Communist Party USA Creates New Religion Commission

According to a report yesterday by the People's Weekly World Newspaper, the Communist Party USA has created a new Religion Commission to reach out to individuals and organizations and to "welcome people of faith into the party." The Commission is headed by Tim Yeager, a Chicago trade unionist and a member of the Episcopal Church. Yeager said that many incorrectly assume that all Communists are atheists, or that the Party requires members to be atheists. He says that this is not true and religious people are welcome to join. The Commission's goal in part is to share the Party's views on the religious aspects of current struggles and to discuss "the relationships, contradictions and commonalities among science, Marxism and religion."

DC Elections Board Rejects Referendum On Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages From Elsewhere

Last month, the D.C. City Council, over the opposition of local ministers and others, passed an ordinance recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. (See prior posting.) Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville (MD) led a group of largely African-American clergy seeking to place a referendum on the new law before D.C. voters. The Washington Post reported yesterday that the D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics has ruled the referendum illegal because under D.C. law no referendum can be used to authorized discrimination that is prohibited by the D.C. Human Rights Act.

The Board, in In re Referendum Concerning the Jury and Marriage Amendment Act of 2009, (DC Bd. Elec., June 15, 2009), ruled that: "The Council has, through the Act, expressed its determination to clearly state that discrimination against same-sex couples who are validly married elsewhere is prohibited. Simply stated, the Act means that the HRA now requires the District government and all public accommodations, inter alia, to refrain from discriminating against same-sex couples who are validly married elsewhere." The Board has also posted online the full text of legal comments it received on the proposed referendum.

UPDATE: On Wednesday, on behalf of several D.C. voters, the Alliance Defense Fund filed an appeal of the decision by the Board of Elections & Ethics. (Press release.) The complaint (full text) in Jackson v. D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics, (DC Super. Ct., filed 6/18/2009), claims that the "refusal to afford same-sex couples the status of 'marriage' does not run afoul of the DC-HRA."

Rebels Say Philippine Army Is Using Mosques As Military Camps

In the Philippines, the army last August resumed its 40 year battle against the Moro Islamic Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in oil and gas-rich areas in the southern Philippines. The fighting resumed after the Philippine Supreme Court declared a Memorandum of Agreement between the parties illegal. (Background.) Yesterday World Bulletin reported that the MILF called on the army to stop using mosques as military camps as it is doing in the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao. The MILF's statement said that converting mosques into military camps offends the sensibilities of Muslims and is a "grave violation of international humanitarian law."

Defaults On Sharia-Compliant Bonds Create New Legal Issues

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that new legal problems face U.S. bankruptcy judges as for the first time two issues of Sharia-compliant bonds have defaulted. A case in bankruptcy court in Louisiana,--proceedings against energy firm East Cameron Partners LP-- has become the test case. The problem is how to apply Western legal principles to instruments issued under Islamic law. Sukuk bonds avoid the Islamic ban on interest by being structured as a sale-repurchase arrangement. In the East Cameron Partners bankruptcy, bankruptcy judge Robert Summerhays ruled that purchasers of the Sukuk certificates issued by a special purpose entity relied on the fact that they were becoming owners of royalty interests transferred to the entity. East Cameron had argued that Sukuk holders were merely lending money secured by the royalties-- and thus other creditors also had an interest in the royalties.

Entertainment Reporter Will Sue, Saying He Was Fired To Satisfy Scientologists

Today's London Independent reports that in Los Angeles, entertainment journalist Roger Friedman says he plans to sue Fox News that fired him in April. Friedman, who has been a longstanding critic of the Church of Scientology, claims that Fox fired him in order to get actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta-- both adherents of Scientology-- to sign onto future movie projects. Cruise and Travolta say that Friedman was dismissed for writing a blog column encouraging the download of an illegally pirated version of the 20th Century movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Friedman says that was a pretext.

City Prosecutor Sues Youngstown for Employment Discrimination

In Youngstown, Ohio, a Muslim prosecutor in the Youngstown Law Department has filed a federal lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and failure to accommodate his need to attend Friday mosque services. In Ally v. City of Youngstown, (ND OH, filed 5/18/09), (full text of complaint), plaintiff Bassil Ally claims that for two years he was permitted to attend mosque services by being assigned to a courtroom that never met on Friday afternoons. In 2007, fellow prosecutors began to complain that Ally was receiving preferential treatment. He was also subjected to derogatory comments from fellow workers regarding his religion and national origin. Ally was placed on administrative leave after he went to mosque rather than attend a meeting of prosecutors scheduled by the City Prosecutor at a conflicting time. He was reinstated after he filed a complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, but then, he alleges, he was harassed and humiliated, and was ultimately reassigned to a courtroom that met regularly on Friday afternoons. The complaint alleges discrimination, retaliation,harassment and hostile work environment in violation of state and federal law. Defendant's answer (full text) denies all the allegations and asserts a broad range of affirmative defenses. The Youngstown Vindicator reported on the case yesterday.

China Cancels Licenses of 21 Human Rights Lawyers

ChinaAid today says that the government of China has cancelled or refused to renew the licenses of at least 21 human rights attorneys. Many of the attorneys involved have worked on religious freedom cases in China. Human rights attorneys in China have taken the unusual step of requesting international pressure against the government.

Chemotherapy Helping Boy Whose Religious Objections Were Rejected By Court

According to the Mankato (MN) Free Press the court-ordered chemotherapy being administered to 13-year old Daniel Hauser has shrunk his tumor, indicating that it has not become resistant to chemotherapy. However it is still too early to determine his longer term prognosis. In a high profile case, a Minnesota court rejected the religious objections of Daniel and his mother to chemotherapy treatment for the boy's Hodgkin's lymphoma. (See prior posting.) The paper reports that Daniel is still "very angry" about receiving chemotherapy, and attributes lessening of certain side effects to the use of natural therapies arranged by his mother. A family spokesman said those natural therapies were also responsible for the chemotherapy working.

