Obama Urged To Use Prayer Breakfast To Denounce Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill

The National Prayer Breakfast, scheduled for Thursday in Washington, D.C., is drawing more controversy than usual this year. Every U.S. President since Dwight Eisenhower has spoken at the Breakfast. Beliefnet yesterday reported that this year, gay-rights leaders, including a member of the White House faith advisory council, are urging President Obama to use the Breakfast to speak out against repressive anti-gay legislation pending in the Parliament of Uganda. (See prior posting.) The sponsor of the Breakfast-- the Fellowship Foundation, also known as The Family-- has been accused of inspiring the Ugandan legislation. Progressive religious groups will hold an alternative American Prayer Hour in 17 cities to protest the Washington event.

Meanwhile American Atheists joined other groups in urging the President and other key political leaders such as Sen. Harry Reid, to completely boycott the National Prayer Breakfast this year.

Oregon Jury Convicts Parents In Faith Healing Death

According to KGW News8 Portland, yesterday in Oregon City, Oregon, a state court jury by a 10-2 vote convicted Jeff and Marci Beagley of criminally negligent homicide in the death of their 16-year old son. The Beagleys are members of the Followers of Christ Church which avoids doctors. The parents failed to get medical care for their son who died of complications from a congenital urinary tract blockage. Instead they prayed for him to heal. They testified that they did not know their son's condition was life threatening.

IRS Church Inquiry Rules Do Not Apply In Personal Tax Investigation

In Pennington v. United States, (WD TX, Jan. 29, 2010), a Texas federal district court refused to quash an IRS summons for bank records of a religious organization, Anchor Group. The records are titled in the name of the group's treasurer, James Pennington. The court held that the summons does not violate provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to church tax inquiries (IRC Sec. 7611) because it was issued as part of the investigation of the personal tax liability of James and Lisa Pennington, not the liability of the religious organization.

Suits Charges FFRF Sign In Capitol Violated Establishment Clause

Last December as part of the holiday displays in the Illinois state capitol building, officials allowed the Freedom From Religion Foundation to put up a sign calling religion a "myth and superstition." It was placed next to a Christmas tree and near a nativity scene that were also on display. William J. Kelly, a conservative activist and candidate for state comptroller attempted unsuccessfully to take down the sign. (See prior posting.) Now, according to Courthouse News Service, Kelly has sued the Illinois Secretary of State claiming that allowing the FFRF sign violated the Establishment Clause. The complaint (full text) in Kelly v. White, (ND IL, filed 1/28/10), says that a similar sign will likely be permitted in future years unless the court bars it. Plaintiff argues that state regulations prohibit posting of "signs" as opposed to other kinds of displays, and that the sign violates the Establishment Clause because "it is hostile and inflammatory to all religions." [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Maryland Tells Condo To Stop Removal of Shabbat Elevator Pending Probe

Last year, after a finding of probable cause by the Maryland Commission on Human Relations, the Strathmore Tower Condominiums in Baltimore (MD) modified one of its elevators to accommodate Orthodox Jewish residents. The owner of one of the condos covered the cost of retrofitting it for "Shabbat mode"-- each Saturday it stops automatically on each floor so Sabbath observant Jews do not need to press elevator buttons. (See prior posting.) However, now JTA reports that on January 17, the condominium board voted to remove the Shabbat mode software and hardware. In response, last week the Maryland Commission on Human Relations ordered the condo board to rescind its action pending an investigation by the Commission. The elevator has been an issue between Orthodox Jewish and African American residents of the condo for the last three years. [Thanks to Joel Katz (Relig. & State in Israel) for the lead.]

Hawaiian House Tables Civil Union Bill Under Pressure From Christian Conservatives

Baptist Press yesterday reported that opposition from Christian conservatives was largely responsible for Friday's vote in Hawaii's House of Representatives to postpone consideration indefinitely on HB 444, a bill that would have authorized same-sex civil unions in the state To the surprise of many, the decision was made by voice vote after a Democratic caucus on the issue. Two weeks ago, some 15,000 religious conservatives rallied in the Hawaiian capital in opposition to the bill.

Pope Criticizes Pending British Equality Bill

Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, while confirming he would be making an Apostolic visit to Great Britain in September, challenged the Equality Bill now working its way through Britain's Parliament. Yesterday's London Times reports on the Pope's remarks (full text) to the bishops of England and Wales who were completing their five-year "ad limina" visit to Rome. The Pope said in part:

Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.... Continue to insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society.... [W]hen so many of the population claim to be Christian, how could anyone dispute the Gospel’s right to be heard?

