Jersey City Parking Lot Ends Discounts For Jehovah's Witnesses

In Jersey City, New Jersey, the privately owned Square Parking parking garage has ended its practice of giving discounts to Jehovah's Witnesses, who worship in a nearby theater. A press release issued Tuesday by FFRF and a report yesterday in the Jersey Journal indicate that the discount was stopped after the city followed up on a letter sent to the parking lot by FFRF. FFRF contended that the discount violates federal, state and local non-discrimination laws. Apparently other parking lots in the area are still offering discounts to Jehovah's Witnesses.

Senate Committee Holds Hearing On ENDA; Religious Exemption Discussed

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing on S. 1584, the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Sec. 6 of the Act would exempt the same religious institutions that are exempt from the religious discrimination provisions of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. After opening remarks by committee chairman Tom Harkin, seven witnesses testified. The Committee has posted the full text of their statements.

Craig L. Parshall, Senior Vice-President and General Counsel of the National Religious Broadcasters argued that the bill threatens the constitutional rights of religious employers. (Full text of testimony.) He claimed that the exemption in Sec. 6 is inadequate. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (full text of testimony) reported that under the Illinois Human Rights Act that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, only a handful of sexual orientation claims have been filed against religious institutions. Bay Windows reports on the hearing.

Chechnya Will Pay For Hajj Trips For 400 Residents

In Russia's Chechnya region, Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered the government to pay for 400 residents to go to Mecca on this year's Hajj. Reuters reported yesterday that trips will be financed for those who cannot afford to go, for the single and the young, out of a fund Kadyrov has created to honor father who was assassinated in a bomb blast in 2004. Kadyrov has previously awarded prizes for newborns named after the Prophet Muhammad, has banned alcohol and required women to wear headscarves in government offices in this predominately Muslim region of Russia. He is now planning to build "the world's most beautiful mosque." Recently suicide bombs and armed attacks on Chechen police have shattered a few years of calm.

Sanctions Imposed On Attorney In Client's Suit Against Jews For Jesus

Rapp v. Jews for Jesus, Inc. is a long running case in the state courts of Florida filed by Edith Rapp who claimed that Jews for Jesus published a false report from her missionary stepson that she had joined the organization. (See prior posting.) The courts determined that Rapp may have a cause of action for defamation by implication, and in a short decision issued last February, the state court of appeals remanded the case to the trial court, ordering Edith Rapp to "succinctly replead her claims, without excessive editorialization." Now, in an Order issued on Oct. 29 (full text), the trial court ordered Edith Rapp's attorney to pay for attorney's fees and costs incurred by defendant in arguing that the latest pleadings still contain excessive editorialization. The court concluded that the pleadings which continued to include redundant, immaterial and scandalous content that the court had previously ordered stricken involved bad faith litigation conduct on the part of plaintiff's attorney, Barry M. Silver, and not misconduct by plaintiff herself. Liberty Counsel, which is defending Jews for Jesus, yesterday issued a release on the decision.

CAIR Gets TRO Forcing Return of Purloined Documents

In Council on American-Islamic Relations v. Gaubatz, (D DC, Nov. 3, 2009), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a temporary restraining order to CAIR to prevent the use by defendants of various documents and e-mails that were surreptitously taken from CAIR's offices. Defendant Paul Gabautz publishes a blog devoted to "exposing Islamic terrorist operations in America." A number of postings on the blog accuse CAIR, a Muslim advocacy group, of being a front for the Muslim Brotherhood and of supporting Al Qaeda. Paul Gabautz implemented a plan to get his son, Chris, hired as an intern at CAIR under an assumed name. Chris copied or removed various documents and recorded various meetings and conversations at CAIR. Many of the materials were either posted on Paul's blog, or included in a book co-authored by Paul that was published last month titled Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America. Among the blog postings were lists of CAIR employees and donors (with personal contact information). The TRO, along with its broader bans, specifically ordered removal of these and return of the lists to CAIR. Here is an account of the decision and background on it from World Net Daily that published Gaubautz's book and is defending the Gaubautz's in the lawsuit.

