New Museum of the Bible Being Built In Washington, D.C.

A privately financed $400 million Museum of the Bible is being constructed in Washington, D.C. according to a report today from Haaretz. The Museum, which will be located three blocks from the U.S. Capitol in a historic warehouse that is being extensively renovated, is being built by Steve and Jackie Green, owners of Hobby Lobby stores.  It will house the 40,000 item collection of rare printed Bibles, manuscripts, Torahs and Dead Sea scroll fragments belonging to the Greens who are Southern Baptists. The Museum will feature permanent exhibits focusing on the impact, history and narrative of the Bible, as well as rotating displays. Scheduled to open in November 2017, the Museum plans to collaborate with Jewish organizations.

European Court Says Bulgaria's Treatment of Word of Life Member Violated Religious Freedom

In Dimitrova v. Bulgaria, (ECHR, Feb. 10, 2015), the European Court of Human Rights in a Chamber Judgment held that police action against a member of the Word of Life church violated her religious freedom rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. As recounted by the Court:

[A] complaint was submitted to the office of the Sofia City Public Prosecutor by the Directorate of Religious Denominations with the Council of Ministers, raising concerns about the activities of Word of Life in Bulgaria. ... [H]aving carried out an investigation, the prosecutor’s office adopted a decision stating that the “sect” had an influence on its followers which increased the risk of suicide and other psychological problems. Membership might lead to the severance of family and social ties with the wider community; followers were prohibited from watching television or reading literature other than the Bible or from undergoing any form of surgical intervention. In conclusion, the prosecutor decided to order the restriction of the right of members of the three organisations linked to Word of Life from assembling to promote their beliefs and from continuing to operate the Bible study centre....

[T]he applicant was summonsed to appear at the police station and ... a search of her flat was carried out, with a number of personal items seized, for the sole reason that she was known to be a member of the Word of Life community and had organised religious meetings at her home. Following the search, she was issued by the police with an order warning her not to host further meetings of Word of Life.... In these circumstances, since the police action was taken in direct response to the applicant’s manifestation of her religious belief and was intended to discourage her from worshipping and observing her religion further in community with others, the Court finds that it constituted a limitation on her freedom to manifest religion within the meaning of Article 9 § 2.

Law & Religion UK has more on the decision.

Federal District Court Orders Alabama County To Resume Issuing Marriage Licenses

In Alabama, marriage equality litigants have finally found the procedural key to obtaining an injunction to require Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis to open the marriage license division and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  On Feb. 10, plaintiffs amended their complaint in their case challenging Alabama's same-sex marriage laws to name Judge Davis as a defendant. Two days later in Strawser v. Strange, (SD AL, Feb. 12, 2015)-- the case that had already led to an injunction against the attorney general-- the court issued a preliminary injunction barring Judge Davis, and "all his officers, agents, servants and employees, and others in active concert or participation with any of them" from refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Meanwhile yesterday morning (before the district court issued its injunction against Judge Davis), Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore gave a lengthy interview (full transcript) to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, reiterating his view that Alabama courts are not bound by the district court decisions recognizing same-sex marriage.

Canadian Court Invalidates No-Veil Policy In Taking Citizenship Oath

According to yesterday's Regina Leader-Post, a Canadian Federal Court has struck down the Canadian government's policy of requiring women who wear a face veil for religious reasons to remove it when they take the oath of Canadian citizenship. In a suit brought by a Sunni Muslim woman who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan, the court held that the policy violates the government's own citizenship regulations.  Those regulations require "the greatest possible freedom in the religious solemnization" in taking the oath. (See prior related posting.)

Challengers Move Toward Success In Fraud Suit Against Conversion Therapy Provider

Plaintiffs in recent days have won two important state court victories in a New Jersey consumer fraud lawsuit against an organization that offers "conversion therapy" to gay men. In Ferguson v. JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives For Healing), (NJ Super. Ct. Feb. 5, 2015), the trial court ruled that expert testimony of five proposed witnesses, and part of the expert testimony of a sixth, should be excluded at trial.  The court said in part:

[T]he theory that homosexuality is a disorder is not novel but -- like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it -- instead is outdated and refuted. Homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in the DSM until its removal in 1973.... JONAH has not identified any case that provides a standard for the admission of obsolete and discredited scientific theories. By definition, such theories are unreliable and can offer no assistance to the jury, but rather present only confusion and prejudice.

