Israeli Student's Legalistic Protest of Hametz Law Fails

YNet News yesterday reported on the results of the trial in Israel growing out of an incident earlier this year that attracted significant attention. Yeshiva student Aryeh Yerushalmi protested an Israeli court's interpretation of the law that prohibits the public display of leavened products for sale or consumption during Passover. He entered a Tel Aviv grocery store, went to the bread section, and stripped, claiming that if a grocery is not "public" for purposes of the Hametz Law, it should not be for the indecent exposure law either. (See prior posting.) The Rishon Lezion Magistrates' Court apparently does not agree. While this week it acquitted him of indecent assault, it convicted him of indecent conduct in a public place. [Thanks to Joel Katz (Relig. & State in Israel) for the lead.]

Missouri Court Says Negligence Is Enough In Sex Abuse Case Against Church

Yesterday's Missourian reports that in a lawsuit against a St. Joseph Missouri Methodist church, a state trial court has held for the first time under Missouri law that a church can be sued for negligence in a clergy sexual abuse case. Earlier Missouri cases had required plaintiffs to show that a church actually knew the abuser was going to harm children and failed to take actions to prevent it, in order to recover against the church.

Cuba Will Now Permit Group Christian Services Inside Prisons

AP reported yesterday that Cuba's Communist government has relaxed tensions with religious groups by extending opportunities for prison inmates to worship. Authorities have agreed they will allow inmates to attend Roman Catholic Mass and Protestant services inside prisons. Previously inmates could only pray personally, and could meet individually with religious advisers. Now the group services will be able to make use of hymnals, Bibles and crosses. Authorities are considering as a next step extending the new rules to Jewish and Santeria inmates. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

New Poll Compares Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists

Public Religion Research yesterday released a 40-page report titled Faithful, Engaged, and Divergent: A Comparative Portrait of Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists in the 2008 Election and Beyond. Religion Dispatches accurately describes the study (based on extensive polling) as revealing few surprises. For example, the study concludes:

In terms of future public engagement, both conservative and progressive activists strongly emphasized the importance of being publicly visible and politically active. Conservative activists were more likely to emphasize the importance of prayer, whereas progressive activists were more likely to emphasize the importance of civility, pluralism, and social justice.

Christian Citizenship Applicant Protests Vaccination Requirement

Yesterday's Christian Post reports on Simone Davis, a 17-year old British citizen, who has been living with her grandmother in Florida since 2000. Now she is attempting to obtain U.S. citizenship, but objects on religious and moral grounds to the requirement that applicants for permanent residence show they have received a list of vaccinations, including Gardasil that protects against cervical cancer from sexually transmitted viruses. Simone and her grandmother (who teaches at a Christian school) applied for a waiver of the requirement, but were refused. Simone says that her Christian beliefs prohibit premarital sex, so she does not need the vaccine. Simone's grandmother says they cannot afford to appeal the waiver denial. Simone has been accepted to Pensacola Christian College in Florida for next year, but cannot attend unless she is a U.S. citizen.

City's Settlement of RLUIPA Lawsuit Leaves Challenged Ordinance In Effect

The city of Bellmead, Texas (under prodding from a federal judge as trial approached) is close to settling a RLUIPA lawsuit brought against it by the Church of the Open Door which was refused zoning permission to move its halfway house for released prisoners into a former nursing home building it had purchased. According to yesterday's Waco (TX) Tribune-Herald, a month after the church bought the former nursing home property for its House Where Jesus Shines ministry, the city passed a zoning law prohibiting halfway-house facilities within 1000 feet of any residence, school or public park. Under the settlement, which still has to be formally approved by City Council, the city will pay the Church damages of $550,000, but the zoning law will remain into effect and the Church will need to find a different location if it still wants to expand its operations. $250,000 of the settlement will be paid by the city's insurer. The city said its main concern is that the ordinance remain in effect.

EEOC Sues On Behalf of Jehovah's Witness Fired For Refusing Halloween Participation

Yesterday's Charleston Regional Business Journal reports that the EEOC has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the former owner of an ambulance company that was based in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The EEOC alleges that in 2006 the company fired a Jehovah's Witness employee who refused on religious grounds to represent the company at a local Halloween carnival. The lawsuit seeks back pay, damages, reinstatement and an injunction against future discriminatory practices.

10 Commandments on City Hall Property Is Problematic

A new molded concrete depiction of the Ten Commandments has gone up on the city-owned Veterans Plaza next to the city building in Baker, Louisiana. According to the Baton Rouge (LA)Advocate last week, both this monument and an identical one nearby on the grounds of the Baker First Baptist Church face the Baker High School campus across the street. The monument on city property, as well as installation costs, were paid for personally by former city councilman A.T. Furr. Mayor Harold Rideau did not consult with the city attorney first, and city council never formally approved the installation. Instead it was approved informally "by word of mouth." Rideau said: "We’re a Christian-based community." Former councilman Furr says the monument is constitutionally acceptable because it is in a park that pays tribute to veterans, but City Attorney Ron Hall says that if it was put up with knowledge of city officials, it is probably illegal. [Thanks to Bob Ritter for the lead.]