Missouri Taxes Yoga; Some Claim Religious Exemption Should Apply

Missouri's sales tax statute (MRS 144.020) imposes a 4% tax on admission or fees paid to "any place of amusement, entertainment or recreation, games and athletic events." According to reports today from AP and Columbia's Missourian, state Department of Revenue officials have notified yoga and Pilates centers that beginning Nov. 1 they have to collect the tax. Yoga instructors, however, say that they should be exempt. Some argue that it would be unconstitutional to tax yoga because it is a spiritual practice with roots in ancient Indian meditation. MRS 144.030(2)(19) exempts sales by religious institutions from sales tax. A Missouri Revenue Department spokesman said it will consider religious exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

Challenge To "In God We Trust" On Currency Is Rejected

In a brief opinion in Kidd v. Obama, (D DC, Oct. 30, 2009), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to use of "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, brought by a plaintiff who described himself as an atheist. The suit against the President and the Federal Reserve Board Chairman sought to have all currently circulating currency replaced with bills carrying no religious inscriptions. The court quoted a 9th Circuit opinion stating that use of the motto on currency: "is of a patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise."

Arkansas Superintendent Pondering Complaint Over Gideons In Classrooms

Today's Arkansas Times reports that the Superintendent of the Benton, Arkansas schools is "trying to figure out what to do" about a parent's complaint over religious activity at Ringgold Elementary School. For at least six years, school principal Ann Kerr has gone into 5th grade classrooms with members of Gideons International. The Gideons speak about their evangelical work and leave copies of the New Testament (plus Psalms and Proverbs) behind that students can pick up. The principal apparently believed that the practice was legal so long as Bibles were not actually handed to students.

All-Christian Private Prison Planned For Oklahoma

The Tulsa (OK) World reported Monday on plans by a non-profit prisons ministry, Corrections Concepts Inc., to build a private all-Christian prison in Wakita, Oklahoma. The 600-bed facility will be for men near the end of their sentences who volunteer to be housed there and agree to participate in its program. Unlike faith-based or Christian units in state prisons, this one plans to employ only Christians as administrators and staff. Oklahoma or other states will pay $42.80 per day for inmates to be housed in the facility. Inmates will be required to participate in Christ-centered literacy and life-skills classes, though attendance at religious services and Bible study will be voluntary. Bill Robinson, founder of the Dallas-based Corrections Concepts, says he has legal opinions indicating that as a religious organization the ministry can limit hiring to Christians. Robinson says the born-again staff will see this as a mission. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]

British Court Says Catholic Diocese Is Responsible for Abuse At Community Home

Today's London Times reports that a High Court judge in Leeds has ruled that the Middlesbrough Catholic Diocese, rather than the De La Salle Order of lay brothers, is responsible for damages to 142 people who allege physical and sexual abuse at the St. Williams Community Home in Market Weighton. The home's former headmaster, Brother James Carragher, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for abusing boys at St. Williams that housed boys between 10 and 16 years old who had behavioral and emotional problems. The systematic abuse of children at the home in the English county of East Yorkshire took place from 1960 until 1992. The court said that the Diocese had management responsibility for the home. However the court granted the Diocese leave to appeal. The Diocese claims that the De La Salle Order is responsible for what could be damages of up to £8 million.

Road Protection Law Would Infringe Mennonites' Religious Beliefs

Howard County, Iowa is considering a road protection ordinance that would ban steel-wheel vehicles on hard surfaced roads. According to Rochester, Minnesota's AgriNews, at a hearing on Monday an Elizabethtown College sociologist testified that the ban would create problems for members of the Old Order Groffdale Mennonite Conference. When the Groffdale Conference accepted the use of tractors for farm work, it required they have steel wheels or steel cleats. The Conference was concerned that use of rubber tires would lead to use of the tractors for transportation, and eventually to the use of automobiles, which would break up the Mennonites' close-knit communities. The requirement to use steel cleats or wheels is part of the Conference's Ordnung, and anyone who violates the rule could face excommunication.