Egyptian Court Refuses To Recognize Conversion of Muslim To Christianity

In Egypt on Saturday, Cairo's Administrative Court refused to order that Maher al-Moatassem Bellah al-Gohary be issued a new identification card recognizing his conversion to Christianity and his Christian name, Peter Ethnasios. AINA reports that al-Gohary converted to Christianity 34 years ago, but did not petition the court for governmental recognition until last year after Egypt's Coptic Church issued him a baptism certificate confirming his original conversion in Cyprus. While in the past Egyptian courts have recognized reconversion of Coptic Christians who converted to Islam and then converted back, it has never recognized the conversion to Christianity of someone who was born a Muslim.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• 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).

Texas Board of Education Appoints Social Science Review Panel-- Half Christian Conservatives

According to Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, writing last week at Talk to Action, the Texas State Board of Education has now made public the entire panel of experts it has appointed to review the state's social studies curriculum. It is evenly divided between mainstream academics and Christian religious conservatives. The academics are Prof. James Kracht of Texas A&M, Prof. Jesus Francisco de la Teja of Texas State University- San Marcos and Prof. Lybeth Hodges of Texas Woman's University. The three religious conservatives, all of whom apparently reject notions of separation of church and state, are Rev. David Barton of WallBuilders, Rev. Peter Marshall who runs Peter Marshall Ministries, and Prof. Daniel Dreisbach of American University in Washington, D.C. The panel is charged with reporting back to the Board by June 29. The panel will also review the work of teams of teachers and others working on revision,s, in anticipation of Board action next year. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Faith-Based Critic Joins White House Task Force Looking At Reform

Interfaith Alliance president Welton Gaddy--a critic of the White House's faith-based office-- has been invited to become a member of the White House Task Force that is studying ways to reform the Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Dan Gilgoff (US News) interviewed Gaddy, who said in part:

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

Last year a Missouri federal district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of a St. Louis city ordinance that prohibits distribution of literature in public parks. The lawsuit was brought by a Christian ministry and individuals connected with who who were prevented from handing out religious literature and expressing religious beliefs during the 2006 gay pride festival. (See prior posting.) Now, in time for this year's Gay Pride festival to be held June 27-28, the parties have agreed to convert the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction. In Apple of His Eye Inc. v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, (ED MO, June 11, 2009), the court enjoined any total ban on distribution of literature in public parks and ordered city officials to meet with PrideFest organizers to tell them that a total ban will not be enforced. It also enjoined enforcement of provisions that made distributors responsible for proper disposal of handbills. However the city may enforce its content-neutral ordinances that bar placing handbills on vehicles and impeding pedestrian or vehicular traffic, and may enforce its nighttime park curfew. Alliance Defense Fund issued a release announcing the decision.

Diocese Seeks Reconsideration of Court Order To Release Documents

According to the New York Times, on Friday the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport asked the Connecticut Supreme Court to reconsider its 4-1 decision from last month ordering the release some 12,600 pages of documents filed in 23 cases alleging sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy. (See prior posting.) The Diocese asks for all 7 justices to reconsider the order, arguing that the ordered release violates its First Amendment free exercise rights as well as the privacy rights of many named in the documents. The Diocese also argues that the trial judge who originally ruled in the case should have recused himself because of his work on a panel studying the release of public records. Also on the panel was a Hartford Courant reporter. The Courant was one of four newspapers that brought the suit seeking release of the clergy-abuse records.

3 Cases From South Asia Involve Killing of Christians

From South Asia comes three stories of murder of Christians impelled by religious fanaticism. In Kathmandu, Nepal, police have arrested 27-year old Sita Shrestha. Bos News today reports that the woman confessed to planting a bomb in the Church of the Assumption, a Roman Catholic Church near Kathmandu, on May 23. The blast killed three people and wounded over a dozen others. Shrestha was inspired by the extremist Nepal Defence Army that aims to expel non-Hindus from Nepal and make Hinudism the country's official religion.

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 June 22 issue of Time Magazine carries an article titled The Storm Over the Mormons. Here is an excerpt:

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.

Hindu Leader Opposes Planned USCIRF Trip To India

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is planning to visit India this month, with a particular focus on past violence against Christians in the state of Orissa and Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002. Christians have welcomed the upcoming visit. (Asia News, 5/4.) However a report today by the Sakaal Times says that Hindu religious leader Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati has told reporters he opposes the USCIRF visit:

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 Soder v. Williamson, (3d Cir., June 5, 2009), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a prisoner's lawsuit that alleged, among other things, that his free exercise rights were violated when he had to wait 24 days for a chest x-ray after refusing for religious reasons to have a TB test by injection.

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

CNA reported last week that Spain's ruling Socialist government is considering eliminating religious symbols in military barracks, hospitals, jails and public schools, as well as during State funerals or inauguration ceremonies for public officials. Minister of Justice Francisco Caamano suggested the move as part of an attempt to create "religiously neutral public spaces."

Rev. Wright Apologizes For Remarks About Jews

The Washington Post reports that Rev. Jeremiah Wright says he misspoke Wednesday (see prior posting) when he referred to "them Jews" who, he charged, blocked his access to President Barack Obama. He says he meant to refer to Zionists. He apologized, saying he meant no ill-will to the Obama administration or the American Jewish community. He says he is disturbed that his comments have resurfaced the debate about his relationship with the President.