Volunteer Prison Minister's Challenge to Requirements for Addressing LGBTQ Inmates Is Rejected

In Kuenzi v. Reese, (D OR, Oct. 28, 2024), an Oregon federal district court rejected 1st Amendment challenges to an Oregon prison system rule requiring volunteers in prison facilities to sign an acknowledgement statement that calls for volunteers to use appropriate gender pronouns when addressing transgender, intersex and non-binary adults in custody.  Plaintiff, a former volunteer Christian minister in a women's correctional facility, contends that this requirement conflicts with her free exercise and free speech rights. She is no longer allowed to minister at the prison facility without signing the statement which conflicts with her religious belief that gender is an immutable characteristic determined by biology, and that homosexual conduct is sinful. The court concluded that the prison policy is neutral and generally applicable and that:

... the policy is rationally related to ODOC’s legitimate interest in “promot[ing] a respectful environment that reinforces prosocial norms for ODOC’s AICs.” 

It also concluded that:

Because Plaintiff was speaking as an employee and not as a private citizen, her speech falls outside the protections of the First Amendment.

7th Circuit Hears Arguments on Standing to Challenge Indiana Abortion Law

Last week (Oct. 24) the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments (audio of full oral arguments) in Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Rokita, (Docket No. 23-3247). In the case, an Indiana federal district court dismissed The Satanic Temple's challenge under Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act to the state's ban on abortions. The court dismissed for lack of standing, finding that TST failed to identify any of its members who are pregnant and has no clinic of its own operating in Indiana. (See prior posting.)

EEOC Suit Charging Failure to Accommodate Messianic Jewish Employee's Holidays Is Settled

The EEOC announced last week that Center One and Capital Management Services, two related companies, have settled a Title VII lawsuit that was brought by the EEOC and subsequently remanded for trial by the 3rd Circuit.  The suit charged failure to accommodate an employee's religious practices. The employee joined the case as a plaintiff.  According to the EEOC:

The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that in October 2016, a Center One employee, an adherent of Messianic Judaism, requested a reasonable accommodation of his religious belief requiring abstaining from work on religious observance days.... Center One refused to grant the employee a schedule modification to observe religious holidays because he was unable to provide a certification from a religious leader or religious organization supporting his request. Instead, the company imposed disciplinary points against the employee..., even after being informed he was unable to obtain the requested certification because he was not a member of a congregation, thereby forcing the employee to resign....

The parties subsequently agreed to settle the case before trial, and on Oct. 24, the federal court approved the 18-month consent decree resolving the litigation. In addition to paying $60,000 to the employee, Center One and Capital Management Services are prohibited going forward from unlawfully denying reasonable accommodations for employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs, observances, and practices, and they are specifically barred from requiring that employees provide a certification from a religious leader, organization, or group as a general precondition for obtaining religious accommodation....

9th Circuit: California IDEA Rules Violate Free Exercise Clause

In Loffman v, California Department of Education, (9th Cir., Oct. 28, 2024), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a California federal district court's dismissal of a suit by the parents of a special needs child that challenges as a violation of the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses a portion of California's rules implementing the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In California, a private school may be certified as a NPS (non-public school offering special education programs) so long as the school is non-sectarian. When a local educational agency refers a child to an NPS, the state pays the child's full tuition there. However, religiously affiliated schools may not be certified as NPS's even if the curriculum offered to special needs children is secular. Here, plaintiffs wanted to send their children to an Orthodox Jewish school but obtain the benefits available from an NPS. The 9th Circuit said in part:

 ... [A]ny religiously affiliated school seeking to enter into an NPS contract in California must choose whether to maintain its religious affiliation or to serve as an NPS eligible for consideration ... in determining whether it may be in the best position to provide an IEP [individualized education program] for an individual child.  

Religious entities that are equally or better qualified than secular ones to provide special education and related services are disqualified solely because they are “owned, operated, controlled by, or formally affiliated with a religious group or sect, whatever might be the actual character of the education program or the primary purpose of the facility.”...

As we have previously recognized, a statutory scheme that requires a family to “forgo a sectarian education . . . in order to receive” special education benefits otherwise available in a private school setting imposes a “burden on their free exercise rights.”  ...

Parent Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged “that a government entity has burdened [their] sincere religious practice pursuant to a policy that is not ‘neutral’ or ‘generally applicable,’” so the focus “shifts to the defendant” to show that the challenged action survives strict scrutiny....

