Confrontation Looming Between Mexican Authorities and Religious Cult

AP reported yesterday on an impending violent confrontation in Mexico between government authorities and a religious sect that is refusing to permit government schools to operate in their walled community.  The sect, founded in 1973 by a renegade Catholic priest who objected to the Church's ending of Latin masses and other modernizations, lives in its own walled compound called New Jerusalem-- located in the Mexican state of Michoacan.  The sect prohibits formal schooling, television, radio, telephones, modern music and modern dress. It has demanded the right to appoint its own teachers, set its own curriculum and require robes and headscarves for female pupils. Last month, sect followers destroyed three government school buildings in the community, burning desks and computers. On Monday, they engaged in fistfights with parents who wanted their children to attend school in makeshift classrooms that had been set up.  The sect members also drove off about a dozen government-paid teachers. The township where the New Jerusalem compound is located, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission and the Roman Catholic Church all want the government to break the compound's blockade.

WCC Schedules Hearings On Misuse of Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws Against Religious Minorities

The World Council of Churches announced yesterday that it plans to hold a public hearing in Geneva, Switzerland on the deteriorating human rights problems of religious minorities in Pakistan, including misuse of Pakistan's blasphemy laws against them.  The hearing is scheduled for Sept. 17-19 in conjunction with the 21st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.  Reuters also reports on the planned hearings.

Legality of Ritual Circumcision In Germany Remains Problematic

In Germany, the questions surrounding religious circumcision of young boys by Jewish and Muslim families have become even more complex in recent days.  The New York Times reported yesterday that German officials have been meeting in Germany with Israel's chief Ashkenazi rabbi  Yona Metzger since Monday seeking a way to provide legal protection for religious circumcisions in the wake of a trial court ruling in June by a court in Cologne that held it illegal for parents to decide to circumcise boys who are too young to give their own legal consent. (See prior posting.) Rabbi Metzger said he is confident that a solution will be found, but rejected compromises such as requiring that the procedure be performed by a doctor (with a mohel merely in attendance) or requiring use of anesthesia. Meanwhile in the city of Hof in the state of Bavaria, a local doctor filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors against a local rabbi, David Goldberg, who performs ritual circumcisions.  The complaint cited the Cologne court ruling.  It is unclear whether prosecutors are moving ahead with the case.

UPDATE: The Forward (8/31) reports that a complaint against a second rabbi filed with the prosecutors office in Berlin was dropped on Aug. 15 as unfounded. The complaint was filed against Rabbi Yitshak Ehrenberg after he defended circumcision on a television talk show. The prosecutor's office said: "Even if a non-medical circumcision were to take place it would not meet the elements of severe bodily harm."

Massachusetts High Court: Polygamy Statute Applies To Marriage After Undissolved Civil Union

In Elia-Warnken v. Elia, (MA Sup. Jud. Ct., July 26, 2012), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that Massachusetts will recognize a Vermont same-sex civil union as equivalent to a marriage in Massachusetts. It went on to hold that the result of this is the application of Massachusetts' polygamy statute to a partner in a same-sex civil union who subsequently enters a same-sex marriage in Massachusetts without first obtaining dissolution of the civil union. The Massachusetts marriage would thus be void.  While the polygamy statute applies to a person entering a marriage while the person has a "husband" or "wife," the court held that these terms include any legal spousal relationship. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]

Report On Religious Hostility In U.S. Released By Groups To Coincide With Republican Platform Meetings

On Monday, the Family Research Council and Liberty Institute issued a press release announcing the release of an updated edition of The Survey of Religious Hostility In America.  The report-- released in Tampa, Florida to coincide with the Republican National Convention's platform committee meetings there --summarizes over 600 legal cases and threats of litigation.  They involve prayers and displays in the public arena; religious expression in public schools; and litigation of various sorts (zoning, equal access, church autonomy) involving churches and ministries.  A separate website devoted to the report and related material has been set up: www.religioushostility.org.  The Introduction to the report, captioned "An Open Letter To the American People," says that "attacks against people of faith ... are permeating our nation"  and takes the Obama administration to task for referring to "freedom of worship" instead of "freedom of religion."

