Religion Clause

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

3rd Circuit OK's Ban On Religious Holiday Songs At School Concerts

In Stratechuk v. Board of Education, South Orange-Maplewood School District, (3d Cir., Nov. 24, 2009), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a New Jersey school district's policy banning celebratory religious holiday music at school-sponsored holiday concerts. Holiday music could still be taught in music classes. Also, songs with religious content not specifically related to the holidays at hand could be performed in concerts. The 3d Circuit rejected plaintiff's argument under the Establishment Clause that the policy's purpose and effect is to disapprove of religion. The school argued that its purpose was to prevent governmental endorsement of religious holidays. The Court concluded:

Certainly, those of us who were educated in the public schools remember holiday celebrations replete with Christmas carols, and possibly even Chanukah songs, to which no objection had been raised. Since then, the governing principles have been examined and defined with more particularity. Many decisions about how to best create an inclusive environment in public schools, such as those at issue here, are left to the sound discretion of the school authorities.

The court also rejected plaintiff's claim that the school was unconstitutionally restricting students' access to ideas. Yesterday's Newark Star-Ledger reported on the decision. (See prior related posting.)

Lawsuit Challenges Museum's Cancellation of Pro-Intelligent Design Film

A press release yesterday from the American Freedom Alliance (AFA) reports on a lawsuit it has filed against the California Science Center (CSC). AFA says its free expression rights were infringed when CSC, a state agency, cancelled a scheduled showing in its IMAX Theater of "We Are Born of the Stars"-- a documentary promoting Intelligent Design. The lawsuit alleges that CSC cancelled the film because it did not want the museum to be viewed as legitimizing Intelligent Design as a scientific theory. The complaint alleges that CSC's President, Jeffrey Rudolph, was pressured to cancel the event by colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Southern California, the Huntington Library and elsewhere. Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's Origin of the Species, and AFA had planned two films to kick off a series of events exploring competing theories on life's origins.

UPDATE: Here is the full text of the complaint in American Freedom Alliance v. California Science Center, (Cal. Super. Ct., filed 11/19/2009). [Thanks to Willaim Becker.]

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

White House State Dinner Accommodates Hindu Vegetarianism

Tonight the White House is hosting the first State Dinner of the Obama Presidency, honoring India's prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. (White House Blog.) The carefully created dinner menu takes account of the vegetarian diet practiced by many Hindus. All the courses are vegetarian, except that guests have the option of Green Curry Prawns instead of Roasted Potato Dumplings for the main course. Blog of the Times is covering various aspects of the dinner.

Suit Challenges School's Censorship of Anti-Islam T-Shirts

Yesterday the ACLU of Florida filed a federal lawsuit against the Alachua County (FL) school board challenging the constitutionality of the district's policy of banning students from wearing T-shirts with messages that are "offensive to others." The Gainesville Sun reports that the suit, alleging freedom of expression claims, was filed on behalf of two families that are members of the Dove World Outreach Center. School officials asked the students involved to cover their T-shirts which, on the back, read "Islam is of the Devil." On the front, the T-shirts read: "I stand in truth with Dove World Outreach Center", followed by, "Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except through me."

Some students were told they could not wear the T-shirts at all. Others were only required to cover the message on the back, but not the Christian message on the front. The ACLU says the issue is whether, under the First Amendment, school officials can permit positive messages about faith, religion or other matters, while banning negative messages about those subjects. School officials say they can bar messages that are disruptive to the learning environment, substantially interfere with maintaining discipline at school, or which infringe other students' rights.

Estate of Deceased FLDS Leader Seeks Return of UEP Trust

The complicated and long-running efforts of a Utah state court to reform the $120 million FLDS United Effort Plan Trust (see prior posting) has run into a new complication. AP reported yesterday that attorneys for the estate of Rulon Jeffs-- former leader of the polygamous FLDS Church-- have filed a motion asking the court to return control of the trust to the estate. The court took control of the trust in 2005 after Warren Jeffs, Rulon's son, was charged with mismanaging the property held by the trust. The new motion argues that the property belongs to the Corporation of the President of the FLDS Church, and that the court's prior actions have denied the estate, and the Corporation of the President, due process.

Iran's Largest Paper Shut Down For Publishing Photo of Baha'i Temple

AFP reported yesterday that Iran's Press Supervisory Board has ordered Hamshahri, the country's largest circulation newspaper, closed down because it published a photo on its front page of a Baha'i temple. The photo was part of an ad encouraging tourists to visit the Baha'i shrine. Iran's 300,000 Baha'is have been discriminated against over the years, and the religion is not recognized as a minority religion by Iran. (Background.) However, according to an AP report, Hamshahri, run by the municipality of Tehran, has also been critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Tehran's mayor, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, is a critic and rival of Ahmadinejad. Over 120 pro-reform newspapers have been ordered closed since 2000.

UPDATE: An Iranian news agency says that courts have lifted the ban on Hamshahri one day after it was imposed. (Fresno Bee, 11/24.)

State Department Official Testifies On Religious Freedom In Middle East

On Nov. 19, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on The State of Political and Religious Freedom in the Middle East. Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, testified. (Full text of Posner's statement.) He said in part:

We recognize that there are many significant challenges to religious freedom and tolerance in the Middle East and South Asia. Throughout the region religious minorities do not enjoy equal access to education, employment, healthcare, and legal recourse. In some places, blasphemy and apostasy laws inhibit the social contributions of minorities and exacerbate inter-religious tension. In many Muslim-majority countries, minority Muslim sects are marginalized and members of the majority sect are not free to challenge official religious opinions. I want to emphasize that religious freedom is not just a concern for religious minorities; majority communities need space to self-critique and adapt to changing conditions over time.

Reporting on the hearing, the Pakistan Christian Post yesterday said that questions asked of Posner during the hearing demonstrated that the U.S. has not seriously pressured its allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt to comply with international human rights law.

Hannah Rosenthal To Be Named State Department's Special Envoy On Anti-Semitism

JTA reported yesterday that President Obama will name Hannah Rosenthal as the State Department's new Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism. Rosenthal served from 2000 to 2005 as executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Her appointment was welcomed by the ADL and the JCPA. However, according to JTA, some conservatives criticize her, citing her service on the advisory board of J Street, a new organization that describes itself as the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.

Iraq Gives Added Payment To Mixed Sunni-Shiite Couples Marrying

In Iraq, the country's vice-president, Tariq al-Hashemi, is trying to heal rifts between Shiites and Sunnis by encouraging intermarriage between the two groups. Monday's USA Today says that Hashemi is offering a government gift of $2000 to each mixed couple that marries. About a dozen of these couples will take part in a eremony and celebration on Friday, funded by the government. The mixed couples will receive their $2000 along with government funded wedding clothes and hotel rooms. Some 375 couples from the same sect will also marry in the subsidized group ceremony. They will receive a $750 gift from the government.

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.