[E]ven if the State Appellee could demonstrate a compelling interest in neutrality here, it has failed to demonstrate that the nonsectarian requirement is narrowly tailored to serve that interest.  Thus, we conclude that the State Appellee fails to demonstrate that the nonsectarian requirement satisfies strict scrutiny.

National Catholic Register reports on the decision.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Lin Fang, Zhige Yu & Yi Zhang, Does Confucianism Mitigate Court Conflicts?, (October 19, 2024).
• Ardiansyah, Enforcement of Prophetic Law in Settlement of Land Cases in Indonesia, (August 14, 2024).
• Carolyn Powers, The Next Evolution of Religious Accommodation in Employment, (59 Gonz. L. Rev. 543 (2024)).
• Michelle LeBaron & Maged Senbel, Conflicts With Religious or Worldview Dimensions: Why They Matter and How to Engage Them (July 01, 2022).
• Prithwish Ganguli, Justice or Silence: Navigating Sexual Violence Jurisprudence in Shariah Law from the Victim's Lens (October 24, 2024).
• Syed Tayyab Shere & Danish Ahmed Siddiqui, Shariah Compliance Issues in Tawarruq Financing for Short-Term Liquidity Management: A Response to Global Financial Market Trends in Islamic Banking, (September 16, 2024).
• Alfitri, Rijal Imanullah & Aulia Rachman, Unregistered Polygamy Validation: Isbat Nikah, Polygamy Permit, and Due Process of Law in Indonesian Religious Courts, (September 11, 2024).

From SmartCILP:

• Jeffrey A, Redding, Book Review. The Making of Colonial and Postcolonial Law by South Asian Muslims. Divorcing Traditions: Islamic Marriage Law and the Making of Indian Secularism, by Katherine Lemons; Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia, by Elizabeth Lhost, 49 Law & Social Inquiry 611-617 (2024).
• Marcia L. MCCormick & Sachin S. Pandya, The Braidwood Exploit: On the RFRA Declaratory Judgment Class Action and Title VII Employer Liability, 58 University of Richmond Law Review 413-458 (2024).

President Apologizes for Indian Boarding School Policies; Over Half of Schools Had Religious Affiliations

Yesterday, President Biden speaking at Gila Crossing Community School in Laveen Village, Arizona, issued a formal apology on behalf of the United States for the Federal Indian Boarding School Policies implemented between 1819 and 1969 to implement a policy of cultural assimilation. (Full text of President's remarks.) Investigative reports issued by the Department of Interior in 2022 and 2024 said in part:

Initial investigation results show that approximately 50 percent of Federal Indian boarding schools may have received support or involvement from a religious institution or organization, including funding, infrastructure, and personnel. As the U.S. Senate has recognized, funds from the 1819 Civilization Fund “were apportioned among those societies and individuals—usually missionary organizations—that had been prominent in the effort to ‘civilize’ the Indians.” The Federal Government at times paid religious institutions and organizations on a per capita basis for Indian children to enter the Federal Indian boarding schools that these institutions and organizations groups operated.

The reports disclose that of the 408 Indian Boarding Schools, 210 had a religious affiliation.  (List of religiously affiliated boarding schools.) 132 were Protestant; 77 were Catholic; and 5 had other religious affiliations.

President Biden in his remarks yesterday described the experience of Native American children at these schools:

Children would arrive at schools.  Their clothes taken off.  Their hair that they were told was sacred was chopped off.  Their names literally erased and replaced by a number or an English name....

Another survivor described what it was like at the boarding school, and I quote, “When I would talk in my Tribal language, I would get hit.  I lost my tongue.  They beat me every day.”

Children abused — emotionally, physically, and sexually abused.  Forced into hard labor.  Some put up for adoption without the consent of their birth parents.  Some left for dead in unmarked graves. 

And for those who did return home, they were wounded in body and in spirit — trauma and shame passed down through generations. 

Vatican and China Extend Agreement on Appointment of Bishops

 The Vatican Press Office announced yesterday that the Vatican and China have agreed to extend for another four years their Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops. According to Vatican News:

This is the third renewal of the Agreement that, with the signing on 22 September, 2018, opened a historic chapter in relations between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China, and within the Church itself in China, allowing all bishops to be in full hierarchical communion with the Pope....

The Provisional Agreement ended decades of episcopal ordinations without papal consent, leading to a radically changed scenario in the last six years. Since then, about ten bishops have been appointed and consecrated, and Beijing officially recognized the public role of several previously unrecognized bishops.