Australian Group Recommends Law Reform On Non-Therapeutic Male Circumcision

In the Australian state of Tasmania, the Tasmania Law Reform Institute has recently released a 101-page report on Non-Therapeutic Male Circumcision. The report was prepared in response to a request from Tasmania's former Commissioner for Children (who opposed performing non-therapeutic procedures on minors) for clarification of the law on circumcision of male children and recommendations for law reform.  The Institute has come forward with 14 recommendations including:

• A general ban on circumcision of incapable minors, but with exceptions for "well-established religious or ethnicity motivated circumcision."
• A requirement of joint parental authorization for a minor to be circumcised, with judicial determination in cases of parental disagreement.
• Minimum standards and required disclosures for circumcisers.
• Enactment of a new Circumcision Act that allows suits by individuals harmed by circumcision to be brought after a person reaches the age of majority.

ABC News reports on developments.

Obama, Romney Interviewed On Religious Faith In America

Washington D.C.'s National Cathedral yesterday released the August issue of its magazine Cathedral Age which contains an interview with President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney on religious faith in America.  The full interviews may be downloaded after registering at the Cathedral's website.  Among the more interesting exchanges was the following:

Some people have questioned the sincerity of your faith and your Christianity. How do you respond to those questions?

President Obama: I spoke about this a bit at the National Prayer Breakfast last year. You know, there’s not much I can do about it. I have a job to do as president, and that does not involve convincing folks that my faith in Jesus is legitimate and real. I do my best to live out my faith, and to stay in the Word, and to make my life look more like His. I’m not perfect. What I can do is just keep on following Him, and serve others—trying to make folks’ lives a little better using this humbling position that I hold.

Governor Romney: I am often asked about my faith and my beliefs about Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Every religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These should not be bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance. Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.

In response to another question, Gov. Romney said: "In recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. The Founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square...."

NYPD Testimony Says Spying On Muslims Generated No Terrorism Leads

AP reports that a deposition of a New York assistant police chief unsealed yesterday reveals that the surveillance of Muslim neighborhoods carried out for over 6 years by the NYPD's secret Demographics Unit (now known as the Zone Assessment Unit) has never generated a lead or triggered a terrorism investigation. According to AP:

The Demographics Unit is at the heart of a police spying program, built with help from the CIA, which assembled databases on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed. Police infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques, monitored sermons and catalogued every Muslim in New York who adopted new, Americanized surnames.

The deposition was given last June in litigation raising the question of whether the New York Police Department's current surveillance program violates a long-standing consent decree that led to the so-called Handschu Guidelines for investigations involving political activity. Those Guidelines were last modified in 2003. (Background). (See prior related posting.)

Scattering of Bacon Before Muslim Ceremony Being Investigated As Hate Crime

SI Live reported yesterday that police in Staten Island, New York are investigating as a hate crime the scattering of pieces of bacon at a park Sunday prior to 1,500 Muslims attending a ceremony there to mark the end of Ramadan. A number of elected Staten Island officials spoke out against the bias displayed by the incident.

No Vatican Respondeat Superior Liability For Abusive Priest

The Oregonian and  AP report that an Oregon federal district court yesterday, in a ruling from the bench, dismissed respondeat superior claims against the Vatican in a sexual abuse case brought against a priest who allegedly was moved to Portland despite knowledge of a history of sexual abuse.  In Doe v. Holy See, which was on remand from the 9th Circuit (see prior posting), district judge Michael Mosman concluded that plaintiff had not shown that there was an "employment relationship" between now-deceased priest, Rev. Andrew Ronan and the Vatican.  An employment relationship is a necessary prerequisite to respondeat superior liability. The abuse victim's suit however continues against Ronan's religious order, and his attorneys say they will appeal yesterday's ruling regarding the Vatican.

