High School Credit For Religion Course Challenged In South Carolina

In Spartanburg, South Carolina, a biology professor and his wife are challenging the decision by Spartanburg High School to give students credit for a released-time religion class that will be taught at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. Credit for the course will be given by a private school, Oakbrook Preparatory School, and Spartanburg High students will receive transfer credit for the course on their public school transcripts. Upstate.com today reports that Prof. Robert Moss who complained about the arrangement says that giving high school credit for the course amounts to unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the Spartanburg High. The religion course does not appear in students' registration materials for next year that have already been printed because the course was just approved and guidelines need to be developed. However students will have a chance to enroll later.

House Committee Rejects Religious-Based Hiring For Head Start

On Wednesday, the House Labor and Education Committee rejected by a vote of 24-13 a Republican-proposed amendment to the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 that would have allowed religious organizations receiving federal Head Start funds to take religion into account in hiring teachers and other employees. Associated Baptist Press reported yesterday that the amendment would have changed long-standing anti-discrimination rules that apply to the program. The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement welcoming the defeat of the proposed amendment.

Scalia vs. Rabbi On Capital Punishment

Rabbi Barry Leff has an interesting posting today on his blog about his exchange with Justice Scalia during Scalia's recent visit to the University of Toledo College of Law. Leff asked Scalia about the possibility of imposing sufficient procedural hurdles to capital punishment to effectively outlaw it, drawing on Talmudic precedents that took that approach. Here is part of Leff's account:

I allowed as to how I wasn't a lawyer, I was a rabbi and more expert in Jewish law than secular law--to which he replied something like "Thank God," which I wasn't sure how to take--and I opined as to how the rabbis were "originalists" regarding the Torah (after all, it comes from God!), yet they effectively eliminated capital punishment through procedural barriers. Justice Scalia replied "I know about those rabbis--the Sanhedrin would declare a mistrial if they voted unanimously to condemn someone to death because they assumed there must have been something fishy going on!" The implication seeming to be that this was really going too far.

Ministerial Exception Precludes State Whistleblower Suit

In Archdiocese of Miami, Inc. v. Minagorri, (FL 3d Dist Ct. App., March 14, 2007), a Florida court of appeal held that the the "ecclesiastical exception doctrine" precludes a former Catholic high school principal from maintaining a suit under Florida's Private Sector Whistleblower Act. Yolanda Minagorri claimed she was fired in retaliation for complaining about her supervisor's grabbing her by the arm and threatening her. The court held that "allowing the whistleblower claim to proceed would especially run afoul of the First Amendment because the requested remedy of reinstatement would require the Archdiocese to employ Miñagorri, a concededly ministerial employee."

10 Commandments Not Yet Back On Kentucky Capitol Grounds

The Louisville Courier-Journal yesterday reported that the Ten Commandments are still not back on the State Capitol grounds in Frankfort, Kentucky despite a law passed last year by the Kentucky legislature authorizing their return. (See prior posting.) The legislature provided that in order to comply with Supreme Court precedent that has approved Ten Commandments monuments that are part of a broader display, it would add a marker telling the history of the monument and its legal battles. But state officials are not sure that is enough, so they have asked various state agencies if they have any other large monuments that could be added to the display. State officials have agreed that they will not actually replace the monument on public property until it is approved by a federal judge. Meanwhile, the monument is on display outside the Fraternal Order of Eagles' building in Hopkinsville, where it was moved after a federal court in 2000 in Adland v. Russ found that plans to place it on the statehouse grounds were unconstitutional.

Turkey's Religious Foundations Bill Vetoed; But Parliament May Override

Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has vetoed Turkey's Religious Foundations Law, passed by Parliament in November. The law was designed to improve the rights of non-Muslim religious minorities in the country. (See prior posting.) Sezer returned the law to Parliament asking for reconsideration of nine articles, and vetoing one that permits foreigners to establish foundations in Turkey, if based on reciprocity. Today's Turkish Daily News reports, however, that Parliament's Justice Commission has decided not to change the law. If the law is accepted by Parliament without a change, the President will not be able to veto it again; however he can refer it to Turkey's Constitutional Court.

House of Representatives Calls On Bangladesh to Release Journalist

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 409- 1, passed H.Res. 64 urging the government of Bangladesh to drop all pending charges against Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. The resolution asserts that Choudhury "because of his beliefs in an interfaith dialogue between Jews and Muslims and criticism of Islamic extremism, is on trial for sedition, an offense punishable by death".