Defendant Sentenced To 11 Years for Arson Attacks on Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Halls

Last Friday, a Washington federal district court sentenced 52-year-old Mikey Diamond Starrett to 11 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for setting fire to three separate Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Halls and shooting into another Kingdom Hall. According to a Department of Justice press release, Starett pled guilty to four counts of violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and one count of using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington said:

Starrett’s attacks irrevocably destroyed the sense of safety and peace that a house of worship is supposed to provide, and caused severe, permanent harm to the Jehovah’s Witness community in Washington. These were not crimes against buildings, but a series of attacks against a community and a faith.

Suit Challenges HIPPA Rules Barring Reporting of Out-of-State Abortions

As previously reported, in April of this year the Department of Health and Human Services issued new privacy rules under HIPPA designed to protect women (and those who assist them) who travel out of state for an abortion that is not legal in their state of residence. Yesterday, suit was filed in a Texas federal district court challenging the rules.  The complaint (full text) in Purl v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (ND TX, filed 10/21/2024), alleges that the new privacy rules cover not only abortion, but also hormone and drug interventions for gender dysphoria and surgical procedures on an individual's reproductive system. The complaint alleges in part:

5. ... [T]he 2024 Rule purports to limit the circumstances when a HIPAA-covered entity can share information with government agencies, such as state child-welfare agencies and law enforcement agencies, both state and federal.  

6. HIPAA-covered entities that share information in contravention of HHS’s regulations incur criminal liability. 

7. Yet the HIPAA statute explicitly preserves government authority to investigate and to require disclosures concerning abuse. 

8. The 2024 Rule lacks statutory authority and is arbitrary and capricious. As such, the Court should vacate and set aside the Rule and preliminarily and permanently enjoin its enforcement....

ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Recent Articles and Videos of Interest

From SSRN:

• Akshat Agarwal, Supriyo and the Politics of Indian Family Law, (Indian Law Review (Forthcoming 2024)).
• Nimra Saghir Ahmed & Danish Ahmed Siddiqui, How Religiosity Complements the Effect of Promotional Strategies on Attitude and Purchase Intention of Customers towards Islamic Banks, (June 12, 2024).
• Mugambi Jouet, Abortion and American Exceptionalism, (Criminal Justice Law Review (2025), Forthcoming).
• Jordan Blair Woods, The New Sexual Deviancy, (113 Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming 2025)).
• Ido Katri & Maayan Sudai, Intersex, Trans And The Irrationality Of Gender Affirming Care Bans, (134 Yale Law Journal (Forthcoming)).
• Richard F. Storrow, Gender Identity and Birth Certificates: The Surrogacy Nexus, (31 Michigan Journal of Gender & Law 125-72 (2024)).
• Mustafa Hammad Hussain & Danish Ahmed Siddiqui, Analyzing the Performance of Full-fledged Islamic Banks in Pakistan from Maqasid-ul-Shariah Perspective, (June 12, 2024).
• Jennifer Mosley, Nicole P. Marwell, Emily Claypool & Cameron Day, Impact, Equity and Philanthropic Foundations: Can Randomized Controlled Trials Help Account for The Democratic Deficit?, (August 30, 2024).
• Tendai Mukau, Accords of Dignity: The U.S. Constitution’s Article VI Treaty Power as a Mechanism to Bolster Human Rights Reform in the United States, (Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 175-289 (2023)).
• Tèmítọ́pẹ́ Bọ́ládalẹ́, Medico-Legal Issues in Compulsory Vaccinations and Quarantine, (August 31, 2023).

From Elsewhere:

• Columbia Law School Law, Rights & Religion Project, The Black Religious Liberty Curriculum, (2024) (12-part video series).

Court Enjoins Disciplining of Doctors Performing Certain Abortions in Tennessee

In Blackmon v. State of Tennessee, (TN Chanc. Ct., Oct. 17, 2024), a Tennessee state Chancery Court issued a temporary injunction barring the state from instituting disciplinary proceedings against plaintiff physicians for performing abortions in any of four specified medical situations. The court found that plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their challenges under the right to life, liberty or property and the equal protection clauses of the state constitution and in their vagueness challenge. The court said in part:

The question remains ... whether the Medical Necessity Exception, as currently written, serves a compelling state interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that goal.  Given the range of interpretations proffered through the expert declarations ..., the Court finds that the issue of which conditions, and the timing of when they present and escalate to life-threatening conditions, constitute medical emergencies within the Medical Necessity Exception is demonstrably unclear, notwithstanding the “reasonable medical judgment’ of the physician standard set forth in the Exception.  This lack of clarity is evidenced by the confusion and lack of consensus within the Tennessee medical community on the circumstances requiring necessary health- and life-saving abortion care.  The evidence presented underscores how serious, difficult, and complex these issues are and raises significant questions as to whether the Medical Necessity Exception is sufficiently narrow to serve a compelling state interest....

