Catholic Leader Calls For Civil Disobedience On Pledge

Last week, a California federal district court, following precedent set by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, held that recitation in school classrooms of the Pledge of Allegiance, containing the phrase "under God", violates the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.) While many religious leaders have been critical of the decision, William Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has been particularly outspoken. In a release issued last Wednesday, he said:

Now that U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton has said he would sign a restraining order banning the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in some California school districts, the time has come for patriotic teachers in those schools to practice civil disobedience. They need to lead their students in the Pledge, bellowing the dreaded words "under God." But nothing should be done until the television cameras are in place—the sight of teachers being handcuffed by the police would be an invaluable teaching moment.

Settling this issue in court is fine, but it is inadequate: it’s time to shock the conscience of the nation by bringing this matter directly into their living rooms.

Pres. Bush At Dinner Honoring 350 Years of American Jewish Life

Last Wednesday, President Bush spoke at a dinner in Washington honoring the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in America. His remarks (full text) included the following:

Religious freedom is a foundation of fundamental human and civil rights. And when the United States promotes religious freedom, it is promoting the spread of democracy.... Religious freedom is more than the freedom to practice one's faith. It is also the obligation to respect the faith of others. So to stand for religious freedom, we must expose and confront the ancient hatred of anti-Semitism, wherever it is found....

Under America's system of religious freedom, church and state are separate. Still, we have learned that faith is not solely a private matter. Men and women throughout our history have acted on the words of Scripture and they have made America a better, more hopeful place. When Rabbi Abraham Heschel marched with Martin Luther King, we saw modern-day prophets calling on America to honor its promises. We must allow people of faith to act on their convictions without facing discrimination.

And that's why my administration has started a faith-based and community initiative, to call on the armies of compassion to help heal broken hearts. A few years ago in New York, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty was discouraged from even applying for federal funds because it had the word "Jewish" in its name. We must end this kind of discrimination if we want America to be a hopeful place.

Miss. Supreme Court Rules On Priest-Penitent Privilege In Discovery

On September 15, the Mississippi Supreme Court in Mississippi United Methodist Conference v. Brown held that a document-by-document review was required in discovery to determine whether particular documents were covered by the priest-penitent privilege. Today's Jackson, Mississippi Clarion-Ledger reports on the case which involves release of United Methodist Church documents to a woman who had filed a $10 million lawsuit against a minister who sexually assaulted her.

Peremptory Removal of Clergy As Jurors Unconstitutional

In Highler v. State, (IN Ct. App., Sept. 15, 2005), an Indiana state appellate court held that the prosecution's use of peremptory challenges in criminal trials to remove all members of the clergy from jury panels "because they're more apt for forgiveness" is unconstitutional. However, it found tha in this case there were other legitimate reasons for the peremptory challenge of an African-American clergyman.

Sabbath Observer Gets Unemployment Compensation

In Guaranteed Auto Finance, Inc. v. Director, ESD (Sept. 14, 2005), an Arkansas court of appeals upheld an administrative agency's award of unemployment compensation to an employee who left his work because the company required he work on Saturday, his Sabbath. The court held that the employee had good cause to leave his job when his religious beliefs conflicted with his employer's requirements.

Bush's Remarks At National Services For Katrina Victims

On Friday, President Bush spoke at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance Service at the Washington National Cathedral honoring victims of Hurricane Katrina. His remarks (full text) included the following:

In this hour of suffering, we're prayerful. In a wounded region, so many placed their faith in a God who hears and helps. And so many are bringing their grief to a Savior acquainted with grief. Our nation joins with them to pray for comfort and sorrow, for the reunion of separated families, and a holy rest for the ones who died.

Through prayer we look for ways to understand the arbitrary harm left by this storm, and the mystery of undeserved suffering. And in our search we're reminded that God's purposes are sometimes impossible to know here on Earth. Yet even as we're humbled by forces we cannot explain, we take comfort in the knowledge that no one is ever stranded beyond God's care. The Creator of wind and water is also the source of even a greater power -- a love that can redeem the worst tragedy, a love that is stronger than death.