Both the Catholic bishops and the Church of England have been concerned that the Equality Bill will require churches to employ gays and transsexuals or to admit women to the priesthood. In recent weeks, the House of Lords has agreed to broader exemptions than those originally proposed for religious organizations. (See prior posting.) Now the Church of England and the bishops will work together to prevent the European Commission from pressuring Britain to again narrow those exemptions.

Court Confirms Assets That Belong To Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh

In Calvary Episcopal Church v. Duncan, (PA Com. Pl., Jan. 29, 2010), a Pennsylvania trial court implemented its earlier decision on ownership of assets of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. (See prior posting.) The decision is summarized by Episcopal News Service:

Common Pleas Judge Joseph M. James accepted as accurate an inventory of diocesan property submitted by a "special master" he had appointed earlier and told Duncan's organization it must transfer the assets.

The inventory includes $22 million in cash, cash equivalents, receivables, and investments including about $2.5 million in pooled parish investments and real estate and other real property.

"The diocese plans to quickly make arrangements so that all parishes may again have access to their investment funds that were frozen by financial institutions during the legal proceedings," according to a news release from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Suit Claims Police Destroyed Mystical Qualities of Medicine Bag

A Portland, Oregon man, Craig Clark Show, filed suit on January 17 against the Idaho State Police and the Bonner County, Idaho, Sheriff's Office, alleging that the police destroyed the mystical qualities of his medicine bag when they opened it after Show was stopped for speeding on his motorcycle. According to Friday's Bonner County Daily Bee, Show says the medicine bag imparts protection after it was blessed by a medicine woman and sealed in 1995. Apparently police were searching for drugs.

Ten U.S. Southern Baptists Arrested In Haiti For Attempting To Take Children For Adoption

Ten Southern Baptists, mostly from two churches in Idaho, have been arrested in Haiti for attempting to illegally take 33 children out of the country that has been severely damaged by the recent earthquake. Yesterday's Canadian Press reported that a hearing is scheduled for the Americans today. Haiti's government has stopped all adoptions that were not in process before the earthquake, concerned about trafficking in lost or orphaned children. Some of the 33 children involved still have parents. They thought the children were being taken on an extended vacation away from the earthquake devastation.

The Idaho churches involved had plans before the earthquake to create a shelter for Haitian and Dominican orphans at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic that would attract adoptive parents from the U.S. When the earthquake struck, the churches decided to move more quickly than they had previously planned. The group's spokesperson said they did not think they needed government permission to take the children out of the country, and only had the children's best interests at heart. Rev. Clint Henry of the Central Valley Baptist Church said: "we believe that Christ has asked us to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world, and that includes children."

Indian Supreme Court Says Civil Service Rules Trump Muslim Personal Law

According to today's New Delhi Pioneer, a two-judge panel of the Supreme Court of India last week held that civil service rules of the state of Rajasthan barring any state employee from taking a second wife without permission of the state takes precedence over the Muslim Personal Law that allows Muslim men to have a second wife. Liyakat Ali, a former constable in the Rajasthan Police, was fired in 1986 and has been in litigation over the civil service ban ever since. Muslim leaders say the Supreme Court's ruling interferes with the religious rights of the Muslim community.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Stuart P. Green, Review Essay: Golden Rule Ethics and the Death of the Criminal Law's Special Part, (Crime and Culpability: A Gheory of Criminal Law, Larry Alexander, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, Stephen Morse, eds., Cambridge University Press, 358 pp., 2009 ).
• Thomas M. Mengler, Why Should a Catholic Law School Be Catholic?, (Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Vol. 6, 2010).
• Robert K. Vischer, Whom Should a Catholic Law School Honor?: If Confusion is the Concern, Context Matters, (Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, 2010).
• Andrew M. M. Koppelman, The New American Civil Religion: Lesson for Italy, (George Washington International Law Review, Forthcoming).
• Robert K. Vischer, Conscience and the Common Good, (Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, 2010).
• Tally Kritzman, 'Otherness' as the Underlying Principle in Israel's Asylum Regime, (Israel Law Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 603-627, 2010).
• Gregory Sobolski & Matt Steinberg, An Empirical Analysis of Section 1983 Qualified Immunity Actions and Implications of Pearson v. Callahan, (Stanford Law Review, Vol. 62, pg. 523, 2010).
• Dan Ernst, The Meaning and Liberal Justifications of Israel's Law of Return, (Israel Law Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 564-603, 2010).

