Religion Clause

Monday, November 23, 2009

FBI Releases 2008 U.S. Hate Crimes Data

The FBI today released its report on Hate Crime Statistics 2008. The FBI says the numbers are up slightly from last year, but the number of agencies reporting data varies from year to year. Of the 9,168 hate crime offenses (in 7,783 incidents), 1,606 were motivated by religious bias. (Incidents and Offenses data.) The largest percentage of those (65.7%) were anti-Jewish. 7.7% were anti-Islamic, 4.7% were anti-Catholic, 3.7% were anti-Protestant, 0.9% were anti Atheist/ Agnostic. Some 3,608 hate crime offenses were against property. 6.6% of those were directed at religious organizations. [Thanks to Michael Lieberman for the lead.]

UPDATE: The ADL on Monday issued a press release reacting to the new data and calling for "a coordinated campaign to prevent, deter, and respond effectively to criminal violence motivated by bigotry and prejudice." The ADL has also compiled charts giving additional data: (1) 10 year comparison of number of hate crimes; (2) number of law enforcement agencies reporting, by state; (3) hate crimes data since 1992 from 50 largest cities; and (4) state-by-state incident reports 1991-2008.

Suit Challenges Policy of Opening College Events With Prayer

Americans United announced Friday that it has filed a federal lawsuit against California's South Orange County Community College District challenging the practice at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo of opening various sorts of official events-- some of them mandatory for students-- with prayers. The complaint (full text) in Westphal v. Wagner, (CD CA, filed Nov. 19, 2009), alleges:

3. For years, the trustees, the chancellor, and the president of Saddleback College have routinely held official prayer at numerous events for college students and faculty, including scholarship ceremonies, graduations, and the Chancellor’s Opening Sessions.

4. The college communities are religiously diverse, and the official prayers deeply offend many students, faculty, and staff. For some, the official prayers are insulting to their deeply held religious beliefs, or even offensive to God. For some, the official prayers make them feel like outsiders because they do not belong to the District’s preferred faith community. And for some, the official prayers represent the District’s attempt to impose that preferred faith on them.

5. For years, therefore, college students, faculty, and staff, as well as scholarship donors, community members, and others have publicly objected to the District’s prayer practice, requesting that a moment of silence or some other, less divisive practice be adopted instead. But rather than respecting the beliefs of its faculty and students, the trustees, the chancellor, and Saddleback College’s president have responded by expanding the prayer practice, by making the prayers ever more religious and divisive, and by publicly attacking members of minority faiths and nonbelievers for not sharing the District’s preferred faith. Plaintiffs therefore have no choice but to seek provisional relief and a permanent injunction to stop the prayer.

[Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]

White House Marks Sikh Holiday For First Time

On Friday, Nov. 13 [corrected], the White House hosted a reception commemorating the 540th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first guru in Sikhism. According to the White House Blog, this is the first time this holiday has ever been celebrated at the White House. Sikh leaders from around the country joined a number of White House staff at the reception that featured traditional hymns led by the Sikh Kirtani Chanters from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India.

Norwegian Univeristy Debates Use of Gym For Muslim Prayers

At Norway's University of Oslo, Muslim students are encountering resistance to their request to use a university gymnasium for a half hour each Friday for prayer services. Europe News reported last week that the deans of Law and Theology want a debate on how to accommodate religious needs of students while protecting the University's common, secular space. Muslim students currently have a prayer room at the University, but it is too small to accommodate the 40 to 80 students who attend on Fridays.

Recent Prisoner Free Excercise Cases

In Perez v. Westchester County Department of Corrections, (2d Cir., Nov. 19, 2009), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that plaintiffs who obtained a settlement requiring prison authorities to serve Muslim prisoners halal meat were "prevailing parties" for purposes of the award of attorneys' fees and that the fee caps in the Prison Litigation Reform Act apply even though some of the plaintiffs were released before the successful resolution of the litigation.