County Will Not Send Judge To Florida Christian CLE Program

Hamilton County, Ohio Commissioners have refused to authorize $1700 to send Cincinnati state court of appeals judge Rupert Doan to a Christian legal conference in Naples, Florida. The Cincinnati Enquirer today reported that even though judges are required to attend continuing legal education programs, this one, the Christian Legal Society's national conference titled Faith at the Crossroads: Following Christ in Law & Life, was turned down by the county commission not because of its religious content, but because of its "exotic Location".

White House On Faith-Based Initiatives and Katrina

The White House has posted on its web site the transcript on an online "Ask the White House" forum in which Jim Towey, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives discusses the role of religious organizations in Hurricane Katrina relief. The posting includes Towey's answers to a dozen different questions from around the country on relief measures and other topics. Here is an example:

Tom, from Gaithersburg, MD writes: Why does huricane releief have to be "faith based". Why can't people withouth "faith" get huricane relief? Thomas Munro

Jim Towey: Hi Tom. Just to be clear, people without faith are equally eligible to receive disaster assistance. There is not a "faith test" for aid. And people very devout in their faith or with no faith at all have been volunteering and helping serve hot meals to the hungry and house those without home. It has been marvelous to watch.

High School Student Suspended For Handing Out Religious Literature

The Staunton, Virginia News Leader reported today on the three-day suspension of a high school student who refused to stop distributing religious literature at her Augusta County public high school. The student, Samantha Weatherholtz , had passed out about 100 leaflets when Fort Defiance High School's Assistant Principal told her to stop. The only comment from school officials was from Assistant Superintendent George Earhart, who said: "I am certainly going to look into it next week. At this point, I do not have anything else to say."

Faith-Based Initiatives, Katrina and the Jewish Community

Liberal Jewish groups have historically opposed President Bush's faith-based initiatives. The Baltimore Jewish Times today reports that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has created new concerns for these groups. Synagogues and Jewish day schools that have set up shelters and other relief services will have to decide whether to accept federal aid that is likely to be available to faith-based groups, and Jewish institutions damaged by the hurricane will have to decide whether to accept assistance from FEMA. There also is concern that future Federal aid packages will contain funds for religious groups to provide relief. That could put opponents of faith-based initiatives in the difficult position of opposing disaster relief.

NY College Sued Over Denial Of Access By Religious Speaker

On Sept. 7, the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit alleging First Amendment violations (full complaint) against New York's Ulster County Community College on behalf of an individual who was not permitted to speak on campus about his Christian faith and hand out religious literature. ADF's release on the case explains that the plaintiff, Greg Davis, was first told that he could speak. Later the same day that he was told he would need to submit a facilities use permit application even though he did not intend to make use of any school buildings. Finally, Davis left campus after a different school official informed him that his religious expression was totally prohibited. Davis then filed the use permit application, but it was denied because religious expression does not constitute a "cultural," "educational," "social," or "recreational" activity.

Pledge Decision Condemned By Officials; Appeal Planned

Official reactions were quick to come to Wednesday's federal district court decision from California finding that school classroom recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance containing the phrase "under God" violates the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.)

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales issued the following statement:

For more than two hundred years, many of our expressions of national identity and patriotism have referenced God. The Supreme Court, which opens each session by saying "God save the United States and this honorable Court," has affirmed time and again that such official acknowledgments of our Nation's religious heritage, foundation, and character are constitutional. The Department of Justice will continue vigorously to defend the ability of American schoolchildren to pledge allegiance to the flag.

Also, late Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to condemn the court ruling (S. Res. 243), according to a report by the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, the Knights of Columbus, one of the defendants in the case, announced that it planned an immediate appeal.

Baptist Meeting Examines Religious Liberty

Yesterday, the Baptist Press reported on the recent Baptist Distinctives Conference sponsored by the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Keynote speaker was Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The theme of the Conference was “The First Freedom” of religious liberty. In his remarks, Land said: "The greatest threat to religious freedom in America are secular fundamentalists who want to ghetto-ize religious faith and make the wall of separation between church and state a prison wall keeping religious voices out of political discourse."

