the Schools: On Prayer, Neutrality and Sectarian Perspectives, (Akron Law Review, Vol. 42, pp. 185-241, 2009).
- Mark Strasser, State Funding of Devotional Studies: A Failed Jurisprudence that Has Lost its Moorings, (Journal of Law and Family Studies, Vol. 11, pp. 1-34, 2008).
From Bepress:
- Farrokh B. Sekaleshfar, Abortion Perspectives of Shiah Islam, (Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology: Vol. 2 : Iss. 3, Article 4).
- Farid Sufian Shuaib, Review of "Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions", (Asian Journal of Comparative Law: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1, Article 11, 2008).
- Josie F. Brown, Representative Tension: Student Religious Speech and the Public School's Institutional Mission, 38 Journal of Law & Education 1-82 (2009).
- Ofrit Liviatan, The Impact of Alternative Constitutional Regimes on Religious Freedom in Canada and England [scroll to pg. 45], 32 Boston College International & Comparative Law Review 45-82 (2009).
- Jay Wexler, Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church-State War, (Beacon Press, June 2009), [book's website], author interview in Religion Dispatches.