AU Asks IRS To Investigate Mayoral Endorsement By Pennsylvania Pastor

Americans United yesterday (press release) asked the Internal Revenue Service (full text of letter) to investigate whether Bethel Village AME Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania violated IRS regulations applicable to non-profits by supporting one of the city's mayoral candidates. AU cites an introduction by the church's pastor of Linda Thompson, the current city council president who was the Democratic candidate for mayor. Thompson then spoke from the pulpit for ten minutes. In the introduction, Pastor Martin Odom praised Thompson as "a person who knows the ins and outs of city government," and referred to her as "the next mayor of the city of Harrisburg." Thompson won the mayoral election on Tuesday. (Harrisburg Patriot-News.)

New Zealand OKs Cola Ad Portraying Humorous Confessional Exchange

The New Zealand Advertising Standards Complaint Board has rejected a complaint that a television ad by Demon Drinks, Ltd. violates provisions in its Advertising Code of Ethics barring any ad "which in the light of generally prevailing community standards is likely to cause serious or widespread offence"or which is prepared without "a due sense of social responsibility." Yesterday's New Zealand Catholic reports that the ad, for Illicit Cola, portrays a young man in a confessional telling a supposed priest: "Father, I've sinned. I'm seeing this girl, but I also want her sister." The priest responds:"Don't be shy, my son; date them both." Then the young man refers to Illicit Cola and says: "It's good to be bad." The Board ruled that the ad contains obvious hyperbole and humor and thus does not cause serious or widespread offense.

Obama, Other Officials Meeting With Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch

Yesterday, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of worldwide Orthodox Christians, met at the White House with President Obama. (White House press release.) Fox News reports that the Patriarch, who is a leader in the environmental movement, will also meet this week with Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton and Congressional leaders. The government of Turkey has refused to recognize Bartholomew as the leader of the Eastern Orthodox church. The White House statement indicated that the President supports the reopening of the Halki Seminary in Istanbul. The seminary was closed down over thirty years ago after Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled that parts of the country's Private University Law were unconstitutional. President Obama urged reopening of the seminary as part of his speech before Turkey's Parliament last April. (Background).

Jehovah's Witnesses Denied Recognition By Nagorno-Karabakh Court

Forum 18 reported yesterday that in Nagorno-Karabakh, the General Court of First Instance in Stepanakert has upheld the denial of registration under the country's Religion Law to Jehovah's Witnesses. The country's Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs refused the registration application because Jehovah's Witness charter allows proselytism. Under the Religion Law only the Armenian Apostolic Church may proselytize outside its own religious community. Unrecognized religious communities are banned from meeting together for religious activities, though so far authorities are not interfering with religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses. Nagorno-Karabakh is an internationally-unrecognized self-governing area of Azerbaijan.

Utah High Court Hears Arguments In FLDS Leader's Appeal

Yesterday the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of State v. Jeffs, an appeal by Warren Jeffs, former head of the FLDS Church. Jeffs was convicted of rape as an accomplice (see prior posting) for his role in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old to her 19-year-old cousin. (Audio of oral arguments.) Today's Dallas Morning News summarizes the arguments. Members of the FLDS Church practice polygamy in arranged marriages. Defense attorney Walter Bugden argued that the state charged Jeffs with a crime that does not fit the facts. He asserted:"This is an unpopular religion, and the state decided to find a way to bring down this unpopular religious figure."

European Court Says Crucifixes In Italian Classrooms Violate Human Rights Convention

In Lautsi v. Italy, (ECHR, Nov. 3 2009) [judgment in French], the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that crucifixes in public school classrooms in Italy violate the European Convention on Human Rights' protections of thought, conscience and religion (Art. 9) and the right of parents to educate their children according to their convictions (Protocol 1, Art. 2). The Court's press release on the decision recounts that the challenge was brought by a mother who wished to raise her children as secularists. It summarizes the court's conclusions:

The presence of the crucifix ... could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion. This could be encouraging for religious pupils, but also disturbing for pupils who practised other religions or were atheists, particularly if they belonged to religious minorities. The freedom not to believe in any religion (inherent in the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Convention) ... extended to practices and symbols which expressed a belief, a religion or atheism.... The State ... was required to observe confessional neutrality in the context of public education, where attending classes was compulsory irrespective of religion, and where the aim should be to foster critical thinking in pupils.

