4 More Indicted In Amish Beard Cutting Assaults

As previously reported, last December a federal grand jury in Ohio returned a 7-count indictment charging 10 Amish men and two Amish women in five separate assaults on members of a rival Amish group. The assaults involved forcibly cutting the beards of the victims. A Department of Justice press release on Wednesday reports that a superseding indictment has now been handed down. The new indictment adds four women as defendants.

Cert Petition Filed In Ecclesiastical Abstention Dispute

In February, a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court (full text) was filed in Lutzer v. Duncan. The petition seeks review of an Illinois state appeals court decision, Duncan v. Peterson, which refused to apply the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine to a clergyman's false light invasion of privacy claim against the church that ordained him as a minister.  It defrocked him and circulated letters to board members of plaintiff's current congregation accusing him of marital infidelity, misusing church funds and abusing alcohol. [Thanks to Eric Rassbach for the lead.]

Former Prof Charges Religious Discrimination After Discipline For Refusing To Attend Show On Gay Rights

Courthouse News Service reports on a suit filed yesterday in a state trial court in Texas by a former theater and dance faculty member at Lamar University who was graded down in her annual review because she refused, for religious reasons, to attend a student-organized show billed as a celebration of homosexuality. The complaint (full text) in Ozmun v. Lamar University, (TX Dist. Ct., filed 3/29/2012), recounts that the student show was created after a one-man show about a performer's gay lifestyle was cancelled under community pressure. Subsequently the one-man show was brought to campus, and plaintiff again refused to attend and says she was disciplined for it. Plaintiff says this amounts to religious discrimination in violation of Texas law.

Former 10 Commandments Foe Is Now Write-In Candidate Against Roy Moore

As previously reported, in March Alabama's former Supreme Court chief justice Roy Moore won the March Republican primary to again become a candidate for his old job. According to AP, his Democratic opponent Harry Lyon has run ten previous campaigns for various county and state offices, and has never won.  This has led two attorneys to launch write-in campaigns to try to keep Moore from regaining office. One of those candidates is Melinda Lee Maddox. She was one of three lawyers who sued Moore over the 5,280 pound granite Ten Commandments monument he had installed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. (Background).

Groundbreaking Survey of Religion In Prisons Released

The Pew Research Center last week (March 22) released a ground-breaking report, Religion in Prisons-- A 50-State Survey of Prison Chaplains. The 108-page report covers the background and role of prison chaplains, and their views on the religious lives of inmates and of the correctional system. Here is an excerpt from the report's Executive Summary:

From the perspective of the nation’s professional prison chaplains, America’s state penitentiaries are a bustle of religious activity. More than seven-in-ten (73%) state prison chaplains say that efforts by inmates to proselytize or convert other inmates are either very common (31%) or somewhat common (43%). About three-quarters of the chaplains say that a lot (26%) or some (51%) religious switching occurs among inmates in the prisons where they work..... 

Overwhelmingly, state prison chaplains consider religious counseling and other religion-based programming an important aspect of rehabilitating prisoners.... 

At the same time, a sizable minority of chaplains say that religious extremism is either very common (12%) or somewhat common (29%) among inmates. Religious extremism is reported by the chaplains as especially common among Muslim inmates (including followers of the Nation of Islam and the Moorish Science Temple of America) and, to a substantial but lesser degree, among followers of pagan or earth-based religions such as Odinism and various forms of Wicca.... An overwhelming majority of chaplains, however, report that religious extremism seldom poses a threat to the security of the facility in which they work...

New Poll Surveys Public Attitudes On Mixing of Religion and Politics

The Pew Research Center last week released a new poll on public attitudes toward the mixing of religion and politics. The 19-page report (full text), released March 21, says:

A new survey finds signs of public uneasiness with the mixing of religion and politics. The number of people who say there has been too much religious talk by political leaders stands at an all-time high since the Pew Research Center began asking the question more than a decade ago. And most Americans continue to say that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of politics.

Nearly four-in-ten Americans (38%) now say there has been too much expression of religious faith and prayer from political leaders, while 30% say there has been too little.

