Christian Icon In Gate of Kremlin Is Restored

In a ceremony in Moscow yesterday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill unvieled a restored icon of Jesus that had been a part of the main gates in the Kremlin (the official residence of Russia's President), but had been bricked over by Soviet authorities in the 1930's. Yesterday's Kyiv Post reports that the icon was originally placed in the gate in the 16th century, and was rediscovered when the Spasskaya Tower gates were being renovated. In yesterday's ceremony, held on the day of the Assumption in the Orthodox calendar, President Medvedev said: "Now that we've got the icon back, our country secures an additional defense."

Kentucky High Court Says Christian Medi-Share Program Is Insurance Contract Subject To State Regulation

In Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Reinhold, (KY Sup. Ct., Aug. 26, 2010), the Kentucky Supreme Court held that the Medi-Share Program operated by the American Evangelistic Association and the Christian Share Ministry is subject to regulation by the Kentucky Department of Insurance.  Medi-Share bills itself as a "sharing ministry" which people voluntarily join to help pay medical bills of other members. In return, members are eligible to receive donations to cover their own medical expenses. Members make commitments to live by Biblical standards, and also agree to make a monthly "share" payment directly to Medi-Share in an amount based on actuarial standards. The member is assessed an "extra blessing gifts" penalty if the monthly payment is late. Members are removed if they do not make their payments within a specified time. The court concluded that this is a contract of insurance under Kentucky law and is not entitled to the "religious publication" exemption under Kentucky's insurance law. That exemption is available only to religious arrangements in which medical expenses payments are made directly from one member to another. AP reports on the decision. (See prior related posting.)

National Archives Gets Nuremberg Laws For Its Collection

In a ceremony last Wednesday, the National Archives received Germany's original 1935 Nuremberg Laws, signed by Adolph Hitler, for its extensive collection of World War II documents. The laws were Germany's blueprint for its anti-Semitic racial policies. A National Archives press release reports that the documents came from California's Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens which had received them from Gen. George S. Patton. At the transfer ceremony, Huntington's president recounted:

These documents should have been part of the National Archives, had Gen. Patton followed instructions from his commander-in-chief in Europe, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower directed that all documents related to the persecution of the Jews should be sent to a common collection point in Germany that was preparing for the Nuremberg War Crime Trials. These materials eventually were deposited at the National Archives.

The Archives also released a video on the documents and their background,

Tensions Grow Between Archbishop and Mayor of Mexico City

BBC News yesterday reported that in Mexico the tension between the Catholic Church and the mayor of Mexico City has gotten rather ugly as the Archbishop of Guadalajara, Juan Sandoval Iniguez, accused the mayor of bribery.  Reacting to a Mexico Supreme Court ruling earlier this month upholding legislation in Mexico City granting various rights, including adoption rights, to same-sex couples (AP), the Archbishop remarked at a recent news conference: "Would any of you want to be adopted by a couple of lesbians or queers." He then accused Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of bribing Supreme Court justices to rule the way they did.  In response, the mayor has filed a defamation suit against the Archbishop, and the Supreme Court has issued an unusual condemnation of the Archbishop's allegations. A Church spokesman has urged Catholics to vote against the mayor's PRD party at the next election. Mexico's Constitution, Sec. 130, bars clergy from attacking political candidates or parties or publicly attacking the country's laws. A spokesman for the Mexico City Archdiocese argues that Sec. 130 should be changed because it now infringes the freedom of expression of Church leaders.

Ft. Wayne Ends Released Time Classes In Favor of After-School Program

Today's Ft. Wayne, Indiana Journal Gazette reports that a lawsuit filed this summer challenging the released-time religious education program in a Ft. Wayne school (see prior posting) has now apparently become moot. The challenged Weekday Religious Education program had been operating in Ft. Wayne schools for 60 years and for 20 years in East Allen County schools. But now the program --that offered 30-minute per week classes to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders in trailers on or near school grounds-- has ended as a result of both the lawsuit and a concern that too much time was being taken from academic subjects that are on standardized tests. In place of the released time classes, Associated Churches starting in fall 2011 will offer a once-per-week 2-hour after-school program of religious studies and character building. The group will also help schools offer character-building and values-based assemblies in the schools.