Plaintiff Patients, as pregnant women, claim they are similarly situated to non-pregnant women who seek and are in need of emergency medical care.  Yet because of the criminal abortion statute, pregnant women are treated differently than non-pregnant women because their access to emergency medical care is restricted....

While the court enjoined disciplinary proceedings, it held that it lacked jurisdiction to enjoin enforcement of the state's criminal abortion statute. The Hill reports on the decision. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

Lufthansa Fined $4M For Discrimination Against Jewish Passengers Flying On Pilgrimage To Hungary

On Oct. 7, a Consent Cease-and-Desist Order (full text) was issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation imposing civil penalties of $4 million on the air carrier Lufthansa for religious discrimination against Jewish passengers traveling to Budapest in 2022 to participate in the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of the so-called "miracle rabbi" Yeshaya Steiner (known as Rabbi Shayele). (Background). The airline received a credit for $2 million that it had already paid to passengers.

Some 128 identifiably Orthodox Jewish passengers were on a flight from New York, with a connection in Frankfurt to go on to Budapest. They were all barred from boarding the connecting flight in Frankfurt after some 60 of the passengers refused on the first leg of the flight to comply with the Covid-related requirement to wear masks on the flight and some also gathered in aisles and near exits. The DOT Consent Order said in part:

Lufthansa’s decision to affix an HPC [High Priority Comment] to the reservations of nearly every passenger traveling in a group to Budapest without limiting such affixation to those passengers who Lufthansa verified failed to follow crew instructions on LH 401, which did not comport with Lufthansa’s own boarding procedures, directly resulted in the inability of the passengers to travel on the flights they purchased. As such, Lufthansa took action that had an adverse effect on these passengers whose only affiliation with each other was that they were of the same religion and/or ethnicity. 

Lufthansa’s actions impacted passengers who did not engage in problematic conduct. OACP finds that, under the totality of the circumstances, Lufthansa’s treatment of the 128 Jewish passengers as a collective group, based on the alleged misconduct of a smaller number of those individuals, constitutes discrimination based on religion in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 40127.

DOT issued a press release announcing the Consent Order. AP reported on the Consent Order. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Florida Voters Sue Claiming Invalid Signatures on Abortion Rights Amendment Petitions

Suit was filed last week in a Florida state trial court against election supervisors in 12 Florida counties, as well as against the Secretary of State, other state officials and the sponsors of Amendment 4, a proposed abortion rights amendment that appears on the November Florida ballot. The complaint, brought by four Florida voters, alleges illegal and fraudulent petition signature-gathering efforts. Plaintiffs rely in large part on the Office of Election Crimes and Security's October 2024 Interim Report to Legislature on Initiative Petition Fraud Related to the Abortion Initiative.  The complaint (full text) in Hoffman v. Barton, (FL Cir. Ct., filed 10/16/2024), includes 348 pages of exhibits and alleges in part:

186, Because FPF submitted signatures collected on a pay-per-signature basis, the petition process was substantially infected by fraud and corruption. The substantial fraud and corruption that permeated the election process constitutes a basis for the Court to decertify and strike Amendment 4 from the 2024 General Election Ballot or—if this case is not resolved before the election—to enjoin the State Defendants from counting the votes or, if passed, to enjoin the State Defendants from giving effect to votes cast in favor of Amendment 4.   

187. Although the Secretary of State has issued a certificate of ballot placement, the certificate does not cure the fraud and corruption that infected the petition process. Moreover, if the 2024 General Election occurs prior to the resolution of this action, passage will similarly not cure the fraud and corruption that resulted in Amendment 4’s passage. 

In October, the ACLU responded to the Interim Report, saying in part:

The Secretary of State’s unprecedented and suspiciously-timed report makes nonsensical claims about a few hundred petitions, which would have had no effect on the campaign meeting the statutory requirements. Importantly, the state had an opportunity to file objections to petitions before April, but did not object to the inconsequential petitions for which it is now attempting to sanction and publicly chastise the campaign.

Liberty Counsel issued a press release last week announcing the filing of last week's lawsuit.

