Village and Church Settle Litigation Over Rental Fees For Municpal Building Room

A consent decree (full text) has been entered settling Forest Area Bible Church v. Fife Lake Village Council, (WD MI, June 23, 2009). In the case, a local church challenged the rental fee schedule imposed by the village of Fife Lake (MI) for use of a meeting room in its Municipal Building. The village allowed community organizations and service groups to use the room without charge, but charged a rental fee to private non-profit groups such as the church. (See prior posting.) Under the settlement, the church will be permitted to use the facility through April 2010 for a discounted rental fee of $20 per month. After that, it will pay the same rate as all other non-profit groups under what is apparently a revised fee schedule. The village also agreed to pay the church $1765 to reimburse the church for discriminatory rental amounts it paid in the past and for its legal fees and costs. Alliance Defense Fund issued a press release announcing the settlement.

En Banc Review Sought In 10 Commandments Case

Yesterday's Tulsa World reports that Haskell County, Oklahoma commissioners are asking the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to grant en banc review in Green v. Haskell County Board of Commissioners. A 3-judge panel of the 10th Circuit in the case earlier this month held that display of a Ten Commandments monument on the lawn of the county courthouse in Stigler, Oklahoma, violates the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.)

New Indian Goverment Reportedly Will Move To Repeal Anti-Conversion Laws

Last month, Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the new prime minister of India. Yesterday's Christian Post reports that the new government has pledged it will repeal anti-conversion laws currently in effect in five states. Home Minister P. Chidambaram will review existing legislation and make recommendations for future action. Passed supposedly to get at religious conversions induced by fraud, force or allurement, the laws, according to Christians, have been used to arrest Church leaders on trumped up charges.

Germany's Interior Ministry Surveys Muslims

Germany's Interior Ministry yesterday released a survey of Muslims that it has recently funded. According to M&C, the study shows that approximately 4 million individuals (5% of Germany's population) are Muslim. About 45% of these individuals hold German citizenship. 75% of those polled want classes in Islam in public schools on the same basis that Christian children are offered religion classes. Some 7% of Muslim school girls skip swim classes, and 10% skip overnight school trips, because single-sex arrangements are not made available. Hamburg's Local says that Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble wants to move toward recognition of Islam as an official religious community in Germany. He expressed regret that no invitation was extended to the Muslim community to participate in last month's celebration of the 60th anniversary of the German Constitution.

Group Complains About Use Policy of Navy Website

Yesterday Liberty Counsel released a letter (full text) it has sent to Navy Secretary Ray Malbus complaining about restrictions imposed by the administrator of a website, Navy for Moms. The website, which includes discussion forums, was set up by the Navy-- through an outside contractor-- to provide support and interactive communication for mothers of those in the Navy and those considering enlisting. Recently its guidelines were amended to prohibit the posting of religious discussions or the creation of religious discussion groups. This followed an incident in which the administrator of the website told a user who created a discussion forum called "Christian Chat" that she must change the group's name because it was too divisive. Liberty Counsel's letter argues that this amounts to viewpoint discrimination in a designated public forum, and that users of the website cannot violate the Establishment Clause by their postings since they are not governmental actors.

Ski Resort Settles Religious Discrimination Charges By EEOC

The EEOC announced yesterday that Vail Corp., a ski resort, has settled a religious and gender discrimination lawsuit. Under the settlement, the company will pay former employee Lisa Marie Cornwell, $80,000 in damages, and will provide training for its employees on religious accommodation, harassment and retaliation. Among the charges against Vail were that: "Cornwell's supervisor, Rick Garcia, forbade her and another Christian employee from even discussing their Christian beliefs with one another while at work, and would not allow them to listen to Christian music while on duty, because it might offend other employees, but had no similar restrictions on music with profanity or lyrics promoting violence against women, which were offensive to Cornwell. Additionally ... Garcia ridiculed Cornwell for asking for scheduling accommodation so that she could attend her preferred religious services, and denied her requests while scheduling lower ranking officers for the shifts she requested."

Library Room Use Policy Violates Establishment Clause

In Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries v. Glover, (ND CA, June 18, 2009), a California federal district court held that a policy of Contra Costa County (CA), that opens county library meeting rooms for use for many educational, cultural and community activities, but not for religious services, violates the Establishment Clause. Previously, the 9th Circuit had held that the exclusion does not violate the free speech protections of the 1st Amendment. (See prior posting.) Now, however, on remand the district court concludes that the policy violates the excessive entanglement prong of the Lemon test. It concludes that it is likely "the County would be called upon to inquire into religious doctrine in order to determine whether a particular activity qualified as a religious service." The court issued an injunction against enforcement of the policy, to take effect July 6. However it dismissed damage claims against various individual defendants on the basis of immunity. Yesterday's Contra Costa Times reported on the decision, as did a release from the Alliance Defense Fund.