In Pressley v. Madison, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107231 (ND GA, Nov. 17, 2009), a Georgia federal district judge permitted a Muslim plaintiff to move ahead with her complaint that she was not permitted to wear her hijab covering her head while temporarily transferred for two days from prison to a county jail. The suit asks for an injunction to prohibit Barrow County Jail from depriving Muslim women of their hijabs and also seeks several million dollars in damages.

In Williams v. Cate, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107920 (ED CA, Nov. 10, 2009), a California federal magistrate judge allowed a prisoner who was a member of the House of Yahweh faith to proceed against some of the defendants named in his lawsuit for alleged violations of the free exercise and equal protection clauses, as well as RLUIPA. The lawsuit alleged refusals to accommodate plaintiff's religious dietary requirements, failure to hold House of Yahweh religious services and discrimination in funding from the religious services budget.

In Morris v. Woodford, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107612 (ND CA, Nov. 18, 2009), a California federal district court held that a prisoner had stated a cognizable claim under the 1st Amendment and RLUIPA. His complaint alleged denial and confiscation of his Qu'ran and other Islamic study and prayer materials.

In Lynch v. Huffman, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107476 (SD IN, Nov. 17, 2009), an Indiana federal district court dismissed an inmate's claim that his free exercise rights were violated when his request to see a chaplain was ignored while he was in administrative segregation for two months. He did not allege this imposed a substantial burden on his religious exercise. Moreover the claim was now moot.

European Commission Tells Britian Its Exemption For Church Employees Is Too Broad

Yesterday's London Observer reports that the European Commission has written United Kingdom authorities telling them that in the opinion of EC lawyers, exemptions in Britain's Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 , Sec. 7(3), are broader than permitted by EU directives. EU Council Directive 2000/78/EC permits exceptions to employment discrimination bans only "in very limited circumstances ... where a characteristic related to religion or belief ... constitutes a genuine and determining occupational requirement, when the objective is legitimate and the requirement is proportionate." Britain currently exempts religious organizations that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, so long as they are doing so to comply with their religious doctrines (or with the strongly held religious convictions of its followers). This exemption is available regardless of the nature of the particular job. The British government has already drafted possible language to bring Britain into compliance with the EU.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Religious Scholar Becomes Effective Regime Opponent In Iran

Today's New York Times reports that Iran's Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri has become one of the most effective critics of the current Iranian regime. Montazeri, the most knowledgeable religious scholar in the country, attacks the government as not Islamic. The ailing cleric in his mid-80's issues stinging criticisms online and elsewhere. In one, he said: "A political system based on force, oppression, changing people’s votes, killing, closure, arresting and using Stalinist and medieval torture, creating repression, censorship of newspapers, interruption of the means of mass communications, jailing the enlightened and the elite of society for false reasons, and forcing them to make false confessions in jail, is condemned and illegitimate." Iran's current religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has only limited religious credentials and thus Montazeri may be able to delegitimize him.

Maldives Considering Ban On Public Worship By Non-Muslims

Maldives parliament, the People's Majlis, is considering a bill to outlaw building of places of worship for non-Muslim religions and to prohibit the practice of other faiths in public. (Minivan News, Nov. 18). The bill will allow non-Muslim foreigners to worship in the privacy of their homes, but they could not invite Maldivians to participate. Violations of the law would carry jail terms of up to five years and fines of up to $4600 (US). Maldives constitution already prohibits non-Muslims from becoming citizens. On Friday, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said he would seek advice from religious scholars on whether it is permissible to allow non-Muslims to worship in an Islamic community. (Minivan News.) He says it is clear that under the constitution, laws that are contrary to Islam cannot be enacted. The bill was apparently triggered in part by the government's proposal to create wedding tourism in the country, as well as by inquiries from foreigners about creating houses of worship.

