UPS Packages Containing Hajj Visas Delayed By Government Inspections

AP reported on Tuesday that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporarily seized for inspection four separate packages containing passports for Muslims to travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. In one of the cases,  17 Virginia residents sent their passports to a California travel agent who had arranged for Hajj visas with the Saudi consulate.  The travel agent sent a package containing the passports and visas back to Virginia by UPS on November 1. However apparently UPS turned the package over to federal Customs and Border Protection officials, delaying its delivery and causing all but one of the Virginians to miss their scheduled flights. According to the Washington Post, Customs and Border Protection bought replacement tickets, at a cost of $34,000, for all the individuals involved. In another case, UPS identified packages containing passports and Hajj visas sent by a second California travel agent to Muslims in Minnesota, California and Washington state, again turning them over to CPB for a security check before they were ultimately delivered. In a release issued Tuesday, the Council on American Islamic Relations said: "The American Muslim community needs to know whether packages sent from point to point within our borders are being screened based on the religion of the sender or recipient, and whether or not such packages can be seized and opened by government officials without a warrant."

Rabbi Convicted of Wire Fraud and Blackmail

The Wall Street Journal reports that Rabbi Louis Balkany, dean of Bais Yaakov, a religious day school in Borough Park, New York, was convicted yesterday in federal court in Manhattan on charges of wire fraud, extortion, blackmail and making false statements.  The indictment (full text) charges that Balkany "was engaged in a scheme to extort a Connecticut-based hedge fund ... into paying millions of dollars to Balkany's school and to another school on behalf of Balkany." As summarized by the Wall Street Journal:

Balkany, who offer spiritual advice to prisoners, approached SAC Capital starting late last year with an offer: He would instruct an inmate not to squeal to the government about alleged insider trading at SAC Capital if the hedge fund made a $2 million donation to his religious school, plus a $2 million loan to another school.

New Church-State Separation Library Collection Dedicated

The State reports that the University of South Carolina Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library was scheduled yesterday to dedicate the Flynn T. Harrell Collection on the Separation of Church and State. The collection assembled by Flynn T. Harrell contains books, journals, an extensive clippings collection and 45 years of correspondence on the issue.

Paper's Report On Halal Slaughtering Highlights EU Labeling Proposal

Yesterday's London Mail carried an investigative report on Halal slaughtering of animals in Britain written by a reporter who went under cover into a slaughter house posing as a business man considering buying Halal meat for a chain of stores. Reporter Danny Penman obviously came away as no fan of the slaughtering practices, describing the killing of animals without stunning them first in graphic terms. The article goes on to report that supermarkets, fast food chains including McDonalds, schools, hospitals, pubs and sporting venues "are serving up halal meat to unwitting customers."  British law generally requires animals to be stunned before they are slaughtered, but the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 contain an exemption for slaughter by religious methods. Penman reports on growing objections to the exemption (which also covers kosher slaughter) and says that some Halal meat producers have taken to using stunning. He also reports that in June, the European Parliament proposed a labeling requirement that would force halal and kosher meat to be labeled as coming from "unstunned animals." A spokesman for Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says that in principle the Government supports labeling, but it would rather have all animals stunned. A Halal slaughterhouse owner says he would also support a labeling requirement.

In Indonesia, Obama Speaks About Religious Pluralism In Major Address

Yesterday as part of his trip to Asia, President Obama delivered a major speech at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta. (CNN) Obama spent four years as a young boy in Indonesia, the country with the world's largest Muslim population.  A substantial portion of the President's remarks (full text) focused on religion in Indonesia.  He said in part:

Religion is the final topic that I want to address today, and – like democracy and development – it is fundamental to the Indonesian story.

Like the other Asian nations that I am visiting on this trip, Indonesia is steeped in spirituality – a place where people worship God in many different ways.  Along with this rich diversity, it is also home to the world’s largest Muslim population – a truth that I came to know as a boy when I heard the call to prayer across Jakarta.

