Connecticut School Will Move Graduation Away From Cathedral

The South Windsor, Connecticut, Board of Education has voted to move South Windsor High School's 2010 graduation from the First Cathedral in Bloomfield to the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. The move came after Americans United and the ACLU threatened to sue the Enfield school system which also uses the Cathedral, and made preliminary inquiries of South Windsor. (See prior posting.) Wednesday's Hartford Courant reports that the Cathedral has charged fees of $7400 to $8000 for schools to use its facilities. The Enfield school board will consider whether to move its schools' graduations as well when it meets in January.

UPDATE: ACLU announced on Feb. 9 that the Windsor (CT) Board of Education has voted to move its graduation away from The First Cathedral. With this decision, all 5 districts that had been using the church have now decided to hold their ceremonies elsewhere.

Malaysian Court Says Catholic Paper Can Use Term "Allah"

A High Court judge in Malaysia has vindicated the free exercise rights of a Catholic newspaper, The Herald, in an oral opinion handed down today. Bernama and the Wall Street Journal report on the decision that upholds the right of the paper to use the word "Allah" in its Malay-language edition to refer to God. The Home Ministry had banned the paper from using the term, and the paper filed suit to challenge the restriction. (See prior posting.) Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan held that while Sec. 11(4) of the Malaysian Constitution permits a ban on the use of the term by non-Muslims who are attempting to proselytize Muslims, the Constitutional protections of free expression (Sec. 10) and free exercise of religion (Secs. 11 and 12) permit the paper to use the term in material directed at other Christians. The government had argued that The Herald's online edition can be accessed by Muslims, but the court said that it is enough of a safeguard that the paper is in fact read mainly by Christians. Its main audience is indigenous tribes who converted to Christianity decades ago. The Mandarin, English and Tamil editions do not use the term. The court's decision can be appealed. (See prior related posting.)

UPDATE: The Malay (1/2) reports that the Prime Minister's Department in cooperation with the Home Ministry will appeal the High Court's decision.

UPDATE2: On Jan. 6, the High Court granted the Home Ministry a stay of its order while an appeal is taken to the Court of Appeal. (Outlook India; AP.)

7th Circuit Decides Two RLUIPA Zoning Cases

In World Outreach Conference Center v. City of Chicago, (7th Cir., Dec. 30, 2009), the 7th Circuit issued an opinion in two consolidated appeals involving claims that zoning decisions violated RLUIPA. After concluding that RLUIPA is constitutional, the court initially focused on the City of Chicago's rezoning of a former YMCA building in a way that prevented World Outreach, a religious organization dedicated to providing living facilities to the homeless, from operating it as a community center. The court concluded that World Outreach had not shown religious discrimination, but instead did show that the city discriminated against it in favor of a developer who was a financial supporter of a city alderman. Allegations that the city harassed World Outreach through filing frivolous legal claims states a RLUIPA claim for imposing a substantial burden on the group's free exercise of religion.

In the second case, the court upheld the city of Peoria's classifying as a landmark an apartment building next door to Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. This designation prevented the church from tearing down the building in order to build a family life center. The court rejected the Church's RLUIPA claim, holding that the burden on its free exercise is only modest. It can sell the building and use the proceeds to construct a family life center elsewhere in the city. Today's Chicago Tribune reports on the Chicago portion of the opinion.

Remains of 500 Animals From Santeria Rituals Found In Philadelphia House

In Philadelphia on Wednesday, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals enforcement officers, executing a search warrant, found the remains of more than 500 animals in a home whose most recent occupant was last seen five days ago. CNN reports that officials believe the animals were sacrificed as part of Santeria rituals. Most of the remains were from chickens, but also included dozens of sheep and goats and the remains of two primates-- possibly small monkeys. Also an altar with candles was found in the house. SPCA law enforcement director, George Bengal, said it was not clear if any laws had been violated. It will likely depend on whether the animals were sacrificed inhumanely.