Fired Ohio Employees Settle Their Religoius Discrimination Suit

A settlement was filed with the Ohio Court of Claims yesterday in a suit against the state by three former employees who made up the entire staff of the Ohio Workers' Compensation Council.  The former employees-- two staff attorneys and an executive assistant-- accused the Council's director Virginia McInerney of religious discrimination, wrongful discharge, harassment and retaliation.  They claimed that McInerney, who believed she had been placed in her director's position by God, led the staff in prayer and asked an employee to listen to and take notes on God at Work CDs. McInerney also complained that a Senate resolution seeking to privatize the Bureau of Workers' Compensation was "another of Satan's efforts to stall or impede the council's progress." According to the Columbus Dispatch, two of the employees will receive over $20,000 each in the settlement and the third will receive over $12,000. The state will also pay their $15,000 in attorneys' fees. (See prior related posting.)

Muslim Woman Settles In Suit Claiming "Outrage" Over Treatment During Search of Her Apartment

Yesterday's Seattle Times reports that federal officials have settled a lawsuit brought by a Somali Muslim woman over conduct of DEA and police officials in searching her Seattle (WA) apartment in a raid seeking evidence of khat distribution. In May, a federal district court in Jama v. United States ruled that the woman could move ahead with her claim based on the common law tort of outrage. Plaintiff Habibo Jama claimed that during the raid, federal agents handcuffed her and made her wait for several hours in her nightclothes in front of unrelated men in violation of her Muslim religious beliefs. (See prior posting.) Jama settled the suit for $40,000.

Glenn Beck Hosts Conservative Rally; Some Evangelicals Object To Participiation Because of Beck's Mormon Beliefs

Radio and television commentator Glenn Beck is hosting an event tonight at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. titled "America's Divine Destiny." Beck's website describes the event as follows:

Guided by uplifting music, nationally-known religious figures from all faiths will unite to deliver messages reminiscent to those given during the struggles of America's earliest days. The event will leave you with a renewed determination to look past the partisan differences and petty problems that fill our airwaves and instead focus our shared values, principles and strong belief that faith can play an essential role in reuniting the country.

CNN reports that this event precedes a rally to be held over the week end at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. The main speaker will be Sarah Palin. However some Christian conservatives have criticized the decision of evangelicals to take part in the Friday event because of Beck's Mormon beliefs. Brannon Howse writes: "The Apostle Paul warns Christians against uniting with unbelievers in spiritual endeavors.... While I applaud and agree with many of Glenn Beck's conservative and constitutional views, that does not give me or any other Bible-believing Christian justification to compromise Biblical truth by spiritually joining Beck." However evangelical activist David Barton defends participation, saying: "Christians concerned about Glenn's faith should judge the tree by its fruits, not its labels."

Staten Island Hosts Its First Official Iftar

SI Live reports on the first ever Iftar to be held at Staten Island (NY)'s Borough Hall.  The Ramadan event was attended by Borough President James P. Molinaro, even though he is an outspoken critic of plans to build a Muslim community center and mosque in lower Manhattan. Some 50 people from Staten Island's five mosques attended the event. Staten Island has some 25,000 Muslim residents. The sundown meal was preceded by a recitation from the Quran and remarks on the significance of Ramadan. Staten Island is the last of the five boroughs of New York City to have an official Iftar event.

O Centro Case Finally Dismissed By Federal District Court

In 2006, in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government cannot block a New Mexico church from using a hallucinogenic tea for religious purposes, and remanded the case for further proceedings. (See prior posting.)  Today's Albuquerque Journal reports that the case last week was finally been dismissed by a New Mexico federal district court after the parties entered a 21-page settlement agreement. According to the paper, the agreement specifies procedures for importing hoasca, and for registering, record keeping, inspection, storage and security, as well as agreement on payment of O Centro's attorneys fees.

U.S. Report To U.N. On Human Rights Record Lauds Free Exercise Rights

In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly established the Universal Perioidic Review process through which the human rights records of U.N. member states are assessed every four years. The State Department announced this week that on Aug. 20 the United States submitted its  report (full text) to the U.N. Human Rights Council, reviewing the U.S. human rights record. Here is what the report had to say about relgious freedom in the U.S.:

19. The desire for freedom from religious persecution has brought millions to our shores. Today, freedom of religion protects each individual’s ability to participate in and share the traditions of his or her chosen faith, to change his or her religion, or to choose not to believe or participate in religious practice.

20. Citizens continue to avail themselves of freedom of religion protections in the Constitution and in state and federal law. For example, in a case this year, a Native American primary school student’s right to wear his hair in a braid, in accordance with his family’s religious beliefs, was upheld pursuant to a Texas religious freedom law.