Just as individuals are not defined solely by their faith, Indonesia is defined by more than its Muslim population. But we also know that relations between the United States and Muslim communities have frayed over many years. As President, I have made it a priority to begin to repair these relations.....

Innocent civilians in America, Indonesia, and across the world are still targeted by violent extremists. I have made it clear that America is not, and never will be, at war with Islam. Instead, all of us must defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates, who have no claim to be leaders of any religion – certainly not a great, world religion like Islam. But those who want to build must not cede ground to terrorists who seek to destroy....

We are two nations, which have traveled different paths. Yet our nations show that hundreds of millions who hold different beliefs can be united in freedom under one flag....

Earlier today, I visited the Istiqlal mosque – a place of worship that was still under construction when I lived in Jakarta. I admired its soaring minaret, imposing dome, and welcoming space. But its name and history also speak to what makes Indonesia great. Istiqlal means independence, and its construction was in part a testament to the nation’s struggle for freedom. Moreover, this house of worship for many thousands of Muslims was designed by a Christian architect.

 Such is Indonesia’s spirit. Such is the message of Indonesia’s inclusive philosophy, Pancasila.  Across an archipelago that contains some of God’s most beautiful creations, islands rising above an ocean named for peace, people choose to worship God as they please. Islam flourishes, but so do other faiths.

U.S. Summarizes and Responds To U.N. Universal Periodic Review Of Human Rights Conditions

Politico reports that last week in Geneva more than 30 U.S. officials went through a respectful, but challenging, interactive dialog with members of the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of the Council's Universal Periodic Review each four years of every country's human rights record. State Department Legal Advisor Harold Koh presented the U.S. response (full text) which summarized the recommendations that came out of the session. Here is Koh's response to issues raised regarding religious freedom:

The eighth set of recommendations concern freedom of expression and religion: The United States is committed to vigilance in the continued protection of fundamental freedoms of expression and religion for all, including laws and policies to protect Muslim, Arab, and other Americans from discrimination and to secure their freedom to practice their religion.

Another FLDS Conviction: 6 Years In Prison

A state court jury in San Angelo, Texas has sentenced 25-year old Kieth Dutson, a member of the FLDS church, to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine on on charges of sexual assault of a child.  Dutson was the seventh, and youngest, person to be tried on charges growing out of evidence seized during a 2008 raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's San Angelo (TX) Standard Times reports that Dutson, when he was 20, went through a wedding ceremony with the victim who was 15 years old. Prosecutor Eric Nichols said the trial demonstrated how the FLDS culturally conditioned girls to be married while they are still underage.

Vatican Official Speaks At INTERPOL Conference

Zenit reports on an address Monday by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, secretary of the Governorate of Vatican City State, to the 79th General Assembly of Interpol meeting in Doha, Qatar. (Full text of remarks.)  Apparently the Archbishop chose to address the forum of police chiefs and law enforcement officers from around the world because of the Vatican's growing concern over violence against Christians in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Vatican security forces joined Interpol in 2008.  The Archbishop said in part:

Criminal behavior is an intrinsic part of the human experience, just as the conflict of good and evil is part of the world’s history, and, for Christians, a part of God’s saving plan. It is precisely this realization that inspires the Holy See to participate, either as a member or an observer, in the meetings and conferences promoted by international organizations to discuss issues which ultimately deal with man himself, the human being viewed holistically and with respect for all his complexity....

We are here today to renew, in one specific area, our commitment to cooperate in eliminating evil from the world. This is a enormous commitment if we think of the forces at play, yet we must remain undaunted. Indeed, we should be committed to even fuller cooperation.