From SmartCILP:

• Jonathan D. Boyer, Education Tax Credits: School Choice Initiatives Capable of Surmounting Blaine Amendments, 43 Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems 117-149 (2009).
• Moeen H. Cheema & Abdul-Rahman Mustafa, From the Hudood Ordinances to the Protection of Women Act: Islamic Critiques of the Hudood Laws of Pakistan, 8 UCLA Journal of Islamic & Near Eastern Law 1-48 (2008-2009).
• Michael Cobb, Pioneers, Probate, Polygamy, and You, 11 Journal of Law & Family Studies 275-302 (2009), 2009 Utah Law Review 323-350. [Abstract].
• John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture. Introduction by Patrick McKinley Brennan; articles by Kent Greenawalt, Richard Schenk, John T. McGreevy, Jesse H. Choper, Geoffrey R. Stone, Patrick McKinley Brennan and Richard W. Garnett; reply by Martha Nussbaum. 54 Villanova Law Review 579-701 (2009).
• Symposium. The Maryland Constitutional Law Schmooze. Foreword by Mark A. Graber; articles by David Gray, Lief H. Carter, David Bogen, Leslie F. Goldstein, Beau Breslin, Samuel J. Levine, Henry L. Chambers, Jr., Marci A. Hamilton, Carol Nackenoff and Frederick Mark Gedicks. 69 Maryland Law Review 8-161 (2009).

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Allison v. Martin, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4928 (ED MI, Jan. 22, 2010), a Michigan federal district court adopted recommendations of a federal magistrate (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123727, Nov. 5, 2009), and rejected various free exercise and RFRA claims by an inmate who objected to the lack of Jewish religious services, wanted religious materials and claims he was denied participation in the prison's kosher meals program.

In Sareini v. Burnett, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4925 (ED MI, Jan. 22, 2010), a Michigan federal district court adopted recommendations of a federal magistrate (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123726, Dec. 21, 2009) granting summary judgement on some claims and denying it on others in a case in which a Shi'a Muslim inmate complained about restrictions on his religious exercise. The court dismissed a complaint that no separate Shi'a religious services were offered, but refused to dismiss claims seeking Halal meat, asking to be allowed to have certain religious items and accommodating observance of Muslim holidays.

In Mayo v. Norris, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5243 (ED AR, Jan. 22, 2010), an Arkansas federal district court adopted the recommendations of a federal magistrate (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123899, Dec. 18, 2009) and rejected a petition for a writ of habeas corpus by petitioner who objected on religious grounds both to his conditions of parole and his underlying conviction (after a negotiated guilty plea) for possessing methamphetamine. Petitioner quoted various Biblical verses that he said were inconsistent with the requirement he maintain a residence and not associate with convicted felons. He also argued that his sentence was harsher than what God's judgment would have been.

In Wilkerson v. Jenkins, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6602 (D MD, Jan. 27, 2010), a Maryland federal district court rejected an inmate's complaint that he was not permitted to wear his yarmulke outside his housing unit and that his work assignment interfered with his observance of the Sabbath.

In Ivory v. Tilton, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6557 (ED CA, Jan. 8, 2010), a California federal magistrate judge, while permitting plaintiff to proceed with retaliation and excessive force claims held that "plaintiff's allegations that 'Defendants' in general harassed him, called him Kosher boy in front of other inmates, both under heated and burned his food, deprived him of his Kosher meals on several occasions, and failed to provide him with proper eating utensils are not sufficient to state any claims." Plaintiff was granted leave to amend on the dismissed claims.

In Scott v. Padula, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6174 (D. SC, Jan. 26, 2010) a federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6173, Jan. 7, 2010), and denied a preliminary injunction to an inmate who wanted to have religious books pertaining to the Shetaut Neter faith while he is housed in the Special Management Unit.

In Lockamy v. Dunbar, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6893 (ED TX, Jan. 28, 2010), a federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124184, Oct. 6, 2009), and, among other things, rejected a RLUIPA challenge to application of prison contraband rules that precluded plaintiff from mailing religious articles torn out of a magazine (as opposed to sending the entire magazine) and a Christmas card that had been made from the back covers of copies of a prison publication.

In Yisrayl v. Walker, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6785 (SD IL, Jan. 27, 2010), an Illinois federal district court permitted an inmate who practices the African Hebrew Israelite faith to proceed on some of his claims-- that officials refused to serve him unleavened bread, refused to serve him a special holiday meal, denied him access to religious books, videos and a turban and have not hired a clergy member of his faith.

