City Relents On Collecting Tax Assessment That Violates Religious Beliefs of Hindu Woman

The city of Evanston, Illinois has decided that it will no longer press a Hindu woman and her mother for a $635 tax bill reflecting an assessment that the woman says violates her religious beliefs. At issue is the removal of a box elder tree that stands mostly on common property of Padma Rao's condominium.  She says that her Hindu religion prohibits the needless killing of any living thing. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Evanston Review reports that a city attorney now says the city is in the process of removing Rao from the delinquent tax notification list it sends the county.

City Rents Space For Satanist Exorcism Ceremony

Oklahoma City's Parks and Recreation Department, saying that it cannot constitutionally discriminate on the basis of viewpoint in renting out its Civic Center auditoriums, has agreed to rent out its smallest room, seating 100, to a Satanist Church for a public exorcism ceremony.  ABC News today reports that James Hale, the leader of the Church of the IV Majesties, says he wants to erase  fears about Satanism by opening the ritual exorcism of God to the public. He says that the ceremony, which is "a parody of the Catholic rite of exorcism," is designed to extract the gods of the "right handed path," that is, traditional religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Tickets for the Oct. 21 exorcism are $15.

7th Circuit: Rastafarian Failed To Inform Potential Employer That Dreadlocks Were Religious Requirement

In Xodus v. Wackenhut Corp., (7th Cir., Aug. 27, 2010), the 7th Circuit affirmed a trial court's holding that Wackenhut Corp. did not violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act when it refused to hire plaintiff, a Rastafarian, as a security guard because plaintiff refused to cut his dreadlocks. The Court affirmed the trial court's finding that plaintiff (whose name is Lord Osunfarian Xodus) failed to bring his religious beliefs to Wackenhut's attention. The Wackenhut manager, Clarence McCuller, who interviewed Xodus testified that when he told plaintiff about the company's grooming policy, plaintiff said that cutting his dreadlocks is "against my belief."  But McCuller testified that he was not aware of the Rastafarian religion and did not equate the use of the term "belief" with "religion." The Court wrote:

Xodus claims that his use of the word "belief" and the dreadlocks themselves sufficed to notify McCuller of the religious nature of his hairstyle. But unlike race or sex, a person’s religion is not always readily apparent.... "[E]mployers are not charged with detailed knowledge of the beliefs and observances associated with particular sects." ....  Nor does the fact that Xodus' name begins with the word "Lord" persuade us that McCuller knew the dreadlocks were religious.

Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

Indonesian Court Orders Closure of Buddha Bar; Awards Damages To Plaintiffs

In Indonesia today, the Central Jakarta District Court ordered the Jakarta branch of the Paris-based Buddha Bar to close.  The court also ordered the company that operates the bar, along with the Jakarta's governor and its tourism agency that allowed the bar to operate,  to pay plaintiffs the equivalent of $111,000. Today's Jakarta Globe and M&C report that a group called the Anti-Buddha Bar Forum filed the law suit last year, charging that the bar's name and its use of Buddhist symbols violated laws requiring respect for state-approved religions. Last year the bar's owners, in response to complaints, renamed it, but plaintiffs say that is not enough because it has refused to remove Buddhist symbols used in the bar,

Court Refuses So Far To Drop Charges Against Preachers At Dearborn's Arab International Festival

A Dearborn, Michigan trial judge Monday, after two hours of oral arguments, refused, at least for now, to dismiss charges beach of peace and failure to obey lawful orders that have been brought against four street preachers for their activities in June at Dearborn's large Arab International Festival. One of the defendants, all members of Acts 17, was engaged in conversations with attendees at the Festival. The other three were videotaping the conversations. According to yesterday's Christian Post, police say the four drew and incited a large crowd, while defendants say their arrest violates their rights of free speech and free exercise of religion. They also claim the arrests were retaliation for an embarrassing video of activities of Festival security guards last year. The court said it needed clarification on some issues before finally deciding whether to drop charges. If they are not dropped, a trial will start Sept. 20.