Conservative Christian Scholar Says Seminaries Discriminated Against Him Because of His Beliefs

Religion News Service reported yesterday on an EEOC complaint that was filed last month by Rev. Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, an African-American expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, who says that he was fired by an Atlanta consortium of Black seminaries because of his conservative Christian views. Hopkins charges that Interdenominational Theological Center administrators intimidated him, gave him poor evaluations and changed student grades he had assigned before they ultimately refused to renew his contract.  Hopkins says his problems began after he organized a meeting of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship where attendees were offered a book that declared homosexuality a sin. ITC's president has said that the Center's actions had nothing to do with academic freedom.

White House Greetings Issued For Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, was celebrated by Muslims this past Sunday.  Last Saturday President Obama issued a statement (full text) extending warm wishes from himself and Michelle to Muslim communities in the U.S. and around the world as they celebrated the Eid.  He said in part: "In the United States, Eid-al-Fitr speaks to the truth that communities of faith -- including Muslim Americans -- enrich our national life, strengthen our democracy and uphold our freedoms, including the freedom of religion."

Lack of Court and NY AG's Approval Invalidates Church's Property Transfer

In Lord-N-Fields Voice of Freedom Bible Church Community Workers Intl., Inc. v Kwan, (Sup. Ct. Suffolk County NY, Aug. 2, 2012), a New York state trial court voided the transfer of a 5.5 acre parcel of land that plaintiff church had made to a private corporation ostensibly to facilitate financing for a  senior citizens' housing project the church wished to construct on the land.  The suit alleged that the corporation then transferred the land to its majority stockholder who, along with two associates, proceeded to mortgage the properties and take the proceeds for their own benefit.  The court held that because the initial transfer of the property from the church was not approved by the court with the consent of the attorney general as required by NY Religious Corporation Law Sec. 12(1), that transfer was void.  So then were subsequent transfers and mortgages stemming from it.

Pakistan's President Calls For Report On Arrest of Illiterate Christian Girl For Blasphemy

BBC News, CNN and AFP report that in Pakistan last Thursday, police reluctantly arrested a Christian girl for desecrating pages of the Qur'an and took her parents into protective custody after 150 demonstrators demanded action and threatened to burn down Christian homes. More than 600 people temporarily fled the Christian neighborhood in the Mehrabad slum near Islamabad in response to the  mob threats. The girl, identified as Rimsha, was remanded into 14-days custody. Police say the girl is in her teens, but a spokesman for the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance says she is 11 to 12 years old and has Down's syndrome.  Pakistan's Minister for National Harmony said that the girl probably did not purposefully desecrate the holy book. Police say the girl, who is illiterate and has never attended school, was gathering paper as fuel for cooking and unknown to her some of the papers she burned were pages of the Qur'an. Pakistan's blasphemy laws provide up to life in prison for desecrating the Qur'an. Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari called for the interior ministry to submit an urgent report on the incident, and said that vulnerable parts of society must be protected from misuse of the blasphemy laws. A presidential spokesman said that no one will be allowed to misuse blasphemy laws to settle personal scores.

At Muslim Ceremony, Illinois Governor Signs Bill Giving College Students Religious Attendance Accommodation

Yesterday, at a ceremony marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed SB 2949, the University Religious Observances Act. The Chicago Tribune reports that Quinn participated with Muslim worshipers in the Salaat al-Eid ceremony held in suburban Chicago's Toyota Field.  Some 15,000 people attended the event that was organized by a local mosque. Quinn also used the occasion to decry recent attacks against Muslims in Illinois. The law signed by Quinn provides that public and secular private colleges must give a student an excused absence and an opportunity to make up missed work or exams if the student was unable to attend class, take an exam or complete a work requirement on a particular day because of the student's religious beliefs.  The student, however, must give the affected faculty member advance notice of the absence, and the college need not provide for making up the exam, study or work assignment if it would create an unreasonable burden for the institution.

Pool Reporters Accompany Romney To Church For First Time

Yesterday for the first time a small group of pool reporters were permitted to accompany presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney to church services at a Mormon church in Wolfboro, New Hampshire. Mormon churches, such as the one Romney attended yesterday, are open to non-Mormon visitors; however attendance at any of the 100 Mormon temples around the world is restricted to baptized Mormons who are qualified and prepared. The New York Times reporting on yesterday's service said that Romney's campaign strategists have decided that his religious devotion and his church leadership will appeal to voters. Another account of the Romney's in church yesterday comes from Buzzfeed's pool reporter who is herself a Mormon.