21. The constitutional prohibition on the establishment of a religion by the government, along with robust protections for freedom of speech and association, have helped to create a multi-religious society in which the freedom to choose and practice one’s faith, or to have no faith at all, is secure.

The ACLU issued a press release this week calling the report: "an important step toward turning the Obama administration's stated commitment to protecting human rights into tangible policies." It said however that "the report omits many issues that need significant improvement and doesn't present a full picture of the state of human rights in the U.S." The conservative Christian group Liberty Counsel issued a press release yesterday complaining that: "the report says that it welcomes 'observations and recommendations' from concerned members of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which includes countries such as North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Libya.... The presidency of Barack Obama will be remembered as one that sought to humiliate America by prostrating it before some of the worst human rights violators in the world."

US Bishop Laments "Post-Christian" World

In a strongly worded address delivered to the Canon Law Association of Slovakia on Tuesday (full text), Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput argued that events in both the United States and Europe "suggest an emerging, systematic discrimination against the Church that now seems inevitable." Here are a few excerpts:

In general, Catholics have thrived in the United States. The reason is simple. America has always had a broadly Christian and religion-friendly moral foundation, and our public institutions were established as non-sectarian, not antireligious.
 
At the heart of the American experience is an instinctive “biblical realism.” From our Protestant inheritance we have always – at least until now -- understood that sin is real, and men and women can be corrupted by power and prosperity. Americans have often been tempted to see our nation as uniquely destined, or specially anointed by God. But in the habits of daily life, we have always known that the “city of God” is something very distinct from the “city of man.” And we are wary of confusing the two.....
 
Today, in an era of global interconnection, the challenges that confront Catholics in America are much the same as in Europe: We face an aggressively secular political vision and a consumerist economic model that result – in practice, if not in explicit intent -- in a new kind of state encouraged atheism.....

This vision presumes a frankly "post-Christian" world ruled by rationality, technology and good social engineering. Religion has a place in this worldview, but only as an individual lifestyle accessory

LifeSite News yesterday reported on the speech.

Groups Protest Ban On Religion-Based Hiring In Proposed SAMHSA Legislation

Today's New York Times and a press release from World Vision report that over 100 religious organizations have written to every member of Congress objecting to a provision in HR 5466, the proposed SAMHSA Modernization Act of 2010 reauthorizing the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  At issue is a provision (Sec. 501(m)(2)) that would prevent grant recipients under the Act from hiring on the basis of religion. The controversial section reads:

With respect to any activity to be funded (in whole or in part) through an award of a grant, cooperative agreement, or contract under this title or any other statutory authority of the Administration, the Administrator, or the Director of the Center involved ... may not make such an award unless the applicant agrees to refrain from considering religion or any profession of faith when making any employment decision regarding an individual who is or will be assigned to carry out any portion of the activity. This paragraph applies notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law, including any exemption otherwise applicable to a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society.

Steven McFarland, chief legal counsel at World Vision USA, said that the language would effect "a seismic change in bedrock civil rights law for religious organizations." Among the groups signing the letter are World Vision, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

New York Bingo Scheme Defrauds Greek Orthodox Diocese

In Queens, New York, three men were indicted last week on 714 gambling related counts in a scheme that defrauded the Greek Orthodox Diocese of America out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  According to yesterday's Queens Gazette, bingo profits were supposed to go to the Greek Orthodox Diocese, but the affiliated charities were bogus organizations that allowed the three men to take some $830,000 from bingo and illegal side bets for themselves over several years.  The defendants, Spiros Moshopoulos, Tommy Skiada, and Daniella Radulescu were also charged with defrauding the city Department of Consumer Affairs out of some $20,000 in fees.

Egypt Prosecuting Muslim Publisher Over Introduction To Christian Bible

According to Daily News Egypt, Egypt's Prosecutor General on Monday referred Ahmed Abdallah Abo-Islam, a publisher of Islamic books, to a state security court on charges of contempt of the Christian religion.  A complaint had been filed against the publisher by Naguib Gobrael, a Coptic lawyer who is head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights.  The charges grew out of publication of a copy of the Bible by Abo-Islam with an introduction charging that this is not the authentic Bible, and that the current Christian Bible is fabricated, modified and full of contradictions. The introduction also claims that the Church is deceiving Christians by labeling the Bible as the Holy Book.