Suit Challenges Oklahoma Bible Education Mandate and Purchase of Bibles

Suit was filed this week by public-school parents, their minor children, teachers, and clergy challenging Oklahoma's recently imposed requirement for all public schools to incorporate the Bible in their curricula. The suit was filed in the Oklahoma Supreme Court asking it to assume original jurisdiction because of the importance and time-sensitiveness of the case. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment, injunction and writ of mandamus providing that the Bible Education Mandate is invalid and unenforceable and seeks orders preventing the purchase of Bibles under the RFP issued by the state. (See prior posting.) The complaint (full text) in Walke v. Walters, (OK Sup. Ct., filed 10/17/2024), alleges in part:

The planned $3 million in spending on Bibles would unlawfully support an invalid rule.  The spending is also illegal for a number of other reasons.  No statutory or other legislative authority exists for Respondents to spend state funds on curricular materials that they select; rather, their authority is limited to providing state funds to individual school districts that the districts can then spend on texts of their own choice.  Respondents intend to spend on the Bibles funds that were designated for other purposes and have not been lawfully reallocated.  The Request for Proposal to supply Bibles violates state procurement requirements because it is gerrymandered to favor two particular providers.  And religious freedom provisions of Oklahoma’s Constitution—specifically Section 5 of Article II and Section 2 of Article I—prohibit spending state funds on the Bibles, because they are religious items and the spending would support one particular religious tradition.

AP reports on the lawsuit.

Florida Enjoined from Threatening Legal Action Against Broadcasters Airing Pro-Abortion Rights Ads

 In Floridians Protecting Freedom, Inc. v. Ladapo, (ND FL, Oct. 17, 2024), a Florida federal district court issued a temporary restraining order barring the head of the Florida Department of Health from continuing to threaten legal proceedings against television stations broadcasting plaintiff's ads which favor Florida's abortion rights amendment that appears on the November ballot. The Department of Health's general counsel sent letters to Florida television stations contending that the ads constituted a sanitary nuisance under Florida Statutes Sec. 386.01. The statute defines a statutory nuisance as anything "by which the health or life of an individual ... may be threatened or impaired." The court said in part:

Plaintiff’s political advertisement is political speech—speech at the core of the First Amendment. And just this year, the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed the bedrock principle that the government cannot do indirectly what it cannot do directly by threatening third parties with legal sanctions to censor speech it disfavors. The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is “false.” “The very purpose of the First Amendment is to foreclose public authority from assuming a guardianship of the public mind through regulating the press, speech, and religion.” ...

By threatening criminal proceedings for broadcasting a “political advertisement claiming that current Florida law does not allow physicians to perform abortions necessary to preserve the lives and health of pregnant women,” ... Defendant has engaged in viewpoint discrimination....

Whether it’s a woman’s right to choose, or the right to talk about it, Plaintiff’s position is the same—“don’t tread on me.” Under the facts of this case, the First Amendment prohibits the State of Florida from trampling on Plaintiff’s free speech.

Local Congregation Cannot Sue Parent in Property Dispute After All Its Members Were Excommunicated

Church of God of Crandon v. Church of God, (WI App., Oct. 15, 2024), involved a dispute between a local congregation-- the Crandon Church-- and its parent body, Church of God (COG). The Crandon Church opposed the parent body's decision that the local church would be merged with a congregation in a different location and the Crandon Church property would be sold. Crandon members filed suit against the parent body seeking a declaration confirming its interest in local church building and its bank accounts. In response, the COG Bishop issued a Declaration excommunicating Crandon Church members and then moved to dismiss the lawsuit against COG on the ground that Crandon no longer had any members so that it effectively has ceased to exist and has no interest in Crandon property. The appellate court agreed, saying in part:

... [T]he 1994 warranty deed states that all property—both real and personal—becomes the property of the COG should a “local congregation” “cease to … exist.”  The Crandon Church cannot file a lawsuit to obtain an interest in property that it does not own.  Because we conclude that the First Amendment prohibits our review of the Declaration, the Crandon Church lacks standing to bring the current lawsuit seeking interests in the property and the CoVantage accounts....

... [A] civil court cannot, under the First Amendment, review:  whether the 2018 Minutes [giving the Bishop the authority to excommunicate unruly or uncooperative members] complied with due process or the Bible; what the COG meant by “unruly or uncooperative”; or whether Cushman properly determined that the excommunicated members were “unruly or uncooperative.”  Similarly, the First Amendment prohibits a civil court from examining the International Executive Committee’s review of those issues.  To hold otherwise “would undermine the general rule that religious controversies are not the proper subject of civil court inquiry.” ... Under the facts of this case, we must defer to the resolution of any ecclesiastical issues by the International Executive Committee, which denied the excommunicated members’ appeal.

