School Board Settles Justice Department Suit On Refusal To Accommodate Hajj Trip

The Justice Department announced on Thursday that it has entered into a consent decree with the Berkeley, Illinois Board of Education in a Title VII religious discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of Safoorah Khan, a Muslim middle school teacher who was denied an unpaid leave that she requested so she could perform the Hajj. (See prior posting.) The suit was the first growing out of a program of enhanced cooperation between the EEOC and Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Under the consent decree, which must still be approved by the court, the school district will pay $75,000 to Khan for lost back pay, compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees, will develop a religious accommodation policy and will provide mandatory training on religious accommodation various personnel.

Bishop and Diocese Indicted For Delay In Reporting Sexual Offender To Authorities

The New York Times yesterday reported that a Missouri grand jury has indicted both Catholic bishop Robert W. Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on misdemeanor charges growing out of their delay in reporting evidence of a suspected sex-offender priest to authorities. Bishop Finn knew last December that a priest, Father Shawn Ratigan, might subject children to sexual abuse, discovering hundreds of pornographic photos of girls on the priest's laptop. However the photos were not turned over to police until May. During that time, Ratigan continued to attend church events at which children were present, and took lewd photos of another young girl.  This is the first time that a criminal indictment has been brought against a diocese and its leader in connection with actions of a priest in the diocese. If convicted, Finn faces a possible fine of $1000 and up to one year in jail, while the diocese faces a possible fine of up to $5000. In a statement on the diocese website, Bishop Finn denied criminal wrongdoing.

Annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents In US Released

Last week, the Anti-Defamation League released its 2010 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, detailing anti-Jewish assaults, harassment and vandalism in the U.S.  The study showed a 2.3% increase over 2009. Of the 1239 incidents reported in 2010, California accounted for 297 of them and New York for 205. Nationwide, over 70% of the incidents involved harassment. Less than 2% involved assaults.

Illinois County Imposes New Zoning Limits On Houses of Worship

According to yesterday's Chicago Tribune, the DuPage County (IL) Board has approved a zoning law amendment that will limit new houses of worship and other places of assembly in residential areas. Under the new rules, residential buildings used as places of assembly must have access on an arterial street and must use public sewer and water service, or else receive a variance from the county. The limitation came after 5 applications for new mosques in residential areas had come to the county board-- three of which have been approved.  Opponents of the change say that single-family homes have been the primary starting point for new religious congregations.

Group Asks IRS To Investigate Alleged Political Endorsement By Church

Americans United announced yesterday that it has sent a letter (full text) to the Internal Revenue Service asking it to investigate the First Baptist Church of Dallas (TX) for violating the tax code's ban on non-profits endorsing political candidates.  The church's pastor, Robert Jeffress, introduced candidate Rick Perry at the Value Voters Summit last week end. (See prior posting.) Jeffress then posted a video of the introduction and of his appearance on MSNBC on the church's website. AU says that Jeffress has not avoided church endorsement of Perry by merely placing a disclaimer on the video clips saying they do not constitute an endorsement by the church.

Israeli Civil Court Awards Large Damages To Wife Whose Husband Spurned Religious Court Order

YNet News reported yesterday on a decision by the Rishon Lezion Family Court in Israel awarding civil damages to a wife whose husband refused to comply with a rabbinical court order to give her a divorce document ("get").  The civil court awarded damages equivalent to $182,850 (US). Judge Esther Stein wrote: "refusal to divorce constitutes a violation of the values protected by the ‘Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom,’ which includes: freedom of choice, the right to self-fulfillment, the right to dignity and equal rights." [Thanks to Joel Katz (Relig. & State In Israel) for the lead.]

2 Amish Men Fined For Refusing To Use Safety Emblem

In a Kentucky state court yesterday, two more members of the Old Order Schwartzentruber Amish community were convicted of refusing to use state-required orange colored safety emblems on their horse-drawn buggies. They have religious objections to the bright colors and to trusting man-made symbols for their safety. One defendant was ordered to pay fines and costs of $341; the other defendant was ordered to pay $173. Both men indicated they would refuse to pay. Judge Deborah Hawkins Crooks gave them until January 12 to comply, or else face jail. These two men and 6 others served 3 to 5 days in jail last month for refusal to pay similar fines. (See prior posting.)