New Air Force Document Promotes Free Exercise and Government Religious Neutrality

Earlier this month, the U.S. Air Force released a  new Directive on "Air Force Culture," Air Force Policy Directive 1, (Aug. 7, 2012). This brief Policy Directive was implemented by a much longer document, Air Force Instruction 1-1, (Aug. 7, 2012).  God and Country blog describes the new documents as a "parting gift to the Air Force" from newly-retired General Norton Schwartz. The documents consolidate and revise a number of other regulations, but add new content as well.  The Instruction has several sections that relate to the Air Force's attitude toward religion and religious beliefs of Air Force personnel:

1.7.4.1. Chaplain.  The Chaplain Corps provides spiritual care and the opportunity for Air Force members and their families to exercise their constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.  This is accomplished through religious observances, pastoral care, and confidential counseling, and advising leadership on spiritual, ethical, moral, morale, core values, and religious accommodation issues....

1.7.4.4. Equal Opportunity (EO). The purpose of the EO program is to enhance unit cohesion, mission readiness, and mission accomplishment by ensuring equal treatment and employment opportunity for all members. The Air Force has a zero-tolerance policy towards unlawful discrimination of any kind, including sexual harassment.... Air Force members must not unlawfully discriminate against, harass, intimidate, or threaten another person on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, reprisal, or genetic information.....

2.11. Government Neutrality Regarding Religion. Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for an individual’s free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion.  For example, they must avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion.  Commanders or supervisors who engage in such behavior may cause members to doubt their impartiality and objectivity.  The potential result is a degradation of the unit’s morale, good order, and discipline.  Airmen, especially commanders and supervisors, must ensure that in exercising their right of religious free expression, they do not degrade morale, good order, and discipline in the Air Force or degrade the trust and confidence that the public has in the United States Air Force.

2.12. Free Exercise of Religion and Religious Accommodation. Supporting the right of free exercise of religion relates directly to the Air Force core values and the ability to maintain an effective team.

2.12.1. All Airmen are able to choose to practice their particular religion, or subscribe to no religious belief at all.  You should confidently practice your own beliefs while respecting others whose viewpoints differ from your own.

2.12.2. Your right to practice your religious beliefs does not excuse you from complying with directives, instructions, and lawful orders; however, you may request religious accommodation.  Requests can be  denied based on military necessity.  Commanders and supervisors at all levels are expected to ensure that requests for religious accommodation are dealt with fairly....

3.3.1. Tattoos/Brands/Body Markings.  Members may not have or obtain tattoos, brands, or other markings anywhere on the body that are: obscene; commonly associated with gangs, extremist, and/or supremacist organizations; or that advocate sexual, racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination....

(See prior related posting.)

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Steven Aiello, Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi and Ella Ran, Religion and Politics, (Women in International Security Israel Middle East Review, Vol. 2, No. 5, August 2012).
• Natalie Schoon and Julinda Nuri, Comparative Financial Systems in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The Case of Interest, (June 1, 2012).
• M. Mohsin Alam Bhat, ‘Religion’ Versus ‘Rights’: Why We are Wrong about ‘Defamation of Religions’,(September 15, 2011).
• Lorenzo Zucca, What is the Place of Sharia Law in European Legal Systems?, (Lorenzo Zucca, A Secular Europe. Law and Religion in the European Constitutional Landscape, Oxford: OUP, 2012).
• Steven G. Calabresi and Abe Salander, Religion and the Equal Protection Clause, (Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 12-19, Aug. 14, 2012).
• Rene Provost and Colleen Sheppard, Dialogues on Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, (René Provost & Colleen Sheppard eds, Dialogues on Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, Springer, 2012).