Federal Court Refuses to Enjoin Distribution of Notice from Rabbinical Court

In Esses v. Rosen, (ED NY, Oct. 15, 2024), a New York federal district court refused to issue a preliminary injunction barring defendants from disseminating in plaintiff's neighborhood a rabbinical court's notice (a sieruv) that plaintiff has failed to respond to a summons from the rabbinical court. Plaintiff also asked that the seiruv be taken down or removed from places where it had been posted. Plaintiff alleged claims for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.  The court said in part:

While plaintiff does not dispute that she brought the claims in this case before a secular court rather than a religious one, she suggests that the seiruv is defamatory because it indicates that her doing so was “improper[].”  That statement is nowhere contained in the seiruv itself.  But even if the seiruv is read to convey that implication through its reference to plaintiff’s civil filing, the First Amendment would prevent this Court from second-guessing a religious court’s view of impropriety. ... 

Plaintiff next claims that the instructional document distributed with the seiruv is defamatory because it falsely conveys “that the rabbis of the beth din were encouraging social ostracism and shaming in this case.” ... In any event, the Establishment Clause would preclude this Court from finding defamation on that ground.  To decide whether the instructional document was true or false in its asserted characterization of plaintiff’s seiruv, the Court would be “called upon to inquire into the rules and customs governing rabbinical courts as they are utilized in the Orthodox Jewish religion,”

[Thanks to Volokh Conspiracy for the lead.]

Court Says Indian Penal Code Does Not Punish Insults to Religion That Do Not Outrage Targets

In Kumar v. State of Karnataka, (High Ct. Karnataka, Sept. 13, 2024), a single-judge bench of the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka gave a narrow interpretation to Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code which prohibits the deliberate and malicious outraging of the religious feelings of any class of citizens. At issue are the acts of two individuals who barged into a mosque and shouted "Jai Sriram" (Glory to Lord Rama). While the perpetrators have not yet been identified by investigators, this suit was filed to quash the ongoing investigation of the incident. Agreeing to quash the investigation, the court said in part:

Section 295A deals with deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.  It is ununderstandable as to how if someone shouts ‘Jai Sriram’ it would outrage the religious feeling of any class. When the complainant himself states that Hindu – Muslims are living in harmony in the area the incident by no stretch of imagination can result in antimony....

The acts that have no effect on bringing out peace or destruction of public order will not lead to an offence under Section 295A of the IPC.

Law Beat reports on the decision.

6th Circuit Finds That Employee's Objections to Covid Testing Were Not Religious

 In DeVore v. University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, (6th Cir., Oct. 11, 2024), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit by a former department manager at the University of Kentucky who was denied a religious accommodation that would exempt her from the University's policy that required weekly testing of employees who were not vaccinated against Covid. Plaintiff filed a suit claiming religious discrimination in violation of Title VII. She alleged in part that the University's policy was designed to coerce her to get tested. the court said:

Such coercion, she explained, was “wrong” because “[t]rying to manipulate somebody into doing something to attain a result that you want by holding something over them” is “not right behavior.”...

DeVore drew no connection between her fairness conclusion and any “religious principle” she follows, leaving it simply to reflect her “personal moral code.”... DeVore’s “subjective evaluation” of the Policy against this rubric of “secular values” does not establish a religious conflict with the Policy.

Religious College Sues Georgia Seeking Inclusion in State Grant and Scholarship Programs

Yesterday suit was filed in a Georgia federal district court challenging the constitutionality of excluding Luther Rice College and Seminary from state scholarship and grant programs for students attending private colleges. Georgia law excludes schools or colleges of theology or divinity. The complaint (full text) in Luther Rice College and Seminary v. Riley, (ND GA, filed 10/15/2024), alleges in part:

9. Georgia allows other religious schools—including schools with religious missions that offer religious undergraduate degree programs like Luther Rice—to participate in Georgia student aid programs....

11. If Luther Rice did not have a religious mission, offer religious degree programs, and teach all courses from a Christian worldview, its undergraduate students could receive Georgia student aid.

12. So Luther Rice faces a choice between (a) maintaining its religious mission and degree programs and teaching all courses from a Christian worldview, or (b) giving up that religious character and exercise to participate equally with other schools in the State.

13. Putting the school to that choice is unconstitutional....

Plaintiffs allege that the exclusion violates the free exercise and Establishment Clauses, the equal protection clause and plaintiff's free expression rights. ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.