Lawsuit Challenges Coney Island Concerts Invoking Protection of Nearby Religious Services

In Brooklyn, New York, opponents of a proposed $64 million amphitheater project in Coney Island's Asser Levy Park filed suit in state court yesterday, invoking a city law designed to protect religious congregations. (See prior related posting.) The law prohibits amplified sound within 500 feet of religious institutions, schools, courthouses and other gathering places when they are in session. An Orthodox synagogue, Sea Breeze Jewish Center, which is 300 feet from the park, has services every day. In the summer, evening services run until 10:00 p.m. Already police do not issue sound permits for the park for Friday and Saturday nights because of larger services at the synagogue on the Sabbath. But up to now synagogue members have not complained about concerts on other nights in the park's existing band shell. Now however, according to the New York Daily News, these weekday concert are being challenged. At stake are this year's free summer concerts (schedule), including ones by the Beach Boys and Neil Sedaka. A hearing is scheduled for June 30; the Neil Sedaka concert is scheduled for July 15. Plaintiffs say if they win on these concerts, that should establish precedent for stopping the entire amphitheater project.

RLUIPA Suits Settled-- Shabbos House OK'd; Prayer Breakfast Will Move

AP yesterday reported that the village of Sufferin, New York has settled a RLUIPA lawsuit brought against it by the Department of Justice chllenging the village's refusal to grant a zoning variance to permit the operation of a "Shabbos House" near Good Samaritan Hospital. The Shabbos House allows observant Jews to stay within walking distance of the hospital so they can visit patients without violating Jewish religious law that bars driving and use of money on the Sabbath. The settlement allows up to 14 people to stay overnight at the Shabbos House. The operator of the facility, Bikur Cholim, Inc., agreed to apply for a site-plan approval and comply with any instructions. The village attorney said the house has been operating throughout the four-year lawsuit without any incidents. A separate suit brought by Bikur Cholim was also settled. (See prior related posting.)

Meanwhile, in Phoenix, Arizona, CrossRoads United Methodist Church has settled its RLUIPA suit against the city challenging a zoning decision. Yesterday's Arizona Republic reports that under the agreement, the church will move the location of its Saturday pancake breakfast service within six months. In the meantime, the service will be moved from outside to inside the church. The city's Board of Adjustment had agreed with neighbors that the church was operating a charity dining hall in violation of residential zoning restrictions by holding its weekly service that offered an egg, pancake and bacon breakfast along with song and prayer.

Lawsuit Charges Anti-Muslim Discrimination In Naturalization Approvals

The ACLU of Southern California yesterday announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the Citizenship and Immigration Service alleging that the naturalization application of a 50-year old Egyptian Muslim man was wrongfully denied. It claims that USCIS's action in the case of Tarek Hamdi is part of a broader pattern of discrimination against Muslims who are seeking citizenship. The complaint (full text) in Hamdi v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, (SD CA, filed 6/16/2010), alleges that USCIS determined that Hamdi was ineligible for naturalization because of false statements on his application and during interviews. At issue is Hamdi's failure to disclose, in response to a question on the naturalization application, an "association" with Benevolence International Foundation, an Islamic charity which the Treasury Department has designated as financing terrorism. Hamdi made a single donation to the charity in 2000, and says that he did not regard this as "associating" him with the group. The lawsuit claims that applying the question on associations to charitable organizations to which an individual has made a donation is unconstitutional because it is void for vagueness. The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise reports on the case.

In Israel, Demonstrators Back Dissident Haredi Parents Defying High Court

On Tuesday, according to the Jerusalem Post, Israel's High Court ruled that a group of parents of the Slonim Hasidic sect will be imprisoned for two weeks for contempt if they do not obey the court's previous order (background) to send their girls back to a school where they study together Sephardi students. However the parents remain adamant. Beit Ya'acov school in Emmanuel removed a physical separation that had been built for some 70 students pursuing the Hasidic track of studies after the High Court ruled that it amounted to illegal discrimination. The parents have refused to return their girls to the school unless all the students' parents agree to a very stringent code of conduct and dress. Their attempts to send the girls to school outside of Emmanuel have been rejected by the Education Ministry. A member of the parents' committee said: "This is a battle over the Jewish religion, and the guardians of the religion, who have won all their past battles, will be victorious here, too."