Roberts' Testimony On Church-State

The Wall of Separation blog carries an interesting summary of John Roberts' testimony on his church-state views given during his confirmation hearings. One of Roberts' statements:

[The Court] has adhered through thick and thin to the Lemon test, probably because they can’t come up with anything better. But the results sometimes, I think, are a little difficult to comprehend.

Prison Ban On White Supremacist Books Upheld

In Borzych v. Frank, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19840 (USDC, WD Wis., Sept. 9, 2005), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected a prisoner's claim that he was wrongfully denied access to several White Supremacist books in violation of his religious rights. The court rejected plaintiff's First Amendment, RLUIPA, and state statutory claims, finding that the prison's "interest in maintaining a safe and secure multi-racial prison environment is served by minimizing plaintiff's ability to flaunt his kinship with a disruptive group whose philosophical ideology promotes racial superiority, encourages violence and disregards social standards."

California District Court Finds Pledge In Classrooms Unconstitutional

Yesterday in Newdow v. Congress of the United States, the United States district court for the Eastern District of California held that the Ninth Circuit's prior decision finding that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public school classrooms violates the Establishment Clause is binding on the district court. That decision, questioning the inclusion of "under God" in the Pledge, was subsequently reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court because the plaintiff, Michael Newdow, lacked standing. Now the district court applies the prior 9th Circuit holding on the merits in an extremely narrow manner.

First the district court denied standing to Michael Newdow, but found that the other plaintiffs who are parents of school children had standing. On the merits, it held that teacher-led recitation the Pledge in school classrooms violates the Establishment Clause because of the pressure placed on students to recite it, but that reciting the Pledge at school board meetings does not create the same kind of coercion. Finally, in an interesting twist, the Court held that since it stands ready, if requested, to enjoin the recitation of the Pledge in classrooms, the parents who are plaintiffs no longer have any injury in fact. Therefore, their challenge to the constitutionality of 4 U.S.C. Sec. 4, which codifies the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, is rendered moot.

The New York Times today reports that teachers in the Elk Grove Unified School District, one of the Districts involved in the lawsuit, were told to continue leading students in the pledge because the judge's ruling did not include an injunction.

ACLU Questions Use Of Religion By New Mexico Coach

The Albuquerque, New Mexico Tribune reported yesterday that the New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is again raising concerns that University of New Mexico men's basketball coach Ritchie McKay is inappropriately mixing religion with his recruiting and coaching. This round of complaints was triggered by newspaper accounts of McKay's recruitment of Kansas transfer J.R. Giddens.

The ACLU went public with its concerns after being unhappy with the response it received to an Aug. 4 letter it wrote to McKay and Athletics Director Rudy Davalos. McKay says he never received the ACLU letter, but denies any improprieties. However, McKay says that the pastor of his church will continue to attend practices, because "he has a great relationship with many of our players."

Summary Judgment Denied In Dover Intelligent Design Case

A trial in the evolution/Intelligent Design controversy in Pennsylvania's Dover School District is scheduled to start on Sept. 26. The York Daily Record reported yesterday that U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III on Tuesday denied Dover's request that the case be dismissed before trial through summary judgment.

Ontario Premier Wants To Ban Religious Tribunals; Objections Voiced

According to the Associated Press, Jews and Muslims in Ontario will fight for faith-based tribunals to settle family disputes after Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on Sunday that he would introduce legislation to ban all religious arbitration in Ontario. McGuinty on Sunday said that religious arbitrations "threaten our common ground." He promised his Liberal Party government would introduce legislation to outlaw them in Ontario. B'nai B'rith Canada is considering a constitutional challenge to the decision that would ban the long-standing use of rabbinical courts to grant divorces and adjudicate other family matters. (See related prior posting.)

Cert Filed In Americorps Religious Funding Case

The American Jewish Congress announced today that it has filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court asking it to review the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals March 2005 decision in American Jewish Congress v. Corporation for National and Community Service. At issue is whether the Corporation for National and Community Service which administers federal Americorps programs may provide education awards to teachers who teach religion as well as secular subjects in religious schools, and whether it may make grants to the religious organizations that oversee those teachers. AJC contends that this violates the Establishment Clause.