House Passes Resolution On Importance of Christmas-- But Not Unanimously

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representative passed by a vote of 372 to 9 (with 10 voting "Present") H. Res. 847, recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith (full text). Fox News reports that the resolution was sponsored by Iowa Rep. Steve King who said he introduced it because of "secularists in the country who are trying to eradicate Christ from Christmas." King is particularly upset with the nine Democrats who voted against the Resolution, saying that most of them supported earlier resolutions acknowledging Ramadan and recognizing the Indian celebration of Diwali. King voted "present" on those two resolutions.

Chilean Priest Sentenced To Reciting Psalms For Parking Violation

In the Chilean city of Puerto Montt, a judge has imposed an unusual alternative sentence for illegal parking on a Catholic priest, Father Jose Cornejo. CNN reports that Judge Manuel Perez, informed that the priest could not afford the fine equivalent to $100 (US), ordered him instead to recite seven Psalms from the Bible each day for three months. Judge Perez said that he imposed the sentence: "as a tribute to Galileo Galilei ... who received a similar sentence from the Catholic Church ... for saying the Earth rotates around the sun." [Thanks to Bill Wildhack for the lead.]

Religion Remains An Issue In Republican Caucuses and Primaries

In the Republican presidential campaign, candidates' religious views seem to continue to be of importance. The New York Times has published on its website an advance copy of The Huckabee Factor which will appear in next Sunday's Magazine section. In it, reporter Zev Chafets describes this exchange with Huckabee about the religious beliefs of his chief rival, Mitt Romney:

I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. "I think it’s a religion," he said. "I really don’t know much about it." I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: "Don’t Mormons," he asked in an innocent voice, "believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

According to CNN, yesterday Huckabee personally apologized to Romney for his statement. Huckabee was surprised at the furor caused by his remarks, which were part of a several-hour conversation with Chafetz. He said: "[Chafetz] was trying to press me on my thoughts of Mitt Romney's religion, and I said 'I don't want to go there.' I really didn't know. Well, he was telling me things about the Mormon faith, because he frankly is well-schooled on comparative religions. As a part of that conversation, I asked the question, because I had heard that, and I asked it, not to create something -- I never thought it would make the story."

Meanwhile, in yesterday's Des Moines Register debate among Republican candidates (full transcript), the primary mention of religion was in remarks by candidate Alan Keyes. Interjecting himself into a discussion on education policy, Keyes said:

Governor Huckabee just addressed the question of education claiming that he is the spokesman, do you know the major problem? We allowed the judges to drive God out of our schools. We allowed the moral foundation of this republic which is that we are created equal and endowed by our creator, not by our constitution or our leaders with our rights. If we don't teach our children that heritage and the moral culture that goes along with it, we cannot remain free, they will not be disciplined to learn science, to learn math, to learn history, to learn anything. And they don't want to talk about this except when they're squabbling about their own personal faith and forgetting that we have a national creed. And that national creed needs to be taught to our children so that whether they were scientists or businessmen or lawyers they will stand on the solid ground of a moral education that gives them the discipline they need to serve the right, to exercise their freedom with dignity, and to defend justice because they understand it is our heritage.

Tennessee Trial Under Way Over "Praying Parents" In School

The Tennessean is giving extensive coverage to the trial that began in federal court in Nashville on Wednesday in Doe v. Wilson County. (See prior related posting.) The suit charges that Lakeview Elementary School in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, unconstitutionally endorsed particular religious beliefs. At issue are activities in the school of a group known as Praying Parents, which was given a link on the school's website, allowed to run announcements in the school's newsletter, leave "you've been prayed for" cards for teachers and students, and send announcements home with students. News articles cover the testimony of one of the Praying Parents; testimony of the anonymous plaintiff who objected to See You at the Pole and National Day of Prayer events at the school; and testimony of the school's former principal who said that he would have allowed other groups equal access to the school's website and to distribute flyers. An article today summarizes testimony so far.