A Southern Poverty Law Center press release has more details.

Plaintiffs' second win came in  Ferguson v. JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives For Healing), (NJ Super. Ct. Feb. 10, 2015).  The court granted partial summary judgment to plaintiffs, holding in part that:

it is a misrepresentation in violation of the CFA [Consumer Fraud Act], in advertising or selling conversion therapy services to describe homosexuality ... as being a mental illness, disease, disorder, or equivalent thereof....

The court also held that it is a CFA violation to advertise conversion therapy success statistics when there is no factual basis for calculating the statistics. As reported by The Advocate, a jury must still decide whether defendant made these kinds of misrepresentations. [See prior related posting.]

Russian Supreme Court Upholds Hijab Ban

According to World Bulletin, Russia's Supreme Court yesterday upheld the ban imposed by Russia's Mordovia region on the wearing of the hijab in schools. The appeal to Russia's top court was brought by the Muslim Tatar community in Mordovia.  The ban also applies to religious symbols, as well as to piercings, mini-skirts, jeans and bright-colored hair.

Former Prison Chaplain Pleads Guilty To Passing Messages From Imprisoned Hit Man

The Chicago Tribune reports that yesterday Roman Catholic priest and former prison chaplain Eugene Klein entered a guilty plea in an Illinois federal district court to charges of passing messages hidden in religious materials from an imprisoned mob hit man to a friend when the inmate was restricted in his contact with outsiders. The messages had to do with how to get a valuable violin out of a house that the federal government had seized. As part of his plea agreement, Klein reserved the right to appeal the trial court's refusal to dismiss the charges against him on constitutional grounds.

3rd Circuit Upholds ACA Contraceptive Coverage Accommodation For Religious Non-Profits

In Geneva College v. Secretary U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (3d Cir., Feb. 11, 2015), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Obama administration's accommodation under the Affordable Care Act for religious non-profits that object to furnishing contraceptive coverage. The court rejected claims by the non-profits that the accommodation imposes a substantial burden on their religious exercise in violation of RFRA.  The court said in part:

While the Supreme Court reinforced in Hobby Lobby that we should defer to the reasonableness of the appellees’ religious beliefs, this does not bar our objective evaluation of the nature of the claimed burden and the substantiality of that burden on the appellees’ religious exercise. This involves an assessment of how the regulatory measure actually works. Indeed, how else are we to decide whether the appellees’ religious exercise is substantially burdened? 

... [W]e cannot agree with the appellees’ characterization of the effect of submitting the form as triggering, facilitating, or making them complicit in the provision of contraceptive coverage. At oral argument, the appellees argued that it was not merely the filing of the form that imposed a burden, but, rather, what follows from it. But free exercise jurisprudence instructs that we are to examine the act the appellees must perform—not the effect of that act—to see if it burdens substantially the appellees’ religious exercise.

The court also rejected the argument that the regulations improperly partition the Catholic Church by preventing religious non-profits from claiming the total exemption available to the diocese with which they are affiliated. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on the decision.

UPDATE: On May 6, the mandate was stayed (full text of order) pending U.S. Supreme Court action in Zubik v. Burwell which raises similar issues. (See prior related posting.)

Former NYPD Officer Sues Claiming Anti-Semitic Harassment From Co-Workers

JNS.org reported yesterday on a federal lawsuit filed last month by a former New York City Police Department officer charging that he was forced out of his position by six years of anti-Semitic comments and harassment from fellow officers.  The 26-page complaint (full text) in Attali v. City of New York, (SD NY, filed 1/21/2015), says that the abuse became particularly bad after plaintiff was assigned to the World Trade Center command in 2011.  It alleges, among other incidents, that beginning in January 2013:

Plaintiff ATTALI's co-workers, repeatedly, and without provocation, vandalized Plaintiff's locker at the WTC Command by writing hateful and abusive language and messages consisting of swastikas, newspaper clippings of pork, ham, salami and bacon advertisements, the word "DIRTY JEW" carved into an orange sticker and the following letters cut out of various newspaper headlines: "HAIL HITLER."