Parental Rights Terminated For 13 Children From Alamo Ministries Compound

On Thursday, a Miller County, Arkansas trial judge terminated the parental rights of six members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. Thirteen children from four families are involved. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the children were taken into protective custody by the state in 2008 in an investigation of physical and sexual abuse at the Ministries' compound. (See prior posting.) A judge ruled that parents could be reunited with their children if they moved off church property and found jobs outside the Alamo Ministries so they are not financially dependent on it. (See prior posting.) The parents involve in Thursday's cases failed to move away. More details are unknown because the judge has imposed a gag order barring parents, attorneys and others from speaking to the press about the case. However a spokesperson for a parents rights group says that the rulings are unduly harsh because Ministries leader Tony Alamo is now in prison where he will likely spend the rest of his life. (See prior posting.) Parents say they will appeal Thursday's rulings. Also other appeals of removal of various of the children from the Tony Alamo compound are pending. The Arkansas Department of Human Services said that normally children would not be put up for adoption until all the appeals have been resolved.

Tennessee Adopts Curriculum Guidelines For High School Bible Courses

According to AP, last week the Tennessee State Board of Education approved guidelines for elective high school social studies courses teaching about the Bible and its historical content. The guidelines implement legislation passed in 2008 authorizing creation of a course focusing on "nonsectarian nonreligious academic study of the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture and politics." (See prior posting.) A Tennessee ACLU spokesperson said the new guidelines appear sensitive to concerns that the classes not be used to try to covert students. The legislation did not require districts with existing Bible courses to move to the state curriculum. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Muslim Organization Objects To Remarks In Speech By California Mayor

The Council on American-Islamic Relations plans to file a complaint with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division over the State of the City speech given this week by Lancaster, California's mayor, R. Rex Parris. Yesterday's Fresno Bee reports that in the speech, Parris said that he is "growing a Christian community," and urged voters to support a ballot measure in April that would endorse prayer at city meetings.

Rifqa Bary's Parents Seek to Withdraw Settlement Consent Entered Last Week

Last week, it seemed like the case of Rifqa Bary was finally over. Her Muslim parents agreed that the 17-year old girl who fled, fearing her life was in danger because of her conversion to Christianity, could stay with her Ohio foster family, and that everyone would get counseling. (See prior posting.) According to today's Columbus Dispatch, however, that agreement has been short-lived. Claiming misrepresentations and fraudulent inducement, Rifqa's parents now want to withdraw their consent to the deal, claiming that Franklin County (OH) Children's Services is improperly allowing Rifqa to have contact with Blake and Beverly Lorenz, the people in Florida who helped Rifqa run away. The parents say that Rifqa's attorney sent Rifqa's handwritten birthday card to Blake Lorenz for Rifqa. The card referred to Blake as "daddy". Rifqa's parents have now asked for Rifqa's Ohio foster parents to be removed as guardian ad litem.

FFRF Objects To Planned Mother Teresa Postage Stamp

A month ago, the United States Postal Service announced the commemorative postage stamps it plans to issue during 2010. One of the stamps will honor 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mother Teresa, a nun who worked among the impoverished in Calcutta, India. According to yesterday's Oregon Faith Report, the Freedom from Religion Foundation is objecting to the stamp because Mother Teresa is a religious figure. In response, Pacific Justice Institute will be sending a letter to the USPS offering legal support for the stamp.

North Carolina County's Sectarian Prayers Violate Establishment Clause

In Joyner v. Forsyth County, North Carolina, (MD NC, Jan. 28, 2010), a North Carolina federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (see prior posting) and concluded that the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners' invocation policy, as implemented, violates the Establishment Clause. The court found that the prayers offered at Board meetings advance one particular faith and have the effect of affiliating the Board with that faith. The court said that going forward, the county has three options: (1) do not open meetings with prayers; (2) open meetings with non-sectarian prayers; or (3) implement an invocation policy that involves diversity and inclusiveness in the prayers offered. ACLU of North Carolina issued a release approving of the decision. AP reported on the decision.

Air Force Academy Adds Chapel Space For Earth-Centered Faiths; Talks With Secular Student Group

The U.S. Air Force Academy Chapel is adding a worship area for followers of Earth-centered religions, such as Wicca and Druidism. A release from the Academy reports that dedication of the new outdoor worship circle on the hill overlooking the Cadet Chapel and Visitor Center is tentatively scheduled for March 10. This will be the latest addition to sacred spaces already set aside for Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist worship. [Thanks to Rev. Jeanene Hammers for the lead.]

Meanwhile, the Colorado Springs Independent yesterday reported [scroll down] that the Air Force Academy's Freethinkers group has apparently gained consent of administrators to affiliate with national Secular Student Alliance and move out from the Academy's Special Programs In Religious Education. The move came after SPIRE discouraged the group last spring from officially inviting atheist Christopher Hitchens. (Background.) Instead Hitchens met off campus with cadets. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]