Suit Challenges Closing of 50 Churches By Cleveland Catholic Diocese

A lawsuit has been filed in state court in Akron, Ohio seeking to prevent the Cleveland Catholic Diocese from moving ahead with its plans to close some 50 of its churches in eight counties. The closures and parish mergers are designed to save money and make better use of the Diocese's limited number of priests. According to yesterday's Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nancy McGrath, head of the newly formed group Code Purple, alleges in her lawsuit that under Ohio law, the Bishop needs consent of parishioners to close the churches. She claims that parish property is held in trust for the parish, and argues that consent of the beneficiaries is needed before the trustee can dispose of trust assets. In response, the Diocese argues that Ohio case law makes it clear that the individual members of the parish are not beneficiaries of the trust, and they have no standing to enforce the trust. It also argues that the First Amendment requires civil courts to respect decisions of hierarchical Church authorities in situations such as this.

Last month McGrath was named in a restraining order preventing her and other protesters from taking over a church in Akron scheduled for closure. The Diocese has now worked out a compromise under which protesters can remain in a Church until midnight on the day of its last Mass.

Regulatory Issues Abound In New York Hasidic Village

The Forward last week reported on some of the difficult regulatory enforcement issues faced by the state and surrounding communities in connection with developments in New Square, New York. New Square, whose population is made up almost entirely members of the Skverer Hasidic sect of Orthodox Jews, is a separately incorporated village that is part of the town of Ramapo. New Square controls its own zoning and municipal code.

The most controversial immediate issue is the planned construction of a large kosher poultry slaughterhouse on city land abutting on homes just outside of New Square. The slaughterhouse project has received a $1.62 million grant of state development funds, even though it has not received approval from local planning departments. A smaller slaughterhouse constructed ten years ago already cause various sorts of problems for its neighbors.There has also been a history of non-compliance with state fire codes in the dense housing developments in New Square. The problems are complicated by the insularity of the Hasidic community, whose first language is Yiddish, and its political clout growing out of its ability to get the community to vote as a block for favored candidates. Earlier this month, 100% of New Square's 2075 votes went to one of the two candidates running to head Ramapo's government. The opposing candidate had expressed concern about the slaughterhouse project.

Rhode Island Bishop Tells Patrick Kennedy Not to Receive Communion

Today's Providence (RI) Journal reports that Catholic Diocese of Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has barred U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) from receiving communion because of Kennedy's views on abortion rights. Kennedy told the newspaper: "The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion." This take the dispute between the two-- that has become public in connection with health care reform proposals-- to a new height. (See prior posting.) Tobin's office declined to comment on any conversation between Tobin and Kennedy, but denied that Tobin had spoken with diocese priests about the matter.

UPDATE: Former New York governor, Mario Cuomo, reacting to Church pressure on Patrick Kennedy, warned that if Church leaders pressure Catholic politicians to follow Church teaching in their political roles, this may well lead to people being hesitant to vote for Catholics. According to AP on Sunday, Cuomo said in part: "The American people need no course in philosophy or political science or church history to know that God should not be made into a celestial party chairman."

UPDATE2: Bishop Thomas J. Tobin issued a statement (11/22) in response to Rep. Kennedy's remarks. He says he wrote Kennedy in Feb. 2007 asking that he refrain from receiving Holy Communion in light of his consistent actions in opposition to Church teachings. The letter said that Tobin was writing Kennedy "personally and confidentially as a pastor addressing a member of his flock." Tobin says he is disappointed that Kennedy has now made this public.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

2nd Circuit Says EEOC Can Subpoena Company's Nationwide Records

In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. United Parcel Service, (2d Cir., Nov. 19, 2009), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that the district court should enforce a subpoena issued by the EEOC seeking information on how religious exemptions from UPS's Uniform and Personal Appearance Guidelines are handled nationwide. The appeals court concluded that the district court had applied too restrictive a concept of relevance in refusing to enforce the subpoena in connection with the Commission's investigation of a case in Buffalo and one in Dallas involving Muslims who wanted for religious reasons to wear beards. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

9th Circuit Won't Enjoin Church Sign Regulations, But Remands For Further Consideration

In Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona, (9th Cir., Nov. 20, 2009), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a town's limitations on temporary directional signs are a content-neutral regulation that does not impermissibly favor commercial speech over noncommercial speech. It therefore affirmed the lower court's denial of a preliminary injunction to the Good News Presbyterian Church which claimed its First Amendment and Equal Protection rights were violated by the regulation. The church uses temporary signs to inform the public of the location of its Sunday services, held in an elementary school. However the court remanded the case for the district court to consider whether the regulation unconstitutionally favors some noncommercial speech over other noncommercial speech. Yesterday's Arizona Republic reported on the decision. (See prior related posting.)