Wide Ranging Challenge To Health Care Reform Includes Religion Claims

A group of individuals and organizations yesterday filed a lawsuit in a Nevada federal court asserting a wide range of constitutional challenges to the requirement in this year's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that all U.S. citizens and legal residents maintain health care coverage.  Several of the challenges in the 55-page complaint are based on the free exercise clause, the establishment clause and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  The most straight forward are claims that the law forces Plaintiffs to fund abortion in violation of their religious beliefs and that it establishes "the secular religion of Socialism."  Some of the other religion claims in the complaint (full text) in People V US v. Obama, (D NV, filed 8/31/2010) are more elaborate:

47.... Plaintiff Joshua Hansen has a sincerely held religious belief that God will provide for his physical, spiritual, and financial well-being. Being forced to buy health insurance ...is highly offensive to his faith and beliefs. Plaintiff Joshua Hansen’s faith leads him to want to be free to obtain the health care of his own choosing, whatsoever health care he feels God directs him to obtain, including alternative forms of medicine, such as natural healing, homeopathic treatment, and other alternative forms of medical treatment not recognized or covered by PPACA....

73. Plaintiff TRACIE PISTOCCO is a Christian.... She has a sincerely held religious belief that charity is an obligation and sacrament of his faith as commanded by the Bible that people, as individuals—as opposed to government—are to care for one another. See Luke 14:13; Psalm 41:1, 2; 1 Timothy 6:17, 18. Part of this sincerely held religious belief is that all forms of Socialism are abhorrent and contrary to her Christian faith, because Socialism dictates, by force of law and without free will, that the government will take what the people have and distribute it to those who allegedly have less, regardless of latter’s need or attempt to care for themselves. She objects to PPACA because it compels her, under the guise of the "shared responsibility payment", to perform forced charity which violates the very foundation of his Christian faith.

74.... Christopher Hansen is a Christian and member and founder of the First Christian Fellowship of Eternal Sovereignty and believes that Socialism and its twin brothers, Communism, Fascism, and Marxism, are State/Civic religions and thus that Obamcare/ PPACA, an admittedly socialistic and compelled system of belief, violates the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, because it destroys his ability to exercise his religion according to the dictates of his own conscience. In his belief, Satan is the founder of compelled "charity," which violates the principles of free agency set forth in the scriptures in which Christopher Hansen believes, including the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and the Constitution of the United States of America, which he believes to be inspired by God and the only true political religion. To force him to participate in Obamacare thus violates his free exercise of religion under the First Amendment.

Courthouse News Service reports on the filing of the case.

Suit Claims IRS Has Special Policy To Scrutinize Non-Profit Applications From Pro-Israel Groups Opposed To Obama Policies

The non-profit pro-Israel, Zionist group, Z Street, filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania federal district court last week challenging on free expression grounds a purported policy of the Internal Revenue Service to scrutinize particularly closely applications for Section 501(c)(3) non-profit status from organizations that deal with Israel, and especially if the organization supports policies inconsistent with those of the Obama administration on the Middle East. The complaint (full text) in Z Street v. Shulman, (ED PA, filed 8/25/2010), asks for a declaratory judgment that the Israel Special Policy amounts to viewpoint discrimination and seeks an injunction requiring disclosure of the origin and development of the Special Policy. The lawsuit also asks the court to order that Z Street's application for non-profit status be considered expeditiously and fairly. In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Z Street said that its application for non-profit status was filed in January and has, according to an IRS agent, been stalled because of this special policy. The Forward last week said that experts are skeptical about Z Street's claim that its application was sent to a special IRS unit to determine whether its policies contradict those of the administration.

National Religious Moot Court Competition Scheduled For February

The 5th annual National Religious Moot Court Competition will be held at George Washington University Law School on Feb. 4-5, 2011. The competition is open to teams from ABA-accredited law schools. This year's problem deals with RLUIPA as it applies to zoning decisions. This year's final round will be judged by Judge Thomas B. Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; Professor Michael McConnell of Stanford University's Constitutional Law Center and formerly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit; and Melissa Rogers of Wake Forest University who is Chair of President Obama's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships . More information is available at the website devoted to the competition. [Thanks to Ira "Chip"Lupu for the lead.]

En Banc Review Granted In Challenge To Orlando's Park Feeding Ordinance

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday issued an order (full text) granting an en banc rehearing in First Vagabonds Church of God v. City of Orlando, Florida.  The 3-judge panel in the case, in a 2-1 decision rejected free exercise, free expression and other challenges to Orlando's Large Group Feeding Ordinance that requires a permit to feed more than 25 people in any downtown park, and limits a group to 2 permits per year in any park. (See prior posting.) [Thanks to Glenn Katon for the lead.]