Three New Commissioners Appointed To U.S. Commission On International Religious Freedom

Three new Commissioners have been appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom-- filling 3 of the 5 vacancies created by Congress' newly imposed term-limits on members. (See prior posting.)  Two of the new appointments, by Republican members of Congress, were announced in a March 26 press release. One is Princeton University Professor, Dr. Robert P. George (appointed by House Speaker John Boehner). George is also Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton. A 2009 New York Times Magazine article described George as "a Roman Catholic who is this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker."

The second Republican Congressional appointee is Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (appointed by Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell). Dr. Jasser testified last year at the controversial hearings on radicalization in the American Muslim community conducted by Congressman Peter King. (See prior posting.)

The third new appointee, announced in a press release yesterday, is Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, daughter of the late Congressman Tom Lantos and head of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights. She also teaches at Tufts University. She was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Swett ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for a congressional seat from New Hampshire in the 2010 elections.

Kentucky Legislature Passes Bill To Allow Amish Buggies To Use White Reflective Tape

The Kentucky legislature on Tuesday gave final passage to SB 75 (full text), a bill to give Amish horse-drawn buggies the alternative to use lanterns and white reflective tape instead of the orange triangle -- the standard slow-moving vehicle symbol-- to which Amish have religious objections. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 38-0 last month after Jacob Gingerich who is serving time in jail for refusing to display the orange emblem wrote each member of the legislature a handwritten plea to pass the law. (AP). (See prior related posting.) The House of Representatives approved the bill on Tuesday by a vote of 75-2, sending it on to Gov. Steve Beshear  for his signature. AP reports that Beshear has not indicated whether he intends to sign the bill. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]

Pope Asks Cuba To Make Good Friday A National Holiday

Reuters reports that Pope Benedict XVI winds up his visit to Cuba today with a public mass in Havana's Revolution Square and a meeting with Fidel Castro. In his meeting yesterday with Cuban President Raul Castro, the Pope asked that Cuba make Good Friday a national holiday. When Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998, Raul's brother Fidel reinstated Christmas as a national holiday.

Tennessee Legislature Passes Bill On Teaching of Evolution and Similar Topics

The Tennessee legislature this week gave final passage to HB 368, on the teaching of scientific subjects such as biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning that may cause debate and disputation. The bill encourages schools to help students "respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about scientific subjects required to be taught under the curriculum framework developed by the state board of education." It goes on to provide that "teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught within the curriculum framework developed by the state board of education." The bill cautions:

This section only protects the teaching of scientific information, and shall not be construed to promote any religious or non-religious doctrine, promote discrimination for or against a particular set of religious beliefs or non-beliefs, or promote discrimination for or against religion or non-religion.

Passed by a vote of 25-8 in the Senate and 72-23 in the House, the bill goes to Gov. Bill Haslam for his signature.  Yesterday's Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that the governor is under pressure from prominent scientists to veto the bill. They claim it will allow the introduction of creationism and intelligent design into science classrooms. The issue is particularly sensitive in Tennessee because it is the site of the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial.

The Inside Story On Religious Accommodation By Texas High School Basketball League

The Huffington Post on Monday carried a lengthy and interesting article detailing the legal and strategic decisions on both sides in the widely-publicized battle of a Houston, Texas Orthodox Jewish school to get officials to accommodate its Sabbath observance in a recent statewide basketball tournament. (See prior posting.) The battle pitted parents of students at the Beren Jewish Academy against the the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), a league originally comprised of a few dozen Christian schools.  As the league expanded to over 200 schools, it added Jewish and Seventh Day Adventist (but not Muslim) ones, but without dealing with the issue of religious accommodation:

By admitting to the league but not accommodating Saturday Sabbath observers, TAPPS could cling to some semblance of its Christian and non-ecumenical identity while seeming to obey the law and not discriminate against other religions. 

The legal moves began when a parent of a Beren basketball player phoned Washington, DC lawyer Nathan Lewin, perhaps the best known litigator on behalf of Jewish interests:

The stars seemed aligned for the supposed plaintiffs and their litigators. On the one side, an intransigent and unaccommodating association of religious schools; on the other side, a squad of kids with knitted yarmulkes longing for a chance to score hoops..... [However] the school wanted nothing to do with the suit or the effort. Beren's head of school Rabbi Sinoff verbalized the reluctance this way: "We do value success in the modern world. But not at the expense of who we are -- Shomer Shabbos (strict Sabbath observers)." Rabbi Sinoff added a phrase right out of Jewish history stating, "This is about asking nicely, not about demanding a right. No demand."