Algeria Plans To Bar Imams From Political Activity

The Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs said Tuesday that a bill will soon be enacted into law that will prohibit imams from engaging in politics. Yesterday, Magharebia reported that imams will be barred from running as candidates in elections, joining political parties or using mosques for political campaigning. They will need to resign their positions in order to become involved politically. Moderate Islamic clergy support the bill, saying that "the mosque should remain a place of worship for everyone and must not become embroiled once again in the political struggles we saw in the 1990s".

Should Muslim Grocery Cashiers Be Permitted To Avoid Handling Pork Products?

The Minneapolis- St. Paul area has become a center of conflict over the appropriate extent of accommodation of Muslim religious practices in the business and commercial world. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that the latest controversy involves Muslim cashiers at supermarkets who refuse to handle pork products purchased by customers. At a Target store, the Muslim cashier-- wearing a traditional head scarf-- required her customer to scan a package of bacon and place it in the grocery bag that the cashier held open. In other stores, cashiers ask other non-Muslim employees to do the scanning for them. The issue seems to have surfaced here because of the large number of Somali immigrants in the area, many of whom are orthodox Muslims.

UPDATE: A report from the Star-Tribune on Saturday says that Target is reassigning Muslim cashiers who object to handling pork products for religious reasons to other jobs at their stores.

Bahrain Parliamentarian Calls For Probe Into Anti-Islamic Dance Performance

In Bahrain, Islamist deputy Shaikh Mohammad Khalid-- a member of the Al Menbar faction in Parliament-- has called for formation of an investigating committee to look into a performance by a Lebanese dance troupe at the March 1 opening of the Spring of Culture festival that was organized by Bahrain's Ministry of Information. At issue is a choreographic interpretation of "Laila and the Possessed", a poem written by Bahraini poet Qasim Haddad. Lebanese star Marcel Khalifa sang while male and female dancers staged the relationship between two famous Arab lovers portrayed in the poem. GulfNews.com yesterday reported that the Islamic Al Asala society complained: "The dances were depraved and offended our religious and moral sensitivities as well as our traditions. In addition, the lyrics were a blatant violation of our Islamic precepts and values.... The constitution clearly stipulates that Islam is the religion of the country, so everything that happens in Bahrain should comply with what the religion preaches. We should not have anything that attacks or violates our values."

Student-Prof Spar Over Religion In Term Paper

At Southern Illinois University, a dispute between a graduate student in social work and her professor has captured national attention. The Southern today reports on attempts by student Christine Mize to include in her term paper a section on faith-based therapy for women experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder from abortions. Associate Professor Laura Dreuth-Zeman told Mize that she could not include this in the paper. Mize did not, but turned in with her paper a legal memorandum from the American Center for Law and Justice taking the position that Mize could not be penalized for mentioning religion in her paper. The professor then refused to grade the paper until she consulted with University's legal counsel. That led to a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund demanding that the paper be graded and asking for a written statement from the University that they will not infringe the student's religious rights in the future. (ADF Release). The paper has now been graded, and ADF attorney Amy Smith says: "we hope that Christine Mize can continue on with her education without fear of further reprisals from professors hostile to her faith-based worldview."

Study Finds Anti-Semitic Incidents In US Down In 2006

The Anti-Defamation League today released its 2006 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents. While there were several violent attacks in 2006, overall the study showed a drop of 12% from the year before in the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in the United States. The study covered 44 states and the District of Columbia. It found a total of 885 incidents of anti-Semitic harassment and 669 incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism.

Australian Imams Say Paying Taxes Violates Islamic Law

In Australia, Federal Assistant Treasurer Peter Dutton has asked the Commissioner of Taxation to investigate reports that some extremist Muslim clerics are telling their followers that paying taxes to Australia violates Islamic law. ABC News Online reports the story today.

Bill To Ban Proselytization Introduced In Israel

In Israel, Shas members of the Knesset, backed by 6 other MK's, have introduced a bill to totally prohibit proselytization in the country. YNet News today reports that the bill goes beyond current law that only prohibits converting minors and prohibits the offering of money or material products to convert. The new law would impose a one-year jail sentence for any preaching of conversion. While Shas' concern is primarily with Christian missionaries operating among new immigrants and other vulnerable Jewish populations, the prohibition would also apply to Jewish groups that bring Muslims from the Old City to convert to Judaism. Shas argues that the bill does not violate Israel's protection of freedom of religion, but merely aims at preventing harassment of those living by their own religion.