Georgia School Sued Over Classroom Prayers

As reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, on Monday the Freedom From Religion Foundation and a non-religious family filed suit against the Emanuel County, Georgia school system challenging a school's use of prayers in kindergarten and first grade classrooms.  The complaint (full text) in Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Emanuel County School System, (SD GA, filed 2/9/2015), alleges that when parents complained about teachers' leading the classes in prayer, the teachers' response was to require objecting students to sit in the hallway while other students prayed.  The teachers also made comments in front of the class embarrassing to the objecting students, pressuring the first grader to pray with the rest of the class until her parents learned of the situation.  The suit seeks an injunction and damages for the school's violation of the Establishment Clause.

Kansas Governor Eliminates Anti-Discrimination Protection For LGBT State Employees

Yesterday Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback issued executive orders narrowing employment discrimination protections for state employees.  As reported by the Wichita Eagle and a press release from the governor's office, Brownback replaced former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' employment practices order with a new one.  The new executive order eliminates the former ban on state employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, while continuing to ban various other types of discrimination.  According to the Governor:

This Executive Order ensures that state employees enjoy the same civil rights as all Kansans without creating additional ‘protected classes’ as the previous order did, Any such expansion of ‘protected classes’ should be done by the legislature and not through unilateral action.

Former Israeli Chief Rabbi Indicted For Bribery

YNet News reported yesterday that Israel's former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yonna Metzger has been indicted for bribery, fraud and money laundering.  Israeli authorities charge that Metzger received bribes totalling 10M NIS ($826,000 US), of which he personally kept 70%.  The bribes came, among others, from wealthy businessmen seeking to convert to Judaism, and for other services he performed in his role as Chief Rabbi. Many of the bribes came in the form of donations to non-profit organizations tied to Metzger. (See prior related posting.)

India Supreme Court Upholds State Work Rule Barring Polygamy

In Khan v. State of U.P., (India Sup. Ct., Feb.9, 2015), a 2-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India upheld the constitutionality of a rule of the government of the state of Uttar Pradesh barring employees from having more than one wife.  The court held that while Muslim personal law may permit up to four wives, the rule does not violate the provision of Art. 25 of India's Constitution that protects the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. Quoting from an earlier decision, the Court said:

What is permitted or not prohibited by a religion does not become a religious practice or a positive tenet of a religion.... Assuming the practice of having more wives than one... is a practice followed by any community or group of people, the same can be regulated or prohibited by legislation in the interest of public order, morality and health or by any law providing for social welfare and reform which the impugned legislation clearly does.

The Economic Times reports on the decision.

Data On Europe's Falling Jewish Population Published

The Pew Research Center yesterday published data on the continuing decline of Europe's Jewish population:

In 1939, there were 16.6 million Jews worldwide, and a majority of them – 9.5 million, or 57% – lived in Europe... By the end of World War II, in 1945, the Jewish population of Europe had shrunk to 3.8 million, or 35% of the world’s 11 million Jews. About 6 million European Jews were killed during the Holocaust, according to common estimates.

Since then, the global Jewish population – estimated by Pew Research at 14 million as of 2010 – has risen, but it is still smaller than it was before the Holocaust. And in the decades since 1945, the Jewish population in Europe has continued to decline. In 1960, it was about 3.2 million; by 1991, it fell to 2 million.... Now, there are about 1.4 million Jews in Europe – just 10% of the world’s Jewish population, and 0.2% of Europe’s total population.