Today, according to the Jerusalem Post, tens of thousands of haredi (strictly Orthodox Jews) demonstrated in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem in support of the Hasidic parents. Prison officials say that special arrangements have been made at both men's and women's prisons to allow the parents to maintain their strictly Orthodox life style while in jail.

European Court Says Poland Forced Student To Indirectly Reveal Religious Beliefs

In Grzelak v. Poland, (ECHR, June 15, 2010), the European Court of Human Rights by a vote of 6-1 held that a Polish school violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it failed to offer an ethics class for a student who opted out of the school's religious education class. The Court held that the absence of a grade for Religion/Ethics on the student's school certificates would be understood by any reasonable person as an indication that the student did not take widely available religious education classes, and would lead to the conclusion that he was likely a person without religious beliefs. By indirectly requiring the student to reveal his religious beliefs, the school violated Article 14 (prohibition on religious discrimination) taken in conjunction with Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the Convention. In the case, the student argued that because most state schools in Poland do not provide separate ethics courses, non-Catholic parents often end up sending their children to religious instruction classes with which they disagree. Baltic Review reports on the decision.

Trial Judge Hears Closing Arguments In Challenge To California's Prop 8

Yesterday in federal district court in San Francisco, Judge Vaugh Walker heard closing arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8 that bans same-sex marriage. The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle report on the arguments in which Charles J. Cooper, arguing on behalf of supporters of Proposition 8, focused on the procreative role of marriage. In the two and one-half week trial, Cooper called only two witnesses, political scientist Kenneth Miller who said that gays and lesbians were not in need of special protection to vindicate their political rights, and author David Blankenhorn who testified that same-sex marriage could impact the number of marriages between men and women. David Boies and Theodore Olson, attorneys for the challengers, presented most of the witnesses in the 12-day trial in January-- same-sex couples and eight academics. In his closing argument, Olson contended that Proposition 8 involved discrimination on the basis of gender and focused on the 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia which struck down state bans on interracial marriages. (See prior related posting.)

UPDATE: Here are the full transcripts of the closing arguments via the Sacramento News & Review.

CAIR Says U.S. Muslims Stranded Abroad After Being Placed on No-Fly List

On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote Attorney General Eric Holder (full text of letter) complaining about cases of U.S. citizens who, while traveling abroad, have been placed on the U.S. no-fly list and have been delayed or prevented from returning home. The New York Times Tuesday ran an article about a 26-year old American Muslim from Virginia who has now been stranded in Cairo, Egypt for six weeks. He was placed on the no-fly list and questioned by FBI agents as he was trying to return to the U.S. from an 18-month stay in Yemen. CAIR says that in one case, a man questioned by the FBI in Cairo was pressured to spy on the American Muslim community when and if he is allowed to return to the U.S. Yesterday, CAIR issued a press release and held a news conference on the issue.

President Announces Religious Freedom Appointees

President Obama yesterday announced his intent to appoint Suzan Johnson Cook to the vacant position of Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom. Dr. Cook is the Founder and President of Wisdom Worldwide Center, and has also served as the Senior Pastor of Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in New York City since 1996. Religious freedom advocates have been pressing for Obama to fill this position. (See prior posting.)

At the same time, the President announced two appointments to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. One is Felice D. Gaer who has seved a number of terms on USCIRF. Gaer directs the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee. The second appointee, new to USCIRF, is Dr. William J. Shaw, Immediate Past President of the National Baptist Convention, USA. Inc. and Pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Under the International Religious Freedom Act, Sec. 201, three Commissioners are selected by the President, three by the Senate and three by the House.

Norwegian Judges Can Wear Religious Clothing

Norway's National Court Administration ruled yesterday that judges and other court officials can wear religious dress during court sessions. This includes the Muslim hijab (headscarf) and the national costume of the indigenous Sami people. Europe News reports that the ruling departs from an initial proposal that would have banned all religious clothing. Under yesterday's ruling, if a party to the case objects to the clothing, the court official can be recused.