Imams Removed From Air Flight File Civil Rights Suit

Six imams have filed suit against U.S. Airways and the Minnesota Metropolitan Airports Commission alleging that their removal from a flight in Minneapolis last November violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and various other federal and state laws. (See prior posting.) The plaintiffs' 39-page complaint (full text), alleging statutory and state tort law claims, says: "This civil rights lawsuit is brought to ensure that the promise of equal treatment embodied in federal and state anti-discrimination laws does not become a meaningless guarantee for persons perceived to be Muslim and/or Arab and/or Middle Eastern. Since the horrific events of September 11, 2001 our nation has witnessed an alarming rise in incidents of discrimination against Arabs and/or Muslims and against persons perceived to be Arab and/or Muslim." The filing of the lawsuit was announced in a press release issued by CAIR.

Establishment Clause Challenge To Liquor Licensing Rule Rejected

In VFW John O'Connor Post #4833 v. Santa Rosa County, Florida, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17150 (ND FL, March 12, 2007), a Florida federal district court rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to the alcoholic beverage licensing requirements of Santa Rosa County, FL. Under the county's Land Development Code, vendors of alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption must be located at least 2500 feet from any church or school, unless the distance requirement is waived by the County Commission. While consent of a church is not required in order to obtain a waiver, a fee of $25 is charged to offset the cost of determining whether affected churches and schools object to the granting of a license. The court distinguished this case from the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Larkin v. Grendel's Den, because there churches had an absolute veto over the granting of liquor licenses.

The court went on to find that the Santa Rosa county waiver provision is unconstitutionally vague, but that it may be severed from the remainder of the statute. This leaves plaintiff to pursue its equal protection and substantive due process challenges to the remainder of the Code provisions.

CAIR Becomes Controversial In Washington

Today's New York Times carries a front-page story on the growing debate over the federal government's relationships with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The group says its goals are to protect the civil liberties of Muslims and to spread understanding of Islam. However critics have claimed that CAIR has links to Hamas and Hezbollah which are designated as terrorist organizations by the State Department, that it has accepted large donations from Arab governments and that it furthers Wahhabist religious interpretations of Islam. Local offices of CAIR have developed close relationships with law enforcement officials and concentrate on civil rights issues. The controversy seems to focus on CAIR's national office.

Yesterday, CAIR presented a panel discussion on "Global Attitudes on Islam-West Relations: U.S. Policy Implications " in a Capitol meeting room over objections of some House Republicans who said that CAIR's members are "terrorist apologists". The website CAIRwatch collects many of the charges against CAIR.

Utah Supreme Court Says No Tolling Of Limitations In Priest Sexual Abuse Case

Yesterday in Colosimo v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City, (UT Sup. Ct., March 13, 2007), the Utah Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations barred a suit against the Catholic diocese of Salt Lake City, a Catholic school and several other institutions for damages growing out of sexual abuse of two brothers by a priest over thirty years ago. The court rejected arguments by plaintiffs that the running of the statute should be tolled because they had failed to make the causal connection between the abuse and their injuries. It also rejected tolling the statute on the grounds of fraudulent concealment when plaintiffs had knowledge of their abuse and the relationship of the abuser to the Church, but failed to investigate potential claims they might have arising from the abuse. The court observed that while "the legislature passed a statute in 1992 that tolls the running of the limitations period in child sexual abuse cases until the victim knows or reasonably should know that his injury was caused by the abuse, that statute does not apply retroactively, and so is not applicable here." KSL News reported yesterday on the decision.

Fired NY Teacher Loses Title VII Claim

In Central Islip, NY yesterday, a jury in federal court rejected a Title VII religious discrimination claim by a former public school teacher who claimed she had been fired because her principal falsely believed she was a witch. (See prior posting.) She also claimed discrimination based on her actual religion, Judaism. The New York Law Journal reports today that in the case, Berrios v. Hampton Bays Union Free School District, the judge issued an order, communicated to the parties but not to the jury, indicating that he was uncertain that Title VII would support a claim of discrimination based on "perceived" religious belief, rather than discrimination based on a person's actual religion. However since the jury found that neither Lauren Berrios' actual nor perceived religion was the grounds for her dismissal, the judge's order became irrelevant.

Top US Military General Says Gay Relationships Are Immoral

Yesterday's Chicago Tribune reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, said, in answer to a question about military policy, that in his personal view, homosexual acts are "immoral". This is the reason that he supports the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay men and women from serving in the military. He said his moral views are based on his personal "upbringing" and compared the immorality of homosexual relationships to that of adultery. CNN today reports that Gen. Pace's office says he stands by his remarks after his statement was criticized by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

UPDATE: Today Gen. Pace issued a statement saying that in his interview with the Chicago Tribune, he should have focused more on his support for the military's "don't as, don't tell" policy that does not make a moral judgment, and less on his personal moral views. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]