However, lawyers in a Dallas law firm, enlisted by Lewin, ultimately moved ahead and filed a request for a TRO. Within two hours, TAPPS backed down and agreed to reschedule the Beren games to accommodate their Sabbath observance. However the furor is creating problems for TAPPS. The Texas Catholic Conference, whose schools comprise nearly 20% of TAPPS is reconsidering its membership in the league, both because of the way the Beren issue was handled and because of the league's refusal to admit Muslim schools.

ACLU Says FBI Collection of Intelligence From Mosques Violated Privacy Act

In a release yesterday, the ACLU said that documents it uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit show that the FBI, thorough its San Francisco "Mosque Outreach" program, collected and stored Muslim religious leaders' and their congregants' identities, personal information and religious views and practices. The ACLU says that this violated the federal Privacy Act of 1974 that limits the ability of the government to collect and retain information about individuals' First Amendment activities. (Background ACLU memo).

Federal Tax Claim Should Not Be Heard By Ecclesiastical Court

In United States v. Augustine, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40792 (D MN, March 26, 2012), a Minnesota federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendation (2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40769, March 2, 2012) and denied taxpayer defendants' motion to remove the case to the "Ecclesiastical Court of Justice."  The court reasoned:

Here ... the Court is not presented with disputes over church polity or church administration. Instead, this case is a suit brought by the United States to obtain payment of taxes from the Augustines. This determination in no way involves any question of church doctrine or hierarchy. Therefore, the First Amendment does not require that the United States' claims against the Augustines be heard in an ecclesiastical court.

Trial Court Strikes Down Oklahoma School Voucher Program

An Oklahoma state trial court judge yesterday, in a ruling from the bench, struck down Oklahoma's school voucher program for special needs students, finding that the program violates the state Constitution's ban on use of public funds to benefit any sectarian institution. (Constitution, Art. II-5). 38 of the 40 schools eligible to enroll students under the program are Christian schools. Public school officials have strongy opposed the program, seeing it as the first step toward a broader voucher program.  AP and the Broken Arrow Ledger both report on the decision. The decision is likely to be appealed directly to the Oklahoma Supreme Court under a provision that allows cases of statewide importance to go that route. (See prior related posting.)

Cert. Filed In 3 Church Property Cases

Anglican Curmudgeon reported last week that petitions for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court have been filed this month in three cases involving property disputes between parent churches and break-away congregations. At issue in each of the cases is a holding that under the neutral principles of law doctrine, the break-away church's property was held in trust for the parent church.  Two of the decisions came from the Georgia Supreme Court (see prior posting)--  Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Christ Church in Savannah v. Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, Inc. (full text of cert. petition) and Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Inc. v. Timberridge Presbyterian Church, Inc. (full text of cert. petition).

The third case is Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Connecticut v. Gauss. In the case, the Connecticut Supreme Court in an Oct. 11, 2011 opinion (full text) held that the Dennis Canon applies in the case to establish an express trust of church property in favor of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Connecticut. The petition for certiorari (full text) was coordinated with the Christ Church petition. All of the cases raise the same question, framed in the Episcopal Church cases as follows:

Whether a trust allegedly imposed on local church property by provisions in denominational documents must be treated as legally cognizable under the “neutral principles” doctrine of Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595 (1979), and the First Amendment, even where such provisions do not satisfy generally applicable rules of state property and trust law.

Tunisia's Constitution Will Not Enshrine Shariah

Despite pressure from harder-line Islamist parties to enshrine Shariah law into Tunisia's new Constitution (see prior posting), the moderate Islamist Ennahda party has announced that the first article of the new constitution will remain the same as that in the current constitution:

Tunisia is a free, sovereign and independent state, whose religion is Islam, language is Arabic and has a republican regime.

The Ennahda party holds 40% of the seats in the new Constituent Assembly, and has forged an agreement with secular parties to reject demands for this kind of constitutional change. According to AP, the founder of the Ennahda Party said at a press conference:

We do not want Tunisian society to be divided into two ideologically opposed camps, one pro-Shariah and one anti-Shariah. We want above all a constitution that is for all Tunisians, whatever their convictions."