Federal Court Orders New York Kosher Poultry Plant To Shut Down

A New York federal district judge on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction prohibiting further slaughtering at New Square Meats in the village of New Square-- home of the Skver Hasidic sect. The court agreed with the U.S. Attorney's Office that the plant failed to comply with the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act. Various sanitary violations were found at the plant. The poultry slaughterhouse slaughtered more than 355,000 birds in 2008. Almost all of its product is sold through a New Square grocery, Oneg Poultry. Both The Forward and the Lower Hudson Journal-News yesterday report on the court's order, as well as on several other recent controversies involving the Skver sect. (See prior posting.) The Forward quotes Queens College sociology professor Samuel Heilman:

The fundamental question, of course, is what is it about these people that makes it possible for them to, on the one hand, claim to be more religious and pious, and on the other hand, break rules that are non-halachic rules.

He answered that the Skvers, along with other fundamentalist groups, tend to divide the world into "us and them", and feel they can be less concerned in portions of their lives that involve outsiders.

Fired Muslim Workers Denied Unemployment Benefits

In Osman v. JFC, Inc., (MN App., Dec. 29, 2009), the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of unemployment benefits to 22 Somali Muslims who were fired from their jobs at a poultry processing plant after they refused to comply with the company's break policy. They claimed they needed to take breaks at a different time in order to fulfill their religious obligation to perform the Fajr prayer. The court rejected the former employees' argument that they had been promised a floating break. In addition, the court found that their free exercise rights were not infringed by the denial of unemployment compensation because they did not prove that they had a sincere belief that Fajr could only be performed during the first 45 minutes after dawn.

Contributions To Arizona Scholarship Organzations Raise Federal Tax Issues

The Arizona Republic this week explored the question of whether Arizonans are violating federal tax law by taking charitable deductions for certain contributions to private school tuition organizations. Arizona law gives up to a $1000 tax credit per couple ($500 per individual) for contributions to these groups that then grant scholarships to private and parochial school students. Parents cannot make contributions for their own children, but other relatives can. Also a number of parents engage in "swapping", or making contributions for each others children. Tax experts say that it is clearly a violation of federal law to take a federal deduction for a swap contribution, since the gift is being made to benefit oneself. A closer question arises as to contributions accompanied by "recommendations" for scholarship recipients. IRS Publication 526 spells out the rules for which charitable contributions are deductible. Separately, the entire tax credit program is being challenged in court on Establishment Clause grounds. (See prior posting.) [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

H1N1 Precautions Suspended Religious Activities At Montana Jail

In October, in an attempt to prevent the H1N1 flu virus from infecting inmates, Montana's Missoula Detention Center suspended all face-to-face visits with inmates and suspended religious activities, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and other functions that rely on outside visitors for the duration of the flu season. Last week in Office of the State Public Defender v. McMeekin, (MT Sup. Ct., Dec. 23, 2009), the Montana Supreme Court issued a writ of mandamus ordering the jail revise its policy so that attorneys can have face-to-face visits with pretrial detainee clients. The non-contact visits that had been provided allowed others to overhear attorney-client conversations. Apparently no one challenged the suspension of religious activities. The jail has changed its policy in response to the state Supreme Court order, but has asked visitors who have not been vaccinated for H1N1 to wear masks and use hand sanitizer.

FLDS Church Asks Utah Supreme Court To Stay Proceedings In Trust Case

The FLDS Church on Monday filed a petition with the Utah Supreme Court asking it to stay all proceedings and orders by the lower court in the long-running case seeking to reform the Untied Effort Plan Trust. The Trust holds communal property in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona that belonged to FLDS members. Yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune reports that the move came after trial judge Denise Lindberg sealed all filings relating to the future of the Trust and rejected the Church's efforts to intervene in the case. The Church, known for its belief in polygamy, says that the secular management of the trust under court jurisdiction makes it impossible for members to organize their lives in a communal "Holy United Order" as required by their religious teachings. (See prior related posting.)