Moroccan Imams Protest Government Regulation

AP reports that some 50 imams from mosques across Morocco demonstrated in Rabat yesterday, complaining about the tight controls the government imposes on them.  Imams are given government prepared sermons that they must deliver on Fridays, without deviation from the text. The imams want to deliver their own sermons, higher salaries and want to be consulted on religious matters.  Under Morocco's constitution, the king is the final arbiter of all religious matters. This is seen as a protection against Islamic extremism.

Egyptian Court Says Islamist Group's Party Can Field Candidates

Reuters reports that yesterday an Egyptian court overturned a decision of the parties committee and permitted the Islamist group al-Gam'aa al-Islamiyya's Construction and Development Party to run candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The parties committee had rejected Construction and Development because the party wanted to introduce Islamic law and because one of its founders had been convicted of a criminal offense-- involvement in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.  While Egyptian law bans parties based on religion, the court said that the Construction and Development Party does not restrict membership on the basis of religion and its founders included Muslims and non-Muslims.

Religious Comments of Sentencing Judge Do Not Justify Habeas Relief

In Deyton v. Keller, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110631 (WD NC, Sept. 27, 2011), a North Carolina federal district court in a habeas corpus proceeding rejected claims that a state court judge's religious comments made during a sentencing hearing violated the due process rights of defendants who plead guilt to robbing a church. However the court issued a certificate of appealablity to the 4th Circuit.  In handing down a sentence of 53 to 71 years for each defendant, the state trial judge said in part:

Gentlemen, this is just something that can't be tolerated ... there are times when you have to kind of draw the line and you have to say that there are some things that just can't be tolerated by society. I mean you can't just go in a church armed and tie people or hold them at gunpoint, threaten to kill them and rob the collection plate and rob them while they are there in the worship service and expect that the law is not going to come down just about as strongly as it can on you. There is scripture that says "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord" but every now and then I think the judicial system has to contribute what it can.

Islamist Clashes In Tunisia

Reuters reports that in Tunisia yesterday police used teargas to disperse hundreds of Islamist demonstrators.  The demonstrators attacked police with stones, knives and batons as they protested a university's enforcement of a government ruling that bars enrolling women who wear the niqab. Earlier Islamists protested outside Nessma television, objecting to its broadcasting "Persepolis," the story of a woman growing up under strict religious rule in Iran. Demonstrators say the show denigrated Islam. The demonstrations come as the Oct. 23 elections for an assembly to draft a new constitution approach. Secularists are concerned that the Islamist Ennahda party is likely to receive the largest number of votes.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Allison Anna Tait, Polygamy, Publicity, and Locality: The Place of the Public in Marriage Practice, (Michigan State Law Review, Vol. 2011, p. 171, 2011).
• Richard W. Garnett, Thomas Berg, Kimberlee Colby and Carl Esbeck, Religious Freedom, Church-State Separation, and the Ministerial Exception, (Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, 2011).
• Bruce MacDougall and Donn Short, Religion-Based Claims for Impinging on Queer Citizenship, (Dalhousie Law Journal, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 133-160, Fall 2010).
• John D. Inazu, Stanley Hauerwas and the Law: is There Anything to Say?, (Law and Contemporary Problems, Forthcoming).
• Linda C. McClain and James E. Fleming, Respecting Freedom and Cultivating Virtues in Justifying Constitutional Rights, (Boston University Law Review, Vol. 91, p. 1311, 2011).
• Ruth Sarah Lee, Locking in Wedlock: Reconceptualizing Marriage Under a Property Model, (Faulkner Law Review, Forthcoming).