Suit Challenging Mormon Influence on Utah's Liquor Policy Dismissed With Leave To Amend

As previously reported, Utah's hospitality trade group has sued to challenge a new law that eliminates discount pricing of alcoholic beverages offered by social clubs and ties the number of liquor licenses to population and number of police officers. Part of the suit questions the influence of the Mormon Church on the state's alcohol policy.  The Salt Lake Tribune reports that in a ruling from the bench yesterday, the court dismissed the lawsuit, giving plaintiffs 20 days to file an amended complaint describing specific harm to restaurant and bar owners from the new law. It also reports:

In another aspect of the lawsuit, [Judge Bruce] Jenkins brushed aside claims by the association that officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had unduly influenced state lawmakers in passing restrictive liquor laws, saying Mormons have a right to consult with legislators....

In his ruling from the bench, Jenkins said that "since territorial days in Utah, there has always been an interest in alcohol," noting that Mormon colonizer Brigham Young pushed for an inspector of spirits to ensure quality controls in the manufacture of alcohol.

Suit Challenges Pennsylvania's "Year of the Bible" Resolution

The Freedom From Religion Foundation announced yesterday that it had filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a resolution passed by the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives that declares 2012 to be "The Year of the Bible." (See prior posting.) The complaint (full text) in Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Saccone, (MD PA, filed 3/26/2012), alleges that the sponsor of the resolution intended it to recognize an integral relationship between church and state. The suit asks for a declaration that the resolution violates the Establishment Clause, an order barring further publication or public distribution of the resolution, and an order declaring that the theocratic principles of the Bible do not constitute the official, preferred, or endorsed religion of Pennsylvania. Yesterday's Washington Post reports on the decision.

Supreme Court Denies Cert. In Two Religion In School Cases

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Nampa Classical Academy v. Goesling, (Docket No.  11-786, cert. denied 3/26/2012). (Order List). In the case, the 9th Circuit upheld Idaho's decision to bar publicly funded charter schools from using religious texts in the classroom, even for teaching of secular subjects.  The 9th Circuit held that the First Amendment’s speech clause does not give charter school teachers, students, or parents a right to have such texts included as part of the school curriculum. (See prior posting.) KBOI2 reports on the Supreme Court's denial of review.

The Supreme Court also denied review in Johnson v. Poway Unified School District, (Docket No. 11-910, cert. denied 3/26/2012). (Order List). In the case, the 9th Circuit rejected claims by a high school calculus teacher that his California school district violated his free speech rights, as well as the Establishment Clause and Equal Protection clause, when it required him to remove large banners he had posted in his classroom that carried historic and patriotic slogans, all mentioning God or the Creator. (See prior posting.)

Supreme Court: Courts Have Jurisdiction Over Congress vs. State Department On Jerusalem Listing

The U.S. Supreme Court today, in Zivotofsky v. Clinton, (Sup. Ct., March 26, 2012), held that the political question doctrine does not prevent federal courts from ruling in a dispute between Congress and the State Department over which branch of government may control the content of passports.  At issue is the State Department's determination that the city of Jerusalem is still disputed territory, so that Americans born in Jerusalem are to have "Jerusalem", not "Israel", listed as their place of birth. In a 2003 statute, Congress mandated that those born in Jerusalem would now have the option of listing Israel as their place of birth.  The Executive Branch claims that this statute unconstitutionally interferes with the President's constitutional authority to conduct the country's foreign affairs.  Today's decision does not decide that dispute. It only holds that the lower courts may now tackle the question.  The D.C. Circuit had held that the court could not get to that issue because the political question doctrine deprived them of jurisdiction over it. However, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for 6 justices, said that all the court is being asked to do is to decide the constitutionality of the Congressional statute.

The case will likely be remembered primarily for its discussions of the nuances of the political question doctrine. In a concurring opinion, Justice Sotomayor had a different view of the meaning of the political question doctrine. Justice Breyer agreed with her general approach to the political question doctrine, but, in a dissent, disagreed as to its application to the facts of this case. Justice Alito also wrote a concurring opinion. The Washington Post reports on the decision. [Thanks to Joel Katz (Relig & State in Israel) for the lead.]