FLDS Defendant Will Challenge Texas Bigamy Statute

At a state court hearing Tuesday in San Angelo, Texas, attorneys for FLDS member Wendell Loy Nielsen said they will challenge the constitutionality of Texas' bigamy statute when Nielsen goes on trial in October. Yesterday's San Angelo (TX) Standard Times reports that the prosecution of Nielsen is the first growing out of the April 2008 raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch that does not directly involve sexual assault of a child. He is charged with three counts of bigamy. Each count could bring a sentence of up to ten years in prison.

Orthodox Jewish Community In New Jersey Split Over Sex Abuse Charges In State Court

A lengthy article in today's Asbury Park (NJ) Press reports on the rift in Lakewood, New Jersey's Orthodox Jewish community over the process that led to criminal sexual assault and child endangerment charges being brought against Yosef Kolko, a former camp counselor and local yeshiva teacher. The father of the 12-year old child who was the victim of the abuse went directly to Ocean County prosecutors. A number of Orthodox rabbis though say that they favor such charges being handled initially by Jewish religious courts and that the father should have obtained permission from the rabbinical court before filing charges in a civil court against a fellow Jew.

Virginia AG Gives Guidance On Holiday Displays

Virginia's Attorney General last week, at the request of Loudon County officials, issued an official advisory opinion (Opinion 10-067) on permissible holiday displays. The opinion concludes that the state constitution's establishment clause is narrower than the federal one and does not limit holiday displays on public property, though it does prohibit favoritism toward a particular sect or denomination.  Moving to the requirements of the federal establishment clause, the opinion gives the following guidance:

Loudoun County must accommodate religious items within the personal space of employees under certain circumstances. In addition, where the County already has provided a public forum or limited public forum, it will usually lack the right to exclude a religious display of reasonable duration based solely upon content. Even where no such forum previously has been created, the County is free to create a nondiscriminatory forum for recognition of holidays, including Christmas, if it makes clear that the County itself is not communicating a religious message.

Moreover, irrespective of religious accommodation, the County is free to communicate its own recognition of holidays, including Christmas, as long as overtly Christian symbols are balanced with other religious and secular ones in a way that communicates to reasonable, informed observers that the County is not making a religious statement. Because secular symbols can insulate innately religious symbols from constitutional attack, decoration of public buildings with such secular items as lights, candy canes, wreaths, poinsettias, fir trees, snowflakes, and red and green ribbons should raise no serious constitutional objection.

Today's Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the opinion.

South Carolina AG Says Non-Profit Group's "I Believe" Plates Are Constitutional

Last year a federal district court held that a statute authorizing South Carolina's "I Believe" license plates-- carrying the image of a cross superimposed on a stained glass window-- violates the Establishment Clause.  (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun News now however reports that state Attorney General Henry McMaster has issued an opinion ruling that a new plan for similar "I Believe" plates is constitutional. Instead of being specially authorized by statute, this time a private non-profit group has applied for issuance of the plates under a general law that allows non-profit groups to apply for creation of specialty plates by paying $4,000 or collecting at least 400 prepaid orders. (SC Code of Laws Sec. 56-3-8000). The proposed new plate has the group's website URL along the top: http://www.ibelievesc.net/. Below it, the plate depicts a golden sunrise and on the left, and three crosses symbolizing the site of Jesus' crucifixion. South Carolina already has authorized 127 different specialty plates, including 21 created by non-profit groups, including one that reads "In Reason We Trust" created by a secular humanist group. The Aug. 16 Attorney General's Opinion reasoned: "The specialty license program has a secular purpose - allowing all nonprofit organizations to identify themselves by a logo or symbol."

2nd Circuit: Jewish Parole Division Employee May Proceed With Hostile Work Environment Claim

In Leifer v. New York State Divsion of Parole, (2d Cir., Aug. 23, 2010), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Title VII religious discrimination and retaliation claims by a Jewish employee of the New York Division of Parole. Plaintiff complained that mandatory meetings were scheuduled on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah in 2001 and Shavuot in 2003. The court concluded that plaintiff's religious exercise was accommodated when he was excused from attending the meetings. He did not show any material change in the terms and conditions of his employment as a result of his missing the meetings. However the court did  conclude that plaintiff was entitled to go to trial on his charge of a hostile work environment. The court said: "Leifer presents evidence of six interactions with his supervisors over a three-year period which implicate his religion.... [A] reasonable jury could find the interactions to be sufficiently hostile to have altered his employment conditions for the worse."