Opinion Released In TRO Against Oklahoma Anti-Shariah Amendment

As previously reported, earlier this week an Oklahoma federal district court issued a temporary restraining order barring Oklahoma's State Board of Elections from certifying last week's election results reflecting approval of a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma constitution that bars state courts from considering international law or Shariah law in deciding cases.  Now the court's opinion supporting the TRO has been released.  In Awad v. Ziriax, (WD OK, Nov. 9, 2010), the court found that plaintiff has standing to assert that the amendment violates the Establishment Clause.  Plaintiff asserted three kinds of injuries: the amendment reflects official condemnation of his religious faith, it invalidates his will because the will incorporates various Muslim teachings, and the amendment will require state courts to unconstitutionally determine what is and is not encompassed in Shariah law. The court also concluded that plaintiff had made a preliminary showing of likelihood of success on the merits because the amendment does not have a secular purpose and fosters excessive entanglement of government with religion. Politico yesterday reported on the decision.

New Museum of American Jewish History Opens In Philadelphia This Month

RNS reports that the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia will open to the public on November 26, after grand opening ceremonies on the weekend of Nov. 12-14. Covering 350 years of the history of Jews in the United States, the museum is described by Prof. Jonathan Sarna, the Museum's lead historian, as "the first major Jewish history museum that isn't about death and destruction."

Proposed Bill In India Threatens 1000-Year Old Religious Festival

India's Pune Mirror today reports that the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra is set to enact the Prevention of Human Sacrifice, Sexual Harassment and Inhuman Acts Bill this winter. However warkaris complain that the proposed law may end up banning the Palkhi Festival during which for 1000 years adherents walk barefoot some 150 miles, singing and dancing, to the holy town of Pandharpur.  Confusingly worded Section 13 of the proposed Act is seen as banning any kind of physical pressure, torture or exertion in the name of religion.

Annual "Friend or Foe Christmas" Campaign Launched

Liberty Counsel yesterday announced that it is launching its "Eighth Annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign. The annual promotion takes aim at attempts to rename Christmas events as "holiday" activities and at decisions that have banned a range of items, from nativity scenes to wearing of red and green Christmas colors, from various public venues. A resource page on Liberty Counsel's website links to legal memos on public Christmas celebrations and on Christmas in the workplace.  The website offers buttons, bumper stickers and ads promoting Christmas. It also links to a "Naughty or Nice" list of retailers, based on whether they specifically promote "Christmas" in their advertising and displays ("nice") or merely use "holiday" or other generic seasonal depictions and language ("naughty").

Cert. Filed In Seventh Day Adventist Case: Does RFRA Apply To Suits Between Private Parties?

A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed yesterday with the U.S. Supreme Court in McGill v. General Conference Corporation of Seventh Day Adventists. In the case, the court refused to dismiss trademark infringement and related claims brought by two Seventh Day Adventist religious organizations against a break-away church that used a similar name. The court refused to carve out a special exception for religious intellectual property. The petition for review filed with the Supreme Court focuses on a second part of the 6th Circuit's decision that rejected a claim that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to the case. The 6th Circuit held that RFRA applies only suits in which the government is a party. (See prior posting.) The cert. petition points out that the 5th and 7th Circuits agree with the 6th Circuit in this regard, while the 7th, 8th and D.C. Circuits have applied RFRA to suits brought under federal law involving only private parties. [Thanks to Seth Galanter for the lead.]

Federal Court Issues TRO Barring Certification of Oklahoma Anti-Shariah Amendment

AP reports that an Oklahoma federal district court today issued a temporary restraining order barring Oklahoma's State Board of Elections from certifying the results of last week's vote on an amendment to the Oklahoma constitution that bars state courts from considering international law or Shariah law in deciding cases. The lawsuit leading to the TRO was filed last week by CAIR, asserting that the amendment violates the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.) The court's TRO remains in effect until Nov. 22 when the court will hold a hearing on a temporary injunction.

Mixed Reactions To Pope's Visit To Spain

London's Independent yesterday reported on Pope Benedict XVI's just-completed visit to Spain (Pope's itinerary). The paper says:

the visit has touched a sensitive nerve in Spanish society, divided between traditional Catholics and a growing movement to eliminate Church influence in state affairs.