"Prayer Station" Inside City Hall Is Questioned

In Warren, Michigan, The Tabernacle, a Church of God congregation, has set up a "Prayer Station" inside city hall. The city makes space inside the building available to any non-profit free-of-charge. Similar stations have been set up elsewhere around the city. Today's Detroit News reports that the Freedom from Religion Foundation is nevertheless concerned about the city's not visibly dissociating itself from the prayer booth. It has asked for further information about the city's arrangement with the church. Church volunteers staff the prayer booth, taking down the first name of each person who visits, and asking the person to call or e-mail the church when his or her prayer is answered.

Australian Sikh Files Complaint Over Helmet Requirement To Take Motorcycle License Test

In Australia, a 21-year old Sikh man, Mandeep Singh, has filed a complaint with the Western Australia Equal Opportunity Commission because he was not allowed to take the state test for a motorcycle license without wearing a helmet. Today's West Australian reports that the state's Department of Planning and Infrastructure no longer exempts Sikhs from the helmet requirement. For religious reasons, Sikhs do not remove their turban, nor will they wear a helmet over it.

In Israel, Court Hears Suit By Messianic Congregation Against Beersheba's Chief Rabbi

Today's Jerusalem Post reports on a trial held Sunday in Israel in the Beersheba Magistrate's Court in a suit by a Messianic Jewish congregation against Beersheba's chief rabbi and the Jewish anti-missionary group, Yad L'Achim. The Nachlat Yeshua Messianic Congregation said that in 2007, hundreds of Orthodox Jews held a demonstration without a permit, broke into their church compound, attacked worshipers, broke furniture and held their own prayer service, until police removed the demonstrators three hours later. Apparently Rabbi Yehuda Deri organized the demonstration after being inaccurately told by Yad L'Achim that 10 bus loads of Jewish children were being taken to the church to be baptized. Apparently only two individuals, both over 18, were to be baptised that day.

Recent and Forthcoming University Press Books of Interest

U.S. Religious History and Politics:

• Winnifred F. Sullivan, Prison Religion: Faith-Based Reform and the Constitution , (Princeton Univ. Press, 2009).
• James M. O'Toole, The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America, (Belknap Press, Nov. 2009).
• Moshik Temkin, The Sacco-Vanzetti Affair: America on Trial, (Yale University Press, April 2009).
• Shayne Lee & Phillip Luke Sinitiere, Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace, (NYU Press, April 2009).
• Hasia R. Diner, We Remember with Reverence and Love: American Jews and the Myth of Silence after the Holocaust, 1945-1962, (NYU Press, April 2009).

Europe, Asia and the Middle East:

• Alan E. Steinweis, Kristallnacht 1938, (Belknap Press, Nov. 2009).
• Rebecca Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes: Religion and the Politics of Chinese Modernity, (Harvard East Asian Monographs, Nov. 2009).
• Benjamin J. Kaplan, Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe, (Belknap Press, Oct. 2009).
• Robert Garland, Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion, (Cornell University Press, 2009).
• Ali A. Allawi, The Crisis of Islamic Civilization, (March 2009, Yale University Press).
• Thomas Brudholm & Thomas Cushman (eds.), The Religious in Responses to Mass Atrocity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, (Cambridge University Press, Feb. 2009).

Mousavi Letter Includes Analysis of Relation of Islam To Democracy

In Iran on Saturday, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi published a letter to the Iranian people on his website, continuing to challenge the results of last week's presidential election. (Full text of letter in translation from Juan Cole's Informed Comment blog.) The letter includes these comments on the relationship of Islam to democracy in Iran:

If the very large magnitude of the cheating and vote-rigging, which has fueled popular discontent, is cited as proof of the absence of cheating, then the Republic is headed for the slaughterhouse, and the allegation that Islam and republicanism are contradictory will have been proven.... Such a fate will gladden two groups.

One group, from the beginning of the Revolution, had fortified itself against the Leader [Ayatollah Khomeini]. It insisted that an Islamic government must be run like the dictatorship of the righteous. Adherents of this group, in their defunct thinking, surmised that they could drag people to paradise by force. The second group were those who, under the guise of defending the people’s rights, declared religion and Islam contradictory to a republican form of government.

The Leader [Khomeini] maneuvered astutely to neutralize the sorceries of these two groups. Relying on the path of the Leader [Khomeini], I came to neutralize the sorcerers who have resurfaced since then.

