Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
ID Requirement Interfering With Clergy's Attempt To Encourage Marriage
The Alabama statute, like that in other states, was enacted in order to comply with a provision of the federal child support enforcement statutes (42 USC Sec. 666(a)(13)). Last May in Buck v. Stankovic, (MD PA, May 1, 2007), a Pennsylvania federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring Pennsylvania authorities from insisting that an individual prove his or her lawful presence in the United States as a condition of obtaining a marriage license.
Haj Begins Tomorrow-- Preparations Under Way
Violence Against Christians In India Decried
Muslim Women Maintain Dress Code In High School and College Sports
Recent Prisoner Religious Exercise Cases
In Harris v. Moore, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91687 (ED MO, Dec. 13, 2007), a Missouri federal district court rejected Free Exercise and RLUIPA claims by a prisoner who is a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World Church and is a minister ordained by the Universal Life Ministries Church. Plaintiff complained that he was limited to attending one religious service per week and was prohibited from receiving mail containing more than five pages of religious material.
In Robertson v. Kansas, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91266 (D KA, Dec. 10, 2007), a Kansas federal district court rejected a prisoner's First Amendment and RLUIPA claims that the refusal to permit him to have conjugal visits violated his religious belief in procreation.
In Trahan v. Carey, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89973 (ED CA, Nov. 27. 2007), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed an inmate's claim that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was punished for refusing to recite the "Center Point Creed" in a substance abuse program. The court found that the Creed is secular. Plaintiff was given an opportunity to file an amended complaint alleging that religious books were used in the program.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Christmas Tree Debated At Connecticut Senior Center
Rivalry Between Two Menorahs On Public Property
City Arts Commission Funds Religious Statues At Churches
French High Court Upholds Ban On Keski In Schools
North Carolina Court Bans Eid al-Adha Slaughter Arrangement At Farm
Rowe's attorney, Glenn Barfield, hopes that some of Rowe's customers will appear in court next week when a hearing will be held on whether to make the slaughter ban at Rowe's farm permanent. Those individuals could raise free exercise objections to the ban imposed by the court. Eid al Adha begins next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Raleigh's Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation is offering local Muslims an alternative. They can donate money which the Foundation will use to have cows killed at a licensed slaughterhouse. The meat will be butchered and distributed to charities.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, the court rejected a request from several Muslim families in Wake and Johnston counties that it lift the injunction. Johnston County Superior Court Judge Tom Lock said that the order does not infringe the families' free exercise of religion because they can still slaughter their own lambs at a state-licensed facility. (News & Observer, Dec. 19).
Wiccan Symbol Joins Nativity Scene In Green Bay
Canada's High Court Affirms Damages To Wife Who Was Denied A Jewish Divorce
Despite the moribund state of her marriage, Ms. Bruker remained, between the ages of 31 and 46, Mr. Marcovitz’s wife under Jewish law, and dramatically restricted in the options available to her in her personal life. This represented an unjustified and severe impairment of her ability to live her life in accordance with this country’s values and her Jewish beliefs. Any infringement of Mr. Marcovitz’s freedom of religion is inconsequential compared to the disproportionate disadvantaging effect on Ms. Bruker’s ability to live her life fully as a Jewish woman in Canada.
Justice Deschamps' dissenting opinion argued that the husband's agreement to give his wife a "get" is merely a moral undertaking, and even if it were enforceable, civil courts cannot be used to sanction an individual's failure to perform a religious act. Interestingly, both the majority and dissenting opinions reviewed precedent from other countries in reaching their conclusions, citing cases from France, Britain, Australia, the United States and Israel.
CBC News and the Montreal Gazette both report on the case which reverses the Court of Appeals decision and upholds the trial court's award of $47,500 in damages to Stephanie Bruker who for 15 years was denied a "get" by her former husband Jessel Marcovitz.