The Socialist Prime Minister, who figured this was a good weekend to surprise Spain's 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, is on the secular side. He has stopped short of scrapping the teaching of Catholic doctrine in state-supported schools, but during his six-year tenure he has infuriated the Church hierarchy by legalising gay marriage, simplifying divorce proceedings and, most recently, allowing first-trimester abortion on demand.

As the Pope's motorcade moved through Barcelona, a hundred gay and lesbian couples greeted him with a "collective kiss" to protest the Vatican's views on sexual freedom, divorce and condom use.

Obama In India Responds To Question About Jihad

President Obama is on a trip to Asia, and yesterday he and Michelle Obama spoke with students at a Town Hall at St. Xavier College, in Mumbai, India. (Full text of remarks and Q&A). In the first question to the President in the Q&A, a college student asked Obama's "opinion about jihad."  Here is the President's response:

    Well, the phrase jihad has a lot of meanings within Islam and is subject to a lot of different interpretations.  But I will say that, first, Islam is one of the world’s great religions.  And more than a billion people who practice Islam, the overwhelming majority view their obligations to their religion as ones that reaffirm peace and justice and fairness and tolerance.  I think all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified.

     And so I think one of the challenges that we face is how do we isolate those who have these distorted notions of religious war and reaffirm those who see faiths of all sorts -- whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian or a Jew or any other religion, or your don't practice a religion -- that we can all treat each other with respect and mutual dignity, and that some of the universal principles that Gandhi referred to -- that those are what we’re living up to, as we live in a nation or nations that have very diverse religious beliefs. 

     And that's a major challenge.  It’s a major here in India, but it’s a challenge obviously around the world.  And young people like yourselves can make a huge impact in reaffirming that you can be a stronger observer of your faith without putting somebody else down or visiting violence on somebody else.

     I think a lot of these ideas form very early.  And how you respond to each other is going to be probably as important as any speech that a President makes in encouraging the kinds of religious tolerance that I think is so necessary in a world that's getting smaller and smaller, where more and more people of different backgrounds, different races, different ethnicities are interacting and working and learning from each other. 

     And those circumstances -- I think all of us have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is a way to mediate our differences.   

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Marc O. DeGirolami, Book Review: The Handmaid of Politics, (Journal of Law and Religion, Forthcoming).
• Thomas Venzor, Protecting the Unborn Child: The Current State of International Law Concerning the So-Called Right to Abortion and Intervention by the Holy See, (Nebraska Law Review, Vol. 89, 2011).
• Christopher C. Lund, Legislative Prayer and the Secret Costs of Religious Endorsements, (Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 94, p. 972, 2010).
• Jeremy Waldron, Toleration and Calumny: Bayle, Locke, Montesquie and Voltaire on Religious Hate Speech,  (October 29, 2010).

From SmartCILP:

• Adam Candeub, Shall Those Who Live By FCC Indecency Complaints Die By FCC Indecency Complaints?, 22 Regent University Law Review 307-321 (2009-2010).
• Sarah J. Conroy, Birth Control and the Citizen-Catholic in One-Child China, 25 Connecticut Journal of International Law 431-458 (2010).
• Michelle McKinley, Fractional Freedoms: Slavery, Legal Activism, and Ecclesiastical Courts in Colonial Lima, 1593-1689, 28 Law & History Review 749-790 (2010).
• Mark A. Noll, The Election Sermon: Situating Religion and the Constitution in the Eighteenth Century, 59 DePaul Law Review 1223-1248 (2010).

Court Rejects Establishment Clause Challenge To Waldorf Schools

Yesterday's Sacramento Bee reports that on Friday, a California federal district court dismissed a lawsuit that had been in the courts for 13 years challenging two California school districts for using the Waldorf teaching method in two of their schools. The suit alleged that the school districts violated the federal Establishment Clause and the church-state separation provisions of the California constitution. People for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools argued that the teaching method, based on the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, is religious. (See prior posting). At the non-jury trial, plaintiffs presented only a single witness and four admissible exhibits. The court held that plaintiffs had failed to establish that Steiner's philosophy of anthroposophy is a system of belief and worship.