Holocaust Survivors' Suit Against Vatican Bank Dismissed By 9th Circuit

In Alperin v. Vatican Bank, (9th Cir., Dec. 29, 2009), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds a lawsuit by Holocaust survivors against the Vatican Bank. As explained in an earlier 9th Circuit decision in the case:

A group of twenty-four individuals and four organizations ... claim that the Vatican Bank, known by its official title Istituto per le Opere di Religione, the Order of Friars Minor, and the Croatian Liberation Movement ..., profited from the genocidal acts of the Croatian Ustasha political regime ... which was supported throughout World War II by Nazi forces. That profit allegedly passed through the Vatican Bank in the form of proceeds from looted assets and slave labor. The Holocaust Survivors brought suit in federal court claiming conversion, unjust enrichment, restitution, the right to an accounting, and human rights violations and violations of international law arising out of the defendants' alleged involvement with the Ustasha during and following World War II.

This decision, involving the property claims, concluded that neither the international takings exception nor the commercial activities exception removed this suit from protection under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. AP yesterday reported on the decision.

Court OK's Ban of Creche on Roadway Median

In Satawa v. Board of County Road Commissioners of Macomb County, (ED MI, Dec. 28, 2009), a Michigan federal district court refused to issue a temporary injunction against the County Road Commission's decision to ban a private individual's placement of a nativity scene on the median of a busy Warren, Michigan road. A nativity scene had been displayed on the now-60 foot wide median of the 8-lane road during the Christmas season since 1945. Historical farm equipment is also on display on the median. In December 2008, the Freedom from Religion Foundation complained that the nativity scene's presence and its use of electricity provided by the municipality violates the Establishment Clause. After receiving the complaint, the Road Commission decided that the size of the display, and its proximity to the intersection, created a danger to public safety and ordered it removed because no permit had been issued for the display. In 2009, the Road Commission refused to issue a permit on the ground that this would amount to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

Plaintiff sued, claiming that the refusal violates his freedom of expression. (See prior posting.) Observing that this is an "extremely close case," the court analyzed a number of "public forum" cases and concluded that a median in the middle of a busy roadway is not a "traditional public forum." It further ruled that the county has a compelling interest in prohibiting placement of the creche in the median because it may impede sight lines at the intersection. Also if this structure is allowed, the county would have to permit all sorts of displays on road medians, creating safety hazards around the county. At the same time, the alternative of displaying the creche a few hundred yards away on Church property would not create any public safety concerns. Finally, the court concluded that banning of temporary structures on busy road medians would not convey a message of endorsement or disapproval of religion. Yesterday's Detroit News reported on the decision.

Egypt Questioning Reporter On Blasphemy Charges

In Egypt, Saudi journalist Nadine al-Bdair and the editor-in-chief of Cairo's Al Masry Al Youm newspaper, Magdy al-Galad, will be summoned by authorities for questioning today. Maktoob News and Gulf News report that General Public Prosecutor Abdul Majeed Mahmoud ordered the prosecutor of south Cairo to investigate blasphemy charges after the newspaper published an article by al-Bdair arguing that if Muslim men are allowed four wives, then an edict should be issued permitting women to have four husbands. A member of Egypt's Parliament has already filed suit over the article, and some clerics say it is provocative and anti-Islamic.

Virginia Warden Retires Amid Charges of Denying Prisoners Religious Services

AP reported yesterday that Barbara Wheeler, warden at Virginia's Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, is retiring amid allegations that she segregated masculine-looking lesbians, and that she placed excessive restrictions on inmates' access to religious services. State Sen. Frank Ruff says he is concerned about allegations that lists of inmates who may attend religious services were not adequately updated, that inmates were turned away from church services to punish them for infractions such as their hair being too long, and that all lay chaplain visits to the prison were stopped. Fluvanna is Virginia's largest women's prison, housing some 1,200 inmates.

Concerns About Religious Profiling for Security Arise Again After Flight 253

The foiled Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit has raised the spectre of profiling of Muslim travellers for added airport screening. Today's London Express reports that Prof. Anthony Glees, director of Buckingham University's Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, called that move an "obvious and rational" method to deter Islamic terrorists from striking British targets, while, at the same time, reducing lines at airport security gates for others. A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: "The actions of one misguided individual should not tarnish the reputation of the majority. We will let terrorists win if bigotry is allowed to flourish."