Interposition Ordered By Alabama Chief Justice On Same-Sex Marriage

Interposition-- a doctrine rarely seen since the early days of the civil rights movement-- seems to be close to reappearing in Alabama's response to federal court same-sex marriage decisions.  As previously reported, on Jan. 27 Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore sent a letter to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley urging defiance at least of lower federal court decisions validating same-sex marriage in the state.  With the U.S. Supreme Court's order earlier today refusing to stay a federal district court order in Strange v. Searcy invalidating the state's same-sex marriage ban, same-sex marriages began in some Alabama counties.  But as reported by the New York Times, at least 50 of Alabama's 67 county probate courts were not issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

The confusion stems in part from an Administrative Order issued yesterday by Alabama Chief Justice Moore providing in part:

To ensure the orderly administration of justice within the State of Alabama, to alleviate a situation adversely affecting the administration of justice within the State, and to harmonize the administration of justice between the Alabama judicial branch and the federal courts in Alabama:

Effective immediately, no Probate Judge of the State of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama Probate Judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license that is inconsistent with Article 1, Section 36.03, of the Alabama Constitution or § 30-1-19, Ala. Code 1975.

Should any Probate Judge of this state fail to follow the Constitution and statutes of Alabama as stated, it would be the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer of the State of Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley....

However, in response Gov. Bentley issued a statement saying in part:

This issue has created confusion with conflicting direction for Probate Judges in Alabama. Probate Judges have a unique responsibility in our state, and I support them. I will not take any action against Probate Judges, which would only serve to further complicate this issue.

 Earlier today, plaintiffs in the Searcy case filed a motion with an Alabama federal district court asking it to hold in contempt the Probate Court judge in Mobile County who, without explanation, has not opened the court's marriage license division today. [Thanks to Tom Rutledge for the lead on part of this post.]

UPDATE: In a Feb. 9 opinion (full text), the district court refused to hold the Probate Judge in contempt since the injunction did not directly order him to do anything.

Supreme Court Denies Stay Of Alabama Same-Sex Marriage Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court today in Strange v. Searcy refused to grant a stay of an Alabama federal district court order invalidating Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage, allowing same-sex marriages to begin in the state today. (See prior related posting.) Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Scalia, dissented from the denial of a stay, saying in part:

Today’s decision represents yet another example of this Court’s increasingly cavalier attitude toward the States. Over the past few months, the Court has repeatedly denied stays of lower court judgments enjoining the enforcement of state laws on questionable constitutional grounds.... It has similarly declined to grant certiorari to review such judgments without any regard for the people who approved those laws in popular referendums or elected the representatives who voted for them. In this case, the Court refuses even to grant a temporary stay when it will resolve the issue at hand in several months.

Reuters reports on the Court's action.

Free Exercise Challenge To Marijuana Seizure Rejected

In Jenkins v. Micks, (ND CA, Feb. 5, 2014), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed a civil rights action alleging that plaintiff's free exercise rights were infringed when Del Norte, California sheriff's officers seized marijuana allegedly authorized for medical use.  The court said:

Plaintiff provides a discussion of the use of cannabis by different cultures and religions, including the Native American Church. He states that he believes that for him, "Cannabis enhances the truth of the universe," that this plant is a "beneficial and life sustaining herb," and that "by consuming Cannabis [he] is communing with nature."... He also expresses his views regarding the regulation of Cannabis by governmental entities, and some of his political and religious beliefs. No where, however, does Plaintiff allege that he has a central religious belief or practice that is burdened by the criminalization of marijuana. The court finds, therefore, that Plaintiff has failed to state a free exercise of religion claim under the First Amendment. 