School District Incurs High Legal Fees In Unsuccessful Defense of Prayer Lawsuit

Today's Pensacola (FL) News Journal reports that the Santa Rosa County (FL) School District ran up nearly $200,000 in legal fees defending a lawsuit against it challenging prayer and religious activities in the schools. The lawsuit was settled in March, with the school district agreeing to give up the practices. (See prior posting.) However contempt proceedings against a school employee for violating the decree are still pending. (See prior posting.) The school district may also need to pay at least some $250,000 in fees incurred by the ACLU. The school district's insurance company will cover part of the costs. In something of an understatement, School District Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said: "It's not where I would have placed that amount of money, but it was what it was." The school district already faces budget shortfalls that are leading to cuts in program, staff and teachers.

Paper Publishes Long Expose On Tactics Used By Church of Scientology

Today's St. Petersburg (FL) Times runs the first of a 3-part series on the Church of Scientology, revealing significant new insights into the organization's operations. The series is based on interviews with four former executives of the Church who later defected. Today's article traces the rise to power of the current leader of Scientology, David Miscavige. After the 1986 death of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, he cemented his control by obtaining possession of Hubbard's last writings through a ruse. He told his rivals for control, Pat and Annie Broeker, that the FBI was about to raid their ranch and take the papers. They turned the papers over to a Miscavige supporter.

The article claims that "physical violence permeated Scientology's international management team. Miscavige set the tone, routinely attacking his lieutenants."

One of the most interesting parts of today's long article is the account of Scientology's efforts-- ultimately successful in 1993-- to regain its tax exempt status from the IRS. The IRS had revoked the Church's 501(c)(3) exemption in the 1960's, arguing that it was a commercial enterprise. Hubbard unsuccessfully attempted to regain it through infiltrating the IRS, copying documents and withholding tax payments. (Background.) Miscavige used a new strategy, described at length by the Times:

Overwhelm the IRS. Force mistakes. The church filed about 200 lawsuits against the IRS, seeking documents to prove IRS harassment and challenging the agency's refusal to grant tax exemptions to church entities. Some 2,300 individual Scientologists also sued the agency, demanding tax deductions for their contributions....

The church ratcheted up the pressure with a relentless campaign against the IRS.
Armed with IRS records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Scientology's magazine, Freedom, featured stories on alleged IRS abuses: lavish retreats on the taxpayers' dime; setting quotas on audits of individual Scientologists; targeting small businesses for audits while politically connected corporations were overlooked. Scientologists distributed the magazine on the front steps of the IRS building in Washington.

A group called the National Coalition of IRS Whistleblowers waged its own campaign. Unbeknownst to many, it was quietly created and financed by Scientology.... They also knew the other side was hurting. A memo obtained by the church said the Scientology lawsuits had tapped the IRS's litigation budget before the year was up....Another memo documented a conference of 20 IRS officials in the 1970s. They were trying to figure out how to respond to a judge's ruling that Scientology met the agency's definition of a religion. The IRS' solution? They talked about changing the definition. .... Rathbun says that contrary to rumor, no bribes were paid, no extortion used. It was round-the-clock preparation and persistence — plus thousands of lawsuits, hard-hitting magazine articles and full-page ads in USA Today criticizing the IRS. "That was enough," Rathbun said. "You didn't need blackmail."

Miscavige says that the defectors who provided information for the series are liars and are attempting to stage a coup to seize control of the Church. Additional installments in the newspaper's series will appear tomorrow and Tuesday. Those installments, along with additional material already available, will be linked here.

Nigerian Court Asked To Enjoin Rival From Forcing Plaintiff To Swear An Oath

In Nigeria, a merchant, Ugochukwu Ugwoegbu, has filed an unusual case in the Ikeja High Court. According to a report yesterday in Next, Ugwoegbu claims that after serving as an apprentice with Ojimba Nnanna for nine years, he left and started his own business. Nnanna is upset at Ugwoegbu's success and claims that he stole money to invest to start up his competing enterprise. The lawsuit claims that Nnanna is conspiring with police and a clergyman to force him "to swear to an oath at an occult home." He seeks an injunction from the court to prevent police arresting him or his being forced to swear an oath, claiming that this violates his freedom of thought, conscience and religion which is protected under Sec 38 of Nigeria's constitution.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Desimone v. Bartow, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48689 (ED WI, June 10, 2009), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected an inmate's claims that his free exercise rights protected by RLUIPA were infringed when authorities seized various journals and documents written in Atlantean. The court held that while plaintiff's "religious conscience may impel him to separate himself from his peers ... through writing in an alien alphabet, he has failed to ... show that the proscription on writing in Atlantean creates a substantial burden on his right to exercise his religion. Further ... the policy prohibiting writing in Atlantean is the least restrictive means available to advance a compelling governmental interest."

