Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
School Yearbook Photo Raises First Amendment Concerns
Jewish Groups Split On Issues In Pending Supreme Court CLS Case
Newly Merged School Board Will Open Meetings With Prayer
Monday, February 15, 2010
USCIRF Wants US To Raise Religious Freedom Questions In UN On 4 Countries
In Morocco, Debate Over Ban On Sale of Alcohol To Muslims
Recent Articles of Interest
- Paul E. McGreal, The Unpublished Free Exercise Opinion in Jensen v. Quaring, (Southern Illinois University Law Journal, Fall 2009).
- Robert A. Kahn, News Value, Islamophobia, or the First Amendment? Why and How the Philadelphia Inquirer Published the Danish Cartoons, (U of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-07, 2010).
- Piero Tozzi, Whither Free Exercise: Employment Division v. Smith and the Rebirth of State Constitutional Free Exercise Clause Jurisprudence, (Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2009; Catholic Lawyer, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2009).
- Sherman J. Clark, Neoclassical Public Virtues: Towards an Aretaic Theory of Law-Making (and Law Teaching), (Virtue in the Law, Forthcoming; Michigan State University Legal Studies Research Paper, Feb. 13, 2010).
From Bepress:
- Elimelech Westreich, Elements of Negotiability in Jewish Law in Medieval Christian Spain, (Theoretical Inquiries in Law: Vol. 11 : No. 1, Article 14, 2010).
Sunday, February 14, 2010
British Tories Debate Role of Christian Conservatives In Party
As Conservatives grasp the real possibility of victory this year, some are asking what degree of power a few evangelical Christians – only 3 per cent of the party members, according to one poll – will wield. The answer will determine the shape and sturdiness of any Conservative government....[Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]
As Conservatives grasp the real possibility of victory this year, some are asking what degree of power a few evangelical Christians – only 3 per cent of the party members, according to one poll – will wield. The answer will determine the shape and sturdiness of any Conservative government.
Welcome To the Blogosphere to Religious Left Law
Our aim is to offer a site at which people who adhere to a variety of faith traditions, with perhaps varying degrees of intensity across persons and through time, might discuss legal and cognate subjects together in mutual respect and affection.Other contributors include Steve Shiffrin, Eduardo Penalver and Michael Perry. A link to the blog has been added to the Religion Clause sidebar. [Thanks to Patrick O'Donnell for the lead.]
UPDATE: I failed to note that Patrick O'Donnell is also a blogger on Religious Left Law.
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Jones v. Burk, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9674 (ED CA, Feb. 4, 2010) , a federal magistrate judge found that plaintiff had exhausted his available administrative remedies, so he could file suit challenging the temporary or permanent denial of various Muslim religious items and access to Muslim clergy. In so finding, the court held that a remedy is not "available" if a prisoner has no reasonable way of knowing about its existence.
In Marchant v. Murphy, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10971 (D MA, Feb. 9, 2010), a Massachusetts federal district court rejected a claim by a civilly committed sex offender that his free exercise rights and his rights under RLUIPA were violated by the correctional institution's refusal to create a second competing Native American religious group.
In Blake v. Murphy, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10963 (D MA, Feb. 9, 2010), a Massachusetts federal district court denied a 1st Amendment free exercise challenge by a civilly-committed sex offender who sought construction of a sweat lodge so he could practice his Native American religion. The court held that plaintiff was collaterally estopped by a prior state court decision rejecting the same request under RLUIPA.
In Mangus v. Dauphin County Prison, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11205 (MD PA, Jan. 8, 2010), a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing an inmate's complaint regarding a religious diet for adherents of Islam and alleged restrictions on prayer and religious attire. The court found that plaintiff failed to connect the warden who she sued to any of the alleged acts and had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies.