Teens Sue After Ejection From Stadium For Refusing To Stand During "God Bless America"

The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger last week reported on a federal lawsuit filed by three high school students against Thomas Cetna, owner of the minor league baseball team, the Newark Bears. The students claim that Cetna cursed them and had security officers eject them from the stadium when they refused to stand during the 7th inning stretch while "God Bless America" was being sung. Plaintiffs argue that Cetna's actions violated their Constitutional rights, as well as their rights under federal and state statutes barring discrimination in public accommodations. The suit was filed on behalf of the students by the father of one of them who is an attorney.

Proposed Landmark Law Would Protect Church Slated For Closing

The Cleveland, Ohio Catholic Diocese has ordered fifty churches to close by next Summer as part of a downsizing plan. However the city of Lakewood is about to pass an ordinance to limit the impact of the closing on historic and ornate St. James Church. Yesterday's Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the city of Lakewood is about to enact an historic landmark law that will ban tearing down or gutting the interior of buildings designated as historic or cultural landmarks. The city will then move quickly to give St. James that designation.

3rd Circuit Hears Oral Arguments On School Holiday Concert Policy

The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Stratechuk v. Board of Education, South Orange Maplewood School District. In the case, a New Jersey federal district court upheld a school board's holiday music policy that barred inclusion of religious holiday music in school holiday concerts. (See prior posting.) The New York Times, reporting on yesterday's arguments, quoted attorney Robert Muise who represented those challenging the school's policy. He thinks the 3rd Circuit panel is not sympathetic to the challenge.

Goa Rejects Christian Requests For Burial Grounds

In the Indian state of Goa, Christian leaders are criticizing a statement made by the mayor of the Corporation of City of Panjim. Today's Times of India reports that in rejecting applications of various religious groups for burial grounds in the city, Mayor Carolina Po declared: "The corporators feel that people who have converted to other religious sects should ask those people who led them to convert to provide them with burial grounds also." Christian pastors argue that all citizens should have the right to be buried.

Advocacy Group Launching Campaign To Encourage Religious Speech On Public Campuses

Arizona Republic's Livewire Blog reported yesterday that Alliance Defense Fund is using a $9.2 million anonymous donation as the catalyst to launch its $20 million "University Project." The Project is a legal campaign to get public colleges and universities to encourage religious speech on campuses.

Paper Reports On Parallel Orthodox Jewish Social Service System

Saturday's Asbury Park (NJ) Press reports on the parallel system of social services maintained by the large Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, New Jersey:

With their own judicial order, ambulance brigade, civilian patrol, school system and political force, Orthodox Jews here live, in large part, in a parallel society, with dual public services mirroring those municipal bodies that officially govern. When they collide, controversy is often sparked.

[Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

Religious Homeless Shelter and Treatment Program Not Limited By Fair Housing Act

In Intermountain Fair Housing Council v. Boise Rescue Mission Ministries, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82459 (D ID, Sept. 10, 2009), an Idaho federal district court held that the homeless shelter component of the Boise Rescue Mission is not a "dwelling" and therefore is not subject to the religious anti-discrimination provisions of the federal Fair Housing Act. It also held that both in the homeless shelter and in the Rescue Mission's second component-- a residential recovery program for individuals with drug or alcohol dependency-- the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars application of the Fair Housing Act to prohibit the Rescue Mission's religious activities or religious favoritism of certain participants. Plaintiffs in the case challenged preferential treatment of homeless shelter residents who participated in the shelter's religious programs, and and also complained of required participation in Christian religious activities for those in the New Life Discipleship/Recovery Program. Expanding on its RFRA holding, the court wrote:

The court ... finds the following to be core ecclesiastical matters with which the government may not interfere: a religious organization's teaching, preaching, and proselytizing to individuals on its own property; a religious organization's preferential treatment of guests on its property who attend religious services; a religious organization's limiting participation in a residential addiction recovery program to individuals who are or who wish to be of the same faith; and a religious organization's imposing requirements that guests and residents on its property attend and/or participate in religious services and activities.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Wilbren Van der Burg & Frans W.A. Brom, In Defense of State Neutrality, (in: K.P. Rippe (Hrsg.), Angewandte Ethik in der Pluralistischen Gesellschaft, Freiburg, CH: Freiburger Universitätsverlag, 53-82).

From SmartCILP and elsewhere:

• Brooke Goldstein & Eitan Meyer Aaron, "Legal jihad": How Islamist Lawfare Tactics are Targeting Free Speech, 15 ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law 395-410 (2009).
• Eugene K.B. Tan, From Clampdown to Limited Empowerment: Soft Law in the Calibration and Regulation of Religious Conduct in Singapore, 31 Law & Policy 351-379 (2009).
• I.CON Debate! on The Crisis of the Secular State, Article by Lorenzo Zucca; response by Andras Sajo. 7 I.CON: International Journal of Constitutional Law 494-528 (2009).
• Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. XXIV, No. 2, 2008-09 has recently appeared.