Bitter Legal Dispute Continues Over Colorado Land For Jewish Retreat Center

The Denver Post reported yesterday on a long-running and bitter legal dispute over 22 acres of desert land in Gardner, Colorado that Gary Lensky, an Orthodox Jew who is also versed in Eastern religions, is attempting to develop as a Jewish spiritual retreat center. In 1997, Lensky purchased a small home in the center of Gardner for $29,000.  He then discovered that adjacent structures used by the house's former owners were on property technically owned by an individual who had died decades ago.  Lensky paid the back taxes on 17 acres of the land, planning to build a religious retreat on it that he would call Camp D'ORvid at Casa D'el Arroyo.  Claiming under the doctrine of adverse possession, Lensky then proceeded to file a suit to quiet title not just on the 17 acres, but on 5 additional adjoining acres that other neighbors were using as well.  Initially the court granted his quiet title request, but reversed itself seven years later. Lensky has spent nearly $200,000 in legal fees to try to get title to the 22 acres that have an assessed value of $13,450.  There have also been physical confrontations, harassment and ethnic slurs, with Lensky charging anti-Semitism.  The neighbors say Lensky is trying to steal their land.  A non-binding mediation of the dispute is scheduled for March 20.

Catholic and Conservative Christian Groups Urge Congressional Disapproval of Two D.C. Ordinances

Under Title VI of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, Congress may disapprove laws enacted by the D.C. City Council.  Last week, fifteen Catholic and conservative Christian organizations sent a letter (full text) to members of Congress urging disapproval of two recently enacted D.C. laws-- the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 and Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014 (see prior posting). According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops press release:

The Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 prevents religious institutions, faith-based employers, and pro-life advocacy organizations in the city from making employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions about the sanctity of human life.  

For example, the law requires “organizations to hire or retain individuals whose speech or public conduct contradicts the organizations’ missions,” the letter stated. “The law plainly violates the First Amendment, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), and possibly other federal laws and clearly contradicts the Supreme Court’s recent, unanimous ruling in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Church and School v. EEOC.”  

Another law enacted by the Council of the District of Columbia, the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014, requires religiously affiliated educational institutions to endorse, sponsor, and provide school resources to persons or groups that oppose the institutions’ religious teachings regarding human sexuality. 

“In doing so, the law violates the First Amendment and RFRA on similar grounds”....

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Jordan Mathews, State RFRAs: Trust Judges to Strike the Proper Balance Between Religious Freedom and Anti-Discrimination Law, (February 1, 2015).
• Leah Achor, A Historical Defense of State Protection of Private Conscience, (December 13, 2014).
• Douglas NeJaime & Reva Siegel, Conscience Wars: Complicity-Based Conscience Claims in Religion and Politics, (Yale Law Journal, Vol. 124, 2015 Forthcoming).
• Brandon Harvard Riches, Codifying Commonsense: Religious Viewpoint Antidiscrimination Acts and the Free Speech Rights They Protect, (February 3, 2015).
• Howard Kislowicz, Law, Religion, and Feeling Included/Excluded: Case Studies in Canadian Religious Freedom Litigation, (Canadian Journal of Law and Society (Forthcoming 2015)).
• Nelson Tebbe, The End of Religious Freedom: What Is at Stake?, (Pepperdine Law Review, Vol. 41, No. 963, 2014).
• Clayton Douglas Adams, Personal Foul, Roughing the Speaker: The Illusory War between the Establishment Clause & College Football, (February 4, 2015).
• Jennifer Ann Drobac & Jill L. Wesley, Religion and Employment Antidiscrimination Law: Past, Present, and Post Hosanna-Tabor, (NYU Annual Survey of American Law, Vol. 69, p. 761, 2014).
• Khaled A. Beydoun, Facing Mecca from Prison: Religious Accommodation of Muslim Prisoners Before Holt v. Hobbs, (February 7, 2015).
• Derek Joseph Goff, New Life in the First Amendment: Funeral Protest Statutes after McCullen v. Coakley, (January 31, 2015).
• Ellis Goldberg, Territorial States: Monopolies in the Market for Justice, (January 30, 2015).
• Alice Ristroph, Just Violence, (Arizona Law Review, Vol. 56, 2014).

From SmartCILP:

• Antony Barone Kolenc. Not "For God and Country": Atheist Military Chaplains and the Free Exercise Clause, 48 University of San Francisco Law Review 395-456 (2014).
• Inaugural Themed Issue: Faith-Based Legal Systems. Articles by Mohamed A. Arafa and David L. Johnston. 24 Indiana International & Comparative Law Review 859-920 (2014).