In Elock v. Trancoso, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49731 (CD IL, June 15, 2009), an Illinois federal district court dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies an inmate's complaint that authorities searched her cell and threw away two of her prayer books. The court also expressed doubt that plaintiff could show a violation of her constitutional rights.

In Levy v. Holinka, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49586 (WD WI, June 11, 2009), a Wisconsin federal district court permitted an inmate who followed the Hebrew Israelite faith to move ahead with free exercise, RFRA, establishment clause and equal protection challenges to federal prison authorities' refusal to permit him to observe his high holidays and to wear a kufi.

In Fletcher v. Vandyne, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49877 (SD OH, June 11, 2009), an Ohio federal magistrate judge dismissed, for lack of evidence, an inmate's claim that prison authorities violated RLUIPA when they refused to serve him non-pork based products several times in the same week.

French Legislators Want Investigation of Wearing Of Burqas

Reuters reported on Friday that in France, nearly 60 legislators have asked a Parliamentary commission to investigate the spread of the practice of women wearing the burqa in France. If the investigation shows that women are being coerced into wearing the religious full face and body covering, Parliament may ban burqas in the country in order to protect individual freedoms.

UPDATE: On Monday (June 22), French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as part of a speech to Parliament, added his support to creation of a commission to study the burqa and ways to prevent its spread. Monday's New York Times reports that Sarkozy characterized the issue as one of freedom and women's dignity. Under recent reforms, the speech was the first by a French president to Parliament since 1875.

Khamenei Sermon Defends Iran's Theocracy, Criticizes US Religious Freedom Record

Friday's now-famous sermon in Iran by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the Iranian election results contained less-reported passages defending Iran's theocratic form of government and criticizing the religious freedom record of the United States. Here, from the full text in English translation (via Juan Cole), are excerpts on religion and state:

These elections showed our religious democracy to the entire world. All those people who are ill-wishers towards the system witnessed what religious democracy really is.

This is a third way different from dictatorships and tyrannical systems on the one hand and democracies removed from spirituality and religion on the other. This is religious democracy. This is what attracts the hearts of people and brings them to the center of the arena, and it just passed its test. That was one point about the election....

In the US, in a Democrat administration, when the husband of this lady who is making comments (Khamene'i refers to Bill Clinton) was in charge, more than 80 people, members of the [Branch] Davidian sect were burned alive. They cannot deny it. Democrats did it. The Davidian sect angered the American government for some reason. The followers of the Davidian sect were staging a sit-in protest in a house. The authorities asked them to come out. The Davidians refused. More than 80 men, women and children were burned alive in this house. The Americans have no understanding of human rights.

I think the American officials should take it upon themselves feel ashamed. The Islamic Republic is the flag-bearer of human rights. The way we defend the suppressed people of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan shows our commitment. It shows the human rights flag is flying high in Iran. We do not need the advice of others on human rights. That was my take on the election.

Appeals Filed In Valedictorian Speech, Montana Law School CLS, Cases

Two appeals of interest have recently been filed. On Thursday, a petition for certiorari (full text) to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed in McComb v. Crehan. In the case, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the action of Clark County, Nevada school officials in cutting off the microphone at high school graduation ceremonies when the class valedictorian departed from her approved speech and began reading from a version that contained religious and Biblical references. Rutherford Institute has issued a press release on the filing. (See prior posting.)

Also on Thursday, an appeal was filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Christian Legal Society v. Eck. (Full text of Notice of Appeal.) In the case, a Montana federal district court upheld application of the University of Montana Law School's non-discrimination and open-membership policies for recognized student groups to the Christian Legal Society. (See prior posting.) The Alliance Defense Fund issued a release announcing the appeal.

Obama Speaks At Hispanic Prayer Breakfast

President Obama this morning spoke at the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast held at Washington's JW Marriott Hotel. (Full text of remarks.) He said in part:

At a time when there's no shortage of challenges to occupy our time, it's even more important to step back, and to give thanks, and to seek guidance from each other -- but most importantly, from God. That's what we've come here to do.

We can begin by giving thanks for the legacy that allows us to come together. For it was the genius of America's Founders to protect the freedom of all religion, and those who practice no religion at all. So as we join in prayer, we remember that this is a nation of Christians and Muslims and Jews and Hindus and non-believers. It is this freedom that allows faith to flourish within our borders. It is this freedom that makes our nation stronger.

For those of us who draw on faith as a guiding force in our lives, prayer has many purposes. For many, it is a source of support when times are hard.... But prayer is more than a last resort. Prayer helps us search for meaning in our own lives, and it helps us find the vision and the strength to see the world that we want to build.

In his remarks, he indicated his commitment to passing comprehensive immigration reform, and also made reference to his recent nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S.Supreme Court.