The court awarded damages of 5000 Euros to plaintiff. According to Zenit yesterday, the Italian Bishops Conference issued a statement saying that the decision:

ignores or neglects the multiple meaning of the crucifix, which not only is a religious symbol, but also a cultural sign. It does not take into account the fact that, in reality, in the Italian experience, the display of the crucifix in public places is in harmony with the recognition of the principles of Catholicism as part of the historical patrimony of the Italian people, confirmed by the Concordat of 1984.

AKI reports on the court's decision, giving additional background. [Thanks to Dott. Pasquale Annicchino for the lead.]

UPDATE: According to CNA (Nov. 4) , Italy's Minister of Education, Mariastella Gelmini, rejected the ECHR decision, saying: "Nobody, much less a European court that is steeped in ideology, will be allowed to strip our identity away."

UPDATE 2: The Nov. 7 Christian Post reports that Italy plans to appeal the ruling of the 7-judge panel to the ECHR's 17-judge Grand Chamber.

British Tribunal Says Environmentalism Is Protected Under "Religion or Belief" Regulations

Britain's Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. In Graingner PLC v. Nicholson, (EAT, Nov. 3, 2009) [full text, Word.doc], Britain's Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that:

A belief in man-made climate change, and the alleged resulting moral imperatives, is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations. The belief must be of a similar cogency or status to a religious belief, the ECHR jurisprudence is directly material and the limitations on the concept and extent of a philosophical belief can be derived from that, without the need to place any additional limitation on the nature or source of the belief.

The company claims that Tim Nicholson, a former executive of the real estate company Grainger, was dismissed for operational reasons and not because of his environmental beliefs. The case now goes back to the Employment Tribunal for a hearing on this issue. The Independent today reports on the case.

Two Employment Discrimination Suits Filed Recently Charge Religious Harassment

Two unrelated lawsuits, both alleging religious discrimination in employment, have been filed recently. In one, yesterday the EEOC sued Administaff, Inc. and Conn-X, LLC (a Baltimore cable provider) alleging religious harassment of two brothers who are Jewish. The complaint alleges unusually harsh anti-Semitic harassment by managers and co-workers, including anti-Jewish slurs, defacing one of the brother's work vehicles with a swastika and and forcing him into a trash bin to the amusement of managers who watched on a surveillance camera calling the action "throw the Jew into the dumpster." Trading Markets reprints the EEOC's press release on the case. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

In Atlanta last week, James Bara, a former employee of Google's data center who is a practicing Wiccan, filed suit charging both religious and gender discrimination. According to the complaint (full text) in Bara v. Google, Inc. (ND GA, filed 10/29./2009), after Bara objected to remarks made by his supervisor about a newly hired transgender employee, the supervisor retaliated against Bara in setting his working conditions, and also subjected him to "a steady discourse of comments and 'jokes' regarding witches, witchcraft and witch trials." Tech Crunch yesterday reported on the case.

Maine Voters Reject Same-Sex Marriage

In a referendum yesterday, Maine voters rejected the state's recently-enacted law to permit same-sex marriage. The New York Times reported early Wednesday morning that with 87% of the precincts reporting, 53% of the voters had voted in favor of repeal. The Catholic Church was one of the primary supporters of the repeal referendum. It asked parishes to pass a second collection plate at Sunday Mass to support the repeal effort. The website of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland features a strong rebuke to a group of Catholics who had taken out an ad favoring marriage equality. It also features a Homily (full text) delivered in October, which supports legal recognition of domestic partnerships, but opposes same-sex marriage:

It is not discrimination to call things by their own names. We have different names for different things. A cat is not a dog; an oak tree is not a rose..... It is not discrimination to call one person a husband and another person a wife. It is not discrimination to say that one person is heterosexual and another person is homosexual. It is not discrimination to call the union of a man and a woman marriage and to call the committed relationship of homosexual persons something else -- you pick the word. It is difficult to believe that Maine people, much less Christian people, see no difference between marriage and homosexual unions, even when homosexual unions are perceived as desirable. There remains a difference and the difference should have its own name.

Marriage is an absolutely unique and irreplaceable relationship. Other relationships can be loving; other relationships can be committed; other relationships can even be permanent, but still not be marriage, but something else. Marriage is the miracle of the coming together to a man and a woman whose love and commitment is open to overflow to create the new life of a new person.