From SmartCILP:

• Katayoun Alidadi, Opening Doors to Muslim Minorities In the Workplace? From India's Employment Quota to EU and Belgian Anti-Discrimination Legislation, 23 Pace International Law Review 146-214 (2011).
• John Laws, Lord Justice of Appeal, England and Wales. Religion and Law, 62 South Carolina Law Review 471-484 (2011).
• Steph Sterling and Jessica L. Waters, Beyond Religious Refusals: The Case for Protecting Health Care Workers' Provision of Abortion Care, 34 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 463-502 (2011).
• Karin Carmit Yefet. The Constitution and Female-Initiated Divorce in Pakistan: Western Liberalism in Islamic Garb, 34 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 553-615 (2011).
• Symposium. Liberalism, Constitutionalism, and Christianity: Perspectives on the Influence of Christianity on Classical Liberal Legal Thought. Introduction by Kevin Lee; articles by John M. Breen, Bruce P. Frohnen, Barry Alan Shain, Michael Scaperlanda, John D. Inazu, C. Scott Pryor, Donald R. McConnell, Anthony V. Baker and Robert F. Cochran, Jr. 33 Campbell Law Review 501-694 (2011).

At Least 23 Killed In Protests Against Burning of Coptic Church In Egypt

CNN  reports that at least 23 people were killed today in Cairo, Egypt in clashes between the army and demonstrators protesting the Sept. 30 burning of a Coptic Christian church in a small village in Aswan. Daily News Egypt last week had more background on the burning of the church that Christians were renovating in the village of Marinab. A group of Muslims claimed that the renovations were illegal, saying that a license was issued only for a service center owned by a Copt. The New York Times says that today's protests turned into a broader call by many of the demonstrators for the resignation of the military’s top officer, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

Two Amish Men Under Arrest For Attacks on Other Amish

Fox News reports today that in Steubenville, Ohio, two Amish men remain under arrest on burglary and kidnapping charges, while a third was released because he had been mistaken for his brother.  According to an AP report last week, the men under arrest are part of a dissident Amish group, mostly related, who live in the Ohio town of Bergholz. They are charged with breaking into the homes of other Amish in Carroll, Holmes, Jefferson and Trumbull counties, cutting off their beards or hair-- something which is considered degrading to the victims. Police say the attacks are in retaliation for the ostracizing of bishop Sam Mullet, leader of the Bergholz clan, over allegations of sexual abuse after a disputed 2007 police raid. The two men in custody are Mullet's sons.

Town's Mayor Has Strong Words For Group Seeking Removal of Cross

In a press release issued last week, the Freedom from Religion Foundation said it would have little choice but to sue if the town of Whiteville, Tennessee does not remove a Christian cross which a private group erected 8 years ago atop the town's water tower. Fox News reported Friday that the town council has voted to consult with Alliance Defense Fund about its legal options. Whiteville's mayor, James Bellar, had strong words for FFRF, calling them "terrorists":

A terrorist is more than a guy that flies the planes into the building. It’s anyone who can disrupt your way of living, destroy your lifestyle, cause you anxiety. It’s more than killing people. If they can disrupt your routine in life, that’s what they want to do. They are terrorists as far as I’m concerned.

New Egyptian Election Rules Ban Religious Slogans

Reuters reports that yesterday Egypt's ruling military council announced new election rules for the parliamentary elections which begin on Nov. 28.  Among the provisions in the decree are ones that strengthen the notion that Egypt is a civil state.  The decree provides: "Electoral campaigns based on the use of religious slogans or on racial or gender segregation are banned."  This may require the Islamic Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party to refrain from using its slogan "Islam is the solution" in the campaign.

UPDATE: Bikya Masr has more on the new election rules.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Muhammad v. County of Marin, 2011 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 7475 (Cal. App., Sept. 29, 2011), a California state appeals court dismissed an inmate's claim that his rights under RLUIPA were violated by a probation report that stated he "converted to the Islamic religion" while previously in prison and had manipulated Islamic religious tenets "into supporting his self involved belief system."

In Murphy v. Lockhart, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113190 (ED MI, Sept. 30, 2011), a Michigan federal district court adopted in part a magistrate's recommendations (2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115758, Jan. 31, 2011) and rejected an inmate's claim that his free exercise and RLUIPA rights were violated when prison officials refused to deliver a copy of Codex Magica that had been mailed to him because it contains information on how to write letters in code.

In Knight v. Yarborough, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113599 (CD CA, Sept. 30, 2011), a California federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113710, Aug. 22, 2011) and dismissed as moot an inmate's claim that he was prevented from wearing his hair in dreadlocks for religious reasons. The state's grooming policy has since been changed and also plaintiff has been transferred to a different prison.