California Student Sues Alleging Teacher's Remarks Violated Establishment Clause

A Mission Vejo, California high school student and his parents have filed a suit in federal district court against Capistrano Valley High School teacher James Corbett and the Capistrano Unified School District. The suit grows out of remarks Corbett repeatedly made in teaching his Advanced Placement European History class. The complaint (full text) asks the court to declare that Corbett's remarks-- which were hostile toward religion and toward traditional Christian views on sexuality-- violate the Establishment Clause. The suit alleges that Christian students in Corbett's class felt ostracized by Corbett's anti-religious statements. Yesterday's Orange County Register reports on the court filing which contains numerous quotations recorded in Corbett's class by plaintiff Chad Farnan.

Missouri's Governor Responds To Christmas Dispute

Today's St. Louis Jewish Light reports on Missouri Governor Matt Blunt's response last month to a dispute over holiday decorations at Missouri State University. After a Jewish faculty member complained about a Christmas tree in one of the University buildings, it was taken down. However a few days later it reappeared with a Hanukkah menorah next to it. The Governor issued a statement on Nov. 29 saying:

I was deeply troubled by MSU's decision to take down a campus Christmas tree. President Nietzel’s reversal of this outrageous decision by University bureaucrats was the only proper decision and I thank him for it. The historical underpinnings and meaning of Christmas cannot be ignored because some university office received a complaint.

Today, I issued a directive to state agencies that no state employee will be reprimanded, cautioned or disciplined for saying "Merry Christmas" to others. I strongly recommend that MSU as well as all other taxpayer supported institutions adopt my policy.

Charter Proposal In Quebec Would Protect Women From Religious Discrimination

Quebec Premier Jean Charest's government has introduced legislation that would modify the preamble to Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to guarantee the Charter's application equally to men and women, according to a report in today's National Post. The proposal, based on a recommendation of the province's Council on the Status of Women, is designed to prevent courts from limiting the rights of women in order to protect religious liberty. Quebec's Charter covers private actions as well as governmental ones. University of Quebec professor Pierre Bosset says that the amendment is not needed because existing provisions in the Charter already prohibits gender discrimination.

The Episcopal Church Incurs High Legal Costs As Members Break Away

Virtue Online yesterday carried an article investigating the amounts being spent on legal fees by The Episcopal Church as local churches break away to join more conservative Anglican provinces. TEC is involved in extensive litigation over rights to the property of the break-away churches. Virtue Online says that the expenditures for 2007 are likely to total over $1 million, and that is without taking account of additional costs TEC will incur from assuming mortgages from church properties to which they may get title.

Preliminary Injunction Sought By Catholic Group Against University of Wisconsin

On Monday, the Roman Catholic Foundation (RCF) at the University of Wisconsin- Madison filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit originally begun in September. RCF is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund which issued a release on Monday's filing and made available the full text of its 32-page memorandum in support of its motion for a preliminary injunction. The suit challenges UW's refusal to allocate student activity funds for RCF events at which students who attended may have worshiped or proselytized. In May 2007, a settlement agreement was reached between RCF and the University, but the current lawsuit alleges that the University has breached the terms of that agreement.

Green Bay Wisconsin Committee Approves Nativity Scene

The latest nativity scene flap comes in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Green Bay City Council President Chad Fradette got permission from the city's Advisory Committee and Mayor Jim Schmitt so he could put up a nativity scene at City Hall. Fradette pressed the issue after learning that a nativity display in a park in the City of Peshtigo (WI) is being challenged by the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. Fradette said he wanted to give FFRF "someone a little bit larger than Peshtigo" to pick on, and wanted to "tell the Madison people that Madison values need to stay in Madison". Green Bay's Advisory Committee voted 4-1 to permit the display and to permit others to put up displays representing their religions next to it, pending city approval. Media reports on developments differ in their details. Two reports are from WBAY. One of them says that Fradette will wait until the full city council acts next week before he actually puts up the display. However, today's Green Bay Press-Gazette carries a detailed description of maintenance workers placing the display on the entry overhang of City Hall.