Suit Challenging Star of David In US Supreme Court Dismissed As Frivolous

In Smith v. Roberts, (IN Ct. App., Sept. 8, 2009), an Indiana state Court of Appeals rather easily dismissed as frivolous an unusual lawsuit filed by an Indiana resident against U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts. According to the court, plaintiff's "complaint alleges there is a Star of David carved into the Supreme Court building and 'alleges that Roberts has acted negligently in his officials [sic] duties by allowing and continuely [sic] establishing, advocating, and advancing the Jewish religion in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution of America [sic].'" The Indiana appellate court said that plaintiff had essentially conceded that relief was not available under either the Federal or Indiana Tort Claims Acts, the statutes he had invoked. At any rate, the court said, it could not grant relief against the U.S. Supreme Court.

Court Blocks Release of Names of Referendum Petition Signers

In Washington state, a group called Protect Marriage Washington obtained enough signatures on petitions to place Referendum-71 on this fall's ballot. The Secretary of State certified the referendum earlier this month. It seeks to overturn SB 5688, Washington's recently-enacted domestic partnership law. Two groups supporting gay rights, Whosigned.org and KnowThyNeighbor.org sought copies of the referendum petitions under Washington's Public Records Act, intending to post on the Internet the name and address of every petition signer, apparently with the intent to get gay rights supporters to contact the signers to complain. In John Doe #1 v. Reed, (WD WA, Sept. 10, 2009), a Washington federal district court granted a preliminary injunction against any public release of documents showing the names and contact information of individuals who signed petitions. The court concluded:

Plaintiffs have established that it is likely that supporting the referral of a referendum is protected political speech, which includes the component of the right to speak anonymously.... In light of the State’s own verification process and the State’s own case law, at this time the Court is not persuaded that full public disclosure of referendum petitions is necessary as "an important check on the integrity of the referendum election process." ... Therefore, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have established that it is likely that the Public Records Act is not narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling governmental interest of preserving the integrity of the referendum process.

AP reported on the decision on Friday. According to Friday's Seattle Times, Washington's Attorney General will appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Searles v. Werholtz, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79719 (D KS, Sept. 2, 2009), a Kansas federal district court granted a prison food service provider's motion for summary judgment, finding that plaintiff had not produced evidence he was denied a properly prepared kosher diet.

In Sosa v. Lantz, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79677 (D CT, Sept. 2, 2009), a Connecticut federal district court, finding little likelihood of success on the merits, refused to grant a preliminary injunction to an inmate who alleged that authorities forced him "to participate and support the Muslim religion" by assigning him to a cell with a Muslim prisoner who prayed aloud five times each day.

In Henderson v. Kennell, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80752 (CD IL, Sept. 4, 2009), an Illinois federal district court rejected an inmate's claim that his free exercise rights were violated when the prison chaplain refused to permit him to change his religion from Christianity to Al-Islam, after previously changing it from Al-Islam to Christian. the court held that the prison: "has obvious reasons for preventing inmates from switching religions frequently and without following the specified rules. Correctional facilities have limited resources and must be able to plan on the number of inmates who may participate in religious services and holidays as well as those which require a specific religious diet."

In Collins v. Sisto, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81318 (ED CA, Sept. 8, 2009), a federal magistrate judge permitted plaintiff to move ahead with his claim that his First Amendment rights were violated when prison authorities refused to provide him, as a Muslim, with kosher instead of vegetarian meals. However the court held that defendants had qualified immunity as to the same claim under RLUIPA because at the time it was not clearly established that RLUIPA guaranteed this right.

In Mouton v. Gold, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81928 (ED OK, Sept. 9, 2009), an Oklahoma federal district court held that jail officials did not violate plaintiff's free exercise rights when they refused to provide him a copy of the Qur'an that he wanted not because he was a Muslim, but simply because he had a general interest in reading it.

In Thornton v. Hill, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81651 (WD OK, May 27, 2009), an Oklahoma federal magistrate judge allowed a pre-trial detainee to move ahead with his complaint that authorities confiscated two Bibles and other Christian literature from his cell.

In Slice v. Ferriter, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81934 (D MT, May 27, 2009), a prisoner complained she was required to participate in a faith-based "Therapeutic Community" program. A Montana federal magistrate judge recommended that the claim be dismissed because plaintiff had already lost her challenge on the same matter before the Montana Human Rights Bureau and had failed to appeal that decision.

British Court Allows Appeal of Order Barring Church's Anti-Gay Ad

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church has been granted permission by a High Court judge to appeal a ruling against it issued in April by the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority. According to yesterday's Belfast Telegraph the court concluded that ASA order may have infringed the church's rights to religious belief and freedom of expression. At issue is an ad taken out by the church in the Belfast News Letter objecting to last year's gay pride parade. It was captioned: "The Word of God Against Sodomy." ASA ruled that the ad should not appear again in its current form because it violated a provision of Britain's advertising code that bars ads likely to cause serious or widespread offence on the basis of sexual orientation. The court, however, urged both sides to seek a compromise, saying: "It would seem there's not a great deal of change required in the wording and tone, perhaps, in order to meet the objections made by the ASA."