Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Ohio School Is Divided Over Support Of Science Teacher
Israel Bible Quiz Finalist Is A Messianic, Stirring Intense Controversy
Messianics claim they are subject to constant prejudice in Israel. They say that the anti-missionary organization, Yad L'Achim, is particularly attempting to marginalize them. After Bible Quiz authorities refused to disqualify Levy, a dozen influential rabbis issued a statement calling for contestants and spectators to boycott the Bible contest. In a related development, last month 12 Messianics whose fathers were Jewish, but whose mothers were not, were granted Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return. (See prior posting.)
Tennessee AG OK's Bible Park Financing Under State, But Not Federal, Law
Canadian Court Says Diocese and Congregations Must Share Properties
China Objects To USCIRF's Report
[T]he Chinese government protects its citizens' freedom of religious belief according to the laws and Chinese citizens ... enjoy full freedom of religious belief protected by law. We advise the USCIRF to seriously examine the United States' own problems and stop interfering in other countries' internal affairs under the pretext of religion....
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Liberty Counsel Launching Campaign To Support Graduation Prayer
Indian, Pakistani Muftis Argue Over Muslim Compliance With Indian Law
West Virginia Town Moves From Lord's Prayer To Moment of Silence
US Rights Agency Hears Witnesses On Religious Discrimination In Prisons
The second panel covered Free Exercise of Inmates' Religious Rights vs. Church State Separation. Speakers were Patrick Nolan (Justice Fellowship of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries); Lane Dilg (ACLU); Imam Abuquadir Al-Amin (Society of American Muslims); Alex Luchenitser (Americans United for Separation of Church and State); Chaplain Gary Friedman (B'nai B'rith International Pastoral Care Agency for Jewish Prisoners and Their Families); and Reverend Patrick McCollum (National Correctional and Chaplaincy Directors Association).
US Civil Rights Commission Chairman Gerald Reynolds said: "The testimony and materials gathered as a part of this briefing will become part of the 2008 Statutory Report enforcing prohibitions of religious discrimination in prisons."
Paper Reports On Clergy Clash In Break-Away Episcopal Church
Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases
In Starr v. Cox, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34708 (D NH, April 28, 2008), a New Hampshire federal district court dismissed a prisoner's RLUIPA and 1st Amendment claims. It held that even though plaintiff raised a question of material fact as to whether the practice of Tai Chi, separate from Taoism, is part of a system of religious belief, and as to whether his beliefs are sincerely held, plaintiff failed to show that his religious exercise was substantially burdened. Even if they were, defendants demonstrated that the prison's Tai Chi restrictions serve a compelling state interest using the least restrictive means.
In Rhodes v. Alameida, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35764 (ED CA, May 1, 2008), a California federal magistrate judge rejected free exercise, equal protection and due process challenges by a Native American inmate to the prison's confiscation and disposal of certain contraband property that plaintiff claimed had religious or spiritual significance to him.
Israel Funds Construction of Reform Synagogue For First Time
Monday, May 05, 2008
State Department Suggesting Diplomats Change Language In Describing Islamic Terrorists
Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Property Tax Exemption For Episcopal School Property
Catholic Paper In Malaysia Wins Initial Court Victory
Recent Scholarly Articles of Interest
- Andrew M.M. Koppelman, Phony Originalism and the Establishment Clause, (Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 08-15, April 25 2008).
- Patrick McKinley Brennan, Differentiating Church and State (Without Losing the Church),(Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, Forthcoming).
- Brian J. Bilford, Harper's Bazaar: The Marketplace of Ideas and Hate Speech in Schools, Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Vol. 4, 2008).
The electronic journal, Law & Ethics of Human Rights, Vol. 1, 2007 has recently appeared through Bepress. Among the articles of interest in this issue devoted to Multiculturalism & the Anti-discrimination Principle are:
- Nancy L. Rosenblum, Banning Parties: Religious and Ethnic Partisanship in Multicultural Democracies.
- Rajeev Bhargava, On the Persistent Political Under-Representation of Muslims in India.
- Alon Harel, Regulating Modesty-Related Practices.
- Tzvia Greenfield, Is It Really so Benign? Gender Separation in Ultra Orthodox Bus Lines.
- Moshe Cohen-Eliya, Is Conditional Funding a Less Drastic Means?.
- Stephen Macedo, In Defense of Conditional Funding of Religious Schools.
- Iddo Porat, On the Jehovah's Witnesses Cases, Balancing Tests, and Three Kinds of Multicultural Claims.
- Symposium. Gender Relevant Legislative Changes in Muslim and Non-Muslim Countries. Table of Contents, 64 Washington & Lee Law Review 1291-1568 (2007).
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Jewish Parents In Plano, TX Say Students Harassed To Take New Testament
Kentucky 10 Commandments Case Appealed To 6th Circuit
Turkish Schools In Pakistan Offer Moderate Islamic Alternative
an entirely different vision of Islam. Theirs is moderate and flexible, comfortably coexisting with the West while remaining distinct from it. Like Muslim Peace Corps volunteers, they promote this approach in schools, which are now established in more than 80 countries, Muslim and Christian....
They prescribe a strong Western curriculum, with courses, taught in English.... They do not teach religion beyond the one class in Islamic studies that is required by the state.... [H]owever, they encourage Islam in their dormitories, where teachers set examples in lifestyle and prayer....
The model is the brainchild of a Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gulen... Moderate as that sounds, some Turks say Mr. Gulen uses the schools to advance his own political agenda.