Libya's Gadhafi Irks Italians By Pushing Islam On Italian Women

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi has upset some Italians during his current visit to Italy. On Sunday and Monday, Gadhafi held a series of private meetings with 800 Italian women and a small group of men all recruited online by an agency, Hostessweb. They were all paid by the Libyan government to attend. At the meetings, Gadhafi lectured the attendees on Islam, handed out copies of the Quran, and apparently converted a handful of women. At the meetings, Gadhafi told participants that Islam should become the religion of Europe.

Law and Religion Scholar Steven Goldberg Dies

Today's Washington Post reports that law and religion scholar Steven P. Goldberg died last week. Goldberg was a professor at Georgetown University's Law Center since 1977 and has written a number of books on the intersection of law, science and religion, including Bleached Faith: The Tragic Cost When Religion is Forced Into the Public Square, (Stanford Univ. Press, 2008).

Lincoln Parallels Cited In Confusion About Obama's Religion

In today's San Francisco Chronicle, New York University Professor Jonathan Zimmerman calls attention to an interesting parallel between the persistent rumors that President Barack Obama is a Muslim and rumors faced by Abraham Lincoln. Here is an excerpt:

Just as Obama's enemies call him a closet Muslim, Lincoln's opponents hinted that he was ... a closet Catholic. And in each case, the reason was exactly the same: Millions of Americans feared, derided or despised these faiths....

The whispers about Lincoln's religion began right after he was elected president. The "evidence" was simple, and altogether spurious. Jesuits were active in Lincoln's region of Illinois, so he must have been baptized by them. Oh, and Lincoln had once defended a prominent priest in a slander lawsuit.

.... Lincoln also denounced the bigotry and prejudice of the Know-Nothings, America's most vehemently anti-Catholic political party. "If the Know-Nothings get control," Lincoln warned in 1855, "the Declaration of Independence will read: All men are created equal except for Negroes, foreigners, and Catholics."

And here's why it mattered: Across the political spectrum, including Lincoln's Republican Party, Protestant Americans assumed that Catholics were disloyal to the Republic. "We" respected individual rights, liberties, and freedoms; but "they" took orders from the Vatican.

After a Pew poll earlier this month revealed that 18% of Americans thought Obama is Muslim and 43% did not know his religious affiliation (see prior posting), Obama told NBC interviewer Brian Williams on Sunday that this there is a "network of misinformation" in today's "new-media era." (Los Angeles Times).

Suit Charges Discrimination In Illinois State Police Revoking Appointment of Muslim Chaplain

The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that the Council on American Islamic Relations has filed a federal civil rights discrimination lawsuit on behalf of a Chicago imam whose appointment as the first Muslim state police chaplain was rescinded after critics complained that he had ties to Hamas. The imam, Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, had solicited funds on behalf of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the country's largest Muslim charity until its leaders were indicted on charges of funneling money to Hamas. (See prior posting.) Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism  said that Mustapha was one of some 300 unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land case. Mustapha's lawyer said the imam believed the funds were being used for Muslim causes in the United States. In a release announcing the filing of the lawsuit, CAIR-Chicago said the state police action was reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1950's. (See prior related posting.)

EEOC Sues Nebraska Meat Packing Plant Over Religious Accommodation of Muslim Employees

According to an AP report, the EEOC yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against JBS Swift & Co. charging that the company failed to make reasonable accommodation for religious observance by some 80 Somali Muslims who were fired from company's Grand Island, Nebraska meat packing plant. The long-running problems at the plant began in 2007 when a number of East Africans were hired to fill spots that became vacant after an immigration raid found a number of illegal Hispanic immigrants working there. During Ramadan in 2008, hundreds of Muslim workers protested that they wanted time to pray and break their fast at sunset. When management tried to accommodate them, the company faced counter protests by non-Muslim workers who said the accommodation would burden them. Eventually the company fired 86 Muslims for walking off the job, and later hired back around a dozen of them. (See prior related posting.)