Religious Liberty Legal Scholar Named President of Catholic University

Catholic University announced yesterday that Boston College Law School Dean John H. Garvey has been selected as Catholic University's next president. Garvey is a leading scholar on religious liberty and church-state issues. Among his publications are a casebook titled Religion and the Constitution, co-authored with Michael McConnell and Thomas Berg, and over a dozen articles on religious liberty and Establishment Clause issues. (Full bibliography.)

Australian Court Expands Asset Freeze In Suit By Donors To Fraudulent Religious Group

In the Australian city of Adelaide, a district court has expanded a freeze on the assets of three leaders of Agape Ministries. ABC News reports that the court has frozen all the assets in Australia of Agape's leaders, Rocco Leo, and Joseph and Marieantoinette Veneziano. The freeze comes in a lawsuit by two plaintiffs who claim they gave $400,000 and over $1 million, respectively, to Agape based on false promises. According to the lawsuit, Agape told its members they needed to contribute funds to relocate all members to a South Pacific island to protect them from microchips the government was planning to implant in all humans. Members were told they would go to hell if the chips were implanted, but that if they refused the government would put them in concentration camps and gas or behead them.

Religious Billboards Said To Violate Highway Beautification Act

Last Saturday's Bowling Green, Kentucky Daily News reports on the lawsuit originally filed in 2008 by the Kentucky Department of Transportation against farmer Jimmy Harston over billboards with religious messages that Harston has erected on private property next to Interstate 65. Carrying messages such as "Jesus Died for Our Sins", the signs sit on property that Harston leases from landowners. However the federal Highway Beautification Act (23 USC Sec. 131) provides for a reduction of federal highway funds to states that do not effectively control outdoor advertising signs along Interstate highways. Harston says his signs are not for profit and should not be covered by the ban. However he lost the lawsuit against him in 2008, and the decision is currently on appeal. A state legislator has proposed a bill to exempt Harston's billboards from the federal restriction.

Greece May Drop Religious Oath Requirements

Under pressure from the European Union, Greece's Justice Ministry is drafting a new law that will do away with required religious oaths for members of Parliament, witnesses at trials, soldiers and various public officials. Kathimerini reported yesterday that the Church of Greece has dropped its opposition to the change. The EU says that requiring the oath infringes individual rights, and that even the option to abstain, or instead take a political oath, that exists in some situations in Greece still infringes privacy rights by forcing individuals to identify as non-believers.

Appeal In Sale of Historic African-American Synagogue Argued

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that oral arguments were heard earlier this month by a New York state appellate court in a challenge to the sale of a Harlem townhouse that for over 40 years was home to a historic Black Hebrew congregation. The New York City congregation, known as Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth, is considered the oldest African-American synagogue in the United States. Most of its members traced their origins to ancient Israelites. In 2007, one faction of the congregation, claiming to represent the last nine members, sold the building to a developer for $1.625 million. Another faction that includes the grandson of the founding rabbi filed suit to recover the deed to the building, saying that it was not consulted. In a 2008 decision, a trial court judge refused to overturn the sale, even though he questioned whether it should have taken place. Last month, the developer who had purchased the building resold it for $1.85 million to writer Darryl Pinckney and British poet James Fenton.

Appeal Filed In Nampa Classical Academy Case

Yesterday a Notice of Appeal was filed in Nampa Classical Academy v. Goesling, appealing an Idaho federal district court's denial of a preliminary injunction to the 9th Circuit. In the case, the trial court rejected a challenge by a state-funded charter school to a state policy that barred its use of the Bible, the Koran and other sectarian books as primary source teaching material. The district court held that the charter school is itself a political subdivision and has no rights to assert against the state that is controlling the content of governmental speech. (See prior posting.) According to a press release from Alliance Defense Fund, the appeal claims that the local school district, not the state's Public Charter School Commission, is the body that has the right to make decisions on implementing state curriculum standards.

Egypt Drafting New Mariage Law After Court Upsets Coptic Church Rules

Egypt's Justice Ministry yesterday announced that a 30-person committee has been appointed to draft a new marriage and divorce law to cover the country's minority non-Muslim religious groups. AP reports that the move responds to anger from Egypt's Coptic Christian Church over a Supreme Administrative Court decision last month holding that divorced Copts have a right to remarry in the Church even when that violates Church law. (See prior posting.) Justice Minister Mahmoud Marei said the new law would "ensure everyone's right to worship God according to their own set of rules."

