Pastor Claims Retaliation For Ministering To Migrants

Rev. Kaji Douša, senior pastor of New York City's Park Avenue Christian Church, has filed suit against the federal government claiming that she has been targeted for ministering to migrants at the southern border and in Mexico.  The complaint (full text) in Dousa v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, (SD CA, filed 7/8/2019) alleges in part:

11. In New York, regional ICE officials tracked rallies and prayer vigils led by Pastor Dousa on a list that the officials compiled of so-called “Anti-Trump Protests.” These officials marked Pastor Dousa for surveillance because she prayed with and for immigrants, and because she generated publicity about the devastation that ICE’s enforcement activities rain on immigrants and their families.

12. Then, in January, Defendants detained Pastor Dousa as she attempted to re-enter this nation, her nation, after a day in Tijuana ministering to migrants and their advocates. Border agents interrogated Pastor Dousa about her pastoral work.... They revealed to Pastor Dousa that they had collected detailed information about her and her pastoral work. And they revoked the access she had previously been granted to expedited border crossing.

13. Pastor Dousa’s name is included in a secret government database of journalists, attorneys, immigrant-rights activists, and others targeted for their work with and for migrants....

Alleging violations of the First Amendment and RFRA, the complaint explains:

Defendants’ targeting of Pastor Dousa impedes her ministry, through and through. It burdens her ability to continue answering God’s call to minister to migrants and refugees, which cannot happen without confidence in  confidentiality.... Defendants’ targeting of Pastor Dousa has further forced her to take steps contrary to her faith and to forgo activities that her faith requires, including all but ending her ministry of pastoral care at the Southern Border....

Religion News Service reports on the lawsuit.

Churches Withdraw Suit Against Austin's Non-Discrimination Ordinance.

Last week, plaintiffs in U.S Pastor Council v. City of Austin, (WD TX, March 19, 2019) filed a Notice of Dismissal of their lawsuit challenging Austin's anti-discrimination ordinance protecting against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Plaintiffs argued that the ordinance infringes the rights of churches that will not hire women as senior pastors, or practicing homosexuals or transgendered individuals for any church position (See prior posting.) As reported by the Austin Statesman, the city had argued urged dismissal of the suit on standing and other grounds. (Motion to dismiss.)

Two Church Leaders Plead Guilty To Tax Fraud Conspiracy Involving Diversion of Church Funds

On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced that two church leaders have plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit tax fraud:

The leader and the main treasurer of the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ admitted their respective roles today in a scheme in which both men caused the church to pay millions of dollars in personal expenses for the leader that the leader then omitted from his personal tax returns....

Grant and Warrington used their leadership positions in the church to divert to Grant millions of dollars belonging to the church and its members for Grant’s personal use and benefit. The defendants used a variety of methods to carry out the scheme. For example, Grant and Warrington created a purported entertainment company that portrayed Grant as an industry mogul whose wealth was derived from his success in the industry, thereby concealing from church members that his lifestyle was supported entirely by the church and donations from its members. 

Former Cardinal McCarrick Defrocked By Vatican Over Sex Abuse

In the Vatican yesterday, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement (full text) announcing that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been "dismiss[ed] from the clerical state," i.e. defrocked.  McCarrick had already resigned from the College of Cardinals over allegations of past sexual misconduct. In laicizing McCarrick, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found him guilty of "solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power." Vatican News reported on the action against McCarrick.  An analysis of the news Crux says in part:

The four dioceses in the U.S. in which McCarrick served over the course of his long career - New York; Metuchen, New Jersey; Newark; and Washington, D.C., are all conducting separate investigations, a result of the fact that a request by the leadership of the U.S. bishops’ conference for a Vatican-sponsored apostolic investigation was turned down by Francis.

11th Circuit: Clergyman's Right To Retirement Benefits Was Ecclesiastical Matter

In Myhre v. Seventh-Day Adventist Church Reform Movement American Union International Missionary Society, (11th Cir., Jan 2, 2018), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a suit by a retired clergyman who contended that his retirement benefits were wrongfully terminated.  Concluding that the district court lacked jurisdiction because the subject-matter of the dispute was purely ecclesiastical in nature, the appeals court said in part:

Myhre’s claims, which were predicated on his defrocking, his excommunication, and the termination of his retirement benefits due to a “theological disagreement” would have required encroachment into matters of church dogma and governance. Based on “the separation of church and state principles required by the [E]stablishment and [F]ree [E]xercise [C]lauses of the [F]irst [A]mendment,” ..., the district court could not interfere with the purely ecclesiastical decisions of the American Union regarding Myhre’s fitness to serve in the clergy or to remain a member of the denomination.

Minister May Move Ahead With "As Applied" Challenge to Disturbing-The-Peace Ordinance

In Roy v City of Monroe, (WD LA, Oct. 19, 2017), a Louisiana federal district court allowed plaintiff Clarence Roy to move ahead with an "as applied" First Amendment challenge to Monroe, Louisiana's disturbing-the-peace ordinance.  Roy is a minister who regularly preaches near a bar whose patrons are predominately gays and lesbians.  Police issued a summons for disturbing the peace to Roy when a woman complained that Roy had called her names, told her she was going to hell, and that her father was "the devil."  The court said in part:

In essence, the validity of Roy’s First Amendment as-applied claim “hinges on probable cause for [his] [summons]—a fact question for the jury.” ....  Accordingly, this claim cannot be resolved on summary judgment.... If Sergeant Booth had probable cause to arrest Roy under §12:153, “there could be no First Amendment violation.”...  However, if a jury finds there was no probable cause for Roy’s arrest, his First Amendment claim may be considered as well.

The court however dismissed a facial challenge, as well as a due process challenge, to the same Ordinance.

New Study: Clergy's Denomination Correlates Strongly With Political Party Affiliation

A Yale professor and Harvard graduate student this week posted a new study titled Partisan Pastor: The Politics of 130,000 American Religious Leaders.  Using a new data set, the researchers conclude that the religious denomination of a member of the clergy is much more likely to correlate with political party affiliation than is religious denomination of congregants. New York Times reports on the new study. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]