Plaintiff Can Proceed In Claim That Citations Were Aimed At Preventing His Religious Worship

In Price v. Montgomery, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90423 (D SC, Dec. 7, 2007), a South Carolina federal district judge rejected defendants' motion for summary judgment in an unusual Free Exercise case. Plaintiff Darnell Price claimed that three tickets issued to him for violation of local ordinances were issued at the direction of City Manager Carolyn Montgomery in an effort to interfere with Price's worship at the Atlantic Beach (SC) CME Mission Church. The court also permitted Price to move ahead with his Fourth Amendment and his malicious prosecution claims.

Church Program Distributing Shoes In Schools Is Questioned

Americans United said yesterday that it has sent letters to school officials in two South Carolina counties objecting to a church-run program that distributes new shoes to needy children in 25 public schools, but asks them to take part in the Christian ritual of foot-washing as part of the program. AU claims that the"Laces4Love" program run by the First Baptist Church of North Augusta (SC) violates principles of separation of church and state. According to the AP, school officials defend the program saying that each child, not school officials, decide if they want to participate in the foot washing. However, AU director Barry Lynn said that merely the fact that the shoes and socks come from a church group and are distributed in the schools by church officials creates church-state concerns.

Lawsuit In Turkey Challenges Italian Team's Uniforms As Offensive To Muslims

In Izmir, Turkey, lawyer Baris Kaska has filed a lawsuit against Inter Milan, an Italian football (soccer) team because the team's uniforms feature a large "Crusader-style" red cross that is offensive to Muslims. Kaska is asking for damages, and also wants UEFA to invalidate the Champions League match played last month in Milan in which Inter beat Fenerbahce, a Turkish team, by a score of 3-0. The Times of London yesterday quoted Kaska who said the crosses on Inter's new uniforms remind him of the Templar Knights and symbolize "Western racist superiority over Islam". He also wants UEFA and FIFA to fine the Italian team for displaying an offensive symbol.

6th Circuit Defines "Substantial Burden" Under RLUIPA

In Living Water Church of God v. Charter Township of Meridian, (6th Cir., Dec. 10, 2007), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the religious exercise rights of Living Water Church of God were not substantially burdened when a Michigan township denied it a special use permit that it wanted in order to build a larger church and school on property it owned. The 6th Circuit had not previously defined "substantial burden" for purposes of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. In this case, the court said:

Although RLUIPA assuredly protects religious institutions in their religious exercise, the statute’s language indicates that it is not intended to operate as "an outright exemption from land-use regulations." [citation omitted]....

We decline to set a bright line test by which to "measure" a substantial burden and, instead, look for a framework to apply to the facts before us. To that end, we find the following consideration helpful: though the government action may make religious exercise more expensive or difficult, does the government action place substantial pressure on a religious institution to violate its religious beliefs or effectively bar a religious institution from using its property in the exercise of its religion?...

While Living Water has outgrown its current facility, the record does not contain the kind of facts that would permit a finding that the building which the church can construct without an additional SUP would be so inadequate as to substantially burden Living Water’s religious exercise in the future.

Judge Moore concurred in the judgment, but would have adopted a different definition of "substantial burden" under RLUIPA:

I would adopt the substantial-burden standard established by the Seventh Circuit.... [It] held that "a land-use regulation that imposes a substantial burden on religious
exercise is one that necessarily bears direct, primary, and fundamental responsibility for rendering religious exercise—including the use of real property for the purpose thereof within the regulated jurisdiction generally—effectively impracticable."

[Thanks to Brian D. Wassom for the lead.]

Utah District Considers Ecclesiastical Boundaries In Drawing School Lines

The Provo (Utah) School District Board of Education will vote tonight on a plan to change elementary school boundaries. The plan moves toward aligning the school boundaries with those of LDS Church wards and stakes. Today's Deseret Morning News says the rationale for considering ecclesiastical boundaries is to keep friends together in order to help them feel safe and succeed in school. Church leaders and parents initiated the proposal to for church boundaries to be considered. Other Utah school districts have considered ecclesiastical boundaries in a similar fashion. Commenting on the proposal, Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C., said: "We don't gerrymander our governmental lines around religious parameters. If you need to do that, you'll find school districts, governmental agencies, zoning commissions restructuring all kinds of lines in order to ensure there is religious consolidation and uniformity." However, Derek Davis, former editor of the Journal of Church and State argued that the propriety of the Board's action "depends on what their goals are".