Suit Charges RLUIPA and FOIA Violations In Church Zoning Dispute

The Power of Praise Worship Center has filed a RLUIPA lawsuit against the village of Dixmoor, Illinois. The suit claims that even though village trustees had approved its use of a building it leased, the village's code enforcement officer ordered it to vacate the building, saying that churches are allowed only in areas zoned residential. The complaint (full text) in Power of Praise Worship Center Church v. Village of Dixmoor, Illinois, (ND IL, filed 8/27/2010), also alleges that the village has prevented the church's attorneys from obtaining a full copy of the village's zoning code. In addition to its RLUIPA claim, the complaint also alleges violations of the Free Exercise Clause and the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The law firm of Mauck & Baker issued a press release on the case.

UPDATE: WGN News reports that on Aug. 31, a federal judge issued an emergency order allowing the church to reopen while it negotiates a settlement with the city.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Carl H. Esbeck, Uses and Abuses of Textualism and Originalism in Establishment Clause Interpretation, (Utah Law Review, Vol. 2011, No. 2).
• Joseph Blocher, Schrödinger’s Cross: The Quantum Mechanics of the Establishment Clause, (Virginia Law Review, Forthcoming).
• Barbara P. Billauer, Human Reproductive Cloning: Science and Jewish Law, (August 25, 2010).
• Christopher C. Lund, Religious Liberty after Gonzales: A Look at State RFRAs, (South Dakota Law Review, 2010).
• Geoffrey P. Miller, Nationhood and Law in the Hebrew Bible, (NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 10-57, Aug. 26, 2010).
• Nadia N. Sawicki, The Hollow Promise of Freedom of Conscience, (Loyola University Chicago School of Law Research Paper No. NO. 2010-009, Aug. 23, 2010).
• Christopher C. Lund, Salazar v. Buono and the Future of the Establishment Clause, (Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, 2010).
• Lorenzo Zucca, Crucifix in the Classroom: The Best Solution to the Lautsi Case, (August 28, 2010).
• Abhayraj Naik, Imperative Values of a Logical Forgiveness, (Socio-Legal Review, Vol. 6, p. 101, August 2010).

From SmartCILP:

• Christopher C. Lund, Exploring Free Exercise Doctrine: Equal Liberty and Religious Exemptions, 77 Tennessee Law Review 351-383 (2010).
• Malcolm Voyce, Ideas of Transgression and Buddhist Monks, 21 Law and Critique 183-198 (2010).

Court Rejects Quaker's Challenge To Use Of His Tax Payments For Military

In Moore- Backman v. United States, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88547 (D AZ, Aug. 24, 2010), an Arizona federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88548, June 28, 2010) and dismissed a complaint by a Quaker that the use of his federal income tax payments for military spending substantially burdens his religious exercise in violation of the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act. Plaintiff sought return of a portion of a refund that was not paid to him but was instead applied by the government to offset prior taxes he did not pay because he objected to their use. He also sought an order requiring the government to apply his tax payments solely to non-military uses.

The court held that the action for a refund should be dismissed because plaintiff never first filed an administrative claim for a refund. Plaintiff's request for an order directing the United States to apply his taxes to non-military purposes is not barred by the Declaratory Judgment Act or the Anti-Injunction Act because it is not a challenge to the collection or assessment of taxes. However, the court concluded that there was no free exercise or RFRA violation because under relevant case law the Government is not required to conduct its own internal affairs in a way that comports with an individual's religious beliefs.

Utah High Court Says FLDS Challenge To Trust Reformation Barred By Laches and Ripeness Doctrines

The Utah Supreme Court on Friday rejected an attempt by members of the FLDS Church to challenge a Utah trial court's long-running efforts (see prior posting) to reform the United Effort Plan Trust that holds property on which FLDS members lived in Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah. In Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Lindberg, (UT Sup. Ct., Aug. 27, 2010), the Court held that by delaying its objections for three years, the FLDS had waited too long to bring most of its challenges. They are barred by the doctrine of laches. The association of FLDS members that brought suit claimed that the reformation of the trust violated state law and members' constitutional rights, and that the trial court's ongoing administration of the trust also violated their constitutional rights. The only claim that was not barred by laches was a claim that "the district court endorsed a religious test that would give former FLDS members outright deeds to Trust property but would relegate current and practicing FLDS members to receiving spendthrift trusts based on the concern that they might deed their property back to FLDS Church leaders." The Court concluded that this free exercise challenge is not ripe since so far neither the trial court nor the special fiduciary administering the trust has used religion as a factor in determining how to allocate property. The Idaho State Journal reports on the decision.