In Pelzer v. McCall, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113870 (D SC, Sept. 30, 2011), a South Carolina federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations that among other things rejected an inmate's claim that newsletters provided by the prison chaplain's office violated the Establishment Clause.  UPDATE: The magistrate's recommendations are at 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117407, June 29, 2011.

In Cooper v. Evans, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114891 (SD IL, Oct. 5, 2011), an Illinois federal district court rejected a Buddhist inmate's claim regarding "scarring" of his ovo-lacto food tray by including Jello. However he was permitted to move ahead on several claims involving access to a religious diet and use of the prison chapel.

In Halloum v. Ryan, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114713 (D AZ, Oct. 4, 2011), plaintiff claimed his rights were violated by various limitations on his ability to practice his Muslim religion. An Arizona federal district court dismissed a number of claims, but permitted plaintiff to move ahead on claims of denial of a religious shaving waiver, refusal to distribute a copy of the Qur'an and denial of communal prayer.

In Atkins v. Christiansen, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110394 (WD MI, Sept. 28, 2011), a Michigan federal district court modified a magistrate's recommendations (2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115040, June 6, 2011) and dismissed an inmate's claims that his free exercise and RLUIPA rights were violated when he was designated as a member of a Security Threat Group because of his membership in the Nation of Islam. Prison officials said the designation came from the inmate's affiliation with a subversive group known as the "Family."

Pastor Says Christians Should Not Vote For Romney Because He Is Not A Christian

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the 10,000 member First Baptist Church of Dallas (TX), has created a controversy by suggesting that Christians should not vote for Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon.  According to CNN, Jeffress who introduced candidate Rick Perry at the Value Voters Conference in Washington on Saturday later told a CNN correspondent:

I think Mitt Romney's a good, moral man, but I think those of us who are born-again followers of Christ should always prefer a competent Christian to a competent non-Christian like Mitt Romney. So that's why I'm enthusiastic about Rick Perry.

Jeffress also said that the Southern Baptist Convention considers Mormonism a "cult."  But, he said, there are many other reasons also not to vote for Romney.  Rick Perry later told reporters he did not think Mormonism is a cult.

Suit Challenges Austin, Texas Disclosure Requirement For Pregnancy Center

A lawsuit was filed yesterday in federal district court in Texas on behalf of Austin LifeCare, Inc., a Christian pregnancy counseling center seeking to have an Austin (TX) ordinance requiring disclosures by limited-service pregnancy centers declared unconstitutional. The complaint (full text) in Austin LifeCare, Inc. v. City of Austin, (WD TX, filed 10/6/2011), claims that Austin City Code Chap. 10-9 violates LifeCare’s freedom of speech, assembly and association,and  religion, and denies it equal protection of the laws. The Ordinance provides:

The Owner or Operator of a Limited Service Pregnancy Center shall prominently display, at the entrance of the Center, two black and white signs, one in English and one in Spanish, that state as follows: "This center does not provide abortions or refer to abortion providers. This center does not provide or refer to providers of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved birth control drugs and medical devices."

LifeCare claims, among other contentions, that the ordinance unconstitutionally compels speech and substantially burdens its ability to serve women in accordance with its sincerely-held religious beliefs. Jubilee Campaign issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit and furnishing additional background.

Muslim Student Sues Southwest Airlines For Discrimination In Removing Her From Flight

A Muslim-American graduate student at San Jose State University filed a religious discrimination lawsuit yesterday in California federal district court against Southwest Airlines.  The suit grows out of the airline's removal last March of psychology student Irum Abbasi from a flight bound for San Diego because a flight attendant though she heard Abbasi say "it's a go" on her cell phone.  In fact, Abbasi said "I have to go," because the plane was about to depart. AP reports that Abbasi was searched and cleared for reboarding, but was prevented from doing so when the crew was uncomfortable with that decision. Instead she was given a voucher and boarding pass for the next San Jose flight. The delay caused her to miss a critical research experiment that she needed to complete for her graduate studies. The lawsuit contends that Abbasi was removed under these circumstances only because she was wearing an Islamic head covering.