UPDATE: The full opinion in the case is now available on LEXIS: PLANS, Inc. v. Sacramento Unified School District, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117711 (ED CA, Nov. 4, 2010).

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Fabricius v. Maricopa County, (9th Cir., Nov. 1, 2010), the 9th Circuit upheld dismissal of a pre-trial detainee's complaint that a jalil's playing of holiday music violated the Establishment Clause.

In Freeman v. Julious, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115367 (ED CA, Oct. 21, 2010), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed, with leave to amend, an inmate's claim that prison authorities failed to comply with his request to receive a Satanic bible and consult with a Satanic clergyman.

In Sylvian v. Florida Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115183 (ND FL, Oct. 29, 2010), a Florida federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115189, Sept. 28, 2010) and dismissed a Muslim inmate's claim that prison rules requiring him to be clean shaven violate his free exercise rights.

In Hammer v. Johnson, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115483 (WD VA, Oct. 29, 2010), a Virginia federal district court refused to grant an inmate a temporary restraining order he sought so he could received the prison's Common Fare religious diet.

In Planker v. Ricci, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116083 ( NJ, Oct. 29, 2010), a New Jersey federal district court denied an Odinist inmate a preliminary injunction. Plaintiff claimed that Odinist religious services were scheduled to conflict with his lunch time and his outdoor recreation time, in violation of his rights under RLUIPA and the equal protection clause.

In Prentice v. Nevada Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116248 (D NV, Oct. 19, 2010), a Nevada federal district court relied on a decision last year by a California federal district court (see prior posting) and held that the White supremacist Church of Creativity is not a "religion" for purposes of the First Amendment. It also found that authorities had sufficient reason to bar racist materials for security purposes.

In Soria v. Nevada Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116866 (D NV, Oct. 19, 2010), a Nevada federal district court permitted a Jewish inmate to proceed with his complaint that prison officials refused his request for outdoor space and for materials that would permit him to put up a sukkah for the holiday of Sukkot.

In McCarroll v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117414 (ND NY, Nov. 4, 2010), a New York federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117418, Sept. 30, 2010), and dismissed on qualified immunity grounds a prisoner's complaint that he should have been permitted for religious reasons to submit a hair or saliva sample, instead of a blood sample, to be tested for tuberculosis.

Court Says Avoiding High Cost Alone Not A Compelling Government Interest Under RLUIPA

An Indiana federal district court has decided an important prisoner religious rights case brought as a class action by the ACLU, holding that RLUIPA was violated when an Indiana prison stopped serving kosher meals for cost reasons.  In Willis v. Commissioner, Indiana Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116280 (SD IN, Nov. 1, 2010), the facts showed that Indiana prisons had provided both pre-packaged kosher meals and pre-packaged Halal meals (after for a time using higher-cost kosher meals to satisfy requests of both Muslim and Jewish inmates). Costs of pre-packaged meals in total spiraled as the number of Muslim inmates requesting Halal meals increased. In response, the prison system stopped providing any pre-packaged religious meals and instead offered vegan meals prepared on site. But those did not meet strict kosher requirements.  The court held that the Department of Corrections (DOC) had "cited absolutely no relevant authority to support the conclusion that spiraling cost alone is a compelling government interest." The court also concluded that DOC had failed to consider other possible alternatives for serving kosher meals that might be less expensive.

Finally the court held that the lead plaintiff's individual free exercise rights had been violated. While pre-packaged kosher meals were still being served, the prison had a policy of removing from the kosher diet plan any inmate who did not eat 75% of his kosher meals.  Plaintiff did not meet that requirement because breakfasts-- which the prison claimed were kosher-- were not pre-packaged and plaintiff did not eat them because he disagreed that they met kosher standards The court set a hearing for Nov. 30 on the scope of the injunction that should issue.  Chicago Tribune reported on the decision. [Thanks to Joel Katz (Relig. & State in Israel) for the lead.]