New York High Court OK's State Employee Benefits To Same-Sex Spouses

In Godfrey v. Spano, (NY Ct. App., Nov. 19, 2009), New York's high court held that state civil service officials had authority to recognize, for purposes of employee health and other benefits, same-sex marriages validly performed in other states. The court pointed to the broad statutory authority given to the Civil Service Commission to determine who should obtain benefit coverage. Three concurring judges would have gone further and held that same-sex marriages, valid where performed, are entitled to full recognition under New York law. Friday's New York Times reported on the decision. [Thanks to Y.Y. Landa for the lead.]

IRS Schedules Hearing On Changes For Authorizing Church Tax Examinations

The Internal Revenue Service announced this week (Federal Register) that it is scheduling a public hearing for Jan. 10, 2010 on proposed amendments to clarify clarify which high level Treasury official has authority to authorize commencement of a church tax inquiry. (See prior related posting.) Those who have previously submitted written comments who wish to also make an oral presentation at the hearing must submit an outline by Dec. 9.

Indiana Christian TV Station Produces Program on Faith and the Law

A press release today on Christian Newswire reports on a new television program produced by an Indianapolis, Indiana television station. Each Wednesday at noon, WHMB-TV broadcasts "Faith and the Law." According to the press release, the program (which began October 7) "provides information on the attack on our religious freedom and encourages all Christians to stand up and fight back." The program's host is lawyer Timothy A. Rowe.

Ohio Supreme Court: Regional Church Offices Are Not Tax Exempt

In Church of God in Northern Ohio v. Levin, (OH Sup. Ct., Nov. 18, 2009), the Ohio Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision held that property used only as the regional administrative headquarters of a denomination's local churches is not tax exempt. Property primarily used to support public worship that is conducted at other locations by local congregations is not exempt either as property used exclusively for public worship nor as property used exclusively for charitable purposes. According to the majority, public worship by itself is not a "charitable activity."

The dissenters argued that the headquarters were exempt as property used exclusively for a charitable purpose because it plays an integral role in the public worship and outreach programs of local churches.

Friday, November 20, 2009

New Catholic, Evangelical Declaration Reaffirms Pro-Life, Traditional Marriage Agenda

This afternoon, a coalition of 149 pro-life, Catholic, evangelical and Orthodox Christian leaders signed the 4700-word Manhattan Declaration, pledging to defend their pro-life views and their opposition to same-sex marriage. (LifeNews.) The Declaration says in part:

While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.

.... We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths.... Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.

Today's New York Times reporting on the Declaration says that the document, written by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, "is an effort to rejuvenate the political alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelicals that dominated the religious debate during the [Bush] administration.... They want to signal to the Obama administration and to Congress that they are still a formidable force that will not compromise on abortion, stem-cell research or gay marriage." [Thanks to Ira "Chip" Lupu for the lead.]

Award By Rabbinical Court Vacated Over Limit on Party's Choice of Attorney

In Kahan v. Rosner, (NY Sup. Ct., Nov. 16, 2009), a New York trial court vacated an arbitration award in a dispute between siblings over property originally owned by their father. The award was issued by a Rabbinical Court which refused to permit one of the parties to be represented by the attorney of his choice. The parties had signed a waiver providing that they would use only Rabbinical counsel acceptable to the Rabbinical court. However the state civil court held that the right to have an attorney at an arbitration proceeding is unwaivable, and the Rabbinical court had given no reason why the objecting party could not be represented by the attorney ("toayn") he had selected. [Thanks to Y.Y. Landa for the lead.]