For those who are following the lengthy developments in Utah's attempt to reform the UEP Trust, the opinion includes an excellent chronology of events.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Palecek v. Zavaras, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85513 (D CO, Aug. 18, 2010), a Colorado federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86027, July 1, 2010), and permitted a Jewish inmate who objected to the manner in which his kosher food was being prepared to proceed with a claim for injunctive relief against defendants in their official capacities. However other claims, including ones for monetary damages, were dismissed on various grounds.

In Tran v. Gores, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86519 (SD CA, Aug. 23, 2010), a California federal district court dismissed an inmate's free exercise claim based merely on allegations that an unnamed Deputy Sheriff took a "religious cross artifact" from him.

In Odneal v. Pierce, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86089 (SD TX, Aug. 20, 2010), a Texas federal magistrate judge, in a case on remand from the 5th Circuit (see prior posting), ruled that Texas prison grooming rules impose a substantial burden on free exercise rights of a Native American inmate who wants to grow and wear a kouplock. However, the court concluded, a question of fact remains as to whether the grooming policy serves a compelling interest and is the least restrictive means to satisfy that interest.

In Ciempa v. Jones, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86796 (ND OK, Aug. 23, 2010), an Oklahoma federal district court upheld a prison's decision to ban a particular issue of The Five Percenter (a publication of the Nations of Gods and Earth) and found no evidence that an inmate's religious correspondence was interdicted. It also rejected his complaint regarding denial of a Halal diet and his attempt to get the prison canteen to buy pork-free hygiene products from an NGE vendor. However the court permitted plaintiff to move ahead with his claim that his rights under RLUIPA were violated when he was denied copies of two books, The Soldier's Guide and Stoic Warriors, and when he was denied chapel time for NGE study circles.

In Woods v. Harris, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86628 (ED AR, Aug. 20, 2010), and Arkansas federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86616, Aug. 4, 2010) and dismissed an inmate's complaint that when participating in the Therapeutic Community Program group sessions he was required to use the term "Higher Power" and was not permitted to use the term "God" or "Jesus Christ."

In Bukhari v. Piedmont Regional Jail Authority, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87169 (ED VA, Aug. 20, 2010), a Virginia federal district court held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not apply to non-resident aliens denied admission to the country who are being held in custody while removal proceedings are initiated. Plaintiff, a Pakistani national, complained that while in custody he was denied meals that meet Muslim dietary requirements.

In James v. Hayden, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88097 (SD NY, Aug. 23, 2010), a New York federal magistrate judge concluded that genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether requiring a Rastafarian prisoner to participate in a group strip search is the least restrictive means by which officials could inspect him for concealed contraband and whether conducting strip searches in a gymnasium rather than a bathroom was reasonably related to a legitimate penological interest. Therefore the court refused to grant summary judgment to defendant on the RLUIPA or Free Exercise claims brought by plaintiff.

In Arnez v. Florida Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88398 (SD FL, Aug. 25, 2010), a Florida federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88401, Aug. 4, 2010) and refused to dismiss the personal capacity claims by an Orthodox Jewish prisoner against prison officials for refusing to provide him with a kosher diet, and instead providing only a vegan diet despite a 2002 settlement in a prior lawsuit under which the state agreed to provide plaintiff with kosher food.

Court Rejects Free Exercise and Establishment Clause Challenges To Domestic Violence Laws

In Currie v. Michigan, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85804 (ED MI, Aug. 20, 2010), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's domestic violence laws on free exercise grounds.  In a complaint described by the court as "nearly unintelligible," plaintiff contended that he was "convicted ... of a crime he didn't commit as corporal punishment and many other forms of disciplinary measures are demanded by the Christian God in the rearing of a child." The court also rejected an establishment clause challenge to mandatory domestic violence counseling sessions. Plaintiff claimed that the counselling sessions were "devised to reshape, alter, reform and prohibit the Plaintiff's religious beliefs."