Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Chemotherapy Helping Boy Whose Religious Objections Were Rejected By Court
Egyptian Court Refuses To Recognize Conversion of Muslim To Christianity
Recent Articles of Interest
- Patrick McKinley Brennan, The Place of 'Higher Law' in the Quotidian Practice of Law: Herein of Practical Reason, Natural Law, Natural Rights, and Sex Toys, (Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, Forthcoming).
- Bailey H. Kuklin, The Natures of Universal Moralities, (Brooklyn Law Review, Forthcoming).
- Preston C. Green & Joseph Oluwole, Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation and Taxpayer Standing, (Wayne Law Review, Vol. 54, No. 3, 2008).
From SmartCILP:
- Scott Atran & Robert Axelrod, Reframing Sacred Values, 24 Negotiation Journal 221-246 (2008).
- John R. Dorocak, The Income Tax Exclusion of the Housing Allowance for Ministers of the Gospel per I.R.C. Section 107: First Amendment Establishment of Religion or Free Exercise Thereof--Where Should the Warren Court Have Gone?, 54 South Dakota Law Review 233-252 (2009).
- Stephen P. Halbrook, "Arms in the Hands of the Jews are a Danger to Public Safety": Nazism, Firearm Registration, and the Night of the Broken Glass, 21 St. Thomas Law Review 109-141 (2009).
- Andrew S. Mansfield, Religious Arguments and the United States Supreme Court: A Review of Amicus Curiae Briefs Filed by Religious Organizations, 7 Cardozo Public Law Policy & Ethics Journal 343-394 (2009).
- Eugene R. Milhizer, So Help Me Allah: An Historical and Prudential Analysis of Oaths as Applied to the Current Controversy of the Bible and Quran in Oath Practices in America, 70 Ohio State Law Journal 1-71 (2009).
- A David Pardo, Judicial Discretion in Talmudic Times and the Modern Era, 7 Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal 429-454 (2009).
- Steven D. Smith, Discourse in the Dusk: The Twilight of Religious Freedom?, (Reviewing Kent Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution--Volume 2: Establishment and Fairness.) 122 Harvard Law Review. 1869-1907 (2009).
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Texas Board of Education Appoints Social Science Review Panel-- Half Christian Conservatives
Faith-Based Critic Joins White House Task Force Looking At Reform
I have thought all along it would be best not to have such an office, and I still have that opinion. But if there's going to be an office, I want to do everything I can to see that it is constitutional in nature and that it operates both legally and in the spirit of protecting the First Amendment's historic separation between religious institutions and government institutions.... [R]eligious organizations that receive federal funds should, at minimum, establish separate 501c3 [nonprofit] organizations as a firewall of protection both for religion on the one hand and government on the other.[Thanks to Don Byrd for the lead.]
Permanent Injunction Issued To Protect Christian Gay Pride Protesters
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Diocese Seeks Reconsideration of Court Order To Release Documents
3 Cases From South Asia Involve Killing of Christians
Worthy News yesterday reported on an incident in Pakistan's Punjab province. A Christian bus passenger, Ishtiaq Masih, was beaten to death by the owner and employees of a roadside tea stand in the village of Machharkay where the bus had stopped for a rest room break. A sign at the Makah Tea Stall proclaimed, under threat of "dire consequences," that: "All non-Muslims should introduce their faith prior to ordering tea. This tea stall serves Muslims only." Apparently Masih did not notice the sign when he ordered his tea. However the owner, 42 year old fundamentalist Muslim Mubarak Ali, saw that Masih was wearing a necklace with a cross.
Again from rural Punjaab Province In Pakistan, Digital Journal today reports on the kidnappping, torture and murder of 28-year old Tariq "Litto" Mashi Ghauri, a Christian University student, who was found in a compromising position with his Muslim girlfriend, Shazi Cheema. Cheema's three brothers told Ghauri to convert to Islam and marry their sister. Ghauri agreed to the marriage, but refused to convert.
Time Profiles Public Opinion About Mormons
The passage of [California's] Prop 8 was the church's latest display of its power: individual Mormons contributed half of the proposition's $40 million war chest despite constituting only 2% of California's population. LDS spokesman Michael Otterson says, "This is a moment of emergence."
But that emergence has its costs. Even as Mormons have become more prominent, they have struggled to overcome lingering prejudices and misrepresentations about the sources of their beliefs. Polls suggest that up to half of Americans would be uncomfortable with a Mormon President.... The LDS ... sees itself as primarily apolitical; on issues on which it has taken a stand, the church's positions have been roughly consistent with other conservative faiths. But Mormon activism, when it occurs, does differ from the American norm in significant ways, because of both the dominating role played by LDS President and Prophet Thomas Monson and the church's remarkable electoral cohesion.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Hindu Leader Opposes Planned USCIRF Trip To India
We will not allow interference in our internal religious affairs by external bodies. We see US Commission on Internal Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as an intrusive mechanism of a foreign government which is interfering with the internal affairs of India.
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Hudson v. Radtke, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47453 (WD WI, June 5, 2009), a Wisconsin federal district court held that plaintiff failed to show that prison authorities substantially burdened his free exercise of religion by failing to return two books, The Noble Quran and Two Faces of Islam, to him.
In McCord v. Hompe, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47450 (WD WI, June 5, 2009), a Wisconsin federal district court dismissed plaintiff's complaint that the segregation library at the Stanley Correctional Institution has no books on the Wiccan religion . It held that plaintiff presented no current case or controversy because he had been moved to a different prison facility.
In a lengthy opinion in Burke v. North Dakota Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47957 (D ND, June 5, 2009), a North Dakota federal district court rejected free exercise and religious discrimination claims by a shaivite Hindu who was in prison after murder and arson convictions. Prisoner Dale Burke claimed that prison authorities reduced the time for Hindu worship services from two to one hour per week, eliminating services on Thursdays; denied him certain items that are essential parts of Hindu worship; and failed to find an outside volunteer to help Burke study his religion.
In McReaken v. Schriro, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48292 (D AZ, May 26, 2009), an Arizona federal district court permitted plaintiff to move ahead with his claim that his Multi-Faith group's religious ceremonies were frequently interrupted by security staff and that they had to be held in an open recreation yard. Plaintiff alleged that prison policies gave more favorable treatment to Native American ceremonies than to other non-Christian groups.
Spain Considering Creating Religiously Neutral Public Spaces
Rev. Wright Apologizes For Remarks About Jews
Belarus Continues To Act Against Unregistered Churches
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Obama's Former Pastor Says Jews, AIPAC Have Too Much Influence Over President
Indiana Church Wins Tax Exemption Appeal
Texas Court Finds No Jurisdicion In Defamation Suit Against Church and Its Pastor
Today's San Antonio Express-News reports on the decision. The paper had previously detailed the alleged improper expenditures by the church, which included charter jet travel, expensive gifts and luxury hotel stays for Godwin, his wife and associates, some of whom set his compensation. Subsequently Godwin says he paid back personal expenses and changed church financial policies with the advice of a law firm. (See prior related posting.)
California Court Says Episcopal Church Owns Break-Away Parish's Property
as a matter of law that when defendants voted for disaffiliation, they denounced their prior promises to be subject to the governing documents of the national church and the diocese, abandoned their membership in the corporation, and lost the power and authority to be directors of the corporation, as they were no longer members in good standing of the Episcopal Church. Thus, their purported amendment of the articles of incorporation and bylaws to make the corporation part of the Anglican Church were a legal nullity, or ultra vires.The court also rejected the argument that a 1981 decision collaterally estopped the Episcopal Church from asserting title to parish property.