Quebec Commission Holding Hearings On Religious Accommodation

In Canada last February, Quebec's Premier Jean Charest responded to public concern about accommodation of religious practices by creating the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences. (Order In Council). The Commission's website says that it will examine the issues of accommodation broadly, and will examine "the sociocultural integration model established in Québec since the 1970s...[, including] a review of interculturalism, immigration, secularism and the theme of Québec identity. All of this week, the Commission is holding national hearings in Montreal. (List of Monday and Tuesday witnesses.)

One witness on Monday was Claudette Carbonneau, president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions. According to Monday's National Post, she urged that the government of Quebec adopt a new "charter of secularism". Under it employers would not be required to accommodate requests by employees that they be segregated from members of the opposite sex. Students in public schools could not wear restrictive clothing that makes communication difficult. So burkas, niqabs and chadors could be banned in schools. Today's Montreal Gazette reports that leaders of other unions expressed similar views at the hearing. Lucie Grandmont, vice-president of Syndicat de la fonction publique du Québec, told the Commission that civil servants should not wear any religious symbols in order to preserve the secular character of the state.

White House Hosts Hanukkah Reception

Yesterday, at the White House, President Bush hosted a Hanukkah Reception. In his remarks (full text), the President indicated that the menorah that would be used at the ceremony belonged to the grandfather of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Reporter Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. Daniel Pearl's parents lit the menorah. Earlier in the day, to mark International Human Rights Day, the President met with a group of Jewish immigrants who had emigrated to the U.S. from Iran, Syria and the Soviet Union in order to gain religious freedom. (President's remarks). Two Jewish members of the President's cabinet-- Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff-- attended the White House Hanukkah reception. One of the interesting photos of the reception on the White House website shows the President speaking at the Hanukkah gathering in a room dominated by two large Christmas trees.

UPDATE: Another photo shows First Lady Laura Bush with three rabbis during the koshering of the White House kitchen that took place before preparing food for the Hanukkah reception.

Under Maldives Proposed Constitution, Only Muslims Could Be Citizens

In the Maldives, a Special Majlis (constitutional assembly) is attempting to draft a new constitution for the country so that presidential elections can take place in 2008. (Minivan News, Dec. 9). According to the blog Secular Maldives, last month, by a large majority, the Special Majlis voted to add a provision to the new constitution that limits citizenship in the Maldives to Muslims.

German Court Rejects Challenge To Ban on Civil Servants Wearing Religious Dress

Both DPA and the AP are reporting on a decision handed down yesterday by a regional court in the German state of Hesse. There are some inconsistencies between the two reports. In 2004, Hesse enacted legislation banning all civil servants from wearing articles of clothing that "could endanger confidence in the neutrality of their carrying out their official duties." Yesterday the court upheld what was apparently a facial challenge to the law, saying that since civil servants represent the state, the state may control what they wear. Attorney Ute Sacksofsky argued that the ban infringes constitutionally protected religious freedom and gender equality. After the court handed down its decision, Sacksofsky said that it did not deal with the question of whether Islamic head coverings came within the statute's prohibitions.

Chile Fines Pharmacies For Refusing To Stock "Morning-After" Pill

In Chile, a government order requires all pharmacies to stock Levonorgestrel, known as the "morning after pill". Yesterday's Christian Post reports that the government has imposed over $300,000 in fines on more than 100 pharmacies that have not complied. One major pharmacy chain that was fined said that selling the pill would violate the religious beliefs of the chain's conservative Catholic owners. A number of individual pharmacies also object to stocking the pill on ethical, moral or religious grounds.