According to TPM, over the week end, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said on Fox News:

I think there are situations like this where we are afraid of being accused of profiling. The fact is while the overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding people, on the other hand 100% of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims, and that is our main enemy today. So while we should not be profiling people because of their religion, at the same time we should not be bending over backwards to somehow keep them off a list.

A press release yesterday from the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged authorities to avoid ethnic and religious profiling.

LAPD, Citing Discrimination, Ends Affiliation of Its Youth Program With Scouts

Since 1962, the Los Angeles (CA) Police Department has operated a program to give youth interested in law enforcement an opportunity to assist the LAPD with certain tasks. Now, according to yesterday's Edge, the LAPD is restructuring the program to end its affiliation with the Boy Scouts Learning for Life Explorer Program. Because the Boy Scouts exclude gays, atheists and agnostics, the Police Commission has decided that affiliation with them conflicts with the city's non-discrimination policy. Police Commissioner Robert Salzman says the new program that begins Jan. 1 will be as good or better than the old one.

Interview With Appellee In Famous Flag Salute Case Is Published

First Amendment Center today publised an account of its recent interview with Marie Snodgrass-- the former Marie Barnett. Marie and her sister were the appellees in the famous 1943 U.S. Supreme Court case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that invalidated a West Virginia statute requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. As a Jehovah's Witness, the girls' father believed that saluting the flag was tantamount to worshipping graven images. When the Barnett sisters-- then 8 and 9 years old-- refused to salute the flag, their grade school teacher was understanding, but the principal was not. He sent them home, and eventually the girls were expelled from school. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme court decided in the girls favor. In a famous passage, Justice Robert Jackson wrote:

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.

The article is part of a series of Interviews with Principals in Supreme Court First Amendment Cases.

Top 10 Church-State, Religious Liberty Developments In 2009

Here are my nominations for the 2009 Top Ten Developments in Church-State Separation/ Free-Exercise of Religion. The choices are based on the long-range implications of the developments on legal doctrines and on future of relations between government and religion. Some of this year's top picks continue trends selected last year. (2008 Top 10.) Others reflect new concerns. I am sure that some readers will disagree with the picks, so I invite your comments. Most of these developments were reflected in a number of Religion Clause postings over the year. Links are to representative posts on the issue.

1. U.S. Catholic bishops are at increasing odds with President Obama over abortion. Very public disputes, sometimes splitting the Catholic community, erupted over Notre Dame's award of an honorary degree to Obama and over the USCCB's insistence on strict language in health care reform bills to limit abortion coverage.

2. Conservative Christian groups mount extensive but unsuccessful attempt to prevent passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

3. The Freedom From Religion Foundation becomes a major player in pressing for church-state separation by challenging a wide variety of practices, from sectarian prayers at city council meetings, to the tax code's parsonage allowance, to engravings at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.

4. The Rifqa Bary case requires Florida and Ohio courts to become involved in run-away teenager's claim that her Muslim father threatens her life because of her conversion to Christianity.

5. U.S. Supreme Court rules that a Utah city can refuse to allow the religious group, Summum, to put up a monument containing its "Seven Aphorisms" in a public park, even though a 10 Commandments monument and other monuments are already there.

6. Britain's new Supreme Court holds that a Jewish school's admissions policy using the traditional Orthodox definition of who is a Jew amounts to ethnic, and therefore racial, discrimination.

7. Courts around the country decide disputes over ownership of property after numerous conservative Episcopal parishes move to Anglican affiliations.

8. South Carolina's attempt to issue state-sponsored "I Believe" license plates is ruled a violation of the Establishment Clause.

9. France convicts Scientology and its leaders of fraud while German court limits tactics of German government against Scientology.