In Courtney v. Burnett, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11521 (WD MI, Feb. 10, 2010), a Michigan federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124853, Oct. 5, 2009) and dismissed an inmate's 1st Amendment and RLUIPA claims objecting to the removal of his right to eat in the kosher diet line in the former institution in which he was housed.
In Jaspar v. Moors, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12049 (ED CA, Feb. 10, 2010), a California federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing a Jewish inmate's complaint that defendant interfered with his seeing the prison rabbi, after a series of confrontations between plaintiff and defendant over activities in the Protestant chapel.
President Addresses Islamic World Forum; Appoints New Envoy To OIC
Saturday, February 13, 2010
British Appeals Court Says Airline's Ban on Religious Jewelry Was Not Employment Discrimination
In the light of the publicity which this case has received, it is necessary to say what the appeal is not about. It is not about whether BA had adopted an anti-Christian dress code, nor whether members of other religions were more favourably treated, nor whether BA had harassed the appellant because of her beliefs. All of these allegations were rejected by an employment tribunal ... [whose] conclusions are now accepted.... The single issue on which the appellant ... now appeals to this court, was whether there had nevertheless been indirect discrimination which was unjustified.....Relying on findings below that visible display of a cross was not a requirement of the Christian faith, the court concluded that Ms. Eweida had not shown the indirect discrimination that she had charged, and, if she had, it would have been justifiable as a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim. AFP yesterday reported on the decision.
Signatures Filed For Colorado Personhood Amendment
Friday, February 12, 2010
Another Lawsuit Seeks Return of Break-Away Parish Property To Episcopal Church
Saudi Religious Police Again Crack Down On Sale of Valentine's Day Items
Haitian Judge Recommends Release of U.S. Missionaries
Muslim Scholars Rule That Body Scanners Violate Islamic Law
Magazine Explores Religion of the Founders and Texas Social Studies Curriculum
[Thanks to Rabbi Michael Simon for the lead.]The one thing that underlies the entire program of the nation’s Christian conservative activists is, naturally, religion. But it isn’t merely the case that their Christian orientation shapes their opinions on gay marriage, abortion and government spending. More elementally, they hold that the United States was founded by devout Christians and according to biblical precepts. This belief provides what they consider not only a theological but also, ultimately, a judicial grounding to their positions on social questions. When they proclaim that the United States is a "Christian nation," they are not referring to the percentage of the population that ticks a certain box in a survey or census but to the country’s roots and the intent of the founders.
... Maybe the most striking thing about current history textbooks is that they have lost a controlling narrative. America is no longer portrayed as one thing, one people, but rather a hodgepodge of issues and minorities, forces and struggles. If it were possible to cast the concerns of the Christian conservatives into secular terms, it might be said that they find this lack of a through line and purpose to be disturbing and dangerous. Many others do as well, of course. But the Christians have an answer. Their answer is rather specific. Merely weaving important religious trends and events into the narrative of American history is not what the Christian bloc on the Texas board has pushed for in revising its guidelines.
Many of the points that have been incorporated into the guidelines or that have been advanced by board members and their expert advisers slant toward portraying America as having a divinely preordained mission.... The language in the Mayflower Compact — a document that [Don] McLeroy and several others involved in the Texas process are especially fond of — describes the Pilgrims' journey as being "for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith" and thus instills the idea that America was founded as a project for the spread of Christianity. In a book she wrote two years ago, Cynthia Dunbar, a board member, could not have been more explicit about this being the reason for the Mayflower Compact’s inclusion in textbooks; she quoted the document and then said, "This is undeniably our past, and it clearly delineates us as a nation intended to be emphatically Christian."
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Palestinians Ask UN To Halt Jerusalem Museum Construction
UPDATE: In a Feb. 10 response, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in part: "the Israeli Antiquities Authority has confirmed that there are no bones or remains on the site, which is currently undergoing infrastructure work. Remains found on the site, which have now been reinterred in a nearby Muslim cemetery were between 300-400 years old. No remains from the 12th century era were found."