From SmartCILP:

• Winfried Brugger, Separation, Equality, Nearness: Three Church-State Models, [Abstract], 25 International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 263-281 (2012).
• Kristina Benson, Shar'ia Law and the Accommodation of Difference: Explaining the Emergence and Continued Importance of British Shar'ia Councils, [Abstract], 11 UCLA Journal of Islamic & Near Eastern Law 21-35 (2011-2012).

Civil Suit Filed Against Christian Organizations In Bid To Reverse Kidnapping After Civil Union Dissolution

As previously reported, last Tuesday a federal court jury in Burlington, Vermont, found a Beachy Amish-Mennonite pastor guilty of abetting a parental kidnapping by Lisa Miller, who had been in a Vermont civil union with another woman. Miller (who declared herself a born-again Christian) sought to avoid the court-ordered child visitation rights awarded to her former partner Janet Jenkins by fleeing, ultimately to Nicaragua, where she has obtained shelter from Christian missionaries. On the same day the conviction was announced, Janet Jenkins filed a civil suit in federal district court in Vermont seeking damages and an injunction ordering return of the kidnapped child to the United States.  The suit was filed against Lisa Miller and against a number of Christian organizations and their personnel, all of whom were alleged to have been involved in some way in assisting Lisa Miller.  The complaint (full text) in Jenkins v. Miller, (D VT, filed 8/14/2012), included as defendants the convicted pastor, Christian Aid Ministries, Response Unlimited Inc., Liberty University Law School, and Thomas Road Baptist Church (whose pastor is the son of the late Jerry Falwell).  It alleges as to various defendants violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, kidnapping, conspiracy to violate civil rights, and a claim under 42 USC 1986 for neglecting to prevent civil rights violations by others. According to last week's Lynchburg (VA) News & Advance, Liberty University law school dean Mathew Staver says the suit is "completely outrageous, and filled with lies and misrepresentations." [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In McKinley v. Maddox, (10th Cir., Aug. 14, 2012), the 10th Circuit reversed the district court and remanded for further proceedings an inmate's complaint that he was denied the right to attend off-site church services for a month, with no services being offered at his correctional facility.

In Sorenson v. Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107912 (D MN, Aug. 2, 2012), a Minnesota federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112495, June 20, 2012) and rejected free exercise, RLUIPA and 14th amendment claims by plaintiff who complained that while he was serving a state prison sentence he was not allowed to attend his father's funeral.

In Albaiaty v. Pocwierz, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113509 (D NE, Aug. 13, 2012), a Nebraska federal district court dismissed, with leave to amend, an inmate's complaint that prison authorities would not allow him to have an English copy of the Qur'an brought to him by his family in addition to, or in exchange for, an Arabic language version he currently has.  He claimed that inmates are allowed to have several copies of the Christian Bible, but only one of the Qur'an.

In Paladino v. Newsome, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113748 (D NJ, July 31, 2012), a New Jersey federal district court rejected an inmate's claim that his free exercise rights were infringed when he was denied the opportunity to attend religious services while in administrative segregation.

In Patterson v. West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112686 (D WV, Aug. 10, 2012), a West Virginia federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112801, July 3, 2012) and dismissed generalized religious discrimination claims by an inmate, apparently involving access to Muslim or kosher meals coordinated with Ramadan fasting, access to a Qur'an and a Muslim spiritual leader.

In Streater v. Thaler, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113448 (ED TX, Aug. 13, 2012), a Texas federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113612, July 1, 2012) and dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies the portion of an inmate's retaliation complaint that alleged he was placed in lock down for four days without privileges, and was denied the right to attend Ramadan services.

In Carter v. Unnamed Wallens Ridge State Prison Employees, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116060 (WD VA, Aug. 16, 2012), a Virginia federal district court dismissed as moot an inmate's complaint that he had been prevented from participating in the Ramadan celebration. The court refused to continue the action so plaintiff could exhaust his administrative remedies on complaints about the quality of food during Ramadan.

In Gray v. Arpaio, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115498 (D AZ, Aug. 16, 2012), an Arizona federal district court dismissed a Muslim inmate's complaint regarding denial of a religious diet.