10. A Utah trial court rejects a settlement proposed by Utah's Attorney General in the complicated attempt to reform the FLDS United Effort Plan Trust, while the estate of a deceased leader of the polygamous FLDS Church seeks control of the $120 million trust.

There are at least two other Top 10 lists published this month on religion related stories. You may find it interesting to compare their picks, many of which differ a good deal from mine, though they were using somewhat different criteria. They are Don Byrds' Top 10 Religious Liberty Stories of 2009; and Religion Newswriters Top 10 Religion Stories.

UPDATE: Politics Daily has also published an interesting list of Top 10 Religion/ Politics Stories of '09.

Pending Lawsuit Challenges Favoritism To Catholic School In Use of City Athletic Fields

AP yesterday reported on a lawsuit filed in October in federal district court in Rhode Island claiming that the Pawtucket Office of Parks and Recreation is showing favoritism toward religious schools. The complaint (full text) in Rogers v. Mulholland, (D RI, filed 10/14/2009), alleges that giving exclusive after-school use of two particular public athletic fields for practice by Catholic Saint Raphael's Academy, instead of allowing public schools to also use them, violates the Establishment Clause as well as the due process and equal protection clauses of both the U.S. and Rhode Island constitutions. St. Raphael's Academy is the alma mater of a number of influential city and state officials. An ACLU news release issued when the suit was filed indicates that the city has no written policies on issuing permits to use city athletic fields, leaving the decision in the total discretion of the city's superintendent of parks. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

From SSRN:

• Todd E. Pettys, Sodom's Shadow: The Uncertain Line between Public and Private Morality, (December 26, 2009).


• Neil James Foster, Freedom of Religion and Discrimination - Two Important UK Cases, (December 23, 2009).


• Legal Studies Research Paper Series, University of Wisconsin, No Altars: An Introduction to Islamic Family Law in US Courts, (December 16, 2009).

From SmartCILP:

• Symposium: The Natural Law in Protestant Political and Legal Thought. Articles by J. Daryl Charles, Michael DeBoer, Daniel R. Heimbach, Michael V. Hernandez, H. Wayne House, Mark Liederbach, Donald R. McConnell, Gilbert C. Meilaender, John Warwick Montgomery, Peter Judson Richards, Joe M. Sprinkle, Max L. Stackhouse, David VanDrunen and Ronald J. Wright. 2 Liberty University Law Review 607-995 (2008).


• Fr. Evaldo Xavier Gomez, Church-State Relations from a Catholic Perspective: General Considerations on Nicolas Sarkozy's New Concept of Laicite Positive, 48 Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 201-217 (2009).


• Piero A. Tozzi, Whither Free Exercise: Employment Division v. Smith and the Rebirth of State Constitutional Free Exercise Clause Jurisprudence?, 48 Journal of Catholic Legal Studies 269-301 (2009).

Recent and Forthcoming Books:

• David A. J. Richards, Fundamentalism in American Religion and Law : Obama's Challenge to Patriarchy's Threat to Democracy, (Cambridge University Press, Feb. 2010).


• Donald L. Drakeman, Church, State, and Original Intent, (Cambridge University Press, Nov. 2009).

U.S. Missionary Crosses Into North Korea, Complicating Diplomacy

Robert Park, a Korean-American missionary from Arizona has likely complicated U.S. negotiations with North Korea by illegally crossing into North Korea carrying a letter addressed to the country's ruler Kim Jong-il. Park is seeking release of the 160,000 political prisoners held are in concentration camps. Yesterday's New York Times reported that Park crossed into North Korea from China on Christmas Day by way of a frozen river near the North Korean city of Hoeryong. He repeatedly shouted in Korean: "I am an American citizen. I am coming here to deliver God's love. God loves you." Park says he will not leave until North Korea shuts down its camps. He wants to become a martyr. In a videotape he left, he said he does not want President Obama to buy his freedom.

UPDATE: North Korea announced on Dec. 29 that it has custody of an American who crossed into the country illegally on Christmas Eve. Apparently this is Robert Park, whose uncle says this is good news because it means Park was not executed. (CP).