Churches Help Out Cash-Strapped Public Schools; Get Access To Families

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reports that as public schools experience increased budget cuts, they are looking for private sector partnerships. In some places, churches have stepped in to become those partners. When Lakeland, Florida's Combee Elementary School had its budget for essential supplies cut by a third, a local Baptist church "adopted" the school. First Baptist Church at the Mall, a 9000-member congregation, stocked a resource room with $5000 worth of supplies, sends in math and English tutors, caters spaghetti dinners at evening events and buys sneakers for students who cannot afford them. The Church's pastor, Dave McClamma, says: "We have inroads into public schools that we had not had before. By befriending the students, we have the opportunity to visit homes to talk to parents about Jesus Christ." Last Christmas, the school connected the Church with 30 families who agreed to visits at home by the Church. The pastor says 13 of those families "came to the Lord." School principal Steve Comparato says he would welcome congregations of any faith as sponsors, but added: "My personal conviction is that I hope through this they'll know Jesus and they'll get saved." [Thanks to Glenn Katon for the lead.]

Israel's High Court Voids Special Payments To Married Yeshiva Students

Israel's Supreme Court today struck down a provision in the country's Minimum Income Guarantee Law that assures special financial benefits for married kollel yeshiva students but does not give comparable stipends to students studying in secular institutions. The current law gives benefits to married couples who do not work, who have three or more children and who do not own an automobile. Around 10,000 students currently receive these payments. Haaretz, Jerusalem Post and YNet News all report on the 6-1 decision by the Court. Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch's majority opinion said that the special treatment of kollel students violate basic principles of equality. It ordered that the provision for these payments be removed from the 2011 State Budget. Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the religious Shas Party criticized the ruling as discriminatory against the haredi (strictly Orthodox) population and said legislation would be introduced to restore the stipends. Today's opinion came in a case originally filed ten years ago by Arnon Yekutieli, a proponent of secular rights and a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem. He died in 2001

New York Mets Sued By Kosher Food Vendor Over Sabbath Operations

A lawsuit was filed last week against the New York Mets by Kosher Sports, Inc., a kosher food vendor that sells hot dogs, hamburgers, knishes, beer and other food from three portable stands at Citi Field. According to yesterday's New York Post, Kosher Sports claims it has approval from Star-K, its kosher certifying agency, to sell food at baseball games on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, the Jewish Sabbath. It says that its 10-year contract with Citi Field also permits this. Kosher Sports' lawsuit claims that the Mets, whose owners are Jewish, has nevertheless barred the vendor from selling food on the Sabbath, causing it to lose $500,000 in profits last year. The suit seeks $1 million in damages. Star-K's Rabbi Shmuel Heinemann denies that he has approved Kosher Sports' operation on the Sabbath. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk and to Joel Katz (Relig. & State In Israel) for the lead.]

Gangs Using Rosaries As Identifiers

While the recent case of a Schenectady, New York school principal who invoked the school's anti-gang paraphernalia ban to suspended a 13-year old student for wearing a rosary outside of his shirt has led to widespread criticism of school authorities, it turns out the principal may have been onto something. Alexandria, Louisiana Town Talk reported Saturday that in fact many gangs have turned to rosaries as a gang symbol after schools began prohibiting bandannas, specific clothing and hairstyles. The gangs tell their members to invoke religious freedom if they are called in by the school principal. According to a San Antonio (TX) Police Department handbook, gang members not only wear certain colors, but they also arrange beads to signal their rank. Jared Lewis, a former California police officer, says that rosaries are most popular among Latino gang members. He says that the Latin Kings gang use colored beads to mark members' rank in the gang-- five black and five gold beads for members; two gold beads for top dogs; while assassins wear all black. Members of the Netas, an East Coast gang with origins in Puerto Rico, wear 78 red, white and blue beads to symbolize the 78 towns in Puerto Rico. Prospective members wear all white beads before they join the gang.